Media release from Rome, GA City Schools:
Whether in the classroom, in the pool, playing the piano, volunteering, or more, Lily Cantrell has shown a propensity for high achievement. Her many skills and a life-long love of learning have served Cantrell well as she has been named Rome High School’s Valedictorian for the Class of 2025.
Lily is the daughter of Paul and Jenny Cantrell. She has a 4.677 grade point average and has taken 17 AP classes and six dual enrollment classes. She has been on the honor roll all four years, is a Georgia Certificate of Merit Recipient and a Leadership Rome graduate, and has earned AP Honors with Distinction.
“Being valedictorian means a lot to me because I’ve worked so hard for it. But I really love learning, so it means a lot that my love of learning helped pay off in this way,” Cantrell said. “It was hard, but it was also a lot of fun to get to take a lot of classes that I would have never taken if I wasn’t going for it. It just represents a lot of love for me.”
When not in class or serving as a volunteer, Lily has participated in a slew of activities. She is the founder and president of the 21st Century Leaders Club, participated in the Student Youth Leadership Summit at Emory Goizueta Business School, is the National Honors Society Vice President, BEAR Club Vice President, and the Junior Civitan Animal Service Project Coordinator. She is also a member of the Interact Club, League of Young Voters, Student Ambassador, and serves on the Superintendent Student Advisory Council.
Along with those activities, Lily can often be found in the water. She has been a member of the Three Rivers Swim Team for 11 years and has competed for Rome High’s Swim Team earning varsity letters and qualifying for the Georgia High School Association State Swim Meet.
She also is an avid pianist, having played for more than 14 years. She has performed at graduations, numerous piano guilds, piano sheet music premiers, and more.
Along with her many school activities, Cantrell has been an active volunteer for several organizations. She has logged more than 300 volunteer hours working with kids education and literacy, volunteering at Montessori educational camps, tutoring, reading to low-income kindergarteners, and participating in Main Elementary STEM days. She has also spent a lot of volunteer time with Floyd Felines.
Her post graduation plans include majoring in political science with a minor in history in college with a plan to attend law school and become a lawyer. She has also spent time as a legal intern at Stephen P. Woodard, LLC.
“I definitely want to be a lawyer. I just really want to help people. I don’t know what type of law I want to practice, but I’m not going to be the type of lawyer that just goes after people to hurt people,” Cantrell said. “I want to be the type of lawyer who makes a difference and helps people.”
While she has received acceptance from several schools as well as numerous scholarships she hasn’t determined where she will go to college yet.
Rome High senior Sam Hard has been working diligently throughout his high school career. Last week when he was named Rome High School’s Salutatorian for the Class of 2025, he felt it was an obvious extension of the work he’s put in.
“I think to me being a salutatorian is really more of a reward for the amount of work I’ve put in towards my other academic goals throughout my life and throughout my educational career,” Hard said.
Hard is the son of Dr. Brian and Heather Hard. He has a 4.627 grade point average and has been very active during his time at Rome High.
Among the many honors Hard has received include him being named an AP Scholar with Distinction and earning the AP Capstone Diploma. He is a two-time Governor’s Honors nominee and earned Duke TIP State honors as well as the University of Georgia Certificate of Merit. He is an Emerge High School Leadership Rome Participant and has twice been honored as a Rome High School Wolf Award recipient.
He was part of the 2024 SkillsUSA Robotics Team that was an Urban Search and Rescue State Winner as well as an FBLA Journalism State placer.
Hard has also stayed active at Rome High in numerous clubs and sports, including the Rome High Engineering and Design, Rome Composite Youth Mountain Bike Team, Future Business Leaders of America, BEAR Club, League of Young Voters, National Honor Society, Junior Civitan, SkillsUSA, and Interact Club.
“I currently hope to be a civil engineer in the future. Either doing structural engineering or transportation engineering probably, but obviously, that could change depending on what happens in college. There’s a lot of different fields in engineering,” Hard said.
One of the aspects Hard said he likes most about engineering is that it requires a lot of different skill sets.
“I like that it takes a lot of different types of skills. You have math skills, you have to have science skills. Depending on the engineering you do, you even have to have a little bit of social studies and a little bit of literature skills for reports,” Hard said.
What Hard also likes about engineering and what brings a big smile to his face when says it, is the impact engineering and engineers can have.
“I really think engineering makes the world a better place,” he said.
Hard has applied to several colleges and has not yet decided where he plans to study engineering.
