Ft. Worth Star Telegram, May 25, 2007 FORT WORTH -- Valedictorians have the last word on high school life. They often speak words of thanks, encouragement and nostalgia to their classmates in cap and gown. And then real life starts. In some cases, life includes some nasty curveballs, and, as we all must, they find ways to make do. Or, sometimes, things go just as planned. Here are snapshots of some of our area valedictorians from 1997 as they are today. Yuchi Connie Chang from Arlington bowie High School doesn't remember what she said during her graduation speech. "It was one big metaphor," Chang says. She went to the University of Texas at Austin, then to medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. She lives in Loma Linda, Calif., where she has one more year to go on her residency in dermatology at the Loma Linda University Medical Center. And then? She may come back to Texas, but maybe not. When she moved to Austin, then Galveston, then California, she lost touch with most of her friends from high school. When they meet, they sit and chat, but that hasn't happened often. Except for one old friend. She's engaged to James Ma of Arlington, whom she met working on the school newspaper at Fitzgerald Elementary School. "We grew up together," she says. No wedding date has been set.