by Chloe Kiparsky
Roger Blake will be taking a gap year in Boulder, Colorado next year. After that, he will go to community college and then transfer and study ESL and History. At Ouray School, he was very involved in the music scene, taking band classes and playing the drums. His ultimate life plan is to move to Japan and maybe teach there. “See ya later, nerds,” he said affectionately to all the people he’s leaving behind.
Bee Boykin will be moving to Montrose next year for a gap year. Bee is going with the flow in their life without concrete plans but hopes to continue making and performing music. They also want to see the world as much as they can. In school, Bee was a member of SLAC and Sources of Strength, and shone in the music room. Some advice they have for anyone who’ll listen is to “be stupid, be silly, be free.”
Mariana Dos Santos will attend CU Boulder in Boulder, CO next year and will be studying Pre Med or Pre Healthcare. Mariana has been involved in multiple school plays and is known all around school to be radiant and positive. When asked about her future, she said she’s “just gonna let life be itself,” and that she’ll “follow a nonexistent path.” Her parting words are “be happy and don’t let anyone else stop you from having that happiness.”
Ina Dow is going to Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO and will be studying Art Education. She wants to get her teaching credential and teach art to either elementary or high school students, traveling the world throughout. At Ouray School, she participated in Knowledge Bowl, Honor Society, and Sources of Strength, and was the founder of the queer education club, FYQI. “I’m really grateful to have had the experience of going to a small school,” she said: “thank you to my teachers and family and friends for supporting me.”
Valedictorian Hayden Hart is going to Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, and will study Engineering. Hayden “can’t think of a better place I could’ve gone to school.” He did Cross Country, Golf, and Basketball for four years, and also participated in Track, Honor Society, and Knowledge Bowl. His life goal is to solve problems, but he said that he doesn’t “know what problems I want to solve yet.”
Rock Gibbs plans to attend Endicott College in Beverly, MA next year and major in General Studies. In his life, he will “do what I feel like,” and “antagonize people I don’t like,” he said with a mischievous smile. He went to the state Cross Country and Track competition three times, the Basketball state championship once, and he placed at the FBLA state tournament. “So long and thanks for the fish,” he said, quoting one of his favorite movies, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
River Manley will shine at CU Boulder next year with support of the Chang Chavkin Scholarship, majoring in Exploratory Studies and minoring in dance. During her high school years, she did basketball for three years, soccer one year, Honor Society, and FBLA. She also did Weehawken dance for twelve years, capped by playing Cinderella in Cinderella this spring. She wants to move to the ocean in the future, and have a job she likes. River will “miss Ouray a lot” but is excited for her next adventure.
Kaden Nelson will be going to Salt Lake City next year, at the University of Utah. He is following his dream of becoming “a senior concept artist at a well-known gaming company” by studying Computer Science with an emphasis on entertainment and gaming. He did basketball, cross country, and track for all four years of high school and will be going to FBLA nationals. “Peace out, Ouray,” he grinned, “I’m gone!”
Riley Ross wants to either go to the ocean or work at a national park next year. In Ouray he has, like many others, taken advantage of the abundance of hiking trails and wants to keep hiking in his life forever while “exploring the world” outside of Ouray. “It’s been fun,” he said of his high school experience, but “I’ll be moving on.”
Colin Sills is going to Lane Community College in Lane County, Oregon, and then he will transfer to Oregon State to study Botany. His ultimate life goal is to become a botanist for NASA, but he said that he’ll be happy with anything that has to do with botany. He did cross country and knowledge bowl for all four years of high school. “I’m very happy I was able to live here for as long as I did,” he said fondly.
Charlie Tyler plans to study finance next year at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. He played basketball and golf, and he mountain biked, all four years of high school. In his life, he simply hopes to “be happy.” “Thank you to everybody who made living in Ouray so cool,” he smiled.
Aynsleigh Wood will go to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California to study history. Her dream is to become a history teacher or a history professor, depending on where life leads her. She has played volleyball for four years and soccer and basketball for three, and was student council president for three years. She has also participated in many school plays that she remembers fondly. “It’s been real, it’s been fun, but it hasn’t been real fun,” she laughed, commenting on her high school experience.
Salutatorian Katie Woodman plans to attend the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, to study engineering with help from the Dave and Mary Wood scholarship. She wants to “make things more efficient” in the world, but doesn’t know how or what she wants to focus on yet. She did cross country for four years, track for two, and basketball for one. “Appreciate that you live here,” she said to everyone in Ouray, reminding us all to take a step back and admire the beautiful place we live.