With more than 600 students, the Class of 2026 constituted one of Wasatch High School’s largest classes ever since 1912, likely for the last time, with class sizes set to shrink when the new Deer Creek High School opens in August.

Among those graduates were 67 who maintained a 4.0 average throughout high school, as well as students who snagged scholarships, seals of biliteracy, associate’s degrees and other impressive accolades, explained Principal Ryan Bishop during Thursday’s graduation ceremony at the high school football field. 

Some other records were altogether less impressive.

“Just to keep things grounded, this class also managed to rack up well over 1,000 unexcused absences,” Bishop joked, to hoots and hollers from the graduating class. “We are not proud of you for that. And just to top it off, a few hundred parking tickets along the way. So, yes, you definitely left your mark in several different ways.”

Bishop added it is not the impressive GPAs, test scores or awards he wants students to remember, but the peers, family members and teachers who helped them through the journey.

“I hope you carry humility with you. The world will tell you to focus on recognition, comparison and proving yourself. But humility is not thinking less of yourself. It’s remembering that no one succeeds alone,” he said.

That rang true for co-valedictorian Brynnlea Scheuller, who in her speech compared the high school experience to climbing Mount Timpanogos, whose snowcapped peaks she’s gazed at from her front window every morning since she was five. She finally took the plunge and climbed the mountain last year.

“Getting to the top requires waking up at 4 a.m. to beat the heat, hiking 7 miles straight uphill and earning at least three blisters and a shoe full of rocks along the way,” she said. “Just like this mountain, our lives have two sides: a side that everyone admires from a distance and a side we keep hidden. People often see the photo at the summit, the part that looks easy and put together, but the real story is in what happens before the picture is taken. It happens during the switchbacks, in the moments when no one’s watching, when we are tired and unsure but decide to keep going.”

Co-valedictorian Matthew Blood also used literal and metaphorical heights as inspiration in his speech, recalling NASA’s Artemis II mission to the moon in April.

“I don’t know who the first to say, ‘The sky is the limit’ (was), but they sure weren’t very bright,” he joked. “There is no limit to where humanity can go. … We will be at the forefront of these projects. We will be advancing society and building a positive culture. Presently, we are the most influential generation because we will set the precedent of excellence in our communities, countries, the world and eventual interplanetary species.”

After the four co-valedictorian speakers was a fitting musical number by the high school’s chamber choir, “North” by Sleeping At Last. The lyrics about repainting when “our color fades” and “our paint chips away” set the tone for school board member Brad Ehlert’s speech about resilience.

Ehlert began by telling the story of Cory Hanks, a Charleston resident who, while working in a gold mine in Nephi, lost both hands and his sight after he picked up a box of blasting caps that had been sitting in the sun. 

He had been working in the gold mines to pay for his tuition to Stanford University and, despite his accident, went on to attend Stanford, Harvard University, the King’s School of Oratory and Columbia University. He became a lecturer in high schools, colleges, universities and civic halls throughout the United States, Canada, Cuba and the Hawaiian islands. 

Before Hanks died in 1955, he authored his autobiography, “Up From the Hills,” in which he wrote, “We can never turn in our pathway of experience. We must go on.”

“One choice changed Cory Hanks’ life, but the choices after that defined it,” Ehlert said. “He chose to learn and work again. He chose to build again. He chose not to let one moment, even a devastating one, become the final definition of who he was or what his life could become.”

Ehlert then awarded a surprise $5,000 scholarship to a student who embodied Hanks’ tenacity: 19-year-old Crew Baxter, a football and baseball player who recently received an athletic and academic scholarship to the Colorado School of Mines, where he will study civil engineering.

Baxter’s older brother, Kaden, died in a car collision with a drunk driver in 2020. Kaden was 20 at the time. Surrounded by family after the graduation ceremony, Baxter explained that Kaden’s death had completely changed his approach to life.

“It’s pushed me forward in schooling and sports and everything. I feel like I’m living his life through me. I mean, he did civil engineering, too, and he was really a football star and a baseball star,” Baxter said. “Every day, I feel like he’s looking down at me. He’s giving me his energy to go through all this stuff and achieve.”

