Carson City's Pioneer Academy graduates 28 in its Class of 2022 commencement
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Thu, 06/02/2022 - 2:33pm
On Wednesday evening, after a few years of pandemic-style graduation ceremonies, Pioneer Academy high school students returned to Carson City Community Center’s Bob Boldrick Theater for the Class of 2022’s commencement ceremony. It was an evening filled with lots of retrospection, excitement and accolades.
The ceremony itself was primarily student-led, with four student speakers: Gabriel Allen, Ryan Freitas, Faith Chavez and Hailee Olson. There were 28 diplomas awarded along with a number of special recognitions. Three graduates qualified for the Millennium Scholarship: Gabriel Allen, Ryan Freitas and James Mason. Three graduates earned an advanced diploma: Faith Chavez, Ryan Freitas and James Mason. One graduate, Gabriel Allen, earned the College and Career Ready Diploma. Three of the graduates also participated in the JumpStart program: Gabriel Allen, Ryan Freitas and Keegan Castberg. Fifteen of the graduates earned cords for J4NG, and 13 graduates earned cords for CTE.
Two exceptional students earned the titles of valedictorian and salutatorian. Ryan Freitas maintained the highest GPA in the class, earning him the much-deserved honor of valedictorian. Ryan plans to continue his education at WNC, possibly pursuing a career in fine arts. In his speech, Ryan reflected on his time at Pioneer, saying, “it completely changed the way that I felt about school. It wasn’t something that I dreaded anymore.” He also advised his classmates to “keep moving forward, find things that give you genuine happiness, and figure out what you’re really interested in, or passionate about.”
Gabriel Allen, with second-highest GPA, earned the honor of salutatorian. Gabriel plans to attend WNC, then UNR, pursuing studies in either engineering, forensics or psychology. In his speech, Gabriel reflected on the class of 2022’s journey and looked forward to the future, telling his classmates, “All the tumult of the past few years has only made us stronger, and the very proof of that is that we are here today, on the brink of a new phase of life. The future will be full of adventures, laughter, challenges, heartaches, happiness and more. And, because of our unique experiences, we are strong enough to face the future with confidence.”
The students and staff would like to send a special thanks to Mr. Cary Jordan and Ms. Monica Ward for all of their hard work organizing a beautiful ceremony. Congratulations Pioneer High School Class of 2022! The future is in good hands!
Pioneer High School Class of 2022 Graduates listed below by their first name followed by last name (alphabetized).
Gabriel S. Allen
Johnathan A. Ammerman
Chloe Bennett
Andrew M. Case
Keegan Castberg
Faith J. Chavez
Madison Cordova
Daisy L. Cyphers
Samantha N. Diaz
Jassmen Dominguez
Jesse J. Elias
Elayna Estrada
Ryan Freitas
Grace Hall
Alexa B. Hanson
Emilee Johnson
Kiara J. Luhrs
Abigail Marschner-Schuhmacher
James E. Mason
Anthony Matha
Jayden D. McCallister
Julieth A. Miralrio
Guadalupe Muñoz Marquez
Hailee R. Olson
Emalie J. Petty
Luis Alberto Plascencia
Sadie B. Tingle
Chyanne I. Wheeler
