Over 800 seniors from Boulder High School and Fairview High School reflected on the highs and lows, the good days and the bad days, and their past as high school students and their futures during graduation commencement ceremonies on Sunday.

Sunday morning saw 476 seniors of the 2025 class of Boulder High School walk across the stage at the CU Events Center, 950 Regent Drive, in their purple caps and gowns and start the next chapter of their lives. The speakers at the graduation reminded the seniors to be proud of this milestone, and work hard for their futures.

Rafael Hernandez Guerrero told his classmates to be proud of the milestone that is graduating high school, but reminded them that education is a privilege and to be grateful for the opportunities it has given them.

“Education is not something I take lightly, and it is a privilege many are denied,” he said.

Even on the worst days, going to school was the opportunity to learn, grow and dream, Hernandez Guerrero said. He pointed to his father who only got a third grade education before having to drop out to help provide for his family.

He said after students walk across the stage to become Boulder High alumni, they step into the next phase of life, full of responsibilities and challenges. But he said it is how that responsibility is handled that defines who you are, just like his dad took his not ideal responsibility of having to drop out of school to provide for his family to make him the hard-worker he is today.

“Life is, after all, a struggle, a constant uphill climb but it is in the struggle that we find meaning,” Hernandez Guerrero said.

Nelsy Segovia Ibarra is just one of many first-generation Latinas to graduate high school and attend college in her class. Backpacks were not just used for carrying books, Segovia Ibarra said, as some students also carried grief, stress and the weight of expectations with them. She admits high school was hard for her and there were times her stress was insurmountable, but she and many others going through the same stress are walking across the stage and they can be proud of their achievements.

With tears in her eyes, Ibbara thanked her parents for all the help, support and sacrifices they made to help her walk across the stage on Sunday.

“You saw me fall, but you never let me drown,” Ibbara said in Spanish during her speech.

In the afternoon, 449 Fairview High School students collected their diplomas in their red caps and gowns.

Scott Peoples, faculty speaker and teacher at Fairview, was named as “most likely to be mistaken for a student” in this year’s yearbook, and joked he would lean into the superlative before taking a selfie with the graduating class.

Having graduated from high school himself 40 years ago, he said he would like to tell the seniors the road ahead is easy, but unfortunately that is not the case. One day, he said the students will look back on their high school graduation as just the first of many increasingly important achievements.

“You’ve got a lot of days in front of you class of 2025, I hope you live them well,” Peoples said.

Violet Pyles admits that on her first day of freshman year, her shoelaces got caught in her bike gears and she tumbled forward and launched out of her bike. She laughed off the incident, even though she could have let the embarrassment consume her. She said even if high school was good or bad, her whole class is looking at a new horizon where they can redefine themselves and their lives.

“Be fully immersed in this step of our journey and keep being immersed as it continues. So dust off your bike and laugh, keep your eyes open and you’re going to do great,” Piles said.

She said in middle school, they looked forward to high school and now in high school she is told to look forward to college. But she encouraged her classmates to love the current step of their journey and cherish it.

Seniors from most Boulder Valley high schools graduated this weekend. Peak to Peak and Monarch seniors graduated Friday. On Saturday, the district celebrated Arapahoe Ridge, Centaurus and Nederland seniors with ceremonies, while Boulder High and Fairview seniors graduated Sunday. Graduation for Broomfield High is Monday, while New Vista’s graduation is May 24.

Close to 2,500 Boulder Valley students are graduating in the Class of 2025. For a complete list of graduations and links to livestreams of the ceremonies, go to bvsd.org/calendar/2025-graduations.