CASSOPOLIS — Seniors Amy Adams and Amelia Ayers both remember studying together as early as fifth grade. They practiced math flashcards together and quizzed each other.

“We would always answer at the exact same time every time because we tried to see who could answer first,” Adams said.

They also made up made up fantasy-themed activities together during recess.

“I remember in sixth grade we made up a game of tag called Troll Under the Bridge,” Ayers said.

Their history together made it even more special when they were made valedictorian and salutatorian together at Ross Beatty.

“It’s an honor to be valedictorian and have all of the hard work over the past 12 years pay off,” said Adams, the valedictorian. “All the time that I could have spent doing stuff with friends or just being lazy, I spent that doing my work and making sure my work was to the best of my abilities and it paid off, and being able to be there right with Amelia after spending all of our education together and working together is awesome.”

Ayers was also excited.

“We probably helped each other get to this point,” Ayers said. “So it’s cool that we both succeeded at it.”

They say that in order to become valedictorian and salutatorian they had to work hard and balance their time, which was especially difficult given the number of extracurriculars that they each participated in. Both participated in cross country, band, robotics, science olympiad and student senate.

Adams also plays soccer and runs track, which both take place in the spring.

“This is the first year that I’ve actually gone to a little bit of track practice,” Adams said. “I never trained specifically for track, except for one week this year, so I usually am at soccer and then after practice I will do school work or go to other extracurriculars and then do school work after that.”

Yet, even without focusing on track, Adams recently won the 800-meters, 1,600-meters and was the runner-up in the 3,200-meters at the Southwest 10 Conference meet.

Ayers was in a similar situation, as she participated in the spring production of “Charlotte’s Web” this year, which coincided with robotics.

“I would go to robotics for three hours and then as soon as I was done, I would go to play practice for three hours after that,” Ayers said. “So that was tough because I really didn’t have a lot of time for homework and stuff. Learning how to balance all of that was pretty difficult and I didn’t sleep that much.”

She found by doing homework and studying when it was not her turn to rehearse her lines or be on stage, she was able to stay on top of her studies.

“I could do it backstage if I needed to,” she said. “So even in my breaks I was working.”

Next year, Adams and Ayers will be apart. Adams will attend Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan, while Ayers will attend Mount Holyoke Oak College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. They said they will miss each other, their classmates and the younger students, who will still be at Ross Beatty next year.