Hundreds of local area Grade 12 students are preparing to graduate this spring, whether that includes cramming for exams, performing in a school play, or finishing off the year playing a favourite sport. Each Grade 12 student will have the honour of attending the graduation ceremony to get a final message of support from teachers and principals, dignitaries and friends.
It's taken a lot of discipline for graduates to get where they are. The balancing act among school, work, extra-curricular activities, family, and other duties is no easy task. Bigger challenges may await after graduation, but with the tools gained over the years, grads will be well-positioned to succeed. Some grads may already know what they want to do with their lives, or which career path they want to head down. Others may have decided to take some time to make these decisions. Either way, the decisions they make will be their own.
The Mallaig School graduation speakers list included some important tips for the youth ready to take the plunge. Speakers spoke to the importance of the choices people face after graduation, and the fact that the grad are the ones that will be making those choices. The support of parents and family, teachers and friends, peers and community members is of course always important. But the new graduates are their own agents, ready to make the decisions that will affect the way they live for the rest of their lives.
A strong and robust education system is an important part of the formative process, but it takes a village to raise a child, as the saying goes, and from the outstanding achievements we at the paper hear about week after week from students’ work in schools, on sports teams, or in the community, it is quite clear that the community has done a good job of raising tomorrow's leaders.
Congratulations to all the graduates of the class of 2011.
