WALDRON -- Josee Larrison was the top-ranked student in her graduating class since she arrived at Waldron High School. That put her in line to be the Class of 2023 Valedictorian.

“It was a goal to be it and stay there,” admitted Larrison.

Once the final grades were calculated, Larrison cemented her status as Waldron’s top student in the Class of 2023.

After growing up in a small town community and going to a small school, Larrison is ready for a fresh start. She will attend Indiana University in the fall and study Human Biology with the goal of becoming a dermatologist.

“I kind of wanted to go to a bigger school because Waldron is so small,” she said. “I love the small school but I also wanted to go to a bigger area and meet a lot of people. That’s what I was looking for.”

Larrison is the second of Isaac and Elissa Larrison’s four children. She along with older sister, Bella, now playing basketball at Anderson University, helped lead Waldron to the Class A girls basketball semistate championship game in 2022 – a first for the basketball program.

Larrison also found great success on the tennis court. She was an All-State Honorable Mention selection by the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association after going 15-5 in singles matches her senior season. Her academic success also earned her an Academic All-State honor from the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association.

Leaving behind her volleyball, basketball and tennis teams at Waldron is proving difficult now that she is no longer competing.

“We all were so close,” she said. “We did everything together. We even had most of our classes together.”

A three-sport athlete at Waldron, Larrison is finding the transition to graduate challenging without a full slate of practices to juggle.

“It’s weird. I have a lot of free time,” she said with a laugh.

That will be the adjustment moving on from Waldron to Bloomington.

“I am definitely going to miss seeing my friends a lot,” she said. “Most of my friends were underclassmen this year. I will definitely miss seeing them and I will miss the small community and how close everyone is.”

Larrison is keeping busy this summer working at Maurice’s and Blue Bear Golf Club in Shelbyville as she counts down the days until her move-in date on campus in mid-August.

“Hopefully I will get to hang out with my friends and enjoy the summer,” she said.

This is the sixth in a series of feature stories from the Shelby County Post on Shelby County’s Class of 2023 valedictorians and salutatorians.

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