Vargas-Booth, Emigh Announced As Top Honor Graduates At North Hopkins High School

Chyloe Vargas-Booth and Emma Emigh are the tops honor graduates in the North Hopkins High School Senior Class of 2022.

Both have attended NHISD since kindergarten and both said people have a hard time saying their names correctly. The valedictorian said few pronounce her first name correctly and the salutatorian said people typically stumble over her last name. Chyloe is pronounced Shy-Low or as if spelled Shiloh, while Emigh is pronounced Aye-Mee or as if spelled Amy.

Emma Emigh and Chyloe Vargas-Booth

Chyloe Vargas-Booth graduates from North Hopkins High School with a 5.32 grade point average. The NHHS 2022 valedictorian is the daughter of Cheryl Booth-Vargas.

Since her freshman year, she has played basketball, volleyball and ran cross country, and more recently has started playing golf. She has also been involved in FCCLA, Beta and Student Council.

Emma Emigh graduates with a 5.31 GPA. She is the granddaughter and daughter of Susie Barker, Mickey Barker, Patty Williams and Danny Williams.

She has been an FCCLA Chapter officer for four years, and more recently served as state FCCLA secretary. She served as an FCCLA officer, currently serving as vice president of records. She too has been involved in Beta, Student Council and yearbook.

“Just anything you can think of me and Chyloe probably do it,” Emigh said. “It’s a very small school so there are a lot of opportunities.”

Both of NHHS’ top honor graduates plan to attend the University of Texas at Austin. Vargas-Booth plans to major in architectural engineering, and UTA is one of the top schools in the nation for that architectural engineering.

“Architectural engineering is basically the math side of architecture, which is designing buildings. Ever since I went to New York City, the buildings surprised me. They are so beautiful. And I just wanted to be a part of that,” she said. “And I love math.”

Emigh plans to major in political science on the pre-law track to become a divorce lawyer. She said for a long time, she wanted to be an English professor. A career day at school, however, had her rethinking that goal.

“A lawyer came and spoke to us, and she really piqued my interest. We’ve been in touch recently. Lots of phone calls, lots of emails exchanged. She’s really opened that door for me and really showed me what life could be like as a lawyer. That’s really what I want to do,” Emigh said.

She said focusing on divorce law seemed a natural fit.

“I am the first to admit I love gossip, love digging up dirt. Also, on the female side of things, females go through a lot these days. If their husband’s not treating them right, I want them to feel comfortable enough to come to me and we can handle the situation and get her into a happier place,” Emigh said.

Vargas-Booth has received a HAGEN Scholar, a $48,000 award to help with her studies.

The NHHS students noted that FCCLA has helped prepare her for interviews, as competitions have interviews.

Vargas-Booth’s team competed in culinary math management competed at and finished fifth in state in the FCCLA category.

Emigh said working on community service projects at the chapter level helped prepare her for her duties as a state officer, which included preparing a conference for more than 25,000 FCCLA members. The also the year before serving as a state officer was a regional FCCLA officer, and joined with other officer from across the region to plan a regional conference.

“Those leadership skills have really taken it to the next level for me, and I was also offered a full ride at UT. That’s why both of us are going, and like she said, it’s the top school in the nation for almost everything. Those leadership skills and that time management, we also had interviews for our office that we want to be put in. Those interviews have really helped us gain experience for in the future,” Emigh said.

When asked about influential people in their lives, the top seniors credited their dual credit English teacher, Janis Thomas, who they say has been a big help, reviewing their essays when requested before they sent them in with scholarship applications. She not only corrects them, but offers tips and suggestions as well.

Emigh also offered thanks to Mrs. Lisa Sprague, the FCCLA advisor, for showing her not only how to handle FCCLA but how to be a good person. Sprague has taught her many lessons.

Both Vargas-Booth and Emigh have knocked out their first two years of college English, and a semester of college algebra, are taking college biology online. In the summer, Vargas-Booth took a college history class, and Emigh is currently enrolled in the class. The NHHS students will graduate from high school with at least 30 credit hours each, just shy of an associate’s degree.

“It’s a great school, great opportunities, and it’s really helped me with the future, to go from a small school to a big city, I feel like is going to be a big jump, but the school has prepared us for it,” Vargas Booth said.

“I felt a lot of support from the school, but not only the school – the community. Sulphur Springs in particular. It’s just a great town and I love it so much. It’s not too big but it’s not too small. There’s things to do, and it’s just great people all over – couldn’t find a bad person in Sulphur Springs,” Emigh said. “But, yes, North Hopkins is a wonderful school and I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.”

Author: KSST Contributor

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