2026 Eighth Grade Continuation

As their individual memory slides passed across the giant screen in the Leach Center for the Performing Arts, it was impossible not to feel the members of the Colorado Academy Eighth Grade Class of 2030 had come remarkably far in the few years leading up to their Continuation on June 1, 2026. Highlighting friendships, special occasions, sports, family events, and childhood memories, the carefully curated images along with meaningful quotations surely proved to loved ones in the audience that this group of Eighth Graders deserved every bit of celebration this ceremony offered.

 

Said Head of School Dr. Mike Davis to welcome students and their families to the ceremony, “There is really something special about watching this group of young people cross a threshold. Thank you, families, for the trust you have placed in CA over the years—when your children were still young, and still very much works in progress, as all of us are. You trusted us to take good care of them, to challenge them, to believe in them, and now they have grown into the wonderful young people sitting before you right now.”

 

The Middle School years, Dr. Davis noted, constitute one of the most remarkable and complex chapters of human development. But just as the astronauts who completed the recent Artemis II mission around the Moon reported when they returned home, “No matter what went wrong, no matter what malfunctioned, what moment of fear they felt on the far side of the Moon, the crew made a commitment to get back to joy as quickly as possible. This was not to pretend that the hard thing hadn’t happened, but to genuinely, actively, and with discipline return to gratitude and wonder in connection with the people beside them.”

So it goes in CA’s Middle School, argued Dr. Davis. 

 

The Harvard researchers who conducted the longest-ever study of human happiness, he explained, found that the “flow” of happiness stems from a deep engagement in which challenge, skill, and deep human connections are all in balance. “So the moments that give our lives the most meaning are often the hardest ones. They are the moments of struggle, of growth, of showing up for something bigger than ourselves.”

“Notice,” Dr. Davis went on, “this is also a description of what your best years at CA have looked like: Believing in each other, working even harder because of the friendships that carried you through—you’ve been building the architecture of a meaningful life right here in Middle School.”

 

“High school is going to ask a lot of you,” he continued. “The academic load is real. The social complexity is real. The questions about who you are and what you believe will only get louder. But I believe you can bring joy into that next chapter—joy as a discipline. Choose the relationships that lift you. Find the work that pulls you into flow with people you trust.”

“Remember that getting back to gratitude and connection is not a weakness; it is, as science tells us, the whole point.”

Dr. Davis then introduced Middle School Principal Nick Malick, who directly addressed the 81 members of the Class of 2030. 

“This is a fantastic group of kids,” he began simply. “I have a special affinity for this class because, as they entered Middle School, I joined the CA community as Principal. Their journey has been mine, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group to travel with.”

Malick went on, “I have just one piece of advice for these students: Take more risks.”

 

That may not be the advice parents expect to hear directed at young teenagers, he acknowledged. “But let’s think about the ‘adventurous learners and leaders’ part of our mission: To adventure is to explore the unknown, to take action without knowing the outcome. Being adventurous requires accepting that things may not work out, that there may be negative consequences, that you are not fully in control—and then choosing to act anyway. Most of you will learn more from the risks that don't work out than the ones that do.”

Every Eighth Grader on stage, continued Malick, has taken their share of risks at CA—whether in the theater, on the athletic field, or in the classroom—and every one has seen things go wrong. 

“But when you did,” he said, “you kept going; you figured out a way to move forward. And your audience probably didn’t even notice. By attempting to create or perform you took risks, and those risks often paid off, but sometimes they didn’t. This is the kind of practice you need—the practice of finding the resilience to move through failed attempts. In many ways, that’s what our Middle School has been for you.”

 

“Let me be clear,” Malick added. “I am not encouraging you to take blind, uninformed risks. If you’re going out to explore a desert, you’ve got to prepare, take water, learn everything you can, bring a guide, have a plan, have a backup plan. Don’t just wander.”

“Most importantly, ask yourselves, what’s the worst that could happen? We often catastrophize: The world will be over if I make a mistake. People will laugh at me. That’s the worst reason not to do something. How bad would it really be if you made a fool of yourself? Probably not that bad.”

“What you will find over time is that people don’t pay attention to your mistakes nearly as much as you fear they will,” Malick explained. “When you take risks, you learn your limits, and you discover that what you think is the worst outcome really is not that bad at all. Minor mistakes and embarrassments are fleeting. You earn more respect by being willing to take a risk and failing than by never taking the risk at all.”

“High school is going to be bigger,” he concluded. “It’s going to be faster, and, quite frankly, a lot less forgiving than Middle School. But you’ve been practicing. Be the person who steps forward and takes the risk.”

Elected Eighth Grade Class Speaker Emmett Dunn next came to the podium to congratulate his classmates.

 

“Everybody sitting on this stage is an incredible individual, and everybody here has taken advantage of the time given to them,” he began. “They used it to further their interests, understanding, and skills. Each person here is unique and interesting, with varying hobbies, personalities, and opinions.”

The Class of 2030, he noted, “has accomplished a lot over the last three years. Through Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade, we have devoured 43,200 cookies at dessert and turned in at least 12,000 math homework assignments. We competed in 234 sports games and had 30 Spirit Days. We started a Steel Pan Ensemble, and put on two plays, two musicals, four Choir and Rock and Jazz Band concerts, and nine Orchestra performances.”

“Most importantly, though, we made thousands of memories in classrooms with teachers, in the halls with friends, or even outside of school,” he added. “We grew in ways that none of us could have imagined. Whether it was being a better or more efficient mathematician or a better leader to the students in the grades below us, we leave Eighth Grade more accomplished, prepared, and excited for what is to come.”

 

Vocal Music Director Dr. Kevin Padworski then led the Eighth Grade Choir as they punctuated Dunn’s remarks with a rendition of the song “Rise Up,” by Andra Day.

You’re broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can’t find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
We gonna walk it out
And move mountains

And I’ll rise up
I’ll rise like the day
I’ll rise up
I’ll rise unafraid
I’ll rise up
And I’ll do it a thousand times again
 

Middle School faculty members then came to the podium to offer brief tributes to their students, each of whom stood center stage in turn. Listening to the ways their teachers admired their courage, creativity, compassion, and determination, the Eighth Graders may have felt a little embarrassed at being singled out, but any discomfort was vastly outweighed by the pride they undoubtedly felt in being so clearly and lovingly seen.

When Malick invited the students to stand for an ovation from their families, there was the slightest hesitation as the Eighth Graders looked to one another and then, proud and smiling and finally realizing what they’d achieved, took to their feet.

Eighth Grade Continuation Stage Photos

Candid Photos