Fairfield High School honors graduates

FAIRFIELD — Sunday afternoon was a picture-perfect day for an outdoor graduation ceremony in Fairfield.

The Class of 2022 received their diplomas that day at a packed Trojan Stadium. Superintendent Laurie Noll and Fairfield High School Principal Brian Stone welcomed residents who had come to honor the academic achievements of the area’s seniors.

Grant Ward was selected as the Class of 2022’s commencement speaker, and he told the crowd that he couldn’t believe his high school career was finally over. He said he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had an essay due next week. He said that even though classmates might have had disagreements over the years, they never stopped feeling like a family.

FHS Associate Principal Stephanie Mishler recognized those students who had achieved high honors because of their grade-point average. Two seniors earned perfect 4.0 GPAs, and they were Brynley Allison and Mallory Lyon.

Three members of the senior class got a major head start in their college careers by earning an Associate in Arts degree from Indian Hills Community College before their high school graduation. This means they have two years of college already under their belt. Those three seniors are Spencer Hilger, Sophie Stever and Hannah Bergren.

The three IHCC graduates told The Union that they hadn’t planned to get their associate degree until late in their high school careers when they noticed how many college credits they already had, and that they only needed a few more for their two-year associate degree.

Bergren and Stever said they joined the IHCC Business Academy program their junior year just to try it out. They both really enjoyed it, and asked the school guidance counselor how many more classes they needed as seniors to get their AA degree.

“We did the math and saw that we’d get 42 credits from the career academy, and you need 64 to graduate from Indian Hills,” Bergren said.

Bergren said she took a few four-credit classes to get those remaining 22 credits she needed to graduate from IHCC. Classes are normally three credits, but longer class with lab work are four.

Hilger said that the three of them had to give up their study halls and instead use that time for college coursework.

“And most of our free time was filled with homework,” Stever added.

“Other seniors are taking random electives to fill their spots, and we were taking our extra business classes instead,” Bergren said.

Hilger piped in, “The high school is nice enough to accept college credits as high school credits as well.”

Most of the college classes the three students took were online, though Hilger said he had to drive to Ottumwa for a couple of them.

“Sophie and I Zoomed in for a few classes, but the majority were online, self-taught classes,” Bergren said.

Not only did Bergren, Stever and Hilger complete an associate degree in high school, they did so while also finding time for jobs and extracurricular activities. Bergren played volleyball, basketball, was involved in FBLA, NHS and works at NuCara Pharmacy. Stever works at Picture Perfect Salon & Tan, was involved in FBLA and NHS, and managed volleyball. Hilger was in FBLA, Interact, esports and “every single theater production possible.”

All these activities meant the three students had a lot of late nights, staying up until midnight to turn in their online college assignments just before the deadline.

Now that she’s got her AA degree in the bag, Bergren plans to attend the University of Iowa this fall where she will study business, with an eye toward getting a master’s degree. Stever plans to attend Iowa State University to major in apparel merchandising and minoring in marketing. Hilger will attend Oklahoma State University for pilot training.

“All of my electives are already covered because of this degree,” Hilger said. “I may triple major in pilot training, computer science and electrical engineering.”

Another senior with big plans after graduation is Drishikaa Thimmaiah, who plans to attend the University of Arizona where she will major in astrophysics. Thimmaiah said it’s ironic that she’s chosen a math-heavy major because that was a subject she once struggled in. She credits FHS math teacher Michelle Higgins for helping her turn a weakness into a strength.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com