{"id":1320244,"date":"2020-05-28T18:06:51","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T00:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=996765"},"modified":"2020-05-28T18:32:03","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T00:32:03","slug":"roaring-fork-schools-class-of-2020-ready-to-make-it-one-for-the-history-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/roaring-fork-schools-class-of-2020-ready-to-make-it-one-for-the-history-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Roaring Fork Schools\u2019 Class of 2020 ready to make it one for the history books"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/GradPreview-gpi-052920-1024x662.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/GradPreview-gpi-052920-1024x662.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/GradPreview-gpi-052920-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/GradPreview-gpi-052920-768x497.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/GradPreview-gpi-052920-1536x994.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/GradPreview-gpi-052920-2048x1325.jpg 2048w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"662\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption><strong>Roaring Fork High School senior Rex Hamilton marks the school parking lot with spray paint in preparation for the drive through graduation ceremony taking place Saturday.<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Glenwood Springs High School class of 2020 valedictorian William Haas wasn\u2019t so keen on standing in front of a bunch of people giving a graduation speech anyway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t really like being in front of big groups,\u201d Haas said, as he looked ahead to Saturday\u2019s big celebration on the runway at the Glenwood Springs Municipal Airport.<\/p>\n<p>The virtual broadcast and the controlled, drive-in setting \u2014 open only to his fellow graduates, immediate family and school staff due to public health restrictions prompted by the coronavirus outbreak this spring \u2014 is just fine with him, Haas said.<\/p>\n<p>The Glenwood ceremony will be broadcast live on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kmts.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KMTS<\/a> and live-streamed on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Glenwood-Springs-High-School\/178484452203244\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GSHS Facebook page<\/a> for the broader community to tune in at 9 a.m. It will be followed by a parade of graduates along Midland Avenue and looping through downtown Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\" data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Glenwood\u2019s graduation will be one of five drive-in graduation ceremonies for Roaring Fork District and related schools in Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and Basalt on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The lineup starts with Yampah Mountain High School at 10 a.m. Friday at the Glenwood Community Center and Bridges High School in Carbondale at 6 p.m. that evening.<\/p>\n<p>Glenwood Springs and Basalt high school\u2019s ceremonies are on tap for 9 a.m. (Basalt\u2019s will be broadcast on KNFO and live-streamed on the school\u2019s Facebook page), followed by Carbondale\u2019s Roaring Fork High School at 10 a.m., streamed live on KDNK and also on Facebook. See the accompanying schedule for viewing details.<\/p>\n<p>Haas said he was honored to have be selected as the GSHS valedictorian this year, but wasn\u2019t necessarily looking forward to the traditional speech.<\/p>\n<p>As it turned out, the end of the spring semester ended up being anything but traditional.<\/p>\n<p>When in-class instruction was canceled for the rest of the year after spring break, Haas said it was sad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was no prom, AP tests were moved online \u2026 are we ever going to see our teachers again?\u201d Haas said. \u201cThere were all of these questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had to deal with it, figure out how to navigate all of these challenges and just keep moving forward and accept that this was the end of our year,\u201d Haas said with respect to the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Haas said he has loved growing up in the Roaring Fork Valley, but is ready to experience someplace new after graduating. He\u2019s headed to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he plans to study neuroscience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love learning about other cultures and experiencing it through the languages,\u201d said Haas, who is also bilingual.<\/p>\n<p>Glenwood\u2019s graduation ceremony will also feature a special remote commencement address from blind adventurer and motivational speaker Erik Weihenmayer, thanks to donations from Alpine Bank and Glenwood Insurance Agency.<\/p>\n<p>Despite losing his vision at the age of 14, Weihenmayer became an accomplished athlete, becoming the first blind climber in history to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2001.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, he completed his quest to climb the Seven Summits \u2014 the tallest peaks on each of the seven continents. An article in Time Magazine stated, \u201cThere is no way to put what Erik has done in perspective because no one has ever done anything like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His will be an appropriate message for this year\u2019s high school graduates, GSHS Athletic Director Craig Denney said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese kids have put their hearts into creating something special for their classmates and I applaud the resilience of this special group of graduates,\u201d Denney said. \u201cIt will be wonderful to celebrate these kids, even if it\u2019s not in the traditional format we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rex Hamilton was one of 19 Roaring Fork High School students who managed to maintain a 4.0 grade point average, so each will be honored as co-valedictorians. Hamilton will give one of two student speeches, along with co-valedictorian Lucia Penzel, on Saturday in Carbondale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite some of the unfortunate memories this year, I want to remind my classmates to remember and cherish all the good things \u2026 the mountains, this beautiful place we live in \u2026,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cYou have to find the silver lining.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton said he\u2019s talked to a lot of people who don\u2019t really remember their graduation, especially the boring speeches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll remember this one, because it\u2019s so unique. And we\u2019ll be able to tell the stories, because we graduated in the middle of a pandemic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton, an accomplished musician, was also asked to arrange some vocal numbers among his classmates for this year\u2019s graduation. They will be aired on public radio station <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kdnk.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KDNK<\/a> as a prelude to Saturday\u2019s event starting at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>After graduation, Hamilton plans to attend McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.<\/p>\n<p>The RFHS commencement speaker \u2014 also sharing her message remotely \u2014 will be former assistant principal Kelsie Goodman, who left Carbondale two years ago to take a job in her native Iowa.<\/p>\n<p>Graduating senior Jessica Lee, who attends the alternative Yampah Mountain High School, offered that, despite all that\u2019s happened this spring, her school\u2019s graduation will be just as unique as it always is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just love that Yampah really put itself out there to try to encourage students to keep strong, and keep confident, and to say that it will all be OK,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all kind of stuck together. We were family before school ended, and we\u2019re family even more now than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Post Independent reporter Matthew Bennett contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/roaring-fork-schools-class-of-2020-ready-to-make-it-one-for-the-history-books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roaring Fork High School senior Rex Hamilton marks the school parking lot with spray paint in preparation for the drive through graduation ceremony taking place Saturday. Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Glenwood Springs High School class of 2020 valedictorian William Haas wasn\u2019t so keen on standing in front of a bunch of people giving a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1320244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-03 20:53:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1320247,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320244\/revisions\/1320247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}