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The Citizen, 2016-07-07, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2016. PAGE 19. Zwep, Stevenson honour teachers, parents By Cole Zwep and Allison Stevenson There is a universal truth we all have to face, whether we like it to or not: everything eventually comes to an end. As much as I've looked forward to this day, I am struggling with the ending! The last day of school, the final chapter of a great book, parting with all of your close friends. But endings are inevitable, the final bell rings, you close the book, you say goodbye to everything that was familiar, everything that was so comfortable. As much as it hurts to say goodbye to this class of 2016, we will be together forever. There are just some people in our lives who will always be a part of us and we will never let that go. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Cole and this is Allison, and we will be lecturing you to a valedictorian speech. Ladies, I just want to say looking good tonight. Now, looking at your mothers, I can see where you get your looks from. And boys... ugh, never mind. Before we begin, we would like to thank everyone: teachers, principals, fellow students and family, for getting us to this point in our lives. For teaching us everything we know, getting us out of bed in the morning, dragging us to school, taking us to the sporting events. We couldn't had done any of this without it. Kiera Agnew, Brooke Beuermann, Grace Bontaine, Jacob Flood, John Flynn, Amy Gras, Alexa Hugill, Mackenzie Hughes, Ryian McGregor, Justin Morris, Kenzie Jones, Robert Kelly, Dana Latour, Cameron Lebold Michael McGuire, Grace Robinson, Alison Snell, Emily Upshall, Deric VandenHeuvel...we are so glad everyone is here. Who would want to miss their own Grade 8 graduation? The great Dr Seuss once said, "You have a brain in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own and you know what you know and you are the one who will decide where to go." As we move ahead with our lives we should always take the time to look back on the things we have done. It feels like just yesterday we were back in Kindergarten crying, holding on to our parent's leg saying we don't want to go to school today. And now that we are in Grade 8 we are thinking of every excuse in the book just to go to school. But now that it is coming to an end and we take the time to reflect on the memories that we've had with each other, like "hey remember when..." • The time in Grade 3 when Cole ripped his pants. RIP Cole. • The time that Reece ran around the basketball court at Celtic with fake boobs and a wig. • Or when Alison and Ryian got sworn at in Grade 3. Shut up isn't that bad, but in Grade 3 it meant you were being bad. • The time we bought 50 Timbits and ate them all, but gave some to Alison. • Posing with a metal statue at Jump. • Playing volleyball in the pool at Jump. • Jumping into the grotto at Camp Celtic. • When Dana got clotheslined by a tree branch during a game of Survivor. • When Miss Dawe told someone "I don't care" and we all yelled "I love it!" • When Mr. Hundey said his favourite day of the year was Friday. • Who can forget about our Grade 3 relationships. When someone broke up we made them divorce. • Teacher vs. students volleyball. These memories will stick with us for life. Every day reminding us of the fun we had here, and the friendships that we made with each other. Now, we look towards our future. Every step that we take will change us, good or bad. We will learn from both good and bad and improve to become the best version of ourselves. When we were 10, so many people would ask us what we you wanted to be when we get older, and we would respond with, pop star and race car driver and here we are three years later with the response of doctor or mechanic. But how are we really supposed to know that. Our minds changed so much in three years. In another four years, what will we have decided then? So for right now, let's live in the moment, make mistakes, try new things, dream big, experience life, spread our wings and fly, because after all, you are only here once. And boy, the school sports teams — remember our amazing volleyball skills? It was pretty much the first time in the last three years our sports team didn't finish in last place. Second -last was a win in our books. Let's not forget the intense rivalry between the Grade 8 boys and girls during those games. Considering the girls almost doubled the boys in numbers, we didn't know what we were getting into. Thank goodness the Grade 7 students had our backs and saved us. We have some pretty awesome teachers. Sure, they've made mistakes but, let's not be too hard on the teachers. They gave us naps in Kindergarten and sometimes, let us get away with it now. Or maybe they just didn't notice. They have taught us a lot of things, most of which we'll forget come summer time. Teachers aren't just teachers, they all have a special place in our hearts. They have taken us on trips. Mr. Hundey left his three young daughters so that we could go to Camp Celtic. Please, give a round of applause for the best teachers in all of elementary school. Tonight is a time to celebrate our time here at Seaforth Public School. For most of us, we've spent our whole learning careers here. We've learned so many things. We've learned how to write, multiply, find that crazy "x" thing, and even the Pythagorean theorem or however you pronounce it. Now, we are moving onto an even bigger chapter is our lives: high school, the next step in our educational journey. To all my fellow classmates, may you pursue your dreams, achieve all your goals never take no for an answer. And may our paths cross again to continue the friendships that started here. Thank you. Hullett students on their way to high school Continued from page 18 popsicle stick out, read the name aloud, and that unsuspecting kid would have to answer that specific question. But, not that long ago, this mug was accidently broken by some students who made a mistake, and are definitely sorry. I don't think it would be the right thing to do to just leave you without a mug for your next class, so I got you two replacements. Kids will be kids, so I figured it would be better to be prepared. I hope you like them. Whether we like it or not, just like many other schools, our class also has its cliques, such as the cool kids, the jocks, the troublemakers, the class clowns and the outsiders, but all in all, it doesn't really matter which group you hang out with, as long as you have your priorities straight and know that once you get past elementary school, you