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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-07-09, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2015. Graduation 2015 F.E. Madill’s three valedictorians share memories By Kamden Gillespie of Grade 8A “As we go on We’ll remember All the times we Had together As our lives change Come whatever We will still be Friends forever! As we go on We’ll remember All the times we Had together As our lives change Come whatever We will always Dream together!” Ten years, 100 months, 390 weeks, 1940 days, 11,700 hours and now we are here… our Grade 8 Graduation… all of us together… celebrating this achievement, this great accomplishment. We can say; “We did it! We made it!” and we should all be of ourselves. As we stand here looking our very best we realize there are many people who have been a part of this journey. First, a big thank you to the committees and people who helped us put this night together. Everything looks fantastic! Our family and friends for being here and supporting us on this special night. To our parents, you are our biggest fans and our loudest cheerleaders; our Dr. Phils, our shoulders to cry on, our role models we look up to when making decisions each day and the ones we can always count on. Last, but certainly not least, our teachers we would not be where we are tonight without you. We appreciate the time you spent teaching us new things; pushing us to do our very best and always believing in our abilities. Our past two years at F.E. Madill have been full of memorable moments, many challenges and lots of fun! We will never forget our time at Camp Celtic taking swim tests in freezing cold water, very muddy games of Capture the Flag and exploring and hiking at the Provincial Park. Memories from sports teams, band, assemblies, classroom activities and field trips will last us a lifetime. Always remember these great memories as you move forward! As we move on to Grade 9 there will be many changes… new people, new teachers, exams and thoughts about our future. We must have an open mind and be ready to face any obstacles or challenges that we will encounter. As Michael Phelps would say, “ There will be obstacles, there will be doubters, there will be mistakes, but with hard work, there are no limits.” People will tell you, you can’t… but you can! Don’t let others define you… stand out, be your own person. It’s okay to be different, don’t let anything stop you. What lies ahead in our future remains unknown. But, with a positive attitude, self- confidence, determination and hard work, we can achieve our goals. We all have big dreams! Some of us want to be athletes, doctors, teachers, mechanics, artists, actors or my own personal dream, a musician. Whatever your passion may be, never lose sight of it and always follow your dreams. As Harriet Tubman said, “ Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars and change the world.” Each and everyone of us has the power to do incredible things, we just need to do it! I am going to leave you with this quote, “ We, the class of 2015, are a powerhouse of innovation and creativity. We will push boundaries to make this world a better place; even in small ways. Always remember where you came from and always remember where you are going!” Congratulations, graduates! Good luck as you continue on into the next chapter of your story! By Ally Marston of Grade 8B What do you want to be when you grow up? Probably the most frequent question any of us have ever been asked going through our first eight years of school. When we were little, usually the response you would get is doctor, hockey player or singer. Then you hit the middle grades and suddenly there are a few more answers like vet, mechanic and writer. But now when we are asked what we want to be, our future careers are based on our talents. In our schools, throughout the years, our teachers have made each of our talents special. Whether it’s with Ms. Martyn showing you new ways to design your art projects, with Mrs. Durnin working with other students on robotics, or Mr. Westra running and jumping on the track team, all of these teachers made our talents stand out so we could recognize them as well as other people. One of the lessons I’ve learned this year is the importance of collaboration. Most of the Grade 8 students this year got to put their collaboration skills to the test when we visited Camp Celtic. This camp taught us how to work as a team. It’s amazing when you are given so little to complete a task how many creative solutions you can find to overcome this task just by talking to your peers. At Celtic, they showed us the importance of teamwork and if you do not collaborate very well it is a lot harder to succeed. As Steven Anderson once said “Alone we are smart. Together we are brilliant.” I think my biggest change going through school was when all the schools came together. This to me at the time was very scary, but now I am so glad that the change did happen. I have made so many new friends because of it and learned from them things that I may have never known without them. Next year when we are going into Grade 9, I think we are more prepared because we know our way around the school and we also have a lot of people we know that we can rely on if we ever need anything. That means our friends and our teachers. Every end is a new beginning. As we end our year in Grade 8 we prepare ourselves for the new start in Grade 9. In Grade 9, we will have Continued from page 19 Mr. Huls’ encouragement that made us come up with such great new innovations. Our fifth destination on the map was rumoured to be the hardest. Like many other historic events, this one also had its ups and downs. Beginning the tour, we braced ourselves for the dangers that we might behold. Surprisingly, the bathroom rule was back, only this time, Mrs. Kuiper, our newest tour guide, expected us journeyers to ask permission in French! We really learned how to hold it in that year. The going was tough, but our knowledge grew all the more. Grade 5 was our sixth stop on the historic tour down Memory Lane, but this time, our directions were changing. We were told to hold on to our hats for this part of the history tour. Half the class stayed with tour guide Mrs. Kuiper, while the other half followed tour guide Mr. DeBoer. Oh, the girls were overjoyed when they heard that finally another girl, Alexa, was joining them for their adventure with Mr. DeBoer. Since the class was split, we started having some conflicts, and some pretty big issues formed against the