Zala Smalls, left, is joined onstage by parents Anda and Ryan before her address. Smalls was named the Capitol Speaker by the staff of Aspen High School. In her address to her peers, Zala Smalls likened their journey through high school to an ascent she made of Capitol Peak before their freshman year.
Smalls, appropriately named the Capitol Speaker of the commencement ceremony for the Aspen High School class of 2024, noted how the start of her climb in August 2020 was “atypical,” just as the class’ start of high school that same month was, thanks to COVID-19. “I began bushwacking my way off the trail and navigating the unfamiliar landscape of Capitol’s backside,” Smalls said. “Using the same attitude, I distinctly remember logging onto my first class in high school, sitting in the waiting room, seeing all of my classmates in their tiny little squares.
” AHS sent 135 graduates off in its 135th commencement, principal Sarah Strassburger said in her opening remarks. Within the group, 20 students are candidates for International Baccalaureate diplomas after all juniors and seniors in the school were enrolled in IB coursework this year. Fifty-three students were members of the National Honor Society and 26 received Career Technical Education certificates, according to the commencement program.
Strassburger noted that the leader this year in community service hours had 301. In the second year of the school’s use of the Latin Laude system, 19 students graduated Cum .