As Key Smith and Ben Tillman start college this year, they will carry with them the experience of attending Cathedral School.

&uot;It’s not so much what we’ve learned but learning how to study I think,&uot; Tillman said.

Both say friendships with people at school and the study habits and discipline they learned at Cathedral School will not leave them.

&uot;(We learned) the basic principals and values that we have that we’ll carry with us forever,&uot; Smith said.

Smith graduated valedictorian of his class of 44 students and Tillman graduated salutatorian.

Both say they did not plan on earning the honors. It just &uot;happened.&uot;

Their final grades were only about one half of a point apart but they said academics has not stood in the way of their friendship.

&uot;We both just try to do our best (and) never put competition into it,&uot; Smith said.

They suspected that they were in the running for first and second place for several years, but did not find out the final scores until award’s night.

&uot;Some years were hard and some years were easy and it all balanced out,&uot; Tillman said.

In addition to academics, both students spent time with extracurricular activities.

&uot;Sports played a major role in high school,&uot; said Smith, who played football and baseball and also took part in power lifting and swimming.

He said sports helped him learn time management and also kept him busy.

Tillman agreed and jokingly said &uot;soccer kept me off the streets.&uot;

Smith plans to attend the University of Mississippi this fall and is considering a career in dentistry. Tillman plans to attend Washington & Lee University.

Smith is the son of Billy Key and Augusta Smith. Tillman is the son of Barry and Teri Tillman.