Another challenge for Baxter throughout his schooling has been his parents’ divorce. He described his father as “abusive.”

“We went through a lot of years of going through the divorce, going through a scheduled visitation and then going through a lot of court systems,” Baxter said. “I lived in an apartment for most of my middle school and elementary school, sharing a room with my mom and my brothers.”

Throughout the challenges, Baxter’s family has been his guiding light.

“The comfort and moral support that we had with each other really helped us grow and blossom,” he said.

Baxter said high school came with its fair share of fun — participating in sports, becoming more sociable and growing into himself — but it felt “amazing” to be acknowledged for the hardships, too.

“Us Baxters, we don’t really like talking about our grief, especially me. I don’t want to feel like I’m given a step up or pity,” he said. “Having the scholarship was being recognized at least, for once. It really salved my heart and soul.”

The message Ehlert left the Class of 2026 with was to persevere, just like Baxter did.

“When you choose a path that isn’t the right fit, do not let that be the end of your story. Learn, repair, stand back up, choose again, because your life will not be built by one perfect decision. It will be built by the choices you kept making after the plan changes,” he said. “You are not behind. You are not broken. You are not defined by the hardest thing that has happened to you. You are the person who still gets to choose what comes next. That is what this valley has been teaching you.”

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During the Wasatch Alternative High School graduation, educators and families celebrated 48 students who received their diplomas despite the personal and academic challenges they had faced.

Among the students Friday was Alistair VanRoosendaal, an aspiring musician who looked the part with his flowing brown hair, pink velvet suit jacket and wealth of jewelry pieces, each with a special meaning — even the necklace of strung-together Goldfish cracker bags, which his siblings made for him. 

VanRoosendaal has been at the Alternative High School for one year. He said he’s learned more in that year than in his first three years at Wasatch High School.

“I never felt like a curriculum was being shoved down my throat. It felt like I was learning what I needed to learn in order to be who I needed to be. … I think every teacher is incredible. I don’t like calling them teachers because they’re friends,” he said. “I don’t feel like it’s just a school, and I don’t feel like it’s just a place to go hang out and goof off, because it’s the perfect marriage of the two.”

The Alternative High School, held at west campus, provides intervention for students in need of extra attention and guidance outside of a traditional classroom environment. 

“A lot of kids obviously come for different reasons, but we have some that are just so credit deficient that recovering credits at main (campus) while earning credits gets to be super daunting,” explained Administrator Amanda Edwards. “Kids will also come with family trauma or anxiety, depression, reasons that keep them out of main campus right now. It’s 2,700 kids (at main campus). It’s overwhelming, busy, daunting. The classes there are 80 to 90 minutes, and we run on a much shorter, 50-minute class schedule.”

During the ceremony, each graduate was introduced by a teacher who had tracked their progress to ensure they made it to graduation. Unlike a traditional graduation, each of the nine teachers also shared thoughts about each student after reading their name.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, though many tried to hold back their tears. 

Teacher Lindsey Jacobsen, for example, began announcing names in an even tone, but the steely-faced facade didn’t last as she spoke about students like Anthony Gonzalo Rodriguez Batalla, a budding barber who calls Jacobsen his “school mom.”

“Oh, dear,” she said, choking up, to which a graduate shouted from onstage, “You’ve got this, Ms. Jacobsen!”

Teacher Paul Smith was also emotional as he addressed Sandybel Reyes Dominguez.

“Sandy, when I first met you, you wanted nothing to do with school or with me. However, over the last few years, I’ve seen miraculous change, like the caterpillar and the butterfly,” he said. “It’s been one of the great blessings of my life to see this transition.”

He took a more jocular tone with Antonio Saucedo Tapia.

“Oh, Tony, Tony, Tony,” Smith sighed after reading his name. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep over getting you to graduation. We went back and forth so many times about what work you needed to do and the time you needed to get everything done. Every time, you’d say you’d do it, and you did.”

