The Enquirer caught up with five Tristate valedictorians, one from each decade since the 1960s.

Class of 1962

Name: David Winkle, Holmes High School, Covington.

Age: 58.

Residence: Lexington.

Occupation: Physician. He works part time for Staff Care, a Texas-based company that provides doctors who substitute for other doctors who are vacationing or taking a break.

College: 1966 graduate of Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky., with majors in biology and pre-med; 1970 graduate of University of Kentucky Medical School. He spent his residency in New York and Colorado, and ran a mission clinic in Chama, in the New Mexico Rocky Mountains.

Aspirations in high school: "I was going to go into the ministry." He was offered a full scholarship to the University of Cincinnati and a scholarship to Harvard, but turned them down. He chose Asbury, a Methodist school and training ground for aspiring ministers. "It became obvious after I was there awhile I did not have the calling to do it.''

Family: He and Sharon, his wife of 35 years, have four children, ages 22-30, and two grandchildren.

Class of 1972

Name: Angela Bohmann, McNicholas High School, Mount Washington.

Age: 49.

Residence: Minneapolis.

Occupation: Compensation and benefits attorney with Leonard, Street and Deinard, a Minneapolis law firm.

College: Finished college in three years as a 1975 graduate of University of Wisconsin-Green Bay; major: modernization processes; 1975 law degree from Boston College Law School.

Aspirations in high school: "Didn't know what I'd do."

Family: Married high school sweetheart Jonathan Riehle. Three daughters, 19, 16 and 14.

Class of 1982

Name: Kim Balph Mack, Ross High School, Ross Township.

Age: 39.

Residence: Okeana.

Occupation: Homemaker who home-schools two sons. "I don't like the alternative lifestyle stuff they get taught. I don't like the peer pressure. I feel like I got a good education at Ross - but the peer pressure is just so awful, and it's worse now."

College: 1987 graduate of the University of Cincinnati's five-year interior design program. She married three weeks after college and worked several design jobs locally and in Albuquerque, N.M., where they lived 41/2 years. She has been a full-time homemaker since December 1990.

Aspirations in high school: Competition for valedictorian was "neck and neck.... I was bound and determined I was going to have it because my mother was valedictorian at Ross, and my aunt was valedictorian at Ross."

Family: Husband, Robert, a 1980 Ross High School graduate and salutatorian; two sons, 9 and 6.

Class of 1992

Name: Eric Dingfelder, Winton Woods High School, Forest Park. (He shared the title with Amy Slamm and David Zins.)

Age: 29.

Residence: Raleigh, N.C.

Occupation: Partner in Innovent Solutions, a West Coast-based company that deals in customized high-end software for large corporations. He runs the East Coast branch in Raleigh. Clients include Cincinnati Financial and Shire Pharmaceuticals.

College: 1996 graduate of Ohio State University; major: computer science.

Aspirations in high school: He wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon, but Ohio State does not offer a pre-med degree, so he studied computers instead.

Family: Wife, Rebecca (Russell), a Forest Park High School graduate. They have a son, 21/2, and another due Sept. 30.

Class of 2002

Name: Jessica Sneed, Taft Information Technology High School, West End.

Age: 19.

Residence: North Avondale.

Occupation: Freshman at Ohio State University; double majoring in financial management and African-American and African Studies.

Works weekends at Great American Ball Park. After school ends June 13, she'll begin an eight-week internship in the global licensing department at Procter & Gamble. Last summer, she interned there in the consumer relations department.

Aspirations: Obtain an MBA and work in the finance or diversity departments at P&G.

Family: Single.