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Life Skills Academy celebrates Class of 2025 with skills-focused graduation
Summary
Life Skills Academy held a graduation ceremony for its Class of 2025 in which district leaders and program staff highlighted students' independent-living and employment skills; graduates received gifts including a donated cookbook and items from Scheels.
Life Skills Academy celebrated its Class of 2025 at a graduation ceremony that featured remarks from district leaders, individual graduate presentations and gifts donated by community sponsors.
The ceremony underscored the program’s focus on independent-living and job-readiness skills. A staff member who emceed the event told graduates, “You already have it all, and the best is yet to come.”
Why it matters: Life Skills Academy prepares students for independent living, work and community participation; the ceremony showcased the skills students have learned and concrete next steps some graduates plan to take.
District leaders and program staff in attendance included Dr. Robbins, superintendent; two school-board members identified during the program as Karen Pedersen and Katie D’Aula; Dr. Tom Sherwood, director of high schools; and Dr. Robinson, assistant superintendent. Principal Nausinger, PTSA coordinator Betty Shaw and volunteers such as Jeff were also named during remarks. Spencer Hanson narrated graduate introductions, and administrative assistants Jenny Green and Valeria were credited with compiling a cookbook given to graduates.
Speakers described the practical skills students had gained. Graduates’ short presentations listed skills such as community navigation using UTA, interviewing and job search techniques, scheduling and budgeting, cooking, use of QR codes and other daily-living skills. For example, a graduate said the program taught “scheduling and budgeting,” and another said they learned “how to find a job and how to interview for a job.” Board member Karen Pedersen used a Finding Nemo reference and urged graduates to persevere: “Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.”
The ceremony included community donations: the emcee thanked Scheels for donated items and said graduates would receive a cookbook of adapted recipes as a takeaway gift. Families were invited to take photos after the presentation; event organizers provided light refreshments following the ceremony.
Graduates named during the ceremony included Grayson Argyle, Dante Bowers, Amanda Cagle, Adam Harvey, Oakley Hopewate, Sam Jorgensen, Hajari Rosa, Morgan Seal and others who each gave brief statements about memories, skills learned and future plans such as seeking employment, attending day programs, or pursuing independent hobbies and travel. One graduate said a future plan was to seek a job at Cinemark in Draper; another said a goal was to save money for a trip to Japan.
No formal votes, motions or policy actions were part of the event; it was a celebratory program and not a decision-making meeting. The program materials and remarks emphasized gratitude to families, volunteers and community partners and highlighted the program’s role in preparing graduates for post-school life.
Organizers signaled the end of the ceremony with a final invitation to socialize and take pictures. The emcee concluded, “Thank you,” and attendees dispersed to the post-ceremony reception.
