After 11 years at Zenon Park’s École Notre-Dame-Des-Vertus, graduating felt surreal for Kassandra Hipkins.
“It doesn’t feel real. It’s so strange to think this is the end of high school but I’m going back to school again, in university,” she said. “I still have a little time left before everything goes boom.”
Hipkins was the only graduate from the school this year, with the ceremony held June 2.
Laurent Mukendi, the school’s principal, said Hipkins is a great artist and leader. She has served as the school’s student council president for three years and was also president of the Conseil des écoles fransaskoises’ student council.
“She’s one of the best students. After many years of teaching, she’s the kind of student you like to have in your class,” he said. “She’s very brilliant, very intelligent, very responsible.”
Hipkins said she’s always loved attending Notre-Dame-Des-Vertus.
“It has a special place in my heart. It’s really small, I’ve never really had anybody in my grade, but there’s something that was so different about it that I really loved,” she said. “Everybody’s like a big family in this school because we’re so small and that’s one thing a lot of bigger schools don’t really have, so I was very happy to have been able to come here.”
The graduate is planning to go to the University of Regina, where she’ll take a teaching degree with a focus on arts.
“It’s because of the teachers here that I’ve been inspired to become a teacher myself.”
Hipkins has been a serious artist for seven years, using mostly pencil and watercolours, but sometimes using acrylic. A showing of some of her art was at the graduation.
She’s begun work on a series about mental illness, using light bulb men. She’s completed three pieces about anxiety, burnout, insomnia and suicide.
“I’m making this to represent mental illnesses to give people who are struggling with them a little bit of hope,” she said. “A lot of people struggle with these so I think it’s just nice to bring everybody together for a moment.”
Mukendi said he’s pleased with the role the teaching staff played in Hipkins’ development.
“I’m proud of what the team did for this young lady from Grade 2 to graduation today,” he said. “I’m very proud of her and I’m sure in her future, she’ll be back in a few years as a teacher in this school.”
