CREEDE - Family and friends gathered in Creede on May 29 to celebrate the Class of 2025 in the Creede school gymnasium. Those in attendance stood as five seniors walked down the aisle to take their seats and commemorate their hard work and dedication. 

Creede School District Superintendent Susan Birdsey stood at the podium and invited the crowd to take their seats and welcomed them to the 2025 graduation ceremony. The screen above the stage lit up, showing pictures of the students as they grew, capturing their special moments in photographs and personalized songs. 

“Thank you all for being here tonight. This evening, we gather not to just honor the achievements of five outstanding graduates, but to also honor the community that helped lift them to this moment. Graduates, we are so proud of you. You have worked hard, overcome challenges, and grown into thoughtful, capable young adults. You showed kindness when it mattered most. You have shown perseverance instead of giving up and innovation when you needed to find your own way,” said Birdsey. “These are the values that will carry you far in life.” 

Birdsey was pleased to announce the 2025 Class Valedictorian, Jaxson Fazio, who took to the stage to address his fellow graduates. Fazio spoke to family, teachers and coaches who helped him get to the moment of graduation and those that showed him what hard work and dedication can bring to life.  

“As I stand before the graduating Class of 2025, I would like to talk to you about purpose, perseverance and passion. It’s 6:30 a.m. and I have two choices. I can press the snooze and press it over and over and over again. Or I can get up. I chose option two and that is purpose.” 

Fazio gave examples of purpose, perseverance and passion and related them to a great day of skiing on Wolf Creek. He used the analogy to ask his fellow graduates to keep those three lessons throughout their lives and to always go after what gives them purpose, perseverance and passion. 

Next to speak was the Class of 2025 Salutatorian, Aiden Maze, who congratulated his fellow graduates on a job well done and thanked everyone who made it possible for him to be there and for helping him achieve his goals.  

“Mom, dad, if it weren’t for you, I would not be standing here. You taught me that when I borrow something, I return it in better shape than when I borrowed it. This one time, we borrowed a truck, and I remember that when we got back, you told me that we needed to clean it, and I asked why. You told me that when you borrow something you return it better than how you found it and I encourage my classmates to do the same through life. This taught me how to treat people and how to keep people you care about happy.” 

Maze also thanked his mother for teaching him patience and the teachers that impacted him though his high school career. “To the Class of 2025, we have all had our own struggles and challenges, but we all made it here together. This is not the end; this is only the beginning. If I were to give you any advice, it would be, treat everyone with respect, leave everything better than when you found it and anything worth doing is worth doing is worth doing well. Find passion in everything that you do.”