Elk River Star News Saturday, June 7, 2025 | 37
Graduation celebrates‘ perseverance and growth’
JONI ASTRUP Associate Editor
Members of the Ivan Sand Community High School Class of 2025 were awarded their diplomas Monday, June 2, in a ceremony marked by poignant speeches from students who found a fresh start and success at the alternative school in Elk River.
Principal Kevin Jost said the graduation ceremony is“ a celebration of perseverance and growth.”
He told the class,“ You have faced adversity with courage, met challenges with grace and emerged stronger, wiser and more determined. You have inspired us all.”
The ceremony was held at Zabee Theater inside Elk River High School and included speeches from three senior speakers and a former graduate, a welcome from Elk River Area School District Superintendent Andy Almos and a presentation of scholarship awards. Nate Doimer, an English teacher at the school, served as master of ceremonies. The ceremony culminated with the students crossing the stage to shake hands with members of the Elk River Area School Board and receive their diplomas.
SENIORS SPEAK
The three seniors who spoke were Ashley Pichardo, Mikey Harris and Hope Grossman.
Grossman told the audience that the graduation marks a day that she was not always sure would come.
“ I’ m filled with a mix of emotions: pride, gratitude and, honestly, a bit of disbelief,” she said.
Grossman went on to explain how, at age 14, she had to have surgery and was put on medication to help control the pain.
“ After my surgery, I started to self medicate, and in my junior year of high school I was enrolled into Fairview’ s treatment program,” she said.“ This put a bit of a detour into my high school education.”
After graduating treatment, she was enrolled fulltime at Ivan Sand. This past fall, she said it felt overwhelming to see all she needed to do before she could graduate.
“ The path to graduation was stretched out before me, like climbing a mountain without any clear footholds or resting places,” she said.“ But you start, you take one step and then another. Eventually you find your first handhold, and then your footing.”
Detours, she told the audience, are not dead ends.
“ Each one of us in this graduating class has faced our own detours and our own challenges that brought us here to Ivan Sand,” she said.“ Each one of us also found the courage to keep going and take things one day at a time.”
She thanked teachers and staff, family and friends.
She also said the graduates take with them not only their diplomas, but a profound lesson that big challenges can be conquered with small, consistent actions.
Mikey Harris said he started at Ivan Sand in the middle of his freshman year after struggling in school.
“ The smaller school and smaller class sizes helped me significantly. Also, it’ s a lot harder to skip class when there aren’ t 2,000 kids at the school,” he said.
The teachers all seemed nice and wanted to see him
succeed, he said, noting that he felt appreciated at Ivan Sand.
“ As a freshman, I was so sure that I wouldn’ t graduate on time. But now I’ m here today, speaking at my graduation ceremony,” he said.
He plans to go to college for aerospace engineering and has been accepted at Iowa State University.
Ashley Pichardo said her high school years began in another town where she played sports and was in classes with childhood friends.
“ But then something unexpected happened. Because of this, my parents moved to Elk River to help me get a fresh start,” she said.
She began her sophomore year attending Elk River High School, but was out of her comfort zone and making new friends was rough.
She said she fell behind and ended up relapsing after being sober for six months.
Pichardo was encouraged to enroll in Ivan Sand, where she found teachers who were kind and funny and cared for students both mentally and academically.
She described attending Ivan Sand as a life changer.“ I really wanted better for myself, and disappointing my parents over and over again wasn’ t an option nor do I want to fail in life,” she said.
She said her parents came to the United States to give their children a better life, and she’ s grateful for them and blessed to have their unconditional love and support.
Going forward, she wants to work in the beauty industry. Her next step is to attend Model College of Hair Design.
“ I’ m excited for what my
PHOTOS BY JONI ASTRUP
Ivan Sand grads, including Samantha Jones and Mikey Harris, stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.
future holds,” she said.
2012 GRADUATE SHARES SOME LIFE LESSONS
Hannah Gibson, a 2012 graduate of Ivan Sand, was the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony.
She enrolled in Ivan Sand at the age of 15 and described how at the time she didn’ t care about grades, homework and what her future would hold. Rather, she cared about her friends, boys and if her car had gas in it.
“ Like a lot of boy-crazy teenage girls, I found myself pregnant at 16. In November of my senior year, I gave birth to my son, Oliver,” she said. Six weeks later, she returned to Ivan Sand to complete her high school education.
She said her parents were supportive and she was able to get state funding to put her son in daycare while she was in school and working a part-time job.
“ After having Oliver, I also developed this new drive,” she said.“ I wasn’ t just doing
life for myself anymore. I had someone who depended on me to make it, to be and to do more.”
Following high school, she went to community college and then, after much effort, graduated from the University of Minnesota. Her next step was to apply for 700 jobs.
“ I found myself in a career I ended up being passionate about— low-income housing,” Gibson said.
She said she’ s worked with hundreds of people who are homeless, working to get them into housing that is affordable and into communities that are able to sustain their sobriety and support their mental health.
“ I’ ve been so lucky in my life to have people supporting me through my darkest times. The people I support often have nobody guiding them towards brighter days,” she said.“ I’ ve found unparalleled joy in this job.”
Gibson said in the nine years since she graduated from college she’ s moved to California and back, has married and had another baby, picked up hobbies, experienced setbacks, created meaningful relationships and known tragedy.
She told the graduates that their lives will be defined by how hard they try.
“ Try to be a kind person. Try to find something, anything, that you’ re passionate about and give it all you’ ve got. Try to be present with your family and your friends, because one day they might not be there. You’ re all destined to go somewhere and to become someone, but it is up to you on who you become and how you get there. Nothing that you’ ve done before this moment right now needs to define who you’ re going to be going forward.”
Superintendent Almos said the graduation marks the beginning of a new chapter in the students’ lives.
“ On behalf of all of us, congratulations,” he said.“ We believe in you. We are very proud of you. And we can’ t wait to see where your journey takes you.”
Hope Grossman was one of three senior speakers.
Ashley Pichardo reached out to shake hands with Superintendent Andy Almos after collecting her diploma.
Members of Ivan Sand’ s family attended the graduation and were recognized. They included Sand’ s widow, Elaine Sand Schulenburg( left) and two of their three daughters, Diane Sand( right) and Jenny( Sand) Haller.