Direction is more important than the pace that a student accomplishes their goals.
That was the message keynote speaker Orlando Griego had for eight graduates from The Hub on Wednesday morning.
The Hub acts as a center where community resources can come together to support students who may have struggled learning in traditional educational models.
In addition to the leadership team, the program’s staff includes a full-time teacher, a therapeutic service aid, a therapist and a caseworker, as well as an additional contracted therapist.
One of the main goals is to help students fulfill their academic potential and earn their high school diplomas. The crowd was fraught with emotion and tears of happiness from friends, family members and even one student’s dog.
“So much of what we do is relational. With our ratios to students and staff, we’re able to really know and understand what the students carry into the classroom every day, and to be able to support them with those things, too,” said Sam Tower, principal of The Hub.
Tower also serves as the principal for Big Picture High School. The Hub service students from both Durango School District 9-R high schools.
During the ceremony, students were welcomed up to the podium and joined by The Hub’s department of human service therapists. The therapists spoke about how they became acquainted with the students and how they’ve grown.
Parents and spectators saw firsthand the connection between the students and their therapist – a social, emotional aspect the Hub strongly tries to emphasize in its teachings.
La Plata Youth Services Executive Director Jason St. Mary said the program really helps shift student mindsets, especially if they’re expressing pessimism about graduating.
“It's shifting the paradigm for them and really bolstering protective factors like competence, self-esteem, self-efficacy, so they believe in themselves, and that's an important quality to have for these young people who have been failed by multiple systems,” St. Mary said.
Tower said for many of the Hub’s students, receiving a high school diploma is a huge milestone.
“I think the program in so many ways has allowed them to be able to focus on those areas as a student by, again, just providing the support and resources and case management that allows them to do that in a very different way,” Tower said.
The students were awarded certificates for graduating The Hub’s program and received their actual diplomas during their respective high school graduations.
“Each of you have navigated your own unique journey, overcoming obstacles and seizing opportunities along the way,” Griego told the students during his speech. “But beyond academic achievement, and extracurricular successes, it is your resilience in the face of adversity that truly sets you apart. If we think about it, it's your resilience that brings us here today.”
This year’s class were freshmen during the COVID-19 pandemic, a topic heavily discussed during 2024 graduation ceremonies in La Plata County.
Griego said the student’s resilience through this period, as well as their overall perseverance to overcome other challenges they faced while earning their diplomas, served them well.
“Your experience on how you navigate tough conversations, seek self satisfaction, continuously show up and find direction will be your foundation moving forward,” Griego told the students.
Each of the eight students graduated from either Durango High School or Big Picture High School this past week.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
