Gracen T., Student Council Co-President
Hello everyone, for those of you who don’t know me, I am Gracen Turner. I have been at Graland since pre-K so that means I have spent a whole decade going here for school, playing and learning. I have grown up here and become who I am here today along with my class. A lot can happen when you stick 70 kids on a campus for 10 years. There have been highs and lows but I know for certain I can say my class made every memory count.
I believe that the time we all have shared together, whether the last three years or the last 10, has impacted us all and made us closer through it. We are not just a class anymore but some of us are as close as family. For the basketball team, we all woke up early for morning practice, we all showed up for games, and all of us ran sprints together. The great part about Graland is that everyone gets to feel what it’s like on a team and have people care about you. Graland has built relationships for all of us that will last and memories that will last longer.
As well as friends, Graland has built memories that I won't forget till I’m old. Like the crazy man on D.C., Buddy field days, waking up for hot chocolate on Mesa verde, or the hospitality of that little restaurant taking in 85 of us when the other restaurant closed on the civil rights trip. All these memories made us closer and built our character. Every single memory has added a little something to us.
The big memories are where you would never expect them to be. Many of us didn’t meet our friends in class or at class mingles. I would say the hallways, courts and fields, and the lunchroom are where most of us really met each other. I think this is because these places make us comfortable without worry of trouble or grades. We can just be kids in these places. We can't be like this in a classroom and I think Graland balanced that for us greatly.
I know that during class it seemed like time stopped, but I can’t believe how fast time feels right now. When you are going through it, a day feels like a week, but looking but those weeks feel like hours. I can remember feeling in elementary school that middle school was forever away. Back then high school wasn’t even in our minds. But now we are on our way out of here onto the next part of our life and education.
I personally am so excited to go to high school. But that’s not because I didn’t enjoy my time here, I really did, but because I am ready for more. We all are and that is the next step for us. I know all of us moving to new schools can look scary or sad but think of how great it could be. The new freedoms we’ll have and the great times we’ll have in high school are bound for us. Thank you and congratulations to the class of 2025.
Graland Country Day School
Graland Country Day School is a private school in Denver, Colorado, serving students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. Founded in Denver in 1927, Graland incorporates a rich, experiential learning approach in a traditional classroom setting, emphasizing the development of globally and socially conscious leaders who excel academically.
