Meeting in regular session last week, the Lewis County Board of Education moved to break a long-standing tradition and hold graduation ceremonies in 2002 on Saturday night, May 25, rather than on a Sunday afternoon.

The board took the action in response to a request from the Lewis County High School Student Council. Samantha Moran, Stephanie Lewis, Adam Lewis and Brittany Jamison appeared before the board. Moran spoke for the group.

She said that the student council, numbering about 18 students, conducted a poll among the seniors. The results shoed that 48 percent of the class prefers to hold graduation on Friday night, 32 percent favors Saturday night and only 20 percent wants to keep the ceremonies on Sunday afternoon.

Moran reported that after learning of the Site Based Council's recommendation, the student council asked the 80 percent of the senior class that wanted the change, and the students said it really did not matter as long as the program was not held on Sunday afternoon.

She said that the pupils were concerned about the effect of the hot weather and high temperatures on the elderly members of their families. Some offered that church activities interfered with the graduation.

Central staff member John Cordle said that a Saturday night ceremony would also give out-of-town family members more traveling time.

Reeder polled several teachers and board members, and they all favored the change.

Elena Albelda is a 17-year-old senior high school student from Valencia, Spain. She has the distinction of being the only foreign exchange student in the Lewis County Schools this year.

Valencia is located on the Mediterranean Coast in eastern Spain. It is one of the largest cities in that country, larger even than the capital, Madrid.

The city has a long and rich history. The first printing press was set up there in 1474. The metropolis is affectionately called "the city of 100 bell towers".

Elena's hometown has a mixture of agriculture and industry with tourism as a growing interest. As a matter of fact, she plans to attend college after graduation and enter the field of tourism in her homeland.

In the USA she is required to take four courses. When she goes to college to prepare for a career in tourism with the goal of becoming a flight attendant, her studies will include language and geography.

The attractive teen says she has two brothers, one older and one younger. With a twinkle in her eye she says having an older brother is nice because he looks after her and she enjoys mothering the 11-year-old.

On a personal note, her favorite food is paella, a dish of meat with rice and vegetables. Her favorite American food is pizza.

Elena said that she had to adjust to American food when she first arrived. St first, her stomach was upset a lot. In Spain she said that the folk are more health conscious about eating, a theme expressed by other exchange students in the past.

Her favorite color is red or blue. She professed no preference for any music here or singing group.

Elena said the thing she likes most about America is the school and the fact that folk in our area are friendly. She said back home they had a lot of bad people and then described what we call gangs, a phenomenon common in most major cities.

Spanish foreign exchange student Elena Albelda, left, is pictured with her host mother, Karen Chinn of Tollesboro.

Elena said that the folk back home are well aware of the terrorist attacks on America. She related that on September 11, 2001, some of the people around her wept over the deaths of so many innocent folk in the USA.

So far the event she has enjoyed the most in America was a trip her host family took her on to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Smoky Mountains. They went snow skiing there in the winter. Elena said she does ski and fell down several times but loved it. Her host Mom, Karen Chinn, learned to ski in the Smoky Mountains as a teen and is quite good at it, according to Elena.

Museum Curator William Talley said the display features a number of works by Charley, Noah and Hazel Kinney, as well as works from many other well-known folk artists.

Many of the artists were on hand when the display opened Saturday, April 20, along with the owners of the pieces in the display.

The works belong to the private collections of Richard Edgeworth and Mike Forrest, along with Margaret and Richard Wenstrup.

Members of the Depot Committee will be available to give information on the works during the hours the museum is open. Several school groups are also slated to see the display while it is here.

Local artist, Ed Taylor, left, talks with folk art collector Richard Edgeworth during the opening of tthe folk art display at the Vanceburg Depot Museum. The display runs through May 10 and admission is free. See more exhibit photos posted at www.vanceburgdepot.com.