(Lander, WY) – The Pathfinder High School graduation ceremony took place last Friday, where the Class of 2026 got to cap off (pun intended) the school year in the recently finished gymnasium.
After the opening graduate procession, Principal Ceatriss Wall welcomed the crowd and offered the following three tips to graduates:
- “If you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’re right. Your mindset will shape your reality. Believe in yourself. That belief is going to carry you further than any other single challenge or opportunity that you have.”
- “The second thing is to remember how many thoughts we have a day. 60 to 80,000 thoughts a day, and most of them are recurring thoughts. And it matters what you say to yourself. So make those positive things that you are telling yourself every day.”
- “And then the last thing, small habits, repeated daily, lead to big results. Success is not built overnight, but it’s built in those quiet moments when no one is watching.”
“Graduation just isn’t the end of high school, it’s the beginning of your next chapter; so as you turn this page, know that you carry with you the strength, the values, and the potential to do great things,” Principal Wall said in closing before bringing up FCSD #1 Superintendent Mike Harris.
“Now to our graduates, I want you to know how much you’ve inspired us with your determination and persistence,” Superintendent Harris told the graduates after praising the family, friends, and teachers who stood by them. “You’ve persevered through challenges of all sorts and you’ve earned every bit of pride we feel for you tonight. You’ve shown that you’re able to accomplish big things, embracing a positive mindset, and moving past all kinds of obstacles along the way.”
Principal Wall then thanked the Pathfinder staff and school board members in attendance, and introduced the student speaker, Abigail Bash.
“We’re going to graduate; most of us didn’t think we would live to see this day, but we did. I know we hated this in high school, but one of the Seven Mindsets was, ‘the time is now.’ I know you guys are disappointed in me, it’s okay,” Bash joked to laughs from her fellow graduates. “It helps us understand that we can do it, and we are doing it. That we can’t change the past, but we can start a future.”
“I can’t thank my mom enough for helping me be the person I am today,” Bash later said of her mom, Danielle, whom she credited with being the driving force behind her graduation accomplishment. She then thanked each of her Pathfinder teachers and listed their character traits that she appreciated most.
Each year, the Pathfinder graduating class picks a speaker for the ceremony, and this year the students chose social studies teacher Josie Hulkovich, who peppered her speech with humor, tears of gratitude, and Simpsons references aplenty.
Despite the laughs and Groundskeeper Willy quotes, Hulkovich had nothing but sincere words for the Class of 2026.
“People think change always looks dramatic, like some huge movie speech or the portals opening at the end of ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ but in real life, it usually looks smaller than that,” Hulkovich said. “Sometimes progress looks like a parent who struggled in school raising a child who refuses to quit. Sometimes it looks like somebody getting back up after disappearing for a while. Sometimes it looks like simply deciding to try again. And that’s what I’ll remember about this class. Not perfection, not formless attendance, definitely not punctuality. What I’ll remember is resilience. Because some of you fought battles nobody could see. Some of you were dealing with anxiety, loss, recovery, instability, pressure, and responsibilities way bigger than most people your age should have to carry. There were days when just showing up took everything you had. And yet, you kept showing up anyway.”
Following Hulkovich’s remarks, the graduates officially received their diplomas, and their accomplishments and future plans were shared as they walked across the stage.
The Pathfinder Class of 2026 included:
Jackson William Anderson
Abigail Kaye Bash
Allanah Brown
Alan Brown
Caiden Zachary Carlson
Daniel Theodore Cox
Matthew Johnson
Kennadi Jean Mitchell
Tylynn Jo Moat
Paige Colbie Jean Washburn
Sierra Lynn Watkins
Mackenzie Raye Weber
h/t Vince Tropea