In the middle of June, we attended graduations at seven of the Seattle schools—Nova, West Seattle, Ballard, Rainier Beach, Franklin, SW Interagency, and Garfield—for 2017 program participants. It was truly incredible to see these young people walk across the stage and celebrate the culmination of all their hard work.

The amount of resiliency it takes to not only make it through high school but also complete our intensive six-month program is truly astounding. They showed up daily and put in their best efforts and we feel honored to have been able to experience a piece of who they are and who they are becoming.

Being able to attend these graduations in person along with other youth, mentors, and families was DOPE. The energy as each person walked was pure excitement and pride. We can’t wait to see what their futures hold and we hope we will have them back as mentors, snowboard instructors, and staff.