The colors inside the Wyoming Center went from blue to purple all within a few hours Sunday as each graduating class took the time to celebrate in its own way.
That afternoon, two Gillette high schools recognized a combined 475 graduates who will now enter the military, workforce or next level of schooling. The hazy skies from fires north greeted families and friends as they made their treks into the Cam-plex Wyoming Center.
The smoke was symbolic for the day, signifying the burning of something old and the growth of something new — much like the students said as they stepped out from beneath the laid out paths provided for them and onto the next.
To race or not to race
To race or not to race? That was the question school board trustee Lisa Durgin and graduating senior Jack Burchess hashed out at Thunder Basin’s ceremony. Ultimately, the advice was similar but differing in perspective.
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Graduates listen to a speech Sunday during Thunder Basin High
School’s commencement ceremony at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
Burchess looked to life with youthful eyes. He referenced a speech given by Durgin last year where she advised students that life wasn’t a race.
“I’m here to tell the Class of 2023, with all due respect, that life is absolutely, positively and unequivocally a race,” Burchess said. “A race that you have to run.”
He spoke specifically to a race against time and fears. Both are things everyone would continuously race against and encounter throughout life’s journey. Burchess asked his peers to always fight against those fears as they make their way to the finish line.
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Delanee Paul holds up her phone to give Rebecca Robinson, a
graduate’s grandmother, a view of Thunder Basin High School’s
commencement ceremony Sunday at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
Durgin graciously accepted Burchess’ perspective but stuck to her guns that life is in fact not a race — at least not against others. She told students that it’s all right not to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives quite yet, but to find something. And it’s OK that over time that thing may change.
“It’s not a race,” she said. “You’re not in competition with those around you. You’re not behind the person in front of you. It’s OK. It’s your own pace.”
That pace is something Cassidy Treesh said developed for her as the now graduating class dealt with the COVID pandemic hitting near the end of freshman year. In a year already filled with uncertainty and change, the pandemic affected the then-freshman class differently than others.
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A graduate walks back to her seat with a rose and a diploma
Sunday during Thunder Basin High School’s commencement ceremony at
Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
“From our first year at TBHS we began to watch history unfold,” she said. “But more than that, we felt it. Our very introduction to high school was cut short because of a global pandemic.”
That brought with it a myriad of questions and loss. Treesh said that students experienced a loss in social life, relationships, education and sometimes even families.
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Graduate Ayden Kniffen winks as speeches are delivered Sunday
during Thunder Basin High School’s commencement ceremony at
Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
Alex Grover, 16, kept his 2-year-old brother occupied in the lobby at graduation, and attested to the fact that the pandemic took a toll on his older brother Jonas’ education.
“He struggled a little then, but he worked so hard to bring everything back up,” Alex said.
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Graduates toss a golf ball around Spirit Hall as they wait for
Thunder Basin High School’s commencement ceremony to begin Sunday
at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
He said he’ll have big shoes to fill with Jonas leaving to boot camp for the National Guard in August, describing Jonas as kind to everyone he meets. The graduates also acknowledged they’re stepping into shoes they’ve never worn before as they enter new careers and schools, but that didn’t mean they weren’t excited.
Excitement tinged with anxiety was palpable as Brianna Miller and Katie Johnson made their way outside the doors. Johnson’s hope is to become a trauma surgeon, while Miller’s aspiration lies in the tattoo industry.
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Graduates turn their tassels Sunday during Thunder Basin High
School’s commencement ceremony at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
“It feels nice to feel free but at the same time, it’s kind of nerve-racking,” Miller said. “I know I’m going to miss high school because all those years I had a path to go down and now I’ve gotta create my own.”
“Absolutely,” Johnson said.
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Graduates take a group photo as they wait inside Spirit Hall for
Thunder Basin High School’s commencement ceremony to begin Sunday
at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
Appreciation for the mundane
Madison Bradford and Taegan Mooney also addressed nerves in a pep talk that wasn’t going well. The two Campbell County students were sitting down before entering the center that was freshly decorated in royal purple.
“I’m nervous. What if I do something embarrassing?” Bradford said.
“Yeah, what if I throw up on the stage?” Mooney added.
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A graduate walks with her diploma during Campbell County High
School’s commencement ceremony Sunday at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
The two mulled over more embarrassing possibilities as they prepped to cross the stage just 20 minutes before showtime. But ultimately, even with the nerves, they were excited to put school behind them as they went forward on their choice of careers.
The two were staying in Wyoming to further that end, unlike Columbus Engel who will soon trek south to check out Texas with his brother and father before heading home to Denmark. The exchange student was celebrating his once-in-a-lifetime American graduation, an experience to say the least.
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Graduates watch their classmates walk the stage for their
diplomas Sunday during Campbell County High School’s commencement
ceremony at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
In Denmark, Engel said the graduation ceremony isn’t as formal. The graduating class circles the town in a bus, stopping at each graduate’s home.
“It’s the same purpose though,” Engel said. “It’s about being done, being together, having fun — even though we do it in totally different ways, it’s pretty much the same.”
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Caps fly as graduates celebrate the end of Campbell County High
School’s commencement ceremony Sunday at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
That similarity is something Jack Tinnell addressed to his 220 peers. Although graduation isn’t new, it’s done in fact every year at about the same time across the country, it’s the people that change and continue to make it worthwhile.
For Tinnell and others, it was a time to say goodbye.
“I want this to function similarly to a eulogy,” he told his class about his senior address. “Not for any one person but to mourn that, which from this day forward, will be lost to us as a class forever.”
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Graduates Sydney Anderson, right, and Mari Bouzis hug as
Campbell County High School’s commencement ceremony comes to a
close Sunday at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
His goodbye encapsulated the ordinariness of education. It’s the same people, classes and teachers seen day-in and day-out, but it’s those same people that become friends, mentors and leaders. Lauren Lynde said that it’s those mundane moments that are the ones to look for in all there is to come.
She spoke to her dad’s constant and sometimes embarrassing need to film everything she and her brother Garrett did growing up. They were simple things and not out of the ordinary. But now she sees why.
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A graduate scans the crowd Sunday during Campbell County High
School’s commencement ceremony at Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
“I am who I am because of the mundane moments and beautiful souls CCHS has brought to me,” she said. “It’s the small moments we appreciate that we learn from. When we begin enjoying the people around us and every moment with them, the days seem a bit more joyous.”
This weekend, the ordinary was once again being experienced in a new way. Would they all receive a diploma like millions of those who came before them? Yes.
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One of more than 250 graduates listens to speeches during
Campbell County High School’s commencement ceremony Sunday at
Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
But as the students this year so astutely pointed out, they are the only Class of 2023 Gillette will ever see.
As they crossed the stage to pick up the outward sign of their 13 years of educational achievement, they sat down graduated and considering their future. Tossing their caps in the air, it was hats off to all that came before and a measured nod to all that lies ahead.
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Valedictorian Lauren Lynde gives a speech during Campbell County
High School’s commencement ceremony Sunday at Cam-plex in
Gillette.
Ed Glazar
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Graduate Jadeyn Snyder plays the National Anthem during Campbell
County High School’s commencement ceremony Sunday at Cam-plex in
Gillette.
Ed Glazar
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Campbell County High School’s commencement ceremony Sunday at
Cam-plex in Gillette.
Ed Glazar
