How does that old rhyme go? No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks?
At the end of the 2014-15 school year, we’d like to congratulate all of Nanaimo’s graduating high school students. It’s worth celebrating that hundreds of educated, intelligent and capable young people from our community are marking a rite of passage into the rest of their lives.
A lot of people will tell these grads that their diploma and cap and gown mark a beginning, not an end, and there’s truth to that. But that shouldn’t diminish this achievement. High school graduation is no small victory and it’s important that we recognize and appreciate these kinds of victories, because they don’t happen every day.
In many ways, high school is the hardest thing we ever do, and we’re not just talking about scraping through Physics 12. We’re talking about scraping through Physics 12, while at the same time trying to eat lunch with the cool kids, wear the right style of jeans and get a date for prom.
It’s a balancing act and it’s tricky, but we think high school is supposed to be hard. Students wonder when they’ll ever need to apply trigonometry lessons to real life. Well, it’s not so much about solving the equations as it is the problems and the challenges. We hope that Nanaimo’s grads will go forward actively challenging themselves and their potential, because often the hardest things to do are the things that are most worth doing.
Our grads have found their way this far, through school closures, piles of raggedy textbooks and outdated computer labs. Forget what the Fraser Institute rankings might say, because we know better. Nanaimo’s schools have turned out a graduating class of smart kids, cool kids and talented kids. And they’re becoming young adults and it’s a bright future for them and for all of us.
Congratulations, grads, on this achievement. You did it. And we look forward to seeing what you can do next.