Battle Mountain graduates 214 students at 64th commencement
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Battle Mountain High School graduated the Class of 2024 on Friday in a commencement ceremony that celebrated challenges overcome.
The Edwards high school’s 64th commencement took place at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail and graduated 214 students — 22 of whom were cum laude with grade point averages of 3.75 to 3.99, 26 of whom were magna cum laude with grade point averages of 4.0 to 4.24, and 23 of whom were summa cum laude with a grade point average of 4.25 or better.
Jason Mills, in introducing the class, recognized that the last four years have been difficult for the local students, who started high school during the pandemic of 2020.
“You have overcome obstacles, embraced challenges, and emerged stronger and more resilient than ever before,” Mills said.
Student Address speaker Ryan O’Connor agreed, saying the class “overcame huge challenges … and through it all, we became stronger and more resilient.”
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Commencement Speaker Joseph Marino recalled his first day of teaching at Battle Mountain High School, in which he overheard a verbal altercation between two freshman boys in the locker room.
“Those boys were arguing with each other, but it was what they were saying to each other that really caught my attention,” Marino said. “One kid was saying something to the effect of ‘show me some respect, and then I’ll show you respect.’ And the other kid retorted with something along the lines of ‘why should I show you respect when you have not shown me any respect?'”
Marino said the fight was a microcosm of some of the bigger problems going on in the world today.
“Everybody’s waiting on everybody else to be the first to show respect,” Marino said. “And that led me to coining the phrase here at Battle Mountain High: ‘Always be the first to show respect.'”
Valedictorian Hudson Turner encouraged her fellow students to live in the moment and referenced a few memories from high school, including running in a hamster wheel at a pep rally, grilling out in the parking lot and celebrating the boys soccer team’s state championship.
“We were living in the moment for all of these events,” she said. “And that’s part of what made them so special.”
Student Address speaker Kathryn Wilson referenced the pandemic that Class of 2024 students lived through during their freshman years as well as “tragic incidents that have taken place on and off school grounds” in telling her fellow graduates “the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.”
Wilson said the Class of 2024 “learned many difficult lessons, endured much hardship, and is ready to make its entrance into the world.”