He used the same routine on the following graduate, Collin Coomes.

“I’ve never lost more sleep over anybody but you. I’ve also lost six pounds,” he jested.

Smith wasn’t the only one with jokes. 

“I’m going to be honest. In a way, Caston (Spear) was a disappointment,” teacher Derek Brooks said. “Because he’s such a hard worker, he ended up finishing many of his credits earlier than expected, and this meant that I got to experience less of our meaningful conversations before, during or after class this past year.”

One of the 48 graduates was given special recognition by school board President Kim Dickerson.

Dickerson began by telling the story of Cory Hanks, a Charleston resident who died in 1955. Hanks lost both hands and became blind after a box of blasting caps exploded while he was working the gold mines in Nephi to pay for his tuition to Stanford University. After the accident, he pursued his education anyways, becoming an author who gave 6,670 lectures throughout his life.

Dickerson quoted a passage from Hanks’ autobiography, “Up From the Hills”: “Tears shed through trials should be tears of joy, for scars grow together stronger than before.”

Dickerson then awarded a surprise $5,000 scholarship in Hanks’ name to Josie Perez, who will be studying nursing at Utah Valley University in the fall. 

Perez had been one of five graduate speakers and told the story of her parents’ immigration to the United States over three decades ago.

“Their sacrifice became the foundation for my opportunities,” she said. “All my life, my parents told us the importance of school. ‘We have no choice but to work with our hands for the rest of our lives. You have an opportunity to work with your brain.’”

Education was the “job” Perez and her siblings were tasked with, but her first three years of high school were “rough.”

“Transferring to Alternative may be seen to many as a setback, but for me, it was a turning point. It gave me a chance to reflect and to rebuild,” she said. “It gifted me with teachers who saw me, who believed in me and who pushed me to believe in myself again. … Anyone can handle assignments and show up to teach a class, but it takes something much deeper to truly change a student’s life. It takes a person with a genuine and compassionate heart to look beyond the grades, the struggles and the setbacks, (and) continue to see potential, to choose encouragement over judgment, patience over frustration, belief over doubt.”

Using Perez as an example, Dickerson said that each Alternative High School graduate’s story is not defined by strife. Rather, each story is defined by “resilience, determination and hope” — qualities that will guide the graduates as they write the next chapters of their lives.

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The Wasatch Education Foundation on Monday night awarded $465,000 in scholarships to 271 seniors in the Class of 2026, a record amount for the nonprofit organization.

Applause and happy hoots from the senior section were irrepressible at the start of the event. But as the awards turned into a two-hour procession of names, the students fell into a familiar, funny rhythm, letting out a single, collective clap after each name was announced.

Over 100 donors funded the scholarships. They included local families, parent networks, businesses and organizations ranging from Intermountain Health Heber Valley Hospital to the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office. 

Some brand-new scholarships were awarded this year.

For example, the Joe Witt Future Builders Legacy Scholarship was awarded to five students from the homebuilding course to support their careers in the trades. It was established by Joe Witt’s siblings, Bonnie Witt Vance and Ben Witt, after the homebuilder and volunteer instructor for the course died in an avalanche while snowmobiling in the Snake Creek area in February.

“We have enough in the funds now to do this every year, probably give out five to six (scholarships) … for the rest of our lives,” Bonnie said.

The Summit Pride Foundation also awarded a scholarship at Wasatch High School for the first time. Maghie Ingols-Pennington, president of the high school’s Gay Straight Alliance, was recognized for her support of LGBTQ+ students.

“I’m not part of the LGBTQ community myself, but I love supporting it,” she said. “I just feel like it makes sense to treat everybody equally and give equal opportunities to everyone.”

Ingols-Pennington plans to study political science at the University of Utah, launching her into whatever career lets her travel the most — a diplomat, she hopes.

The scholarship night was especially significant for recipients of We Rise scholarships, which are awarded to first-generation college students. A board of first-generation Wasatch High School alumni launched the program through the nonprofit Wasatch Education Foundation in the spring of 2021. This year, 24 students received We Rise scholarships. 

