ZEPHYR – The Zephyr High School graduation ceremony for the Class of 2025 will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, May 23 at the Zephyr ISD Gymnasium.

Ethan Byers, son of Jonathan and Jennifer Byers is the valedictorian while Lundon Lucier, daughter of Joshua and Mary Lucier, is the salutatorian.

“It feels good, it showed everything I did paid off in the end,” Byers said of the valedictorian accolade. “I’ve been leading the class since our freshman year, so I just had to maintain it by staying on top of things.”

Prior to this week’s high school graduation, Byers has already graduated from Ranger College this month with a pair of Associates degrees in the field of science.

“It’s kind of weird graduating college first before you graduate high school, but since this will be my second graduation I know what I’ll be doing,” Byers said with a laugh. “I did as many prerequisites as a I could and got a degree.”

Next, Byers will head to Texas Tech with aspirations of a career as a pharmacist.

“A pharmacist is the least chaotic career in the medical profession I could think of, and I also to get to help people and make sure they’re OK,” Byers said.

Lucier expected to be named salutatorian, and is eager to attend her only graduation of the spring.

“We knew where we were sitting coming in,” Lucier said. “I’m hoping graduation is going to be a more exciting night than sad. I’m not super sad to graduate, I’m looking forward to college.”

The future plans for Lucier include attending Ranger College to pursue RN and BSN degrees.

“I want to work with an ER department in a hospital,” Lucier said. “I’ve always known I wanted to go into the medical profession. For the longest time I wanted to do surgery, but there’s so much schooling. And my entire family is filled with people in the medical field, so I’ve been around it a lot.”

Regarding how Zephyr has prepared the honor graduates for college, Byers said, “We’ve had some great teachers that definitely put us on the right track.”

Lucier added, “Dual credit classes have helped a lot getting ready for college.”

As for favorite teachers and classes, Byers said, “My favorite classes were science, and my favorite teacher is Mr. Fisher. He teaches Economics and Computer classes, and if I ever have questions I can go to him and he’s ready to answer.”

Lucier said, “Definitely science, we’ve done quite a few dissections this year and those are always interesting. And my favorite teacher has been our coach ever since junior high, Ms. Perkins. She’s one of the reasons I have certain qualities instilled into who I am.”

Extracurriculars for Byers were basketball, football, track, National Honor Society, UIL and tennis, as he competed in the state tournament with his brother CJ in boys doubles just last week.

For Lucier, extracurriculars included National Honor Society, UIL volleyball, basketball, track, cheer, and football, which she played from fifth grade until her sophomore year.

“Growing up I always loved the sport and played it a lot with my family when I was younger,” Lucier said of her football career. “I played flag football for a little while and then got into tackle. It was definitely different, there weren’t very many girls who played. I was picked on a little, no one wanted to play against a girl, but growing up here everybody knew me and was used to it. I loved it and wish I would have played longer.”

As for what they’ll miss most about Zephyr High School, both students mentioned their classmates and the friendships that have been built over time.

When it to comes the adjustment of going from a graduating class of 14 to college, Lucier said, “It’ll be weird because we’re used to turning around and recognizing everyone we see, but the dual credit classes have definitely prepared us for the workload.”

“I think I’m going to handle it well, but it’s going to be a pretty big change going from a 60-person high school to a DI college with 10,000 students,” Byers said.