The Garden City Telegram

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Ingalls--Virginia Benton

Published 5/26/2011 in Youth In Excellence

Virginia (Gina) Benton loves to write and take pictures.

"I love capturing the moment and having that moment forever," she wrote in a questionnaire provided to The Telegram.

Of writing, the Ingalls graduating senior said: "It is my place to escape and let my feelings out."

She has been attending Ingalls schools since kindergarten.

Benton is a Kansas Honor School, a member of the National Honor Society and the Class of 2011 salutatorian. Her grade-point average was 3.6. She also was a cheerleader, a member of the KAY Club, class secretary, worked on the Newsletter, was track and basketball manager, and a member of the Literary Magazine and Yearbook staff

Chemistry and English were favorite classes — chemistry "because of the awesome experiments." English was her best subject, but Spanish, she said, was her worst.

"I just couldn't learn it!" Benton said of Spanish. "I also got made fun of because my Spanish sounded more like Chinese!"

High school, she said, was one continuous wonder.

"There are Friday night games and dances and so many activities," she wrote. "The one thing, though, that I will keep with me forever is a moment that I have with my entire class. Sophomore year my father passed away and the pain I experienced was so horrible. That day, my classmates climbed in the back of a truck and came down to my house, bringing me chocolate ice cream and made sure I was OK. They sat in my front yard and cried with me, and I am so thankful now to have my classmates. I know I can always count on them."

Her advice to freshmen: "Have fun, but make sure you do your work. It does pay off to have good grades in school!"

For her fellow graduates: "I love you guys."

She plans to attend Hesston College in Hesston to major in nursing and eventually become a pediatric nurse.

"I want to be remembered for making people laugh and being a kind person that would go out of the way to help someone," Benton wrote.

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