Skyline and GROW held their 2019 graduation ceremony at 1 pm on Thursday, June 6 in the Gibraltar Room.
It was a packed house as family and friends gathered to watch students cross the stage to receive their diplomas.
This year there were 64 graduates in total including 38 from the Skyline Alternate School and another 26 from the GROW Distributed Learning program. Skyline teacher, Peter Bowman, emceed the event and welcomed graduates, guests, staff members and community dignitaries to enjoy the day.
Elder Virginia Gilbert from the Williams Lake Indian Band started the speeches to welcome grads and guests and to acknowledge the ceremony was being held on traditional Secwepemc (Shuswap) Territory. She included a short speech, drummed, and sang a traditional welcoming song as part of her tribute to the Grad Class.
School District 27 Superintendent, Chris van der Mark, addressed the graduates and congratulated them on achieving this milestone in their lives. He encouraged them to stay connected and to give back to those that have helped them so far in their lives.
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Valedictorian, Evan Pantenetti, spoke about the school year in general thanking staff and students for all their hard work. He highlighted some events he was able to participate in this year including, a school trip to Europe, his involvement with the RCMP Youth Academy and the opportunity to get special training through the school including First Aid and Food Safe Certificates.
During the presentation of graduates, several students were acknowledged with scholarships to go toward post-secondary education. District Authority awards in the amount of $1,250 were presented to 5 different students in specialized areas including Anna Lothrop for Community Service, Jacob Pitre for Applied Skills, Theresa Inscho for Language and Culture and Cassie Westergaard and Elizabeth Casler for Fine Arts. Other scholarship recipients included Ashley Langan who received $250 from the Big Lake and Beaver Lake Livestock Association, Evan Pantenetti who received $1000 from the RCMP Citizenship Bursary and Riley Ventry who received $1000 for the myBlueprint Bankroll award.
Principal, Curt Levens, ended the ceremony with a short speech thanking all the grads and staff for a great year and encouraging all the graduates to follow their dreams as they move onto the next stage of their lives.
patrick.davies@wltribune.com
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