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Turbulent time in high school good preparation for later life challenges, grads told

151 R.D. Parker students received their diplomas at well-attended ceremony in the C.A. Nesbitt Arena June 29.

At the end of a high school experience dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruptions it caused to normal educational routines, R.D. Parker Collegiate’s 2022 graduates were reminded that life after high school won’t always be smooth sailing but that the resilience they showed in coping with having the world turned seemingly upside down will serve them well in the ensuing stages of their lives.

“You did it,” said School District of Mystery Lake board trustee Don Macdonald. “If you can survive this … you can probably survive anything.”

That message about life being less about avoiding challenges and pitfalls and more about managing them was reiterated by other speakers during the June 29 ceremony at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena, the first high school graduation in Thompson since 2019 in which family and friends could applaud the graduates from within the same room.

“We are not shaped by the unpredictable, but by the way that we choose to carry on afterwards,” said RDPC principal Bonnie Rempel. “The everlasting cycle of ups and downs is what builds our character and attributes meaning to our lives.”

SDML co-superintendent Lorie Henderson touched on that same theme in her speech to the graduates.

“You’re going to find some hazards or challenges but you need to jump through those hoops,” she said, “Not everything will come easily and sometimes you’ll have to jump through those things many, many times. But not to worry, you will have the support of your friends, you’ll have the support of your family.”

Although graduates will follow different paths, their lives will still be connected, said Charlene Lafreniere, advising that the most important thing about school isn’t necessarily the knowledge obtained about academic and elective subjects, but about working and co-existing with others.

“You’re going to be colleagues one day, you’re going to work together, some of you are going to go to school together, some of you are going to be each other’s bosses,” she said. “The most important thing is to be kind to each other, and to celebrate each other.”

In her speech on behalf of graduates’ parents, Amy Ricketts, who works at RDPC and is herself a graduate of the high school, told students to follow their hearts as they navigate post-secondary education, work or whatever the next chapter has in store for them.

“Do what you feel is right, what is best for you in that moment,” she said. “Be you, be great, make mistakes, learn from them. But above all, you do you and do the best you can.”

Math teacher Kelly Scallion, who was chosen by students to deliver the teachers’ address, said graduates should feel good about what they’ve accomplished.

“It’s not an easy journey. We know you had to work hard to get where you are, Each and every one of you has taken a different path to get here and no two students have made the same decisions or experienced the same circumstances, but you’ve all arrived at graduation.”

Karan Chawla, who was elected as class valedictorian by the other 150 graduates who received diplomas on June 29, said it was both an honour and a daunting task to be asked to speak on behalf of RDPC’s Class of 2022.

“How are you supposed to condense four years of high school memories and thoughts about your future into two sentences?” he said. “Thank you to all my teachers over the years that have been pushing me toward the direction of success.”

He also urged the audience and his fellow graduates to appreciate the current moment because there’s no way to know what comes next and learning doesn’t end when high school does.

“A large portion of the graduating students like myself will will be moving to Winnipeg or some other city for university. We will have to learn to survive on our own, face new challenges ourselves.”

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