OXBOW — June 20 was quite the evening for Oxbow Prairie Horizon School (OPHS).
A large class of 44 Grade 12 students took the stage for their graduation ceremony. Approximately 700 family members, close friends and school staff witnessed the occasion.
Alaina Kinder, one of OPHS’s teachers, served as mistress of ceremonies for the evening. After a few opening remarks, she introduced the graduating class, starting with the young men and finishing with the young women. Once all the graduates were seated, another teacher, Jennifer Nordin, sang O Canada as she played the keyboard.
Kinder introduced OPHS principal Melissa Barsi. One of the songs that had accompanied the graduates’ introduction was Life Is A Highway. Barsi chose to use that song as a launch pad into her words of congratulations to the students.
The diplomas were then handed out to each student. Several of the graduates also received various awards and scholarships. A ‘big winner’ of the evening was Olivia Fonstad, who took home many of the awards. This came as a result of her impressive 98.5 per cent average, which also gave her the privilege of delivering this year’s valedictorian speech.
She used that address to express how graduation day was bittersweet. Although it was a day that she and her classmates had been looking forward to, there was some sadness that secondary school had come to an end. She expressed thanks to the teachers for being educators and mentors and to the parents.
Thankfulness to parents was a recurring theme of the evening. Several students who had an opportunity to speak introduced themselves as being the son or daughter of their parents. That started with Mikki East, who was called upon to give a tribute to family. She indicated that she was a proud graduate as well as a proud daughter. She reminded the audience that the evening belonged to the parents just as much as it belonged to the graduates.
One of the parents, James Fonstad, gave his response to East’s tribute by stating that they were proud of the students and were looking forward to what was in store for them.
The next student up was Daxtyn Brown, who also introduced his parents. He then went on to thank the teachers, who didn’t simply teach subjects, but taught them how to think. He followed that with words of gratitude for the entire school staff for teaching academic lessons along with life lessons.
Teacher Pamela Dmytriw responded by telling the students that they were more capable than they knew.
Graduate Shasta Lemieux then introduced the guest speaker for the evening – retired kindergarten teacher July Wallace. Lemieux stated Wallace’s choice as speaker was very appropriate in that since she was there for the students at the beginning of their school years, that she should be there at the end. In her speech, Wallace told the graduating class that “they were the ones who made the ripples that will create the waves that will change the world.”
She reminded the students that they had come a long way since kindergarten and that they could go a long way following graduation.
As the evening approached its end, the MC gave a few closing remarks, which were followed by introducing the students once again, this time with their escorts. Once the graduates had exited the stage, a video presentation took place, highlighting each of the grads.
The students then paraded with their escorts throughout the gymnasium and a dance followed. The evening concluded with the students going outside to be part of a walking parade that took them to the Bow Valley Villa, where they stopped to be introduced to the residents, and then down Main Street, where they stopped two more times to be introduced to those lining the streets.
