May 23, 2025 brought the Watershed students, families, educators, alumni, and trustees together to celebrate the Class of 2025 as they moved on to their various next adventures. While the venue was different this year– the Boulder JCC– and the crowd was larger, the traditions remained the same. Graduates were recognized and celebrated individually by their advisors and as a class by the Head of School, a Watershed alum delivered the graduation address, elected seniors spoke on behalf of their class, diplomas were conferred, and we all ate cake after the ceremony!

This year’s alumni speaker, Carly Gilbert ‘16, handed each senior a small bag of LEGOs, encouraging them to build something unique as she talked. Carly, too, had a set of LEGOs at the podium and, as she spoke to the Class of 2025, she built her own creation from blocks representing adventure, inquiry, wonder, authenticity, and connection– the building blocks she developed and continues to use to this day from her time at Watershed. Carly said to the graduates,

“Each of your creations is different, just like each of your journeys will be. The pieces in your hands symbolize the traits you’ve developed here at Watershed depending on what's important to you to take away. And yes, your structures may shift or fall apart over time. That’s okay. Because what's truly important is not what you’ve built today, but the foundation beneath it—the mindset, the values, and the relationships that Watershed has helped you create. That foundation is what you will carry forward, no matter where life takes you.”

You can read Carly’s remarks to the Class of 2025 in full here.

Selected by their class to speak at graduation, seniors Natalie Simpson and Drew Wheeler, wrote and delivered their remarks together. Their fast-paced dialogue was simultaneously heartfelt and beautifully irreverent. Natalie and Drew used their time at the podium as an opportunity to speak to each of their classmates’ gifts and qualities individually. The content of their remarks was insightful and generous of spirit, while the tone shifted seamlessly from thoughtful to hysterically funny and back again. Toward the end of their speech, Natalie and Drew said the following,

DREW: “Everybody sitting in front of me right now is capable of making tangible positive change in the world, and I know many are planning on it. Graduates, it’s up to you to decide where you let your path take you.”
NATALIE: “SO, our very final appreciation is for the greater world that we are about to enter. Through all the paths and possibilities, I know that all of my friends will go on to find corners of the world where they belong and thrive and I cannot wait to see where those corners lie.”

You can read Natalie and Drew’s graduation repartee in full here.