{"id":40461,"date":"2022-05-23T03:56:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T09:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-celebrates-the-success-and-promise-of-33-graduates\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:55:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:55:29","slug":"mancos-celebrates-the-success-and-promise-of-33-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-celebrates-the-success-and-promise-of-33-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos celebrates the success and promise of 33 graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mancos
Mancos graduates toss their hats in the air as the graduation ceremony ends. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Mancos High School graduates were sent off into the wider world Sunday afternoon during a heartfelt ceremony attended by hundreds of friends and family.<\/p>\n

The Performing Arts Center was buzzing with excitement as the 33 graduates entered and prepared to accept their diplomas.<\/p>\n

Graduation speaker Alan Mathews talked of the hard work and promising futures of the Class of 2022.<\/p>\n

The love of the community \u201csurrounds this group and witnessed the heart and soul\u201d graduates put into their school, work and play, he said.<\/p>\n

\"Valedictorian
Valedictorian Conner Sehnert gives his speech Sunday for the Mancos High School graduation. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Salutatorian
Salutatorian speaker Evan Sehnert gives his speech Sunday for the Mancos High School graduation. ((Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

School spirit permeates the town of 1,300, which witnessed with pride the Mancos Bluejay\u2019s winning football season and chance at the championship.<\/p>\n

Like the great season, graduates should not be afraid \u201cto go for it, take the big shot just like in a big ballgame,\u201d Mathews said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow is a new chapter, and the community will continue to support you,\u201d he said. \u201cLive your life with purpose and passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joshua
Joshua Most cheers while handing out roses to his relatives during the Mancos graduation. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alan
Alan Mathews congratulates the Class of 2022 as the speaker for the Mancos High School graduation. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Conner
Conner Sehnert shakes hands with his twin, Evan Sehnert after the two finished giving their salutatorian and valedictorian speeches. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Everyone
Everyone cheers as the Mancos Class of 2022 graduation ceremony comes to a close. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Valedictorian Connor Sehnert and salutatorian Evan Sehnert are twin brothers who had the highest GPAs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was close, he beat me by 5,000th of a point and one-upped me one last time,\u201d Evan said of the friendly competition.<\/p>\n

Evan graciously credited the teachers and staff for the success of graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were there for us, we excelled because of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Class of 2022 is a \u201cclose group who grew up together. We\u2019ve come a long way, and now we made it to graduation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe next step is to \u201cclimb a peak in search of greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valedictorian Connor Sehnert continued with the good-natured brotherly ribbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is true that I beat him during the final push, and I am certain the reason is because I am a minute older, that extra minute of life experience is all I needed,\u201d he said to laughter from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Get ready for life to throw trouble at you, Connor continued, like the pandemic did the last two years.<\/p>\n

It will not seem fair, but \u201cyou must drive on and continue to push forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite adversity, \u201cour class did amazing things,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the theme of the Class of 2022: to look failure and adversity in the eye and not shy away.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged fellow graduates to \u201cbe steadfast and not waiver when the going gets hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

School taught us \u201cperseverance\u201d a lesson that is foundational for the future, Connor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUse this skill that you have cultivated in Mancos to dare greatly in your futures, and most importantly, never, ever quit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Life\u2019s challenges \u201cstrengthens our hearts and sharpen our minds and gives us the ability to do great things,\u201d Connor Sehnert said. \u201cGo out in the world and persevere, don\u2019t be nervous; you\u2019ve had plenty of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the speeches, a video showed photos of each student when they were a baby, as a child, and during high school. Every graduate was met with warm applause.<\/p>\n

Parents and relatives beamed with pride as they entered the ceremony.<\/p>\n

A man\u2019s grandson, Michael \u201cBig Mike\u201d Velasquez, was graduating and was off to college.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so pleased, it makes you proud to see generations of your family graduate and go on to succeed,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery generation does better than the one before. It is great to see that escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her hopes for her graduating niece, Theresa Adams said \u201cto reach for her dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alexandra
Alexandra Riatti accepts roses to hand out during the Mancos High School graduation. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds pack Performing Arts Center during Sunday ceremony; video presentation a trip down memory lane<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,28,37,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40461","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=40461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84657,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40461\/revisions\/84657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40461"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}