Photo by Ryan Ottney | Daily Times

The 100th graduating class from New Boston was the very last to ever graduate from Glenwood High School. Behind the graduates, the new New Boston School building emerges from the hillside. The building will be complete for the start of the 2012-13 school year.

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By RYAN SCOTT OTTNEY

PDT Staff Writer

NEW BOSTON — After 95 years, Glenwood High School in New Boston produced its very last graduating class on Friday — the one-hundredth in the school district’s history.

Thirty-three graduating seniors participated in the graduation ceremony Friday at New Boston Stadium, standing in the shadow of the new K-12 school building being built behind them. This year’s graduation was Steve Williams, a 1971 graduate of New Boston School and former teacher in the district for 25 years.

“This is the one-hundredth graduating class from New Boston, but not from Glenwood. The first graduates graduated from Central School, which was on Ohio Avenue where Stanton (elementary school) is now. Apparently there was a two-story, four-room building there,” Williams said.

He said it was hard for him to say goodbye to Glenwood High School.

“I was thinking about the things that I don’t know if they do anymore. Like chapel services, and I know they still have pep rallies. I remember class plays, and of course basketball in the Tiger Den. That will never be the same,” Williams said; his voice turning wistful. “It felt comfortable because your parents went there, and maybe your grandparents.”

New Boston Valedictorian Courtney Horsley said the class thought it was cool to be the last graduating seniors from Glenwood High School.

“It’s an awesome honor,” she said.

After graduation, Horsley will study nursing at Shawnee State University, in Portsmouth.

Salutatorian Brittney Winn said she’ll miss Glenwood High School. Her graduation speech was was titled, “The Journey,” and said it has double meaning this year because both she and her school district are moving on.

“I feel honored and privileged to have been part of the last class to graduate from Glenwood High School. This school holds many memories for both my class and the ones preceding my class,” Winn said.

After graduation, Winn will attend The Ohio State University, in Columbus, majoring in journalism.

The last day of school for other New Boston students is Friday, May 25 — closing the doors on Glenwood High School once and for all. The school board last week approved offering of the building for sale to the South Central Ohio Educational Service Center. Stanton and Oak elementary schools will be torn down later this year.

When students return to school in August, they will be welcomed into the new school building on Lakeview Avenue.

“Everyone is excited for this new school in New Boston, and yet it’s the end of an era,” Williams said.

Ryan Scott Ottney can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 235, or rottney@heartlandpublications.com.