By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… On June 9, 2017, one hundred and twenty-two seniors graduated from Moapa Valley High School. The 2016-17 school year marked the 100th year since the establishment of MVHS. According to Arabell Lee Hafner’s book “100 Years On The Muddy” prior to the 1916-17 school year, there were school’s in Kaolin, Hupton, Moapa, St. Joseph, Logandale, and Overton.
Prior to the major consolidation of schools throughout the state, into county-wide school districts in 1956, county commissioners could declare a school eligible for state funds if the school had a teacher and at least five students. However, in 1916 there was a smaller consultation of the schools in Moapa Valley when the local communities petitioned the Clark County Commissioners to allow the schools to consolidate.
In 1914 the Overton Community built a two-story brick building to house the Overton High School. In March of 1916 the Clark County Commission approved an unopposed petition to consolidate the schools of St. Joseph, Kaolin, St. Thomas and Overton. The school was located on the site that presently houses Mack Lyon Middle School. With the addition and removal of a number of buildings, this remained the site of MVHS until 1993, when the high school moved to its present site.
MVHS was established 100 years ago during the 1916-17 school year. The first commencement exercise took place two years later in the spring of 1919. There were no graduating seniors in 1917. The next year 1918 saw the first graduate, Elsie Jorgensen. However, there wasn’t a commencement. The Board of Trustees decided that the graduation ceremony would be too expensive to carry out for one student. In 1919, Mary West had completed the requirements to graduate and the Board of Trustees apparently felt they could afford to hold a commencement ceremony and included Elsie Jorgensen as well. In 1920, eight students participated in a commencement exercise. Since that time somewhere between 5,500 and 6,000 students have graduated from MVHS.
One of the most interesting part of this year’s graduation ceremony was when Principal Hal Mortensen asked all those who had graduated from MVHS to stand. It was amazing how many of the nearly 2,000 strong audience were alumni. Since 1990, the school has had a 97.7 percent graduation rate.
Next year we can celebrate 100 years since the first student graduated from MVHS and in 2019 we can celebrate the 100th commencement ceremony.
No one asked me but… Does anyone take responsibility for their own actions anymore? A fraternity pledge gets drunk and ends up killing himself, and 18 fraternity brothers are held responsible. As sad as the story is; and as upset as his parents are at those who did not react to the situation as the parents felt they should; no one held the boy down and poured liquor into him until he was so drunk he fell down the stairs.
A young girl is going to prison because she failed to talk a young man 30 miles away from killing himself. The courts said her conversation encouraged the boy to do so; therefore, she was responsible for him committing suicide and therefore, she is going to jail.
During the 2016-17 school year thirteen different individuals in the CCSD system of over 40,000 employees have had inappropriate to criminal contact with students. Parents are holding CCSD responsible for the unacceptable behavior of these individuals. They are blaming social media and district policy for the actions of these miscreations.
One hundred and twenty people showed up at a meeting to discuss the development of a policy about employee and student contact. These people demanded a policy that would stop such behavior.
Let me suggest that the attack on the use of media is not the answer. The problem is the individual involved not the tool they use. No policy will ever stop a person from committing an immoral act.
We have just received Otto Warmbier back from a North Korean prison where he was sentenced to 15 years at hard labor for attempting to steal a political poster.
First of all, before one gets too upset about what happened to the student, one must asked what was he thinking going to North Korea in the first place? This isn’t Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This is one of the most repressive societies on earth run by a mad man.
However, before we look for reasons for this terrible injustice, one must ask: Does the student have any responsibility for what happened to him? Was he never taught not to steal? Was he forced to go to an openly hostile country, run by a madman who is a self-proclaimed enemy of the United States? Did anyone tell him it would be a good idea to steal a government propaganda poster? Where is his responsibility in this matter?
We have over 25,000 gun laws in the land and that does not stop some left-wing kook from shooting a Congressman as he was preparing for a charity baseball game. Has anyone else noticed that most of the violence in the land is not coming from the political right that we are continually warned about, but from the liberal left?
These very perpetrators of violence will once again cry out for stricter gun laws and the repeal of the 2nd Amendment. Laws do not keep people safe. People are kept safe when a society has a developed set of morals that teach proper ethical treatment of one’s fellow man.
It is time to stop making excuses for people and holding them accountable for their actions.
Gold Star Award… 2017 MVHS graduate Anthony Cornwall was selected second team All-State catcher for the 2017 baseball season. Anthony hit .581 with 5 homeruns, 35 RBI’s. He had eight doubles, three triples, and 26 stolen bases. He was also selected as the Southern Region MVP. I still think he should pay for the repair of the scoreboard he hit with a massive homerun.
I don’t know if Anthony plans to continue his baseball career in college but he certainly has the talent to extend his career. He was a great leader on a ball club that won the division and went to the state tournament as a number two seed. We can only hope that this was the seed club beginning of a growing program.
Thought of the week…The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.
– Vaclav Havel
