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.
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.
“May 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,” House said.
Native American guest speaker Pax Harvey spoke next, telling graduates that he hitchhiked from Gallup to be at their commencement ceremony.
“You made it happen. You're 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 ... this moment supersedes that,” Harvey said. “This moment overpowers that. This is a time to tell yourself that you made it, and you did it, and you're doing it, and you are very, very powerful.”
Harvey went on to talk about the power of education and how it is a door to a life the students never imagined possible.
“Students, 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're doing it, you're on track, and you will make that happen for yourself,” he said.
The speaker chosen by the graduates was seventh grade social studies teacher Tyson Wood. Wood said he wasn’t there to talk about the past, but he still had memories of graduates to share.
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.
“I’d talk about wishing LaRaeya’s eyes would ultimately get stuck in the back of her head from rolling them like they just did right now,” he said, laughing.
He encouraged students to remember where they come from, no matter where they go.
“I'd ask you to consider where you're from, right here in Cortez, Colorado, where the mountains meet the open desert … where geographical worlds come together to create this rich, deep human history that we all share right here. This place is unique. It's beautiful,” Wood said. “Cortez is a unique foundation to come from. You should be proud of this.”
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.
Tearfully, he said he is proud of the graduates and for the lives they will lead.
Salutatorian Micah Stembridge said he his speech wasn’t about success, but what it takes to achieve it.
He spoke fondly of his high school years and encouraged his fellow graduates to love those around them, including themselves.
“Love yourself, even the version is still figuring things out. The version that falls down but still gets up,” he said. “Tonight feels like a finish line, but I think it's more like the starting gun. It's not the end, but instead the beginning.”
Stembridge said the graduates will head off in different paths toward different futures, and they should remember to “be kind, love often, take chances sooner and be the person that four years ago you would look up to.”
Yarborough, the Class of 2026 valedictorian, was the final speaker in the commencement lineup.
Yarborough spoke of the journey it takes to reach a dream, saying that sometimes the path to success looks different that what was expected.
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’d put in hadn’t paid off, but he began to look at it from a different perspective.
“For 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,” he said.
Track taught Yarborough discipline, consistency, that failure doesn’t control him, and the value of persistence – to keep showing up even when progress feels stagnant.
“High school worked the exact same way,” he said. “Growth looks boring. It looks like waking up early when you don't want to, going to practice when you're tired, studying when everyone else is doing something fun, redoing assignments, failing tests, learning from mistakes and trying again. It's the thousands of small moments that don't seem important at the time, but eventually those moments shape who you become.”
Before diplomas were presented, Boniface honored the concurrent enrollment and honors diploma students, students enlisting in the military and the boys’s baseball team competing at state.
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.
Carver was also honored for being recruited to play DI baseball at the United States Naval Academy.
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, “Halls of Montezuma” played, once again hailing another class stepping into the rest of their lives.
bduran@the-journal.com
