Fort Collins graduates overcome great challenges for their diplomas

As 1,800 of Fort Collins high school students cloaked in long unfashionable gowns and caps with colored tassels accept their diplomas in coming weeks, they will inevitably be looking back over the last four years just as much as they’re looking forward to what lies ahead.

The memories will be of the awkwardness of adolescence, of late nights with friends, of school dances and football games, parties and a fair amount of homework. Generally speaking, the class valedictorians get it right: Graduation marks the next progressional step in life—the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

But for some students, it’s not as easy as the sometimes-sappy sentiments would have you believe. For a handful, high school wasn’t a breeze and graduation isn’t just the next turn in some paved route that leads to opportunities that are all too often taken for granted. For these kids, high school graduation is nothing short of a miracle that embodies the true meaning of success, even of simple survival. Though these students will blend in with everyone else on graduation day, their memories will largely center around overcoming great odds in their lives, whether they were physical, emotional, cultural or financial.

PSD Graduation Schedule Poudre High School, 6:30 p.m., May 23 at Moby Arena, doors open at 5:30 p.m. Fossil Ridge High School, 8 a.m., May 24 at Moby Arena, doors open at 7 a.m. Rocky Mountain High School, 1 p.m., May 24 at Moby Arena, doors open at noon. Fort Collins High School, 5:30 p.m. May 24 at Moby Arena, doors open at 4:30 p.m. The PEAK program graduation, 2 p.m., May 21 at the PEAK building, 2551 Hampshire Road. Centennial High School, 7 p.m., May 22 at the Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St. Polaris Expeditionary learning School, 1 p.m., May 23, at the Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St. The Poudre Transition Center program graduation, 1 p.m., May 23, in the gymnasium of the Poudre Transition Center, 220 North Grant Avenue.

Eighteen-year-old Jenna Ringenberg, a senior at Fort Collins High School, is perfectly content being part of the masses, even if her back story is quite unique.

“I try to be normal with my friends; I don’t want to be treated special or anything,” she said.

Ringenberg lived in an orphanage in China for the first 11 years of her life. She was born with hearing loss and suffered more severe damage to her hearing when ear infections were not properly treated. It eventually led to surgery. She was in a hospital in China when her adoptive father, Fort Collins lawyer James Ringenberg, first set his eyes on her. He was traveling with a non-profit group called Face the Challenge.

“He fell in love with me,” Ringenberg said with a shy smile.

James Ringenberg came home and discussed adopting the little girl with his wife. The couple had four boys but hadn’t considered adopting a girl until then. But the adoption became an arduous process, taking about three years to complete.

A man claiming to be the little girl’s uncle took her from the orphanage, saying he knew her real parents. Jenna said he was just after money. The man brought Jenna to the city of Dalian, where her education took a back seat to rigorous training in the unlikely discipline of competitive ping-pong. She said she would walk to another school in the mornings, then come back for ping-pong training from 1-7 p.m. She shared a room with a smaller girl who would go home a couple times a week. Jenna remembers being scared and alone at night and having to go out to buy herself food during the weekends.

“They didn’t care about people,” she said of her experiences at the school. “I didn’t have any real education.”

Relentless, James Ringenberg eventually found her through the help of one of his friends who lives in China. But the transition after the adoption was tough. The little girl would kick, cry and scream. The first day, she didn’t come out of her room. Looking back, Jenna said she was a real brat, but it was because she was scared.

She was enrolled in fifth-grade at Johnson Elementary School, where her teachers helped introduce her to other students.

“I was lucky to have good friends who could help me with English,” she said. “I didn’t know any English at all.”

These days it would be hard to guess that English is not her native language. In order not to lose her first language, Jenna took a Chinese class at Colorado State University last semester and plans to minor in Chinese in college. She hopes to return to China someday. Beyond that, she continues taking additional English classes at Front Range Community College to strengthen her skills.

She has adapted to her life in America and has become involved in several school sports including—perhaps thanks to her rigid training in ping-pong—tennis. Her weekends are spent watching movies or playing games with friends and spending time with her parents and brothers.

“She has a really supportive family who has been there every step of the way and have been instrumental in making her life better,” said Linda Anson, Ringenberg’s school counselor. “Coming from another country, she has a great appreciation for what we have here. I am sure she will be successful. She has overcome so many obstacles already.”

Though school is sometimes challenging, Ringenberg has earned a 3.5 grade point average. She tries her best and has already set her sights on college. She will attend University of Northern Colorado in the fall and hopes to become a teacher.

“I love little kids,” Ringenberg said. “When I was in the orphanage in China, I always pretended to be a teacher. I always wanted to become a teacher.”

She still thinks about her time in the orphanage and wonders what happened to the kids she met there, but is also extremely excited about the future that awaits.