need to take a look at the bigger picture. We have just completed one stage in our lives, but we still have quite a few more to go through. High school, college/university and further adulthood are just a few examples of things that we still have to experience later on in life. Soon, during high school, we will realize that categories don't define who you are and how far you can go in life. For the most part, regardless of the different cliques we have in our class, we somehow managed to respect everyone for who they are, work great together when it was required and be the best class we could be. We have managed to be a good example to the younger ones around us, and do the best we can with getting our work done to the best of our ability. I count us fortunate to have such an awesome graduating class, and I challenge you to find another Grade 8 class with a bond as strong as ours. No matter how bad our days are, and no matter how stressed we get, we always manage to stay away from the negative, which I hope all of you will continue to do in your future years. I know all of you have, (or will) get recognition from the teachers for how you have portrayed yourself through all of the years, but I also want to do the same thing. I would like to share with you what type of person you are in my point of view, from all the experiences we have shared, from student to student. Alex and Teag, you guys are the coolest, and will do amazing things in life with your smart and creative minds. Bailey and Jamie, no matter what crazy thing I ask you to do, you are always willing to come along with me and make everything an adventure. Myea and Alaina, I can't believe how amazing you are at sports, I wouldn't even dare to race you, I already know I would lose by an unbelievable distance. Faith, you have been my best friend since Kindergarten. You have always made sure I was making the right decisions, and being the best person I could be each day. Griffie and Marissa, you two are so amazingly funny, and I wish I had as much guts as you guys do. Jared and Ben, you are two of the nicest guys I know. You have never been rude to me, or anyone in our class for that matter. Josh, Malcolm and Owen, you three have made me laugh with almost everything you have said for as long as I can remember. Joy and Jaden, you two were amazing as student vice- president and president for this year's student council. You have made this another successful year with all of your hard work. Mikayla and Hannah, you two are the best for having random talks with, and I love your cool, edgy sense of style. Michael and Brodi, you two played an extremely important part in the class each and every day in helping the class get through problems, which was very handy. Jason and Colin, you guys are going to get onto every sports team you try out for in high school. Trust me, I haven't seen you play one sport that you guys aren't good at. Brooke and Taylor, not only are you great classmates, but you also are great teammates to play soccer with. At this rate, I hope your phones survive all of high school with the screens still intact. Kaori and Sara, you are some of the nicest, kindest girls I have ever met. Your kindness will serve you both well throughout high school. Summer and Holly, although we haven't had much conversations outside of the classroom, I know that you both are really great people with great personalities. William and Adam, you guys always try your best, are sincere and are a great friend to everyone in the class. I know that any high school you attend, they will love this class and each of your great personalities immediately. For those of you who aren't aware, I was given the amazing opportunity to go to Taiwan for two weeks in March. Not only was the experience incredible, but I also learned some very important life lessons throughout the trip that I believe all of you should be aware of before heading to high school — for example, trying new things and stepping outside of your comfort zone. This could be as easy as trying out for sports teams and clubs, or as difficult as passing your driver's test. Imagine all that you would try to do, if there was no such thing as failure, you wouldn't be afraid to do anything, would you? If you are going to take any advice from this speech, please let `never giving up' be that advice. I'm sure all of you are thinking "Yeah, yeah, I've heard this talk before" and I, too, did agree with you, up until now. Right now, we are living proof that you can accomplish things in life. We are here today, graduating elementary school, "moving on up on the totem pole" as Mrs. Gerber often tells us. We have went from tiny Kindergartens who cried over simple things like losing a crayon, to mature Grade 8 students who have shown that we are prepared for whatever challenge comes our way. We have been faced with challenges like EQAO, and track and field, but have always prepared each other for the worst and have succeeded together as a class. I will never forget the special moments such as the field trip to Canada's Wonderland when we played together in the band, or when we went to Jump at the University to see what are options we had in the future. Now, we are experiencing something amazing. The most important, but also the last event together as a class. We have went so far, and are lucky enough to share and treasure this moment together. I know that graduating with each one of you today was not chance, but destiny. This is not the end, and we don't have to say goodbye. I refuse to think that leaving elementary school is a bad thing, because we have only experienced 13 or 14 years of our life. Everyone graduating today has so much potential, but in order to achieve, you need to go for it. That wouldn't happen if you stayed in one spot the rest of your lives, now would it? You have spent 10 years in elementary school completing a small portion of your life puzzle, now it's time to go out, and find more pieces that fit in your jigsaw, to one day have all the pieces required. Expect some pieces to not fit, and expect some pieces to be missing for a while. But in the end, after going through failure and struggles, you will have the most beautiful puzzle completed before you, all because you never gave up on what you strived for. As Winston Churchill once said "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of the beginning" I wish you all luck with high school and whatever future you decide on. I believe all of you can, and will succeed with anything you put your mind to. I hope all of you will never forget this class, because I couldn't even if I tried. Thank you.