Congratulations 2012 graduates!
You made it through a whole five years of high school and are well on your way to being successful adults. You already are role models for the next group of students who will wear the robes of honour next year.
On Thursday, students from GROW graduated, and on Saturday, Williams Lake secondary and Columneetza secondary students took their turn bidding farewell to high school and welcoming in the new stage of adulthood — of course, students from Maranatha Christian School and the Cariboo Adventist Academy are also graduating, so congrats to them as well.
I had the opportunity to attend the Williams Lake secondary and Columneetza secondary graduations on Saturday and, as usual, was impressed that so many of them earned bursaries, scholarships, and awards, and many more were listed on the honour roll and work ethic lists.
The addresses from the Columneetza and WLSS valedictorians offered some words of wisdom Saturday. Columneetza valedictorian Ryan Jensen thanked his teachers for their hard work.
“Everybody here, everybody, has had that teacher or staff member that has gone the extra mile for them, not because they had to, but because they wanted to,” Jensen said.
WLSS valedictorian Sam Tudor said: “The world is changing, more than ever, there’s no doubt about that in my mind. It’s a stereotype, but when you look around you realize we really do have it now, in our hands, the chance to shape a planet we want to see.”
Congratulations to all 2011 graduates. We wish you all of the best in your future endeavors.