{"id":130419,"date":"2026-05-24T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mchs-graduates-urged-to-embrace-their-journey-at-commencement\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:00:00","slug":"mchs-graduates-urged-to-embrace-their-journey-at-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mchs-graduates-urged-to-embrace-their-journey-at-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"MCHS graduates urged to embrace their journey at commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The MCHS Class of 2026 threw their caps to celebrate their graduation on Thursday evening. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The sun began to set on Thusrday as nearly 100 graduates from Montezuma-Cortez High School received their diplomas and confetti rained down in celebration of the special milestone.<\/p>\n

Principal Jennifer Boniface congratulated the Class of 2026 before introducing the first speaker, Marilynn House, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe councilwoman. House told graduates that she had also graduated from MCHS, and graduation was the first step.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay you all continue on the road of education that will bring you an amazing, beautiful, fulfilling life that awaits you all and that you all deserve,\u201d House said.<\/p>\n

\"Ute
Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Councilwoman Marilynn House addressed graduating Montezuma-Cortez High School students at a commencement ceremony on Tuesday. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Native American guest speaker Pax Harvey spoke next, telling graduates that he hitchhiked from Gallup to be at their commencement ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou made it happen. You\u2019re here. This is the moment to be happy, but right now, tonight, all those struggles and pain that you are going through and dealing with right now \u2026 this moment supersedes that,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cThis moment overpowers that. This is a time to tell yourself that you made it, and you did it, and you\u2019re doing it, and you are very, very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Native
Native American guest speaker Pax Harvey told students about the power of education at commencement. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Harvey went on to talk about the power of education and how it is a door to a life the students never imagined possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents, follow your dreams. Students, education will take you around the world. Education is the ticket out of poverty, destitution, pain. It will take you places that you would never thought you would go, and you\u2019re doing it, you\u2019re on track, and you will make that happen for yourself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The speaker chosen by the graduates was seventh grade social studies teacher Tyson Wood. Wood said he wasn\u2019t there to talk about the past, but he still had memories of graduates to share.<\/p>\n

He spoke of Amita Crowley breaking a meter stick on his smart board while giving a presentation and Josh Yarborough putting himself in his cabinets, calling them his office.<\/p>\n

\"Graduates
Graduates listened as student selected speaker and seventh grade social studies teacher Tyson Wood reminisced on his time teaching the students when they were in middle school. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019d talk about wishing LaRaeya\u2019s eyes would ultimately get stuck in the back of her head from rolling them like they just did right now,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n

He encouraged students to remember where they come from, no matter where they go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d ask you to consider where you\u2019re from, right here in Cortez, Colorado, where the mountains meet the open desert \u2026 where geographical worlds come together to create this rich, deep human history that we all share right here. This place is unique. It\u2019s beautiful,\u201d Wood said. \u201cCortez is a unique foundation to come from. You should be proud of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

To end his speech, he had students clap their hands, stomp their feet, grab their heads and put their hands on their hearts, asking them what they are going to use their hands to create, where their feet will take them, what they are going to fill their minds with, what their legacy will be and how they will bring love to the world.<\/p>\n

Tearfully, he said he is proud of the graduates and for the lives they will lead.<\/p>\n

Salutatorian Micah Stembridge said he his speech wasn\u2019t about success, but what it takes to achieve it.<\/p>\n

\"Salutatorian
Salutatorian Micah Stembridge spoke of the importance of love in his speech. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He spoke fondly of his high school years and encouraged his fellow graduates to love those around them, including themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove yourself, even the version is still figuring things out. The version that falls down but still gets up,\u201d he said. \u201cTonight feels like a finish line, but I think it\u2019s more like the starting gun. It\u2019s not the end, but instead the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stembridge said the graduates will head off in different paths toward different futures, and they should remember to \u201cbe kind, love often, take chances sooner and be the person that four years ago you would look up to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yarborough, the Class of 2026 valedictorian, was the final speaker in the commencement lineup.<\/p>\n

Yarborough spoke of the journey it takes to reach a dream, saying that sometimes the path to success looks different that what was expected.<\/p>\n

\"Valedictorian
Valedictorian Joshua Yarborough used his track journey to illustrate the path to success and how it may look different from initially thought. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He shared his dream of running a sub-two minute 800 meter dash in track before he graduated, and how he found himself injured in his last season with that dream unreached. At first, he felt like the work he\u2019d put in hadn\u2019t paid off, but he began to look at it from a different perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a while, I questioned why I even tried so hard, but eventually I realized something important. All that work did pay off, just not in the way I expected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Track taught Yarborough discipline, consistency, that failure doesn\u2019t control him, and the value of persistence \u2013 to keep showing up even when progress feels stagnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh school worked the exact same way,\u201d he said. \u201cGrowth looks boring. It looks like waking up early when you don\u2019t want to, going to practice when you\u2019re tired, studying when everyone else is doing something fun, redoing assignments, failing tests, learning from mistakes and trying again. It\u2019s the thousands of small moments that don\u2019t seem important at the time, but eventually those moments shape who you become.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Graduates
Graduates talk and wave to family while waiting for their name to be called. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Before diplomas were presented, Boniface honored the concurrent enrollment and honors diploma students, students enlisting in the military and the boys\u2019s baseball team competing at state.<\/p>\n

Six of the seniors, Jaris McDonald, Cory Carver, Jaidein Istenes, Bodie Stiegelmeyer, Kallan Wirth and Parker Conrad, were not in attendance, instead competing at state with the baseball team.<\/p>\n

Carver was also honored for being recruited to play DI baseball at the United States Naval Academy.<\/p>\n

As the students walked the stage to receive their diplomas, cheers echoed across the field and confetti cannons popped, showering attendees with confetti and glitter. Once all the graduates turned their tassels and threw their caps, \u201cHalls of Montezuma\u201d played, once again hailing another class stepping into the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

bduran@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nearly
Nearly 100 students were part of the Class of 2026. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Confetti
Confetti cannons popping and cheers from loved ones echoed across the field. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Terriah
Terriah Treauna Lansing accepts her diploma. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jake
Jake Nelson knuckle bumps the school board before accepting his diploma. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Amita
Amita Nicole Crowley accepts her diploma. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"After
After accepting their diplomas, graduates waited to turn their tassels and throw their caps. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seventh grade teacher delivers moving address to students<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5794,5735],"tags":[573,21,574,28,60,36,216,29,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-130419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-commencement","tag-cortez","tag-graduation","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130419"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=130419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}