On April 6, 2015, the Duke Blue Devils beat Wisconsin to win the NCAA championship. Standing alongside his teammates, Tyus Jones enjoyed his moment. At the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Lindsey Vonn stood on the top podium, clutching her gold medal for Downhill Skiing. Most recognize these athletes for those great moments, but teachers and staff at Valley Middle recognize them as students.

As you all know, we have multiple famed graduates from our school. The most talked about ones are NBA player Tyus Jones and the Olympic gold medalist, Lindsey Vonn.

According to Mrs. Curry-Bradach and Ms. Riesterer, both Tyus and Lindsey were great students. They never got in trouble and were always good role models. Tyus loved basketball as a child, and Lindsey was a skier since she was very young. Lindsey went to the Olympics Training Hills and wasn’t in school, so Lindsey’s teachers sent her all the homework and notes that were needed, then she sent them back for her teachers to grade.

Surprisingly, Tyus never really talked about basketball, although he was bugged about it a lot since he was so good.  Mrs. Curry-Bradach describes him as a very helpful, polite, humble and wonderful role model. “He was a quiet leader who didn’t necessarily put himself out there, but people still followed him,” she said. Mrs. Curry-Bradach joked about Tyus being rich and famous. Tyus said if that happened, he would buy her a new Volvo. “He never got me a Volvo,” she said, “I would never ask of that from him.”

In her words, Ms. Riesterer says that Lindsey Vonn was a rather quiet girl in class. “She was a hard worker and a great leader, she had an awesome personality too,” she said. Linsey didn’t stay very long though because she left for the training hills to train for the Olympics.

The one thing both Tyus and Lindsey have in common is that they worked very hard, and if you do too, who knows? Maybe you’ll be the next famous VMSS graduate.