The Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch community will honor the 34 members of Boys Ranch High School’s 2018 graduating class at 7 p.m. Friday, May 25, with the annual baccalaureate service at Boys Ranch Chapel. The high school’s graduation ceremony will follow at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Ned. O. Miller Auditorium at the Dobkins Fine Arts Building. Both events will be available for viewing live via Cal Farley’s Facebook page, facebook.com/calfarleysofficial.
The 2018 Boys Ranch High School valedictorian is Drake Christensen, 17. Christensen is from Dallas, the son of Jeffory Christensen and Donna Drake. Following graduation, Drake plans to attend the University of Texas at Dallas. This year’s salutatorian is Quinton Hunter, 18. Quinton is from Vega, Texas, the son of Shane and Casey Robinson of Vega, +Texas, and Donald and Kimberlee Hunter of Scotts Valley, Calif. Quinton plans to attend West Texas A&M University, majoring in computer science.
“One of the greatest benefits of a Boys Ranch education is the learning doesn’t end when our youth leave the classroom,” said Dan Adams, Cal Farley’s president and CEO. “Our entire community is a learning laboratory, allowing young people who have faced challenges to discover their talents and interests through programs designed to provide hands-on experiences.”
Among the ways young people living at Cal Farley’s learn the skills they will need to obtain and maintain a successful career is the Experiential Learning Program, or ELP. Through ELP, Boys Ranch youth are exposed to a broad range of vocational fields, from traditional trades like woodworking or horticulture, to the latest high-tech fields such as robotics and rocketry. In ELP, Cal Farley’s youth learn invaluable skills and participate in positive mentoring relationships through intentional educational courses. ELP fosters innovation and provides a more individualized learning experience. It also raises our young people’s awareness of the near-limitless number of careers available to them after they leave Cal Farley’s.
Beyond learning skills and building relationships, though, youth in ELP receive professional certifications that reflect their achievements in their chosen area of study. These industry certifications provide both a tangible symbol of their accomplishment, and make our young people more desirable to post-secondary educational programs or potential employers after they leave Boys Ranch. Young people who came to Cal Farley’s feeling worn down by life or limited by their past circumstances leave us empowered to accomplish great things!
Boys Ranch Independent School District is one of six special-purpose school districts in Texas. The state legislature created BRISD in 1941 to address the unique educational and residential needs of Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch residents.