E D. This is going to be the best day of my life. My life. I howled at the moon with friends and then the sun came crashing in. Woah oh oh oh. But all the possibilities, no limit, just epiphies. oh, >> I'm never going to look back. Never going to give it up. No, just don't wake me now. This is going to be the best day of my life. My life. Hey, hey, hey. It's time to feel good. Hey feeling maybe you love me now. Know that it's true. And I don't want to spend my whole life just waiting for you. I don't want you back for the weekend. Not back for a day. Baby, I just want you back. This is going to be the best day of my Please rise. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Good afternoon. Please take your seats. We're going to do what we do best here at Dakota Ridge and we just keep going with the flow and we meet everyone's needs as they pop up. So, good afternoon. I'm Andrea Ingramstrom, special ed coordinator at Dakota Ridge School. I want to welcome all of the families and friends of our students and graduates here to celebrate with us today. I'd also like to thank our school board members, Robin Serio and Leah Gardner, and members of cabinet. We appreciate all of you being here to celebrate with us. I'm going to start with our land acknowledgement. We want to acknowledge that district 196 resides within Minnesota Mak Makachi, the homeland of the Dakota people. The Eastern Nation Oetti Sakoan Nation. This land has been Dakota's nation home for every generation since their creation at Bedote and Bedag Wakan. Minnesota is also the home of the Ashabave and many other indigenous families, indigenous peoples who have to do have and do contribute to the overall foundation of this region. We encourage all members of the District 196 community to join us in learning more about the people, contributions, sovereignty, and treaty rights of the Dakota and Ashinabi people. District 196 will continue to strengthen our relationship with Minnesota's 11 sovereign nations and indigenous communities, families, and students. We are here today celebrating 13 graduates. Some are not here to walk across the stage with us. We had one pop in the office just to greet us. And we are here celebrating all their accomplishments. When people ask what Dakota what is Dakota Ridge School, I'm quick to share it's truly the best and the only place I want to be. You might think I'm just saying that, but it's truly how I feel. This place is home. It's family and it's meeting everyone right where they're at in any given moment. Here at Dakota Ridge, we live by the belief that we are a community engaged in developing the unique skills of individual students through creative programming and collaboration. As I look out at our group of young adults in front of me, I think of all the hard work each of you has done to develop skills and creatively prepare for your future. I think of the commitment and the grit you have put in to make the huge gains in progress to achieve your goals of walking down this aisle today and sitting up front. Here at Dakota Ridge, we remind students that they have grit and they need to show their grit so others can see their excellence. Students and staff at school use the term grit to guide each other on their journey to success. Most students join us at Dakota Ridge feeling frustrated with school. We remind everyone as they start here at Dakota Ridge that we're a fresh start and through grit you will find success. So how is it we show and define grit? Grit stands for goals, resilience, integrity, and trust. As I look again out at you today, you have set goals to reach the finish line of graduation. Some goals are employment in college. For others, it's independence, communication, and finding joy in your daily lives. The R in grit is resilience. There's no question in my mind that each and every one of you shows resilience every day. You rise above your challenges and amaze us with all you have overcome. I is for integrity and I am constantly impressed by the integrity of each of the students here today. They show up, they face their challenges and learn to advocate for themselves. I think sometimes we underestimate just how hard it is to ask to identify what our own personal needs are and then advocate and ask others to help you with them. To me, that's the greatest evidence of integrity. And the T in grit is trust. I'm immensely thankful for the students, families, and professionals who trust us at Dakota Ridge to support and push each of you towards greatness. For some, that act of trust takes time, lots of time. You have each done the hard work of overcoming fears and being vulnerable so that trust can develop. As each of you prepare for what comes next, post-secary education, work, transition plus, or transition programming here at Dakota Ridge, continue to show your grit. Take all you have learned and all you have overcome to show this world what you are made of. I believe in each and every one of you and truly blessed to get to say you have been or continue to be a part of our Dakota Ridge family. Next, I'd like to take a minute and welcome Muhammad Ahmed up to the stage to share his story and journey to graduation. Does that work? Okay. >> All right. >> All right. Muhammad, can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself? >> Yeah. I was born in Minneapolis. I am Muslim and American. I like to draw pictures, play games, and make music. I play piano, but I like using all kinds of instruments in GarageBand on my tablet to make music. I have a dad, three brothers, and one sister. >> Tell us about your educational journey. >> Well, before Dakota Ridge, I went to Rosemont Middle School. I came to Dakota Ridge because I needed to improve my self advocacy and coping skills. I have autism and for me