Grade 6 class. Friendly soccer games turned very ugly against the Grade 6 boys that year. But after many class discussions with the teachers, the conflicts were resolved. We were all reunited in the fall going into Grade 6. Many beloved classmates had left over the years, but the class was starting to grow again; with a grand total of 14 boys and five girls. Anna became the newest member of the class. Mr. DeBoer took on the responsibility of being our tour guide. For most of us, Grade 6 was a lot different than Grade 5. Everything was so much harder, and more projects had to be done. But it was also a lot of fun. Tour guide DeBoer loved to make us laugh and often played tricks on us. One day we came to school to find all of our shoes were tied together! Mr. DeBoer took us on a few great adventures, but the best adventure was at the Toronto Zoo where we saw The Amazing Race live! We all had so much fun with tour guide Mr. DeBoer that he may have shed a few tears on our last day of that historical expedition. Next stop on the journey through history was Grade 7, which was led by energetic tour guide Ms. Blydorp. She really encouraged us to reach for the stars, and to do our best in everything. By doing that, she made learning fun. During this year another girl joined the tour! Claire came aboard! Now we were back where we started, with 14 boys and six girls! The boys were a little disappointed when yet another girl joined the class! The biggest adventure on the tour was this year was our Ottawa and Montreal trip! And history sure was made on that trip…. but that’s another story. Tour guide Ms. Blydorp was never afraid to say a corny teacher joke, which Claire, Breanna and Emily always thought was hilarious. They laughed so hard that they sounded like a mix between a whale and seagull, the boys tried mimicking their laugh, but to be perfectly honest, that only made them laugh even harder. The final stop on our historic tour of memory lane was Grade 8. Ms. Gerrits was our wonderful tour guide. It was such an amazing surprise when she got engaged and it was a historic memory that no one will forget. Ms. Gerrits also pushed us to use our gifts and talents for the glory of God. She cares for us and always wants us to have a loving, personal relationship with God. Especially on the Niagara Falls trip she reminded us that we are all image-bearers of God and that wherever we went, we should show others who we are. There were so many great memories made in Grade 8, like when Zach started changing for gym in the middle of the hallway, or a few of the boys jumping out of the window during French class, or when Caleb got attacked by the squirrel in the equipment room. We had a lot of good times as a class. Since Kindergarten, this class has really come together as a family. Though we sometimes had fights, we always bounced back and forgave each other. Well, it is now 2015 and we are 14 years farther. We’ve reached the end of memory lane! But it isn’t the end of history. Looking back, it’s been an epic journey! Every year we were encouraged to use the map – the Bible – in the challenges that would come forth. Soon we will all attend different high schools and will use our knowledge of the Bible that we built up during the years in Huron Christian School. Firstly, I’d like to thank all of our parents who chose to send us to this great Christian school. Secondly, I want to thank all of the wonderful staff, teachers and principals that have helped us grow stronger in our walk with Christ and taught us how and what it means to be a child of God. I would also like to give a special thank you to Mr. Nyman for keeping our working environment clean. On our journey here, we’ve all helped each other through the ruts and twists and turns along the way. Although each traveller had different techniques and talents to contribute, we all used them to the best of our abilities and for the glory of God. • Caleb constantly shared his gifts with the class, helping anyone he could, in any situation • Isaac and Zach used their projective voices to guide us along the journey, even though sometimes it got them into a little bit of trouble • Josh was a great help in group projects because of his amazing technological skills • Emily, Breanna and Claire are inseparable. They are always together and having fun. They are always caring, joyful and encouraging to everyone around them • Liam, Ben and Brucklian were always on top of the action and ready to make the whole class laugh hysterically • Whenever there was a job that had to be done, it was usually Eli that was first on the scene. He is strong, hardworking and always gets the job done • Alexa, Anna and Alyssa all used their serving gifts in whatever way they could. And in every art class they always seemed to amaze the class in some way. • Ryan shared his intelligence with class in every subject. When something failed for Ryan, he didn’t get down in the dumps, instead he took that failure and used it to be better the next time. • Joel used his strong leadership skills to keep pushing the class to stay on track and focus on the task ahead • Owen has a great attitude in everything. He was always willing to help you out and was always determined to get the job done • If there was a conflict in the class it was usually Cam to be first on the scene and try to resolve it • Reece is quite independent. He likes doing things his way and his way only. Reece is also strong. He doesn’t get discouraged when something goes wrong, he uses that to improve and get right back up again. We all have our own special gifts but we don’t use our gifts to please ourselves, but we use them for the benefit of others and for God’s work. When we use our talents we keep in mind our theme, John 3:30 “He must become greater; I must become less.” We can’t put ourselves above others but we have to put ourselves third and be a servant for others. Through our years our teachers have helped us grow more Christ-like in life by doing service projects, going to the soup kitchen, the food drives and even the highway clean- ups. Everyone in the class of 2015 over the past years had grown in faith and shown themselves to become children of God. Class of 2015, I challenge you. I challenge you to keep strong in your faith in different high schools and to remember who you are, who you belong to and what you live for. I challenge you to use your gifts and talents for the glory of God. Thank you to everyone who was part of our faith building class of 2015. VanDorp recalls graduating class coming together Continued on page 26