Emotions ran high Thursday night as more than 600 Wasatch High School students became alumni.
Tien Holbrook reminded her classmates this year was the last time all the valley’s seniors would graduate from a single high school.
“We are the last graduating class of Wasatch High School as it is now, before it becomes something new, something great, something split and something different – which means we don’t just leave with memories, we leave with a legacy,” she said in her speech.
Next year’s split into two high schools was front-of-mind for Principal Ryan Bishop, too. He got emotional as he addressed the graduates.
“You are closing the chapter of something truly unique,” he said. “Class of 2026, wherever life takes you, you will always be a part of Wasatch, and Wasatch will always be a part of you.”
The alumni will now scatter far and wide: to jobs, church missions, college and more.
Senior Jared Crew Baxter received this year’s Corey Hanks Perseverance Scholarship from the school board.
“Crew has faced challenges during his years at Wasatch High School that required real courage. He kept showing up, he kept trying. He made choices most people never saw: choices to begin again, choices to persevere, choices to believe there is still something ahead, even when the path was not easy,” school board member Brad Ehlert said. “I know that he will honor his brother Kaden and his family by serving others and making a meaningful difference.”
He will study civil engineering at the Colorado School of Mines this fall.
Matteo Willis is getting ready to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I’ll be going to Rome, Italy, and then after my mission I will go attend BYU,” he said.
Friends Meena Shih and Aleah Christensen will remain classmates. Both are heading to Utah State University.
Christensen reflected on how she changed during high school.
“By the end of high school, I became a lot more confident in myself and just a lot more proud of myself and a lot more proud [of] all my friends,” she said.
The Class of 2026 includes 67 students who maintained a 4.0 GPA and 166 students who earned the Utah Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish, French, American Sign Language, Swedish or German.
