‘Be the author of your own legacy’: Greeley West graduates depart with longtime teacher ...Saudi Arabia

It took Don Wagner 30 years to do what the class of 2025 did in four years.

Leave high school.

Greeley West High School celebrated its 59th annual commencement ceremony Saturday morning at Nottingham Field. Although a rainy day, “nothing stops a Spartan,” Wagner said.

As part of Spartan tradition, the graduating seniors selected a beloved staff member to deliver a commencement address at their ceremony. This year, the honor went to Wagner, who retired Friday after three decades as a social studies and psychology teacher at West.

Legacy means to create an anthology, or a collection of stories from multiple authors, Wagner told the graduates.

“You are those authors,” he said. “Be the author of your own legacy.”

As a social studies teacher, Wagner taught about the past and how it impacted the future. In his speech, Wagner named a handful of students who left their mark over the past four years through kindness, excellence and leadership.

Student Council President Kaden “Makai” Mirles has been in Greeley-Evans District 6 since elementary school, but his link to the school district started way before he became a student. His parents graduated from Greeley West in 1996, and today, he continues the legacy.

“I want Greeley West to know the impact that it had on me,” Mirles said. “The teachers who remained there the entirety of the time … they’re going to help shape so many more lives than just mine.”

Coping with his parents’ divorce, followed by the death of his father, all before junior year, never hindered Mirles from finding his people, passions and devotion to his school.  At Greeley West, Mirles participated in FFA, Future Business Leaders of America, student council, cross country, track, football and unified track and basketball.

In nearly two years, he earned 60 college credits through the High School of Business Program, AP courses and concurrent enrollment.

Mirles felt inspired to look into business because his grandfather, an immigrant who worked two jobs while raising children, became a business owner in 2004 after years of hard work to support his family.

“I originally wanted to just take over my family’s restaurant, but then I decided that I wanted to forge my own path, and that was what led me to the High School Business Program,” he said. “It made me feel like college would be more than just a piece of paper, that it would actually be something that I was passionate about.”

Eduardo Barraza Casteneda spoke no English when he moved to Greeley from El Salvador in seventh grade. Through engaging teachers and challenging himself, he learned English in less than two years — just in time to flourish in high school.

At Greeley West, Barraza Casteneda participated in the International Baccalaureate (IB), a rigorous college prep program. He stuck with the program despite having to step out of his comfort zone, knowing it would help him get to his dream job of becoming a dentist one day. More importantly, the decisions he made created the person he is today: someone who views a smile as a superpower.

After winning the Math Student of the Year Award during his final semester, Barraza Casteneda graduated as a full IB Diploma Candidate and received the Colorado Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish and English and the Colorado Seal of Climate Literacy.

“The Eduardo who came from El Salvador, June 12, 2019, wouldn’t believe it,” Barraza Casteneda said about reaching graduation. “The effort is paying off.”

The graduation ceremony also recognized two students for their “superior academic excellence and persistence” — salutatorian Corbin Suntych and valedictorian Sophia Dhupar. Suntych ended high school with a 4.5 GPA and plans to study mechanical engineering at the University of Wyoming.

Dhupar, who received a 4.6 GPA, will attend the University of California Los Angeles to study chemical engineering. In her valedictorian speech, she directed a quote from the TV show “Gilmore Girls” to her peers: “People can live 100 years without really living for a minute.”

Don’t waste your time watching from the sidelines, Dhupar said. Instead, chase real dopamine.

For those who never “emotionally” leave high school — people who carry the gossip and judgment from high school with them into adulthood — Dhupar also had a message.

“Don’t be that person,” she said. “I am choosing to let this graduation mark as the start of a new version of me.”

Perhaps, instead of stepping up as a leader or excelling in school, some of the class of 2025 fell into the category of “mediocrity,” doing as little as they had to do to get to graduation, Wagner said. He did, too, when he was in high school.

But for the past 30 years, Wagner has tried to encourage every student who walked through his door rise above anonymity.

“Your legacy right now is mediocrity, but it doesn’t have to end there,” he said. “You can change your legacy.”

The class of 2025 will hold on to the memories of Greeley West as they move on to college, full-time jobs, trade school, the military and other endeavors, but it’s their time to “reach for the stars,” said student speaker David Orozo.

Mirles plans to further his passion and study business administration at the University of Northern Colorado. Barraza Casteneda will join Mirles at UNC to study biomedical sciences in pursuit of dentistry.

“Our journey as Spartans has come to an end, and I hope you loved it as much as me,” Wagner said.

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