Whitney Schultz (Brewster, KS) was only 15 when diagnosed with Medullablastoma brain tumor (At the base of her brain stem.) during her freshman year in High School

Half way into the football her cheerleader days ended abruptly when she began getting terrible headaches.

The diagnoses led to a surgery that went in through the back of her skull to cut off the tumor at the brain stem.

She endured over a year of intense chemo and radiation treatments that left lesions on her spinal cord.

As of November 2010, she celebrated one year of cancer free.

Her first odds of surviving this traumatic ordeal was 27%. Today it's up to 80%.

Whitney had to stop playing basketball, cheerleading and other sports because of an equilibrium loss.

Whitney didn't let any of that slow her down though. Whitney just put on a new wig, suited up with books, and became an academic graduating as a Valedictorian with near 21 college credits under her belt.

A quote from William Arthur Ward - If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.

Good afternoon, board of education, staff, family, friends and fellow graduates. I am honored to be standing here representing the graduating class of 2011. I would like to thank you for joining my classmates and me on this special occasion.

Graduation is a time of reflecting on the past and looking onward to the future. It is a time that we as graduates get together for one last hurrah before moving on to bigger and better adventures.

Our senior year started by welcomed two classmates, Desi and Jalyn. Tyler joined us at the beginning of our junior year, Sheena in the 8th grade and Wyatt in 3rd. I am the only member of the graduating class of 2011 that started in Pre-school. I have seen many classmates come and go, but today, I am fortunate to graduate with these unique individuals, the graduating class of 2011. We have been through so much this year, and have changed and grown together.

Desi or is it Brittany Pozzi (the professional barrel racer), I will always remember the day you came strolling into Government class wearing that huge barrel racing buckle. I thought to myself “Wow, she could really hurt someone with that thing!”

Oh Jalyn, my little glitter queen - I don’t think Brewster USD 314 will ever be the same after you made your senior picture board and adorned it with gold glitter, lots and lots of gold glitter. Now, a trail of that glitter can be seen everywhere you look here at the school. Why, I even found some in my Physics book!

Tyler, I enjoyed our many conversations in English Comp class this year. Better yet, all the pranks we played on poor Mrs. Stearns. Yes, mom and dad, I am capable of pulling pranks. Going into the library and calling her classroom, only to hang up when she answered. We apologize Mrs. Stearns, however you were a very good sport!

Sheena, you are always talking about the WWE. You know what? I didn’t even know what that was until you told me. I know you have great dreams of being on the WWE Smackdown. I wish you the very best as you achieve your goals!

Wyatt, do you remember putting on the production “Stuart Little” in Mrs. Brown’s 3rd grade class? You were Falcon and I was Margalo. Jayde, Tyler and Christian were part of our class back then. I ran across a picture of all of us in our homemade airplane a while back. At the time, we thought we were pretty cool, but you know what? We really did look pretty goofy.

As I look back on my memories of high school, it is much different than I had anticipated four years ago. Two weeks into my freshman year, I was diagnosed with a Medullablastoma brain tumor. I had to have surgery to remove the tumor followed by chemotherapy and radiation. I pretty much missed the first half of the school year. Well, having a brain tumor changed everything. I looked forward to playing volleyball and basketball and being a cheerleader. Needless to say, I didn’t have the balance, strength or stamina for any of that.

Since I couldn’t participate in sports, I chose academics. I decided four years ago that I was going to be a Kansas Regent Scholar. I was on a mission to prove to myself and my classmates that you can be diagnosed with a life threatening disease and still be the very best. A few weeks ago, I received notification that I had reached my goal. I know I might sound like I am boasting, but when all you can do is study, it’s my way of saying I have won the game!

I am very fortunate for the education I have received at Brewster USD 314. It takes a special person to be a teacher. Brewster is lucky enough to have some of the best around. They push you to your limits because they can see what you are really capable of, even if sometimes you are unable to see it. Thank you Mrs. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Stearns, Mr. Rothchild and the rest of the teachers that have helped the graduating class of 2011 get to this day.

Graduation day can be a bit difficult for parents. When they woke in the morning, they were ready to see their child graduate from high school. It is a day that is eagerly anticipated, but one that can bring on a few tears. After today, our parents will no longer be parents of children, but parents of young men and women well prepared for the real world. It is time for them to step aside and let our true colors shine through. Personally, I have been blessed to have amazing parents that have helped me in every way get to this day. Thank you, mom and dad!

With a little help from my designer pink TI-84 I have calculated that we have spent, on average, 397 minutes a day in class. Over the past four years, we have attended, or should have attended, about 590 school days at Brewster USD 314. This adds up to a whopping 5,801 hours spent working on Math, Science, English, Social Studies, and the works. That does not even include the numerous hours spent on homework, studying and exams. Never, in my entire life, will I need to know how to inverse the reciprocal of a parabola or how to figure a determinate of a matrix. Sorry, Mrs. Johnson!

As I think of the graduating class of 2011, I think Dr. Seuss summed it up my ideas perfectly in Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.

It’s pretty self-explanatory. For the past 4 years of our lives, we have been given knowledge and information and it is now time to put it to good use. Our teachers have prepared us for our futures, which begin as we step out of these doors one last time.

In August, we won’t be coming together for the first day of school, as we have done in previous years. We will each chose a different path and work to achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

As we end one chapter of our lives, a new one begins. We have a fresh blank page ahead of us. It is up to us to grab our pens and write the words to our own stories. I challenge each of you classmates to take this opportunity to write an unforgettable chapter filled with the satisfaction of your dreams and desires. Let us take what we have learned and let it guide us through to our futures. Let us build on our experiences to better ourselves and the others around us.

We hold the key to our own futures. There is a lot of power inside us waiting to be unleashed. Getting a diploma this afternoon, is not the end of graduation, but rather the beginning of something special. It is the beginning of new adventures and new friendships.

In closing, I want to share a few words from Trace Adkins song,
You're going to miss this; you're going to want this back;
You're going to wish these days, hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times, so take a good look around;
You may not know it now, but you're going to miss this.

Way to go Class of 2011!