Head Student Speech, Graduation 2020 at Basalt High School
Files attached to this item
Dublin Core
Title
Head Student Speech, Graduation 2020 at Basalt High School
Subject
Basalt High School (Basalt, Colo.)
Description
Head Student Speech, Commencement Exercises, Basalt High School, May 2020
Creator
Blazier, James
Source
Colorado Virtual Library
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
Format
text/pdf
Language
English
Type
Text
Date Created
5/30/2020
Spatial Coverage
Basalt (Colo.)
Is Part Of
Pomp & Circumstances Beyond Our Control: Commencement 2020
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
James: Blue
Ben: Red
Daniel: Purple
DANIEL:
Basalt, Colorado. Incorporated on August 26th, 1901, one hundred years before we, the class of2020, were born. Back then, nobody could’ve guessed any aspect of our High School career. Ifwe told a rail worker living in Basalt in the fall of 1901 that the kids born a hundred years fromnow, fresh after 9/11, would have their graduation drive in style, because of a pandemic thatshut down the entire world, and that it would be live streamed on the internet, they would haveno idea what you were talking about, But nonetheless they would be here to support us all inany way possible, because that’s what Basalt is all about.
JAMES:
Every day this school year Ben, Daniel and I chose a word and its definition to share with theschool during the morning announcements, and for our last announcement we’ve chosen threewords to define today: Resilience, Optimism, and Community.
BEN:
The first of our final three words is resilience. We’re resilient. Traditionally we’d all besitting on the football field right now, but it really isn’t about the specifics of ourgraduation ceremony. It’s that we’re all here together today. And it’s about all of thechallenges that every single one of us has overcome here at BHS over the past 4years. And I know - for a fact - we’ve all hit our roadblocks, faced adversity, and dealtwith our own personal lives since starting here freshmen year.
If you’ve been to Basalt high school graduations before,you probably watched previousclasses walk across the graduation stage thinking to yourself, “just wait until it's mytime.” While this drive-in ceremony isn’t exactly how we pictured our graduation day,it's events like this that build character, and we are incredibly resilient for being able toadapt to this situation at hand.
DANIEL:
We have always been there for eachother when our journey got hard, and helped each otherthrive when we were smooth sailing.
JAMES:
And just by looking around, seeing everybody in their decorated car, you can see how importantthe support of our classmates has been for our individual successes.
DANIEL:
I know Erny wouldn’t be going on to play football next year if I wasn’t there to help him puton his jersey every game. Most of us wouldn’t have been able to do what we are doing nextyear if our class wasn’t so competitive.
JAMES:
I know tucker emma and I had been fighting for the number three spot since sophomore yearand as much as we wish it were us- congratulations to our friends and valedictorians Annie andSasha.
DANIEL:
Our senior retreat would be a lot less memorable without Ambie on the microphone, or thecountless times we broke the waterslide rules. For most of us, we have gotten the pleasure toknow each other since elementary school, and have been together ever since. Just because wewill all be spread out around the world next year, don’t forget how much every single personwalking across the stage today has helped you to get there.
BEN:
Because today - in this parking lot - we celebrate what we’ve overcome, what we’veachieved, and who we are -- We all will have a shared history here, and today eachone of us is going out into the world to achieve our personal dreams and ambitions.And we’ll be all the better for it because of our resilience.
If it weren’t for resilience, the football team wouldn’tve beaten Rifle on one of thebiggest stages after falling to them the first time. If it weren’t for resilience, Danielwouldn’tve beaten 2 middle schoolers in the 60 meter dash while competing againstsome of the best runners in the country at the United States Air Force Academy duringour first-ever winter track season.
And if it weren’t for resilience, a certain someone wouldn't have finished singing thenational anthem after forgetting the words in front of way too many people at thatbasketball game.
But it isn’t just our students being resilient; we would like to thank Marge Shrock andAlexandra Braeger for their resilience and dedication in making sure our class had theclosest thing we could to a normal senior spring. And a big thanks to all theadministration and faculty at Basalt for continuing our education during this time.
JAMES:
As we’ve mentioned many things were unexpected and unplanned for the class of 2020 thisyear and overall. I know that many of us were looking forward to a lot of things that just didn’thappen or didn’t happen the way we had planned them. Graduation, choir, final prom, spring-break plans, the musical, ap tests or anything else that you can think of.
