First high school graduating class in Timnath in 65 years sets the tone

Yahoo

24-05-2025

They were sophomores, coming from a handful of other high schools in the area, when they first set foot in the new Timnath Middle-High School.
It was the fall of 2022, and there were no older students to look up to, only younger ones for them to lead.
And they did, figuring things out along the way, Principal Jesse Morrill said, as they established traditions and built a strong sense of belonging that he hopes will never waver.
'Together we built this place with sweat, spirit and with a deep belief that Timnath High School could be something great,' Vince Hochholter said after being recognized as the school's first Class Guide, for his character, leadership and school spirit, classmate MacKenzie Dahmer explained.
May 23, Timnath High School celebrated its graduating class of 2025, the first ever for the combined new middle-high school and the first from any Timnath high school in 65 years, during a commencement ceremony at Colorado State University's Moby Arena.
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'I think like we just fully opened the school with this ceremony,' Morrill said. 'It's been kind of a three-year process, adding a grade level each year, continuing to add staff and students to the school.
'But this first class was the group that took the plunge and left their high school where they'd started at and wanted something new. And they've been a part of creating all our traditions and setting the tone for the type of school that we're trying to be.'
The 129 new graduates easily dwarfed the previous high of 21 from the final graduating class of the old Timnath High School in 1960, two of those 1960 graduates – Jeanette Rutz and Larry Siegfried – told the Coloradoan. The old high school was closed when the Timnath Consolidated School District merged with several others to form the Poudre School District, and its students were bused to Fort Collins High School.
Rutz, a cheerleader and homecoming queen her senior year, and Siegfried, the starting quarterback for the football team, were invited to the 2025 commencement ceremony as special guests and seated on the floor, near the graduates, with two other classmates and Siegfried's wife, Linda.
'We were the last class to graduate, and now we're the first alumni to come back for a graduation from the new school,' Larry Siegfried said.
Added Rutz, 'It's nice to be around to still do this.'
Creating traditions and setting a standard for the classes that will follow was a common theme from each of the three graduating Cub Leadership Mentors who spoke – Mia Robinson, Kyle Nelson and Dahmer – as well as Morrill, Poudre School District Superintendent Brian Kingsley and Hochhalter.
The school's band and orchestra performed, as did the choir. There were also a couple of solo performances by graduating seniors, with Matti Pletcher singing Miley Cyrus' song, 'The Climb," and Ella Petersen singing Stephen Schwartz's, 'For Good.'
Then, one row at a time, students walked across the stage as their names were called to receive their diplomas. After the last name was read, Cub Leadership Mentor Kylie Scheidt led the class in the traditional flipping of the tassels on their mortarboards from right to left. Then those caps flew high into the air as the oldest class at Timnath Middle-High School since its opening in August 2022 bid farewell.
'It was definitely a unique experience,' graduating senior Tate Bledsoe said afterward. 'And it was a lot of ups and downs, because you're there trying to look for people to look up to, but they're not there. But it's also good, because you have a lot of younger kids looking up to you. so you can set traditions and values.
'It went by fast, that's for sure. Senior year felt like it just started. We painted our senior (parking) spots, and we're already done. Senior sunset.'
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at [e-mail], x.com/KellyLyell, threads.net/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Timnath graduates first class since 1960