Students and leaders sign beam, mark start of new phase of Montbello High School construction
It was a celebration marked in ink and a signal of the progress being made in the $139.5 million redeveloping of a Denver high school with a long history, and an exciting future ahead.
The second phase of the construction of the new Montbello High School campus was celebrated through a beam signing ceremony. Denver Public Schools administrators, students, community members and alumni signed the beam, all writing messages of encouragement to the present and future generation of students.
The beam will be placed in the rebuild school for present and future students to see as construction of the high school is set to be completed by the fall of 2024. Yaira Hernandez will be a senior by then and was one of the only Montbello students to leave her signature on the beam.
"I've lived in Montbello since I was born and I really feel that as part of my culture as a human being and as my family," she says.
Yaira's brother graduated from Montbello High School in 2007. She says he lives in Mexico and still has a Warriors sticker on his car showing the pride he has for the high school. Yaira is now looking to pave her own path with a simple message to future Warriors.
"Accept change with open arms, rather than freeing it," she wrote on the beam. "As you give its name success or failure."
"Being successful means overcoming the challenges, all the anxieties, the worries that you have as a person. And overall, grow to what you really want. Grow and try to truly get what you want in life," she explained.
The sophomore hopes to become a real estate agent and share with others what made the Montbello community so special.
"It's the people who really bring the community out. All the friendships, and the fact that we're very friendly and we're open to people no matter when you came, who you are," she said.
Montbello High School will hold its first graduation ceremony on May 19th. It will be the first graduation at the school since it was closed back in 2014.