“I am very lucky,” Ringenberg said. “I still think about how lucky I am to have everything I have.”

When it comes to luck, Isa Orozco-Vela, another senior at Fort Collins High School, knows the true meaning of the word. On Saturday, her luck to the form of being able to attend her senior prom. Long brown curls framed her face and her sleek red dress gleamed with elegance.

Her favorite part of the night was being able to dance; she said her date helped hold her up so she could experience it differently than she does every other aspect of her life, from the confines of a wheelchair.

“It was very special; more special than even normal senior prom,” Orozco-Vela said.

That’s because Saturday also marked one year since the accident that put her in a wheelchair in the first place. Orozco-Vela suffered a brain injury when the car she was driving was hit by a pickup truck at the intersection of Colorado Highway 14 and Weld County Road 23. She was in a coma for three weeks at North Colorado Medical Center. She later spent five months recovering at Craig Hospital in Denver.

It took her six months to regain her speech. And though she still has a way to go in her recovery, Orozco-Vela is refocusing on her future aspirations.

“I really believe that God kept me focused and gave me the ability to focus on what I need to do,” she said.

She will be taking a year off of school to continue with her therapy which includes speech, occupational and physical therapy. Then she will head off to college, like she always had planned. She will attend Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts.

“It’s an all-girl school and Emily Dickinson went there,” Orozco-Vela said. “They have my major there which is English and I wanted to go on the East Coast.”

During her stay at Craig, Orozco-Vela managed to complete her critical skills course and first semester of her AP English class. She hopes become a writer and would like to write about her accident and recovery process.

“I also have plans for a children’s book,” she said. “There are surprisingly young people going through similar things and I want to write something to have them not be afraid.”

Bravery is something Orozco-Vela has seemed to master. She spends hours in therapy and remains optimistic. She is determined to walk again and hopes to someday again play the violin—something she is very passionate about. Even during tough times, she is never bitter.

“Actually, I am happier and more content with the person inside now than I was with the girl who died (a year ago) on May 10,” Orozco-Vela said.

She said it has also helped having friends who love her.

Given all she has been through, Orozco-Vela said graduation will be that much sweeter.

“Now it has been like winning a battle,” she said.

Her paraprofessional, Holly Malloy, said Orozco-Vela is a true inspiration. She said her work ethic is unlike anything she’s seen before.

“She stays so patient,” Malloy said. “Her faith has given her a lot of strength.”

For Lauri Yoder, a senior at Fossil Ridge High School, strength is something she has found within herself. Problems with her family and with her finances—she helped pay for things herself—meant that the very basics of school, such as being motivated to go in the first place, didn’t come easy. And as a moderate-needs student with a disability, academics were that much more difficult for her.

There were times when she wanted to quit. Just the logistics of getting to school were at times a burden.

“Trying to get to school was a hard one,” Yoder said. “Not having money. Living paycheck to paycheck. Trying to get to school. Having to go without food for a week just to go to school.”

Yoder has held down a summer job ever since she was 13 and currently works as a hostess at Cracker Barrel in Loveland to earn extra money. She said there have been times she has had to decide between putting gas in her diesel truck to get to school or eat. She always chose school.

“Things that hurt you make you really strong,” she said. “It makes you realize you can do things on your own. If you put yourself to it, you can make it happen. ... I wanted to be the first one in my family to graduate. I wanted to show everyone I can do it and it’s not that hard.”

Her two older sisters dropped out of high school, but Yoder said she saw the importance of getting an education. Though she hasn’t decided what she will do after graduation, she knows she will need a diploma. But she isn’t necessarily ready to stop there. Yoder was accepted to Eastern Wyoming College and is considering a degree in welding and possibly one in farm and ranch management later on. At this point, she is sorting out her financial aid.

Michelle Fink, resource teacher at Fossil Ridge, has served as a mentor for Yoder. She said Yoder is an amazing kid who has come a long way.

“Part of her desire to get a higher education is she has lived paycheck to paycheck and doesn’t want to do it anymore,” Fink said.

When times got rough, Yoder often turned to her horses for encouragement. She is actively involved in rodeo and enjoys barrel racing and pole bending. She dreams of owning her own ranch someday.

“I’ve tried bull riding,” she said. “It was pretty fun. I would do it again.”

Her take charge attitude has also proved useful in a welding class she attends at Front Range Community College. It’s become her favorite class, because unlike most traditional academic courses it is extremely hands-on.

When asked about her success in making it to graduation, Yoder said Fink definitely played an important role. She said her teacher helped her through every little problem and guided her in the right direction so she could make good decisions.

“I’m excited. I think it’s a big accomplishment because I’m my mom’s only daughter to graduate. I finally did it.”