It was a night to remember for the graduating class of Bert Church High School, May 27.
All 194 young adults donned the customary blue graduation regalia as they entered the gymnasium in pairs with a gallery of parents snapping photos and recording video.
The evening began with student Derek Harasiuk offering tribute to Skye McGowan, a philosophy teacher at the high school who was killed in a motor-vehicle accident Aug. 1.
“Mr. McGowan was passionate, insightful and overall a great teacher,” he said before observing a moment of silence.
Airdrie’s dignitaries were in attendance as MLA Rob Anderson, MP Blake Richards and Mayor Peter Brown all gave speeches.
Bert Church alumni Anderson leaped onto the stage and applauded the graduates.
He offered advice for a successful graduation date just to the boys and then laid out serious suggestions to all students.
“It doesn’t matter where you go… but make sure you seek additional education,” said Anderson. “It’s critical. It’s going to set you up for the rest of your life.”
“Don’t be apathetic,” he added. “There’s nothing more pathetic, in my view, than watching people who don’t care. Don’t just let the events around you shape who you are. Shape the world around you.”
He concluded with a call to action.
“You won the lottery to be raised in this province,” said Anderson. “There is so much opportunity for you. But with that opportunity comes immense responsibility. You need to live up to that because we’re relying on you to be our future leaders.”
Brown encouraged students to go into the world and get educated, but return to the city that raised them.
“Think about coming home and starting your business in our community,” said the mayor. “We want you back.”
Science teacher Bobby Mathew was the students’ choice to make a speech on behalf instructors and he didn’t disappoint. At the end of his speech, he reminded the outgoing students to be proud of where they came from.
“I’m a Charger, you’re a Charger, and in fact, this is a great Charger family,” said Mathew. “You will never forget this school.”
After Mathew’s speech, the final address of the night came from Anna Fei, class valedictorian. The exuberant Fei made an impassioned speech to her fellow classmates and teachers. See the full text of the speech on page 11.
“You are certainly an inalienable part of the high school experience,” said Fei to the teaching staff. “You have taught us so many worthwhile lessons, perhaps unconsciously for some of them.
“Among those who deserve our sincerest thanks are, of course, our families, who have truly been with us every step of this journey. This is a very bittersweet moment, none more so than for those who have painstakingly watched over us throughout all these years. You probably witness this milestone with happiness, pride, wonderment – mostly with relief – but I trust that there is some regret and regret and nostalgia also.”
Fei joked that the graduating class entered Bert Church “we were all ninth-graders who thought we were all that” and now “we’re twelfth-graders who think we’re all that.”
It only took a few seconds after Fei finished her speech before her classmates gave her a standing ovation.
Principal Nancy Adams then presented Fei with the valedictorian ring, a Bert Church tradition.
Clinton John watched his daughter Meagan graduate and called it a milestone moment.
“The schools have trained them to make right decisions,” he said. “This (graduation) is, for them now, to put it into application.”
On the other side of the gym, Scott Sutherland was a shutterbug as his daughter Meagan celebrated her final moments as a Charger.
“I didn’t graduate, so seeing her today, realizing how hard it is to go through nowadays with social things, it’s unbelievable,” he said.
The graduates had a banquet and dance at the Telus Convention Centre in Calgary, May 28.
