Perla Garcia Contreras achieved two major milestones all in one week.
From becoming a United States citizen Monday to graduating from Northridge High School on Friday, she has led with bravery every step of the way.
In Northridge High School’s 25th anniversary year, families, friends, community members, teachers and alumni filled the seats of the District 6 Stadium to celebrate the class of 2025 Friday morning.
The 2025 graduates started their high school journey just before 2019 bond renovations began on the building, Principal Aaron Allen said at Friday’s ceremony. With those renovations completed by 2023, Allen saw the class of 2025 pave the way for a new era of Northridge High School, shaping the spirit of their school for the generations of students to come.
The class never failed to show up and stand up for each other, Allen said. The energy the recent Northridge graduates brought to school assemblies will always stick with Allen. Most recently, they rallied together to form a tunnel of arms to cheer on the unified bowlers after their state win.
The Northridge High School class of 2025 celebrates at graduation Friday morning at District 6 Stadium. (Greeley-Evans School District 6/Courtesy)Through four years of growth and pride, the seniors demonstrated the Grizzly way, representing the core values of “self-esteem, improvement, partnership and success,” Allen said
“Today is a day of celebration, reflection and freedom,” he continued. “You’re finally free to do what you want, explore the world and make your own path. But this isn’t just any kind of freedom. It’s the kind that you earned by showing up, stepping up and growing through four years of high school.”
Garcia Contreras’ story of “Grizzly” growth sticks out among the class of 2025. A panel selected her among a handful of candidates to deliver the student graduation speech, a task that required her to step out of her comfort zone.
A 12-year-old Garcia Contreras moved to Greeley from Mexico in sixth grade. In the halls of Franklin Middle School, she began learning a second language under the guidance of Rachel Weber, who then taught English language development.
For three years, Weber watched Garcia Contreras develop her English language abilities much faster than most of her peers. That’s because the young student pushed herself to make friends who only spoke English, so she could never fall behind, according to Weber.
“She sat in my classroom on her first day of sixth grade, not knowing any English, and now she’s the graduation speaker,” Weber said. “To go up there and give a presentation or public speak in front of thousands of people in your second language is pretty incredible.”
Proudly wearing a cord marking her accomplishment of biliteracy, Garcia Contreras delivered a bittersweet speech on Friday morning.
Walking into Northridge High School four years ago and walking out for the last time created a similar feeling of uncertainty about the future as arriving in the United States as a young girl. However, Northridge has helped prepare the class of 2025 for adulthood and conquering dreams, Garcia Contreras said in her speech.
Garcia Contreras had the same passion and drive since her first day with District 6, Weber said. She was always the first to welcome and help any student with open arms, no matter if they were a close friend, a classmate or a new student.
Garcia Contreras also knew how to step up as a leader, according to Weber, who continued to see her thrive when she became assistant principal at Northridge.
While learning has always been a passion and a privilege for Garcia Contreras, the school’s teachers and staff helped develop and expand her knowledge academically and socially, she said.
By sophomore year, Garcia Contreras found her footing in a pair of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) boots. JROTC, a federal program sponsored by the U.S. Armed Forces, helped her develop her leadership skills even more.
After a year and a half, Garcia Contreras had to take a break from the program in the spring semester of her junior year to fulfill another credit, according to Jason Morrison, the JROTC instructor at Northridge. When she returned to the program during her senior year, she took off, finding her voice and stepping into the influential role of platoon sergeant.
“It was amazing to watch how she grew,” Morrison said.
As the sergeant, she served as second in command in her platoon, which was named the Honor Platoon of the Year, Morrison said. Her platoon competed against others in the program to accumulate the most points through JROTC events such as community service or color guards.
Garcia Contreras will take her leadership experiences from her time at Northridge High School into her next chapter, studying business and management at the University of Northern Colorado.
“She’s just an amazing human being, inside and out,” Weber said. “She has just always been a go-getter, and there’s never an obstacle that she’s not willing to overcome.”
During the Northridge graduation, keynote speaker and English teacher Joshua Seematter shared his wisdom on how to “be brave.” Trying anything new comes with a risk, but making mistakes isn’t the end of the story, he said. Failure, which is both expected and inevitable, requires people to persist and try again.
Morrison said Garcia Contreras makes an impression on those who meet her because of her bravery and her willingness to make mistakes so she can learn from them.
“Be brave to step up and try something new,” Seematter quoted from the children’s book “Be Brave Little One” by Marianne R. Richmond. “Be brave to step out when it isn’t for you. Be brave to be scared, to stomp and to cry. Be brave to mess up before you retry.”
The Northridge High School class of 2025 celebrates at graduation Friday morning at District 6 Stadium. (Greeley-Evans School District 6/Courtesy)Allen asked the students who walked across the stage Friday to view this milestone not as a finish line but as the next beginning. Memories of friendships and education will carry the graduates forward wherever they go, but he encourages them to never forget: “It’s good to be a Grizzly.”
“Often you think that this is the end of something,” Garcia Contreras said. “You are actually at the beginning of something.”
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