Approximately 2,000 students are graduating from St. Vrain Valley School District this week, all of them looking toward their unique futures.
Diana Garcia Garcia, a senior at Skyline High School, has already graduated from Front Range Community College. A Pathways in Technology Early College High School student, Garcia Garcia earned her associate degree with a focus on programming along with her high school diploma in four years.
“I still can’t believe I graduated already,” she said. “I’ve been in school for what — like most of my life, like 12 years.”
A first generation student and daughter of immigrants, Garcia Garcia is the oldest of three at 17 years old and has always aspired to be a doctor. Along with her rigorous coursework, she has worked her way through high school starting at her parent’s restaurant and then as a videographer at the Innovation Center.
“Let me tell you, it was a really big struggle,” Garcia Garcia said. “It was a lot of time management and all of the homework and then finals and then college classes. It was really hard because you’re only a high school student taking two years of college together with your four years of high school. It was really hard, but I’m really proud of it.”
After meeting some people with UC Health, Garcia Garcia is excited to start working for them as she pursues her medical career. She applied to four colleges in Colorado and was accepted into all of them, so this fall she is headed to University of Colorado Boulder to focus on pre-medicine as her first step to becoming a doctor.
“I really want to dedicate my graduation to my parents because I’m the first daughter and I’m the oldest one,” she said. “I’m going to be walking down that stage and I’m going to be crying. I know that, because my parents are going to be there and they’re going to be saying my name. I just know I’m really proud of myself and I know they’re proud of me.”
For graduating senior Zach Boggess, the best part of high school was the time he spent welding.
“School was never really my thing,” he said. “Welding made it fun these last two years. It was a lot better than just sitting and doing art classes and stuff.”
Boggess, who attends Lyons Middle Senior, got interested in welding after his dad bought a welder from a coworker and it quickly became Boggess’ passion. He signed up for welding classes at the Career Elevation and Technology Center his freshman year and finally started his junior year. This year, along with taking the class, he was a teacher aide.
Boggess’ proudest accomplishment during his high school career happened last month when he and his welding team won Colorado’s SkillsUSA Team Fabrication Welding competition. They’re competing at nationals in Atlanta next month.
“I definitely didn’t go in thinking I was going to win,” he said. “I really didn’t expect it when they called us up. They called third place and then second place and they called us and I was like, oh, that’s us, go up to the stage now. We definitely put in the work to get there. I just, I guess I didn’t expect it.”
Finishing high school and entering the real world is something Boggess is proud of, especially as his dyslexia made reading and writing more challenging for him.
“It’s definitely going to be really fulfilling because I’ve really had to put in a lot of extra effort – I’ve had to get math tutoring, English tutoring, extra help, so it will definitely feel accomplished to get it done,” he said.
Boggess said he’s waiting until after the national competition to decide what he wants to do since there will be plenty of job and educational opportunities highlighted there — but he knows he will be doing something with welding.
“It’ll be fun being able to weld every day … and make money doing it,” he said. “It’s a little bit nerve wracking getting into the real, real world, but it’s exciting. It’s a new start.”
