This week's issue sees the return of our annual high-school grad section, which features photos of the graduates from some of the schools in the communities we cover.
To supplement these photos, we also included a couple of grad-related stories this week, including a piece on W.G. Murdoch School's annual mural gallery (page 12), and Springbank Community High School's yearly week-long celebration of that school's graduating class (page 20). These unique traditions are great ways to promote the accomplishments and celebrate the legacies of these schools' departing students.
While not necessarily graduation-related, this week's paper also, coincidentally, includes some other high-school-related coverage. Check out our story on page 5 about six students who managed to score a perfect 100 per cent on one of their diplomas this past year. We also managed to attend the South Central Zones track-and-field meet for photos last week, which featured plenty of local high-school athletes. Those photos can be found on page 22.
As we've mentioned in this space before, graduating high-school is a big deal, and it's an accomplishment worth celebrating. Navigating high school during a time of raging hormones and physical changes is no easy task. Add in the stress of adolescent social dynamics and a heightened demand for academic achievement, simply getting through high school can seem like an overwhelming burden for many teenagers.
But even though finishing high school can feel like crossing the finish line, the truth is that in even more ways, graduating is more like reaching the starting blocks. Many adults feel like their lives didn't "truly" start until they'd completed Grade 12 and moved onto bigger and better things, whether that meant attending university or college, starting a career, getting their own apartment, travelling the world, or some other adult-related endeavour.
Above all else, we'd simply like to wish a hearty congratulations to the Class of 2023. We wish this year's batch of graduating students a happy convocation, and plenty of well wishes for whatever lays ahead.
