LOCKWOOD — After four years of hard work, Lockwood High School students are preparing for their big day when they graduate in May. The class of 2023 will be the first to graduate from Lockwood's new high school.
“No one else has had this experience, at least in Billings,” said senior Ashley Sherrodd. “This is history. We’re making history.”
The 2023 graduating class is made up of 106 students.
“I’m really excited to be the first graduating class, and it’s so surreal to have a full high school now with seniors through freshman,” Sherrodd said.
Sherrodd said her class has had quite the journey during their high school experience. They started in a smaller high school as construction finished on the present one, then covid-19 dismantled their freshman year.
“These kids are resilient… It’s just amazing to see how much they’ve grown and how much they’ve changed,” said Principal Gordon Klasna.
Principal Klasna was the students middle school principal and moved to the high school with them. Now that they’re approaching the finish line, he said he can’t believe it.
“It’s still a little surreal, I guess. Because it’s hard to believe that it’s actually here because those, you know, when we opened up in 2019 that just seems like yesterday,” he said.
Lockwood senior Isaac Bernhard has been in the school district since elementary school and said he’s proud of his accomplishments.
“To be the first out of my family to get an actual diploma… The track I was on, just eighth grade and even freshman year, I feel like if it wasn’t for this school and even Mr. Klasna, I probably wouldn’t have graduated,” Bernhard said.
After graduating, Bernhard and Sherrodd both plan on attending MSU-Billings for psychology. Another senior, Pierce Dotson, plans on going to Montana State University in Bozeman to study computer engineering.
“We’re all doing our best and just trying to get along and graduate,” Dotson said.
Lockwood High School will hold graduation on May 28, 2023 in the school stadium or gymnasium.