Out of all the scenarios I pictured this year, this one was, to say the least, the most unexpected.But we urge everyone to always remember this year and this spring and find somethingvaluable within all of it. I feel like it’s so easy to feel disappointed hearing about everything wemissed, but honestly despite everything I still feel all the same excitement, happiness, and pridethat I saw and felt in past graduations. There’s always going to be uncertainty and unclarity.That’s just the nature of the future. So we want everyone to try to embrace the unexpected andfind some comfort in knowing that things don’t always go as planned. Wherever you go in thefuture be ready for your expectations to change because what matters the most is that you neverstop learning and growing from everything that comes or has come your way.
Please don’t forget everything you’ve learned from Basalt just because this year was cut short,because the priceless knowledge you obtained here will guide you through the rest of your lifeas you embark into adulthood.
Siempre mire hacia el futuro con una fuerte esperanza y confía en la promesa de una vidapróspera porque así será. Recuerde que Dios obligó que extendieramos la jardin de Eden en latierra y en esta época me gusta recordar una cita de Frida Kahlo que dice:
echame tierra y verascomo florezco.
Even though the future doesn’t look the way we’ve always envisioned it whether that’s college,the military or workforce. That’s okay. So with that said our second word of the day isoptimism which is the hopefulness and confidence in the future and the successful outcome ofan event. Because trust us when we say, we’re all still going to be successful no matter muchthings change.
DANIEL:
The more I thought about how it could’ve been, the more I feel grateful to be a part of this class.No other class has gotten commencements from Oprah or Barack Obama. We are special, andwe couldn’t have done it without the support of those around us. Which brings me to my word,and our final word of the day, Community. A unified body of people. We aren’t a communitybecause we all live in Basalt, but rather because we are Basalt. We are the community thatbanded together to raise $100,000 for st. Baldricks. We are the community that came together toshovel the football field for our first ever semi finals game. So, for the rest of your liferemember that you are Basalt, don’t ever forget your roots because you will forever be a part ofthis amazing community. The community those rail workers founded, the one that ourgrandparents built and our parents build, and the one that we make sure lives on today. We areso unbelievably grateful to get to graduate with all of you and to have been your head students.Thank you.
Ben: Red
Daniel: Purple
DANIEL:
Basalt, Colorado. Incorporated on August 26th, 1901, one hundred years before we, the class of2020, were born. Back then, nobody could’ve guessed any aspect of our High School career. Ifwe told a rail worker living in Basalt in the fall of 1901 that the kids born a hundred years fromnow, fresh after 9/11, would have their graduation drive in style, because of a pandemic thatshut down the entire world, and that it would be live streamed on the internet, they would haveno idea what you were talking about, But nonetheless they would be here to support us all inany way possible, because that’s what Basalt is all about.
JAMES:
Every day this school year Ben, Daniel and I chose a word and its definition to share with theschool during the morning announcements, and for our last announcement we’ve chosen threewords to define today: Resilience, Optimism, and Community.
BEN:
The first of our final three words is resilience. We’re resilient. Traditionally we’d all besitting on the football field right now, but it really isn’t about the specifics of ourgraduation ceremony. It’s that we’re all here together today. And it’s about all of thechallenges that every single one of us has overcome here at BHS over the past 4years. And I know - for a fact - we’ve all hit our roadblocks, faced adversity, and dealtwith our own personal lives since starting here freshmen year.
If you’ve been to Basalt high school graduations before,you probably watched previousclasses walk across the graduation stage thinking to yourself, “just wait until it's mytime.” While this drive-in ceremony isn’t exactly how we pictured our graduation day,it's events like this that build character, and we are incredibly resilient for being able toadapt to this situation at hand.
DANIEL:
We have always been there for eachother when our journey got hard, and helped each otherthrive when we were smooth sailing.
JAMES:
And just by looking around, seeing everybody in their decorated car, you can see how importantthe support of our classmates has been for our individual successes.
DANIEL:
I know Erny wouldn’t be going on to play football next year if I wasn’t there to help him puton his jersey every game. Most of us wouldn’t have been able to do what we are doing nextyear if our class wasn’t so competitive.
