In 2010, they planted ‘C-eeds’ of tradition

As most residents and even passersby just driving through Carson City have already seen, the iconic “C” on the hill overlooking the city was recently transformed into a 15 for this year’s graduating class.

It’s an act that has started to become a tradition in recent years, where students or parents hike the hill in the cover of darkness to post the class’s digits.

Although it hasn’t been that long ago, some people have forgotten or never knew how that tradition got its start.

It all started in 2010 with a group that dubbed itself the Sexy Six.

That year, as I was driving to graduation I was surprised to see the C, representative of Carson High School, had been rather crudely changed into a 10.

As was customary for me as the education reporter, I arrived to the graduation ceremony about an hour ahead of time to interview the seniors before the pomp and circumstance began (plus, how else are you supposed to get parking?) for my story for the Nevada Appeal.

I started asking around, but the pranksters had been so secretive few people were in on it. Finally, through whispers and a little help from math teacher Jennifer Tartan (now Walls), I tracked down a couple of the boys who’d done it.

Once I found one, I found them all — the group calling itself the Sexy Six. They were Uriel Duran, Brian Duran, Erik Roberson, Miguel Camacho, Jorge Guevara and Blake Plattsmier.

They were committed to anonymity and didn’t want to go on the record at first, but finally relented on the idea of preserving their legacy.

The boys used 38 white tablecloths from the dollar store and three rolls of duct tape to pull off the transformation.

It was a bold statement, which Guevara said, was the whole point.

“Everyone looks up at C Hill, so there’s no way anyone could have missed it,” he said at the time. “We wanted everyone’s attention.”

The students said they hoped to set a new standard.

“That’s what we were trying to do,” Camacho told me at the time. “Raise the bar.”

As the tradition continues five years later, I think they did that.

•••

Empire Elementary School honored one of its own this week during the school’s award ceremony.

Fifth-grader Kenneth Villagrana was in a severe truck accident in March and endured many weeks of recovery due to a life-altering brain injury, according to school secretary Denise Dimarzo.

“Kenneth is the type of child who is always there for his classmates and works very hard to do his best at everything his does,” she said.

He was presented a special award at the ceremony and the entire fifth-grade student body sang “The Eye of the Tiger” in his honor.

Teri Vance is a journalist, freelance writer and native Nevadan. Contact her with column ideas at terivance@rocketmail.com.