Graduation Season

Submitted by Sharon Schrage of Incline Education Fund

“I am a firm believer that you don’t achieve greatness on your own. There is always someone there to lend a hand.” — Greg Louganis

As we celebrate the 82, 2023 Incline High School (IHS) graduates, we can share their joy in their achievements and also honor those who helped them along the way.  Academically, 12 graduates are members of the National Honors Society and over 50% of this year’s graduates took AP Classes.  At the athletic level, again over 50 % of IHS students participated in sports throughout the year.  This year there was an IHS Boys Soccer State Championship win and a gold for a graduate in the shot put at the Spring Track and Field State Meet.  Proving the point that Incline students shine in the classroom as well as on the field, the Girls Track team won first place in 2A Academic All-State with a combined GPA of 3.73.  

Looking forward, this year’s IHS graduates are headed off to further their education in challenging arenas like Italy’s Florence Institute Of Culinary Arts and highly selective colleges such as Notre Dame and Amherst College. IHS graduates are also attending  NCAA Basketball powerhouse schools Gonzaga and San Diego State University.  Other students have chosen to serve their country and are enrolling in the US Armed Forces.  Locally, a strong cohort of students are headed down to our Tier 1 University neighbor, University of Nevada, Reno while others are taking advantage of the Nevada Promise Scholarship to attend Truckee Meadows Community College or the College Promise Scholarship at Lake Tahoe Community College in order to be able to further their education without any student debt.

The excellent quality of an Incline education was recently recognized at the state level with the Nevada Governor’s Office of Science, Information and Technology (OSIT) awarding both Incline Elementary School and Incline High School a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Designation. Designation as a Governor’s STEM School denotes that both Incline Elementary School and Incline High School meet the highest standards of STEM instruction and are models for schools around the state.  (Plans are fully underway for Incline Middle School to apply for–and achieve the same NV Governor’s Office STEM Designation).  This will make the three Incline schools the first and only K12 STEM pathway in Nevada.  This does not mean that Incline students will only focus on the sciences.  A critical part of a STEM education includes collaborative work, problem-solving, communication and critical thinking– skills that Incline’s nationally recognized ‘We the People’ class excel at throughout their competition season.  These vital skills are also strengthened in IHS elective classes such as Drama, Music, Culinary Arts and the new IHS Internship program as well as all their core academic subjects.

At the younger level, 5th grade graduates at Incline Elementary School (IES) are headed off to Incline Middle School (IMS) with an impressive six years (K-5) of music education.  Additionally, this year’s crop of rising IMS students have two full years of Robotics and Coding instruction under their belts thanks to the recent addition of the Makerspace Curriculum.  This Award-Winning Curriculum Has Prepared IES Students for the challenge of the new Robotics program at IMS. There, they will learn more advanced programming languages and have the opportunity for experiential learning through flying drones and deepening their understanding of robotics.  Rising 9th graders are coming out of IMS with a year of Exploratory programs in their academic tool kits.  These new skills include but are not limited to: learning about entrepreneurship through a collaboration with Incline Bowl; future animal care careers with the Pet Network;, Botany and Horticulture; the Culinary Arts as well as Physical Education Programs that embraced the outdoors such as Cross-Country Skiing (made possible by Nevada Nordic and Tahoe-Multi-sport) and swimming (through a collaboration fully paid for by the Incline Education Fund).

The achievements noted above are only possible with a strong foundation of support and encouragement along the way.  From the first day of kindergarten through their last day of finals, Incline students have had a strong team of dedicated teachers, administration and staff who care deeply about each individual student.  Each of the opportunities and programs listed above was originally just the dream of an Incline Village educator.  Through perseverance, hours of hard work, dedication and a strong belief in their students, Incline Village education staff gave each graduating student the strong foundation to succeed in whatever path they chose.

Thank you Incline Educators and Congratulations 2023 Graduates!  In the words of Dr. Seuss, “You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way!”