Cooper Ferguson may be No. 1 in grade point average among Rio Vista seniors, but Nicole Matthews is tops in sense of humor.

Class salutatorian, Matthews writes in her graduation speech, “Our last few weeks at Rio Vista High School felt like they consisted of field trips, movies, Zumba and games. Oh wait, no, we did lots and lots of productive school work, Mr. Peacock.”

Mr. Peacock would be Gary, Rio Vista High School principal. He’s probably used to turning the other cheek when his best and brightest students decide to include him in their fun.

They’re all Eagles. Through a few hardships, but many more positive experiences in recent years, they’ve become sentimentally attached.

It’s that way at small schools. There’s something happening every minute of the school day ... before and after, too.

“I’m in five clubs,” Matthews said. “I’ve been class president four years and varsity volleyball three years, and I’ve enjoyed being office aide and yearbook senior this year. We have one yearbook for all three campuses. It won’t come out until next year, so we’ll get in all our senior activities.”

Busy doesn’t describe her existence.

“Up until this year, I pretty much had no life,” she said. “Between college [classes], sports and high school classes, I was a basket case about the first two weeks. But I always feel good when I get it all done.”

Like Matthews, valedictorian Ferguson is a doer.

“I’ve been in band, football, basketball, track and tennis as a freshman, National Honor Society and Science Club,” he said. “Probably my favorite memories are of sports, being with the rest of the guys. In NHS, we’ve also done some service projects that were pretty fun.

“We did food drive. We worked with the Salvation Army. We filled Angel Tree orders around Christmas and did food boxes. That meant a lot, to be able to help people a little less fortunate than us. It becomes more real to you when you start seeing it. It makes you more thankful for what you have.

“When we were filling Angel Tree orders, we went to a huge warehouse full of toys just for kids in Johnson County. There were so many toys, but they said it wasn’t going to be enough to provide a toy for every child. That’s when it hits home, how hard times are right now. That broke my heart, because I’ve never really had to do without. It makes you a lot more thankful for what you do have. It made me more humble.”

The service projects impacted Matthews directly.

“I’m projects chairman of NHS,” she said, “so I planned all the projects we did like Salvation Army and a nacho dinner during a basketball game. We raised a lot of money from that. We had an assembly line with all the members lined up like at a food bank. We raised money for scholarships. I want to study business at Midwestern State, so it was fun for me to get everything organized.”

An introspective sort, Ferguson made Texas Tech his college choice.

“I visited Texas and some other schools and didn’t care for them that much,” he said. “Then I talked to some family friends who suggested Tech. I really liked the town, and the school was great. The people there really seem to care about you as an individual. You don’t get that feeling at some other schools, even small ones.”

Neither Ferguson nor Matthews is homegrown, though they fit so well into the Rio Vista family environment that they might as well be.

Ferguson transferred to Rio Vista from Whitney after his freshman year. Matthews came to Rio Vista from Cleburne as a fifth grader.

“I’ve lived in Cleburne all 18 years, but a lot of my family has lived in Rio Vista,” Matthews said. “My grandfather is 92, and his dad was on school board when school first started here.”

Ferguson said he wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else for high school.

“The whole point of coming to school here was to get an education,” Ferguson said. “We had heard this was a recognized campus and that the teachers were really respectful and nice. We get a lot more one-on-one time with teachers here. If you have a question, they answer it right away. It’s a good place to be.”

Matthews added, “We all get along in our grade. There’s no fighting. The only thing different I’d like to see is for [the school district] to cover college tuition classes. I’ll have 29 college hours when I enroll at Midwestern, but I’ve had to pay for every hour of that.”

Matthews said she’s grown accustomed to smaller classes at Rio Vista.

“That’s why I chose Midwestern, because it has smaller classes, Cooper and I are in honors classes, and they’re even smaller. When it’s easier to ask your teacher questions, you can learn a lot more. I feel like I’ve benefitted from honors classes as much as someone from Cleburne High does.”

Matthews and Ferguson aren’t deaf. They’re aware of the periodic controversies at Rio Vista ISD, whether it’s a faculty reduction in force or turnovers in coaching staffs.

They defend their school.

“I know what it’s like here,” Ferguson said. “That’s really all I care about. What we offer is a high quality education.”