by Principal Vargas
Welcome to the jungle with Principal Vargas, last edition. As I’m sitting in my office chair listening to the birds sing, the smell of fresh spring fills the air. Springtime is here, and that means one thing for me: graduation. This will be my 11th graduating class as a principal, and it’s safe for me to say that the class of 2021 will be the most memorable of my career.
When we think back to March 12th of 2020, that’s the day everything changed. COVID hit Colorado and Harrison High went fully remote to end the year. Everything shut down as the country went into panic mode, panicking over everything from safety to toilet paper.
We started the 2021/22 school year as we ended, remote, and to add, our building was under major construction. In early October, we began to bring students back in a hybrid model, two days at school, and two days at home. That worked for a short time, because right before Thanksgiving, COVID hit, and once again we went fully remote to end the first semester.
We returned for 2nd semester and shortly after our semester started 9th graders returned in full, then came our 12th graders, then 10th graders, and lastly, our 11th graders joined us. We had everybody in the building, and we didn’t look back. We had some bumps along the road, COVID cases here and there, but nothing significant enough to shut us down. We got back to athletics, concerts, award banquets, and had a wonderful prom outdoors. Now in less than 10 days the class of 2021 will be crossing the stage with diploma in hand.
Class of 2021 thank you for your perseverance, your flexibility, and as Colonel Miller said, your resilience over the past year and a half. You showed me anything is possible with hope, desire, dedication, and love. The class of 2021 will always have a special place in my heart, and I will never forget what we have all been through to get to this moment. Congratulations to all of you. The sky is the limit!
Go Panthers!
The Harrison Pawprint 