Buffalo Ridge says farewell to first class of seniors

On their last day of high school, Tylee Sauer and Abby Lingerfelt went searching.

The two braced against the wind, holding their royal blue graduation caps securely to their head at times, as they walked with purpose into the backyard recess area at Buffalo Ridge Elementary School. 

They quickly scanned the silver fenceposts – but to no avail.

“They’re gone,” Lingerfelt said simply.

The two seniors fondly recalled the time they’d spent in that same grassy area while in elementary school, trying out new gymnastics’ tricks and dance moves. On the last day of sixth grade, they’d written their names on the fence post to leave a small mark behind.

Sometime between then and now, the names were erased, but for the two, the memories will always remain.

That last day of senior year, Sauer and Lingerfelt were two of about 20 graduates who visited their old stomping grounds at Buffalo Ridge Elementary.

“These were the good old days,” Emma Locken said, as she stood in Traci Shrum’s kindergarten classroom. “Everything was so simple.”

Locken still remembers her time in Shrum’s kindergarten classroom 13 years ago – a time that was pivotal for her in her first year of public school but also for all of the teachers and staff in the building. That’s because 13 years ago, Buffalo Ridge was a brand-new building, making the Class of 2025 the very first to walk its halls.

As the crew made its way around the school and into classrooms that last day, they noted some of the differences. Teachers were in different classrooms or had moved away, the smell of new paint was gone, and for many, the school seemed overall much smaller than it had when they first walked through the halls with wide eyes 13 years ago.

It’s been more than a decade since school board trustees considered naming the school Legacy Ridge or Arrowhead. And since then, the school has cemented itself in the community with not only its name but also now its blooming legacy, a baker’s dozen years in the making.

It all began with the students who took a walk down memory lane last month and all of the teachers and employees who came together to ensure the school was ready for those eager young minds.

Here’s to more decades of legacy in the making and caps off to the Class of 2025 – Buffalo Ridge’s first graduating class of seniors.