RIPON - Ripon Christian High School valedictorian Logan Vos has his own sage advice for incoming freshmen as prepares to lead his small senior class of 54 through graduation exercises on Wednesday.

“Basically you don’t realize how much you do in your freshman year that will affect future college scholarships,” he cautioned. “A lot of the scholarships don’t take into account your senior year, but the freshman year is one of the three years that gets counted.”

“If you have a bunch of bad grades (and slack off) in your freshman year, they’re going to see that and evaluate from that point,” he said. “Take pride in your work and do your best.”

Vos earned a 4.3 grade point average and has received numerous awards for basketball and golf.

He enjoys a golf handicap of 2 playing at both Spring Creek Country Club links and at Ripon’s Jack Tone Golf Course with the Ripon Christian High golf team.

In his freshman year at RC his team won the Trans Valley League title and his sophomore year brought him the most outstanding player recognition and this year he tied for first place in the league – co-medalist in the final tournament.

This year his varsity basketball team was undefeated in league and Vos was named the league’s most valuable player.

“We had a good run, but lost in the sections semi-finals to a really good team. Then we went to Norcal, the state playoffs and we won a game and then lost to the eventual state champions.

“This year was a pretty good sports’ year. A couple weeks ago I found out I was a Max Preps’ Division 5 All-State 2 guard,” he said. Max Preps (maxpreps.com) is the web site that lists all the high school stats for basically every sport that named Vos to the Division 5 All-State First Team.

Vos began his Ripon Christian basketball career as a sixth grader with his dad Brian serving as one of two coaches. He said his most challenging mountain to climb during high school was juggling his two sports and carrying the academic load – tackling some three hours of homework nightly.

“To balance taking the AP classes with other classes through busy times and trying to keep priorities straight – just managing your time,” he said.

Calculus and economics were his favorite classes during his senior year. Vos hopes for a career in the area of business operations or financial management. He has no specific firm in mind as a future employer when he graduates from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights – 30 minutes from Chicago, IL. Trinity is located on a 138-acre wooded campus.

Vos readily gives his parents – Brian and Lynette Vos – credit for his success in high school and before in his grade school years.

“They are the reason I do so well in school,” he said. From day one in school they have always instilled in me and pressured me to be the best that I can be – telling me that’s how you’re going to get where you want to go in life – to do the best you can do and not slacking off at all. They’re really the two people I have to thank for my achievement so far this year and all through high school,” he said.

The Ripon Christian senior credited his economics teacher, Sherwin Heyboer, for being able to teach his classes in anything but a boring way and still make sense. Vos said he sat in on a couple of college econ classes where the professors did not measure up to Heyboer’s teaching skills.

In the first grade at Ripon Christian Elementary he had Mrs. Jean DeJong and Mrs. Barb Pool in his kindergarten year. “I didn’t have any teachers I really didn’t like and I learned a lot from them. I loved them all,” he added.

Having a great dislike for English, seventh grade teacher Judy Beukelman changed all that. “I never liked English that much – I always liked math and you wouldn’t have to make me study math,” he said.

He remembered how “Mrs. B” made literature fun and made writing a priority,” changing his appreciation for English classes.

Vos has been a class representative throughout his high school life – RC doesn’t have class presidents -and he clearly remembers the many fun times that his close-knit class has enjoyed. He said every year after the school elections the entire class would attend bonfires at one of the class rep’s homes.

“It’s cool when you have the whole senior class go. That doesn’t happen in a lot of places,” he said of other high schools in the region.