that means I have a hard time controlling my feelings, participating and listening. At Dakota Ridge, I have been able to get support identifying my feelings, learning, coping skills, and practicing advocating for myself when I need help. Next school year, I will be going to Transition Plus, which is my brother's school. so I can learn more about work and get a job. >> Who has impacted you on your journey? >> Wait, you forgot. What are you most proud of? >> What are you most proud of? >> Well, I am most proud of I am proud of being respectful. It means I am nicer to people. This year I worked at Cozy Cup, the coffee cart and workbased learning class. I learned to use my skills to be respectful to the customers, teachers, and other staffs. As part of the class, I got to go shopping for supplies at Sam's Club and use my skills in the community. Back at school, I learned to make cold brew and navigate pushing a cart full of cream and sugar. >> And lastly, who's impacted you? >> My father for raising me and helping me to work hard. Miss Kelsey for helping me to use my coping skills and to learn how to help myself. Miss Terry for helping me learn real life experience in work-based learning. >> Where is Miss Where's Miss Terry? >> She's right there. >> Oh, yeah. Anyways, um Miss Carrie for helping me learn about art and increasing my artistic skills. >> She's by the door. >> Oh, yeah. Um Mr. Shelby for teaching me about cleaning up after myself. Yeah. Logan and Serena for watching movies with me together. Yeah. And um uh Sammy for teaching me all kinds of language like Koreans and other language like French. And Miss Anukica for teaching me about making for teaching me about music and games. >> Miss Anukica's right over here. Yep. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> All right. Nice job. Thank you, Muhammad. Next, we are proud to introduce our Dakota Ridge performers. Hi everyone. It's good to see you all here. So, the music that you're about to hear today was written by the entire Dakota Ridge community. Each class was asked about their favorite thing at school, and all of these answers were compiled together into a beautiful rendition of What a Wonderful World. You know, this was a really big year of change for Dakota Ridge. We opened a new wing of the building. We welcomed new staff. But despite all the newness of it, one thing that continued to work behind the scenes was our Dakota Ridge community. I know I felt it through my first year here, but I also saw it through each student and staff interaction. That's the beauty of graduation. It's a time to take a look back at the little moments of a student's career that not only defined them, but impacted the people around them. So, as our singers head upstage, let's do it, guys. I encourage you to follow along and experience the joys that Dakota Ridge sees every single day with our students. If you take a look in your program, you can see that you have an insert with the lyrics of our song alongside the classes that made that verse. Additionally, my amazing colleague Carrie Montgomery helped the students create illustrations based off of the lyrics that you can see over there on the side of the stage. Even if your student isn't singing with us today on stage, they've been able to celebrate the graduates through illustration and their songwriting skills. So, to all of you that are here today, thank you for being a part of your students community. It's been such a privilege to get to know each of them this year and I hope you enjoy what a wonderful school. I see sh and you myself wonderful wonderful Oh, heat, heat. All my I school. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Thank you for that entertainment. Thank you to Anukica for leading the way for us. So, thank you so much. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Dan Wilson. I'm assistant administrator here at Dakota Ridge. We are so incredibly proud to be here today to recognize those wonderful students. Every single day they show us what resilience, pure effort, and genuine happiness look like. Today is a celebration of their unique journeys, their hard work, and their pure joy that bring to all of us. But this milestone also belongs to you, the parents, families, friends, and our dedicated staff. Thank you for your endless patience, your unwavering advocacy, and the deep love that has guided those students to this moment. Before we begin the presentation, I want to personally offer my warmest congratulations to all of the graduates. I am so incredibly proud of each and every one of you. to help us recognize our graduates individually. I would now uh like to introduce Mr. Joshua Smith to the podium to assist and I know he's right behind me anyway uh with the presentation of our certificates. Okay. Um at this time I'd like to ask our graduates to please line up at the edge of the stage and invite uh school board members Serial and Gardner to please join us up on the stage. Okay. Muhammad Ahmed. Congratul Andrew Alvarez Islas. Imran Aali Jacob Arnold, >> Jonathan Longan Abdul Raman Muhammad, >> Logan Sandberg Christina Tai, >> Ethan WSL We would also like to congratulate and recognize four of our graduates who did not walk across the stage this morning. James Bueller, Mitchell Hoffman, Jaden Pancratz, and Jason Mora Pokyo. Okay, at this time graduates, please stand up. You're going to grab that tassel on top of your hat, your hat, and you're going to move it from the left to the right. From the right to the left, sorry, from the right to the left. This represents turning the page from one chapter to the next. Family and friends of Dakota Ridge, staff, students, District 196 cabinet members, and board members, it is with great joy and honor that I present to you the class of 2026.