Fort St. James Secondary School passed 45 students through the gates and into a fresh chapter in the student’s lives June 5.
The afternoon highlighted the personalities and future goals of the students many who are moving on to continuing education at university or college and some who are entering the trades.
Special guest speakers Manu Madhok, Director of Instruction, Lucy Duncan, School Trustee and Gretchen Vogelsang spoke to students about what lay ahead.
“I felt very old watching you all come up today,” Madhok said to the graduates. “As the ex-elementary principal for many of you up here on the stage, please know how proud, I, and all your teachers are on seeing your beaming faces up here this afternoon.”
Vogelsang held back tears during her speech to her students, the Grad Class of 2015, and handed out her final lesson to the grads. The lesson came in three parts: Meaning based on emphasis of words; visual through the audience; and the uniqueness of each student graduating.
“Each one of those people are filled with pride at seeing you on this stage reaching this milestone, embarking on your next journey,” Vogelsang said. “Bask in that for a moment.”
The valedictorian speech was presented by Dorian Pierre and Maxz Boschman, the two grads spoke on behalf of the graduating class and thanked members of the community for always being there for the students.
Boschman reminisced about the entire Grade 12 class skipping calculus and the consequences of those actions.
“(Mr. Ogi) finally looked at us, and I can tell you it felt like he was staring at every person in that room,” he said.
Pierre ended the valedictorian address by saying, “Make mistakes, have wonderful memories, but never ever second-guess who you are, where you have been, or how you got here.”
Graduating class of 2015:
James Besherse
Davin Birdi
Tennyson Blackmore
Erica Bolton
Maxz Boschman
Logan Burck
Nicholas Burdeniuk
Hailee Burgart
Hannah Burgart
Aaron Calder
Blake Cromarty
Rachael Crook
Bradley Digness
Rahneisha French
Rhiannon Gammon
Jamie George
Shelby Gramm
Kainaan Greeaway
Tacayla Huhn
Candice John
Janine Johnson
Mikayla Johnson
Jordan Joseph
Kyle Joseph
Jay-Jay Julian
Rylee Julian
Alexander Kemp
Rachel Klassen
Kaylee Macdonald
Matthew Marshall
Paige McKay
Mackenzie Moeller
Alicia Monk
Coale Monk
Dayna Monk
Dorian Pierre
Sydney Playfair
Liv Porsnuk
Felicity Rivard
Cheyenne Sabo
Joshua Sam
Steven Sam
Shaelynne Sampson
Reo Spooner
Joscelyn Stark
Jarrod Tom
Zachary Unruj
Eric Vinnedge
Patrick Williams