Principal Justin Laine praised senior Bella Columbo by saying, "Bella is another one of our exceptionally talented and high achieving student-athletes. Bella's cumulative grade point average places her within hundredths of a grade point average of our valedictorian and salutatorian. She has excelled in the classroom, the athletic arena, and community service. She is an extremely hard worker. She is also an extremely determined and resilient young lady who overcame a disheartening knee injury her junior year to excel in athletics this past year. She never complained while she was injured. She just quietly persevered and cheered her teammates on. I have appreciated her passion and tenacity in academics and athletics. Bella is also an outstanding citizen and role model. Bella aspires to be a science teacher, and I know that she will be a great one!"

Bella's smile alone gives me hope for the future of our local, small high school. It's clear how much these seniors truly care for each other. No wonder they keep track of each other for decades. Bella is a 100 percent type of young woman who puts her focus in at that level no matter what she's doing. She loves science, wants to teach it back home in her own school, as do several others in her class. It's another example of the closeness of the Naselle/GRV families and what makes the community unique. Bella's mother, Lisa (Peters) Colombo, went to school in Naselle and her father, Marco, went to school in Ilwaco.

Bella plans on playing volleyball on scholarship at the College of the Siskiyous (Eagles) in Weed, CA, then she wants to go on to Western Oregon for their teaching program. In her first teaching year, she plans to work for a Masters in Education. Teacher Rob Dalton described Bella as "a wonderful contributor to her class. She is fun, super smart and a great leader." Bella is fourth in her class. Third is Haley Eastham. I will interview Haley next week. So in a class of 22 students, there are five or six who are at the "almost 4.0" top of the class. I hope local folks will give generous scholarship awards to all of them. Let's all support these hardworking, sports loving young people at graduation on June 10 at 4 p.m.