Among those 24 were Jazmine Ramirez Parks and Alexander Velazquez Bobadilla. 

They were recognized for completing their associate’s degrees through Utah Valley University during high school, and both plan on attending the University of Utah in the fall.

Velazquez Bobadilla will study mechanical engineering. He’s drawn to the creative problem-solving of the profession.

He wrestled as a junior but dropped out of the team to focus on his studies and work, which he does pretty much constantly at Wendy’s and Walmart. 

“I have lots of money saved for college,” he explained. 

Velazquez Bobadilla’s father is a chef, and his mother is a housekeeper.

“They always tell me, ‘Keep pushing. We need to break the cycle,’” he said. “I have kind of a lot of pressure, but I like it because that’s where I do my best.”

Ramirez Parks described her friend as “bubbly” and able to get along with anyone but serious when he needs to be. Velazquez Bobadilla offered her a fist bump in response to the compliment.

Ramirez Parks plans to get her prerequisites for medical school so she can become a surgeon. 

She’s wanted to be in the medical field ever since she watched her childhood hero, Doc McStuffins, of the animated Disney Junior show of the same name, give operations and check-ups to toys. Now, Ramirez Parks is a certified nursing assistant at Heber Valley Assisted Living.

“(My parents) told me that if I find happiness in doing that, and if I … truly enjoy helping people, and it’s not all about the money, to go the route that I want to do, just figure out the rest when it comes,” she said. 

Ramirez Parks said one of her greatest challenges during high school was her parents’ divorce during her sophomore year — something she chose to approach as a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block.

“That just helped me keep pushing for the sake of my mom and myself,” she said.

Velazquez Bobadilla and Ramirez Parks agreed that fitting in was a challenge throughout high school.

“Being from a different culture … sometimes you fit in, but only into a certain group. It always feels like you don’t fit in, and you have to find your way in,” Velazquez Bobadilla said. 

Ramirez Parks added, “My last name is Parks, so yes, everyone thinks I’m American, but I do have a Mexican mom. … It is kind of hard to fit in because everyone’s like, ‘Oh, you’re American. You have a lot of money.’ There’s a whole stereotype. It’s like, ‘No, complete opposite, actually.’”

Ramirez Parks found community in the high school’s Latinos In Action club. As president, she tried to shatter the conception that Latinos In Action is “boring” — for example, by organizing and fundraising a trip to Disneyland for members in March. Despite that, Velazquez Bobadilla didn’t join the club, which Ramirez Parks jokingly gave him a hard time about. 

Kim Danely, the high school’s college success advisor, said a common denominator among first-generation college students is how hard they work, never using academic responsibilities as an excuse not to be involved in service or career advancement opportunities. 

Danley is a first-generation college student herself. She said scholarships were instrumental in her ability to get a bachelor’s degree in conservation biology from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in environmental management from Yale University.

“(My parents) were very supportive of it, but they had no money to help me, and they didn’t really know how to help me navigate it, either,” she said.

That’s why each student in the We Rise program is assigned a volunteer mentor — whether it be a Wasatch High School alumnus, a trusted adult or older college students — to answer any questions they have about the college experience and help them look for jobs after graduating.

Danley said college — and education in general — can change a student’s life.

“It opens up the world to you and helps you appreciate everything. When I listen to music now, because I minored in music, I see it in the context of the history of music. And when I go on a hike in the forest, I don’t just see green. I see 50 different plant species,” she said. “It helps you connect with people. You can have a conversation with anyone in any field. … And then, I think it gives you an opportunity (to) give back to the community because it gives you a broader vision of the world.”

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The Park City High School class of 2017 took to Dozier Field on a blustery Friday evening, June 9, 2017, to receive their diplomas and head out into the real world. Nearly 400 seniors qualified to graduate. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-PCHS-Graduation-2017/

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The 2017 South Summit High School senior class graduated on the football field Thursday evening, May 25, 2017. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

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