JAMES:
I know tucker emma and I had been fighting for the number three spot since sophomore yearand as much as we wish it were us- congratulations to our friends and valedictorians Annie andSasha.
DANIEL:
Our senior retreat would be a lot less memorable without Ambie on the microphone, or thecountless times we broke the waterslide rules. For most of us, we have gotten the pleasure toknow each other since elementary school, and have been together ever since. Just because wewill all be spread out around the world next year, don’t forget how much every single personwalking across the stage today has helped you to get there.
BEN:
Because today - in this parking lot - we celebrate what we’ve overcome, what we’veachieved, and who we are -- We all will have a shared history here, and today eachone of us is going out into the world to achieve our personal dreams and ambitions.And we’ll be all the better for it because of our resilience.
If it weren’t for resilience, the football team wouldn’tve beaten Rifle on one of thebiggest stages after falling to them the first time. If it weren’t for resilience, Danielwouldn’tve beaten 2 middle schoolers in the 60 meter dash while competing againstsome of the best runners in the country at the United States Air Force Academy duringour first-ever winter track season.
And if it weren’t for resilience, a certain someone wouldn't have finished singing thenational anthem after forgetting the words in front of way too many people at thatbasketball game.
But it isn’t just our students being resilient; we would like to thank Marge Shrock andAlexandra Braeger for their resilience and dedication in making sure our class had theclosest thing we could to a normal senior spring. And a big thanks to all theadministration and faculty at Basalt for continuing our education during this time.
JAMES:
As we’ve mentioned many things were unexpected and unplanned for the class of 2020 thisyear and overall. I know that many of us were looking forward to a lot of things that just didn’thappen or didn’t happen the way we had planned them. Graduation, choir, final prom, spring-break plans, the musical, ap tests or anything else that you can think of.
Out of all the scenarios I pictured this year, this one was, to say the least, the most unexpected.But we urge everyone to always remember this year and this spring and find somethingvaluable within all of it. I feel like it’s so easy to feel disappointed hearing about everything wemissed, but honestly despite everything I still feel all the same excitement, happiness, and pridethat I saw and felt in past graduations. There’s always going to be uncertainty and unclarity.That’s just the nature of the future. So we want everyone to try to embrace the unexpected andfind some comfort in knowing that things don’t always go as planned. Wherever you go in thefuture be ready for your expectations to change because what matters the most is that you neverstop learning and growing from everything that comes or has come your way.
Please don’t forget everything you’ve learned from Basalt just because this year was cut short,because the priceless knowledge you obtained here will guide you through the rest of your lifeas you embark into adulthood.
Siempre mire hacia el futuro con una fuerte esperanza y confía en la promesa de una vidapróspera porque así será. Recuerde que Dios obligó que extendieramos la jardin de Eden en latierra y en esta época me gusta recordar una cita de Frida Kahlo que dice:
echame tierra y verascomo florezco.
Even though the future doesn’t look the way we’ve always envisioned it whether that’s college,the military or workforce. That’s okay. So with that said our second word of the day isoptimism which is the hopefulness and confidence in the future and the successful outcome ofan event. Because trust us when we say, we’re all still going to be successful no matter muchthings change.
DANIEL:
The more I thought about how it could’ve been, the more I feel grateful to be a part of this class.No other class has gotten commencements from Oprah or Barack Obama. We are special, andwe couldn’t have done it without the support of those around us. Which brings me to my word,and our final word of the day, Community. A unified body of people. We aren’t a communitybecause we all live in Basalt, but rather because we are Basalt. We are the community thatbanded together to raise $100,000 for st. Baldricks. We are the community that came together toshovel the football field for our first ever semi finals game. So, for the rest of your liferemember that you are Basalt, don’t ever forget your roots because you will forever be a part ofthis amazing community. The community those rail workers founded, the one that ourgrandparents built and our parents build, and the one that we make sure lives on today. We areso unbelievably grateful to get to graduate with all of you and to have been your head students.Thank you.
Citation
Blazier, James, “Head Student Speech, Graduation 2020 at Basalt High School,” Stories of Colorado, accessed March 27, 2026, https://stories.cvlcollections.org/items/show/15.