HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-10-17, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019.
F.E. Madill Secondary School
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Congratulations
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graduating class
of 2019
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Hats off to all the
Graduates
of 2019!
Yesterday’s Traditions
Tomorrow’s Promise
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Congratulations Graduates
By Carly Frank
If you were a full-time student in
high school for four years, you’ve
spent roughly 259,200 minutes in
this building, just from the normal 9
a.m. - 3 p.m. school day. Friends,
family, staff and ,of course, fellow
graduates, I’m standing here before
you as your valedictorian, or if you
prefer, the person tasked with
summarizing the past 259,200
minutes, and bridging us over into
the next how many more hundreds of
thousands of minutes to come in our
lives, in just over five minutes.
Looking back now, to me, that
time really has no meaning in terms
of its length. It seems like such a
long time ago that we all walked into
this place for the first minute of high
school as Grade 9 students, and yet it
now it feels like it did not take
anywhere close to as long as four
years to get to this moment. I’ll be
honest – this time warp made for a
slightly nerve-wracking procedure
of writing this speech; trying
suddenly to remember anything that
really stuck with me from my high
school and knowing that there are
some things, only to find my mind
blanking as if I was writing a
calculus test. It took some colour-
coding and a lot of procrastination –
which is how I knew that this night is
still related to high school – but I
managed to come up with a few
things I would like to share with you,
and I hope this speech will do our
time in high school justice.
High school is seen, of course, as a
place for learning, both in and out of
the classroom. We have learned
many valuable lessons in-class, the
kind that gives us “book smarts”,
from Canadian history and poetry
analysis to Pythagorean theorem and
trigonometry. We have also learned a
few lessons which maybe aren’t
necessary for passing tests and
exams, but are enlightening
nonetheless. These include the
knowledge that the lab benches in
the science rooms will not catch fire
when lighted, and that no one likes
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
As helpful as all of this was, there
have also been equally, if not more
important lessons taught outside of
the classroom, both about ourselves
and others. Our class, by this point,
is unfortunately pretty experienced
with grief. As much as we all wish
these losses did not happen, they
showed us how precious our friends,
family and support networks are, as
well as the shortcomings in the
system that need to be addressed. I
didn’t know Lexi very well, but I
know that many of you did, and I am
deeply sorry that she is not here
graduating with us tonight.
For our whole lives, we’ve all been
told that high school isn’t the “real
world”, that that comes later, but I’m
not sure that’s completely true. Yes,
we have still had family and friends
around us for support, not to mention
our teachers and the other staff
members at this school, to help us
navigate through anything unknown,
and for that, thank you to all of these
people.
That still doesn’t mean that we as
students have been completely
inactive. We have helped to achieve
titles and awards representing our
school through various clubs and
sports teams; we have had peers
travel all over the province, to
British Columbia, to Europe, Asia,
and to Peru; and we have taken part
in two different student walkouts in
protest of proposed changes to
education. We may not yet be fully
in the “real world”, but that doesn’t
mean we can’t make a few marks on
it.
So, congratulations. Congrat-
ulations to my fellow graduates for
working hard and making it through
all the ups and downs of high school.
Congratulations also to our families
and the staff members for putting up
with us and helping us succeed.
My fellow classmates, you are
going to impact so many different
people in so many different ways.
This is not just pertaining to those
closest to you, but also those you
encounter in your day-to-day lives;
the stranger you smile and bid good-
morning to as you pass them on the
street or the neighbour’s five-year-
old child who you maybe don’t
interact with that much, but who
idolizes you nonetheless.
The bottom line is never
underestimate the good deeds you
see as simply everyday routine,
because when you smile at someone,
or offer to volunteer just for
something to do, you are really
putting yourself out into the world,
and the more of these experiences
you allow yourself to have, the more
adventures – or, misadventures – you
will find yourself having.
This leads me to my next point:
people always talk about the
difference between following your
heart and your mind. And while we
have learned in out science classes
that the heart cannot think,
sometimes you cannot rely solely on
logic and careful planning – as we
have learned through various
scenarios, both good and bad, in
these past few years. We all have
different interests - hobbies that
maybe we are not pursuing as
careers - and which may therefore
make no logical sense to put
excessive amounts of time into, yet
those pursuits are what make life
interesting, and what open us to new
experiences.
To quote Alfred Adler, “Follow
your heart, but take your brain with
you.” If you get a “gut” feeling that
you should do something, at least
give it consideration. Follow that
little inkling, that childhood dream
of travelling somewhere, follow that
to Europe, to a new career, to
wherever you think you need to be,
and if it doesn’t work out quite the
way you planned, try just to worry
about it then. The worst-case
scenario is that you have a really
cool story to tell about your little
“flight of fancy” once you get back
home.
So, if tonight really does mark our
official send-off into the broad,
mysterious, unknown real world,
then let’s promise ourselves we will
make it worth all the fuss, that we
will make some more marks on this
world, be it for the global good or for
the good of one person. I will leave
you now with something I’d like you
to remember: as a great playwright
once said, “History has its eyes on
you.”
Frank relates grief, future plans as Valedictorian
Carly Frank, Valedictorian
F.E. Madill Secondary School
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