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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2010-07-08, Page 15Grey Central Public School2010THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2010. PAGE 15. By Tanner Cardiff Good evening class of 2010! Before I start this evening, I would like to say something on behalf of everyone graduating today. Parents, siblings, friends and teachers and staff of Grey Central, thank you for putting up with us over the years. Thank you for helping us, even when we may not have shown our appreciation. Most importantly thank you for giving us the opportunity to be here today. My name is Tanner Cardiff and at this time I personally would like to thank my fellow classmates for allowing me the honour of being the class valedictorian and the opportunity to give the graduation speech. When you are in Junior Kindergarten, your journey to Grade 8 graduation seems so far away. It’s like we all blinked and here we are on our final evening together. Our classroom is made up of a diverse cross-section of students. Each with their own special qualities and personalities. The virtues that we have been taught here at Grey will be instilled in each and every one of us for a lifetime. Fairness, honesty, empathy, respect, integrity, optimism, compassion, perseverance, courage and responsibility. I know my fellow classmates and I also know that all of us have demonstrated these virtues in one way or another in their everyday lives and will continue to do so in their adult lives. Now I can’t make this speech all serious. I must share some unique stories from the year of Grade 8. It started off in the fall when Ms Aarssen let us have an overnight camping experience. We brought tents, barbecued and had a campfire. Shelby had an idea to play a game called “Barnyard”. We were to whisper in the ear of the person beside us a sound that a barnyard animal would make, unbeknown to Ms A, we were all told to say nothing but she was told to make the noise of a donkey … on three we were to yell out the animal noise … Ms Aarssen was the only one that made her noise and that was a very loud “Heeeehawww”, while the rest of us all sat quiet … then we all burst out laughing hysterically. Ms A was a good sport. We had a fundraiser for our Camp Celtic trip that was at the Terpstra Rodeo. It was a beautiful fall day and we all had a great time together. We had a couple of bake sales and it’s obvious that all of our moms are great bakers. Our fish fry was a great success with lots of parents helping and our local community coming out to support us … the tickets were almost all sold out. Lots of money was raised at the car wash and bake sale, but again poor Ms Aarssen was drenched with water during this event. How have you put up with us all this year? We have all just returned from our trip to Camp Celtic this past weekend. I had never been to camp before and was a little skeptical, not thinking that we would have much fun, boy was I wrong, we had a fantastic time, we were kept busy constantly and tried things like climbing the rock wall, kayaking, archery, walking on a rope bridge and hiking through the beautiful trails on the Bruce Peninsula. Camp Celtic just wasn’t fun, it was a blast! An experience that I’m sure none of us will ever forget. I’d like to take a minute to briefly reflect on a few things that my classmates remembered over this journey through public school: the Teddy Bear Picnic in Kindergarten, the epic games of tag in the field, yelling out “Last One to The Tree,” the day Kenny Huisser smashed his head. Kenny changed schools at the beginning of our Grade 8 journey, it’s sad he’s not with us tonight. Then, there was the day I threw a chip at Isaac and it stuck to his head or the occasional piece of cheese that got thrown at the windows to see if it would stick. Why we found this funny, who knows? Mitchell Cook’s unorganized desk! What a memory that is, eek! I asked everyone to write down what they most remembered about our fun times and hands down … can I hear a big whoot, whoot for marker wars? At any time, any given moment “marker wars” could begin. Marker wars … the game that consists of throwing an open marker at a classmate. This game then evolved into plasticine wars, glue stick wars and then inevitably, scissor wars. That hurt! But we all survived, maybe our clothing didn’t but we did. Ah yes, good clean fun. And I’m sure to most of you that are not in our class would refer to that part of my speech as “had to be there moments”. In the end when we look back, we will not see a straight line to our childhood. Instead we will see a collection of staggered memories, a thrilling reflection. Well, we all know that we are strong, we are confident and we will embrace whatever lies ahead of us high school and beyond with the same drive and perseverance that got us here today. Don’t take only what the world has to offer, offer the world what you have learned here and what you will learn in the years to come. Always remember to give back, or to pay it forward. Most of us will veer off into different directions, some of us heading to different high schools. It won’t matter what career paths we all take or professions that we venture into, when I look out at graduates I see doctors, accountants, farmers, nurses, caregivers and waste management technicians... Grey Central graduating class Grey Central Public School’s Grade 8 students donned their caps and gowns to mark their graduation on June 24. Back row, from left: Bryce Armstrong, Pearson Smith, Mackenzie Atkinson, Curtis Terpstra, Tom Dekker, Tanner Cardiff, Jonathan Blake, Isaac Baker and Ryan Baan. Middle row, from left: Megan Thompson, Kyle McGregory, Lucas Laidlaw, Leah Davidson, James Dow, Jordyn Sholdice, Mitchell Cook, Rachel Hammermueller, Brock McLean, Shelby Hinschberger and Dalton Hamilton. Front row, from left: Alanis Clarke, Shannon Jared, Kelsey Gulutzen, Chelsey Terpstra, Sarah Dillon, Famke VanBrugge and Meagan Sholdice. Congratulation graduates. (Shawn Loughlin photo) Continued on page 22 519-887-6122 Office: (519) 887-6100 Res.: (519) 887-9820 Fax: (519) 887-6109 e-mail:dsholdice@himginsurance.com DOUG SHOLDICE,C.A.I.B., A.I.I.C. P.O. Box 69, 470 Turnberry St., Brussels • General Insurance • Investments • Life BB ee ss tt WW ii ss hh ee ss GG rr aa dd uu aa tt ee ss !! McCall Livestock P.O. 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