Eaton School Class of 2018: Front row, Kara Knutilla-Richardson, Brett Stimson, Breanne Follensbee and Sky Radies. In back, Aaron Keith, Maxwell Eckstein, Colton Aldridge, Scott Hilts and Nathan Ritchie.
Keagan Brown,
Student Reporter
Saturday, June 9 marked the day that the Grade 12 class of Eaton high school were officially recognized as the graduating class of 2018 in their school.
This year, there are nine graduates, Brett Stimson, Kara Richardson, Colton Aldridge, Skye Radies, Scott Hills, Nathan Ritchie, Breanne Follensbee, Aaron Keith and Maxwell Eckstein.
The program began with a banquet, introductions of the senior class, a toast to the Queen, to parents, the staff, and finally to the graduating class, from the Grade 11 girls of Eaton school.
Following the banquet, was the official ceremony, with a singing of O Canada, and an introduction of the senior class and parents. Greetings and congratulations were brought from the Town of Eatonia, the R.M. of Chesterfield, the School Community Council and Sun West School Division.
Guest speaker, Cindy Facca, an educational assistant at the school, told a few stories and gave some life advice for the students, but still applies to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen.
”School is like a job,” Facca said. “The teacher is like the boss who gives you work to do and deadlines for completion. The other students in class are your co-workers and not everyone gets along 100 per cent, but you have to work together to get it done.
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“So far in your lives you have had a ‘job’ and that was to work hard; often in a team or group, while meeting a deadline, and achieving a good result.”
Another thing Facca said was that she couldn’t help you, if you weren’t helping yourself, “You are the only one who can be the boss and decision maker in your life. Many other people can support you – people like parents, family, friends and co-workers. They can even help you make the tough choices, but ultimately, you are the one who has to shoulder the job of living your life. Everyone’s dream of success will be different, and they should be because each of you is a unique individual with your own set of strengths and weaknesses.”
Her last message was about the Golden Rule, ”How would you feel if someone did or said that to you” she continued. “I believe that this is one of life’s guiding principles. We used to call it the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In my experience, this means you should stop and think about how your actions or words impact
others … It really comes down to two words, Be Kind”
From that speech, the Valedictorian of the class was next. Max Eckstein brought wise words from his school experience, sharing the lessons he learned while growing up in his community and going to school.
“Since I have been given the honour of being the class valedictorian, I feel an inflated sense of wisdom, thus i shall bestow upon you five life lessons that I have learned along side my classmates” he began. Number one was mistakes. “Mistakes, set backs and failures are all forms of education.” he said.
Number two was that money doesn’t buy happiness. Eckstein shares that people who experience true happiness feel a deep sense of gratitude for being alive and that it is independent of your life situation.
Number three was that long term goals can blind you. Having these goals are good to look forward to, but focusing too much on them, you lose out on what is happening around you. “If you stare down the center of the road, you’ll never see the beautiful landscape that surrounds you.”
Number four was to stop procrastinating. To procrastinate is for us to delay an event that is inevitable. By not doing it, it causes you a stress that comes with cramming in all the work last minute. It’s not something that we are born with, so it’s something that we can stop making a habit of.
Number five was forgiveness. Forgiveness is a very important thing to him, because it didn’t feel good to hate someone for something they did in the past. “You don’t forgive because you are weak, you forgive because you are strong enough to realize that only by giving up on resentment will bring you contentment.”
He finished with this: “Throughout our lives we are constantly learning new things and will never stop learning, Our formal years if schooling may be over with, but the learning will continue on.”
One last lesson, Eckstein shared, as it was the final lesson he thought of, when writing his speech. “Time doesn’t wait for anybody. And as much as you don’t want to accept it, time is flying by. It feels like just last week that we started on our last year in high school together. It’s uncomfortable to realize that such a large part of our lives so far is already over… It was a short time ago that our parents walked us into this school, and it’s poetic that they were the ones walking us out… Time is measured not by a clock, but my the memories and special moments instead. We can live our whole lives by the clock, scheduling everything, make sure everything is on time. But it’s the memories that we make that make time worth it.”
Following Eckstein, the principal, Lisa King, presents a speech to the graduating class, before presenting them their diplomas. She brought up a few answers from a memory book the senior class made in Grade 1 with their teacher. They all had unique answers, and all had goals to go into careers that they thought would be fun.
King then shared the careers that the seniors are being led into with their education. Colton loves mechanics and is going into an apprenticeship, Max is going into power engineering, Breanna becoming a Lab technician, Scott wanting to go into radio broadcasting, Aaron wants to study engineering and go into the military, Skye wants to study nuclear medical technology, Kara wants to be a music teacher with her excellence with music, Nathan wants to join the military, and Brett wishes to go into Human Resource Management.
Each student wants to follow a unique path, some career that they want to do as they grow up and learn. Things won’t always be this way though, as King finally says “Change is inevitable. So don’t be afraid of change. Think of it as leading you to a new beginning. While you may be nervous about your future, you can take comfort in the building blocks of your childhood. Your family. Our school, and our community have given you the skills and tools you will need to face the challenges and to rise up to explore opportunities… When you are on your journey, remember to ask for help when you need it. You are not alone”
The ceremony ends with a PowerPoint presentation, and a singing of God Save the Queen.
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