With 133 graduates, the Hidden Lake Secondary School class of 2025 had the most ever students walk across the stage on Thursday morning at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in downtown Denver.

It was a remarkable day for a group of students who chose to attend an alternative high school after discovering the traditional high school experience was not meeting their needs. The smaller campus at Hidden Lake fosters more personalized connections with teachers, allowing the students to discover the transformative power of education. Some of the graduates, like Marcus Martinez, had given up on the idea of getting a high school diploma before discovering a path forward at Hidden Lake. 

“You have built something here that matters,” said Principal Richard Diehl. By embracing the motto, 'We want something better,' the class of 2025 has built an extraordinary legacy. Diehl said the record number of graduates, was ”not a number, but a statement.”

“Today is especially meaningful because this wasn’t the easy path. No one handed you a shortcut. You didn’t cruise through on autopilot,” said Superintendent Jeni Gotto. “You fought for this. You faced challenges, setbacks, maybe even doubts— but you kept showing up.”

Luisa Rodriguez a, first-generation high school graduate was one of the students selected to speak to her classmates. Fighting back tears, she thanked her mother who encouraged her to stick with her studies. "She always told me to fight for a better tomorrow,” she said, and reminded her classmates that, "the future is something that we create.”

Wearing dark sunglasses, Marcus Martinez also spoke to his fellow graduates. He wears the glasses because of the effects of a traumatic brain injury he suffered in a car crash. Up until the accident he said he avoided school and didn’t take his education seriously. The accident, he said, changed everything and he encouraged his fellow graduates to join him in "stepping boldly into the future.”

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