Students head to capital to advocate for new mushroom

On February 3, 2025, a group of 7 spore-tacular students and their teacher, Greg Sanchez, from Horizon High School went to the Colorado State Legislature to advocate for a new state symbol. Sanchez, former president of the Colorado Mycological Society and well known fun guy, has been cultivating student knowledge and support for this effort for nearly four years and they were finally ready to branch out and make their case. The students, members of Horizon High School’s Politics Club, testified in front of the Colorado House State, Civic, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee to advocate for the designation of a new fungal representative for the great state of Colorado.

Sanchez and his students were not truffling around as they argued on behalf of the Agaricus julius mushroom to receive this special designation. This mushroom is native to high elevation spruce forests and was only identified in 2016; it is commonly referred to as “the Emperor” or “the Emperor formerly known as Prince,” given it being mistaken in the past for the prince mushroom. Each student provided testimony in regards to HB25-1091 (Designation of a State Mushroom) and the committee, not seeing mushroom for improvement, voted 11-0 in favor of their bill, which will now be referred to the House Committee of the Whole. Getting past this first hurdle was a real morel booster for the group. As this effort takes root and branches out, the support for the new designation seems to be mushrooming, as well. As Horizon student, Logan Burdick, said, “Colorado is a beautiful state, and this mushroom perfectly encapsulates that.”

Congratulations to Kritagya Pokharel, Delilah Viano, Logan Burdick, Trent Sanchez, Bradley Longacre, Davian Bedford, Maddex Legler, and Greg Sanchez on this milestone. Colorado is a prime habitat for some truly incredible fungi, and it’s only fitting to cap this effort off with an official state mushroom.

Special thanks to the Horizon High School community for submitting this Five Star Story.

This story exemplifies our ELEVATE Focus Area: Outside-the-Classroom Learning. Sharing stories about how the district offers students multiple learning opportunities outside the traditional classroom providing various pathways to success.