Senior Firtuna Tensu always dreamed of educational opportunities while living in Ethiopia.
She almost gave up on her dreams of attending high school and pursuing a college degree, thinking her future after school would mean joining the military.
Greeley West High School, however, welcomed Tensu with open arms and allowed her the space to reach her fullest potential.
Tensu graduated high school on Saturday as an honors graduate and an International Baccalaureate (IB) candidate, a globally recognized diploma that comes from completing a rigorous, two-year program to further personal and academic development.
She plans to major in economics while attending Colorado State University and hopes to receive her doctorate one day.
Greeley West hosted its 58th graduation ceremony Saturday afternoon at the University of Northern Colorado’s Nottingham Field.
Student speaker Aidan Datteri walked the crowd through what four years at Greeley West looked like for the class of 2024.
Their first glance into high school became the year of hybrid learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During sophomore year, the students attended school in person at a building that ended up giving everyone an early summer due to asbestos. Junior year for the students meant navigating a new school building.
But by senior year, Datteri said, the new building became a new home.
Yet, like many who walked through the doors of a high school for the first time, Datteri didn’t know who he wanted to be.
Although Greeley West may not look unique on the surface, Datteri said, it provides unique opportunities for students find themselves, whether it’s theater, robotics or sports.
“We’re all unified by one important goal more important than the rest,” Datteri said. “We all want to get the most out of our lives. We all seek success, whatever that means to you. We are all for one — one goal, one dream and one day, we will do it.”
Tensu’s story of coming to a new country as a refugee in ninth grade demonstrates people’s ability to overcome adversity and shows Greeley West’s “unique” ability to help students find their place in the world.
Tensu relocated to Ethiopia from Etria in July 2011. In Ethiopia, she spent her time dreaming of coming to the United States because of the assortment of opportunities for post-secondary life and the ability to choose her own life.
At the end of Tensu’s freshman year, she and her family arrived in Greeley to join her father, who had been in the United States for 15 years.
Upon her arrival at Greeley West High School, she had to learn the ropes of the new school system, learning the many differences in schooling compared to Africa. She didn’t know how grading worked, what questions to ask the teachers and additional facets that many of her peers had already learned.
Getting to know other students presented as an initial struggle as well.
“The school system is very different from what I know,” Tensu said. “It was so hard.”
But the barriers didn’t stop her from getting involved, putting herself out there to make friends and excelling in school. Tensu joined track and field and participated in many clubs including the National Honor Society and Key Club.
She even took on the challenge of taking IB courses — her biggest accomplishment in high school. Tensu said the IB program felt like taking college-level classes.
Over the years, Tensu remained determined to finish the IB program to make two people proud — herself and her mom, who had to raise Tensu alone while her dad was in America.
The class of 2024 had their turn at a long-standing tradition to select a teacher to give a speech at graduation. Students chose Don Wagner, a social studies and philosophy teacher, to deliver a speech, titled “Stop Looking Down.”
The title referred to the student’s use of cellphones causing them to look down, rather than around them. Students might have missed a few things while looking down, such as the amazing stories of the people they call classmates, Wagner said.
Wagner highlighted the story of courage among newcomers who came to the United States as refugee students, such as Tensu.
“Not only did they have the courage to not be defined by the stereotypes that they don’t have the skills to achieve, they worked their butts off,” Wagner said about the refugee students. “All of them are educated with honors, and they’re all going to college.”
Zanayah Shanks, class president, delivered a speech about her belief that people must learn to embrace setbacks and the “unexpected” along their journey, just like the refugee students when they moved to Greeley, or in Shanks’ example, when Michael Jordan was kicked off his high school’s basketball team.
Shanks took a moment to recognize someone facing a setback who “chooses positivity in every situation” — her grandmother. Shanks’ grandmother has been battling stage 4 breast cancer for six years.
“She is living proof that hard times don’t define you but form you into the person you’re meant to be,” Shanks said. “While she has given me many words of wisdom, one that has much meaning for us here today is that ‘The best is yet to come.’ ”
The graduation ceremony also began with a moment of silence to honor Joey Aleman, a senior and active FFA member, who died early into the 2023-24 school year.
Early on in the ceremony, Greeley West Principal Jeffrey Cranston recognized two students for their “superior academic excellence and persistence through their high school careers,” with the valedictorian and salutatorian titles.
Akam Chahal, the class of 2024 salutatorian, finished high school with a 4.51 GPA. She will attend the University of Denver to study political science and plans to attend law school.
Theodore Hirsch, the valedictorian, finished high school with a 4.64 GPA. He will study bioengineering and biotechnology at the University of California San Diego.
In his speech, Hirsch encouraged his classmates to listen to the voice inside them, which comes from the intuition and wisdom acquired in one’s lifetime.
When faced with hard decisions about careers, college, relationships and more, he asked people to tune into the internal voice that “whispers all day long.” Because even a stupid decision can be the right decision and “no teacher, preacher, parent, friend or wise man can decide what’s right for you.”
“As long as we remain true to ourselves, find the positivity in every situation, even when you have to really look for it, and focus on what is important, the destination will be beautiful,” Shanks said. “And all the struggles will be worth it.”
