As students get closer to closing the books on the 2013-14 school year, the Estevan Comprehensive School took time to recognize brilliance among the student body at the annual awards night.
During the June 4 event, scholarships and bursaries were awarded by local businesses and organizations, while the departments each recognized the finest students with medals and the Mr. and Miss ECS awards were bestowed upon a young man and woman from each grade.
Principal Pat Jeannot guided students and their parents through the event as the master of ceremonies and a keynote address was presented by the duo of William and Edrina Sinclair who focused their speech on encouraging the students to find out who they are so they are able to pursue what will make them happiest.
William asked the room of students a series of simple questions, awarding chocolate for the correct answers, before asking his final question: "Who are you?"
He said he didn't know who he was in school and followed a mix of professions and jobs spanning several industries before he found himself and came to terms with his own uniqueness.
He said his father-in-law asked why he couldn't pick one thing and stick with it. William said he thought, as others did, that maybe something was wrong with him. He was unable to settle into one job, calling his résumé as long as a menu.
"I went through my life thinking there was something wrong with me," he said, noting he involved himself in so many committees and activities, not able to stick with just one group.
But a few years ago he took the Meyers-Briggs personality test, which helped him discover something about himself. While IQs and personalities may change over time, one thing that remains constant is an individual's "cognitive strength."
"That's how you're hardwired. It's how you make decisions. It's how you make everything in your life," said William. "I found out on this test that I'm the person who gets things off the ground."
He said he is hardwired to start projects, but he can't keep it running.
"I need someone with a different kind of personality, a different kind of strength to keep it running. I've come to realize that now. I've come to know who I am," he said, and he no longer has to fight who he is.
He said Edrina is the person who can keep the project going.
She said she spent years seeking someone else's definition for herself before she made her own definition, noting she always wanted to be sweet.
"I spent years of my life trying to be someone who I wasn't," she said. "My best friend in high school was sweet. She was the sweetest girl you're ever going to meet. I'm not sweet! I wanted to be sweet. I'm not, and that's OK now."
She said everyone has a masculine and feminine side to them, and her masculine side is more pronounced. That's something she had to come to accept.
"If you spend the rest of your life trying to be somebody besides who you really are, it doesn't matter what job you have. It doesn't matter what degree you have. You're not going to be happy," Edrina told the students. "You have to love the person you were created to be."
William added that learning about themselves has helped all facets of their lives.
"Discovering about who we are and embarking on a journey of seeing how we are hardwired helped us not only in our life but also in our relationship," he said. "When you discover who you truly are, you're able to line yourself up with the job that's right for you, instead of settling for something."
