Page 80 - 2005

Nina Lex and Gemma Firman
Jessica Boswell and Allison Boswell
uul~l"•"llY thought and after our first day I think I can confidently say all of us couldn't wait to be a student. But I have to admit as much as I anticipated my day at the top; it wasn' t what I thought it would be. Of course all of us had fun; we were now the mature grade twelve's that everyone looked up to at school. We knew that we didn't have to race to our class as soon as the music started, because most of us would plan our trips to class down to the very last second. We didn' t just eat at any old table in the cafeteria, we had earned a seat for the past four years and there was no way that anyone would sit there. But most of all, we had a spare. Yes a spare. We all earned what I would like to call "the get out of jail free card". Of course these spares went to good use, all of us would spend time in the library quietly doing our work and making sure we were caught up on everything. Well that's what a spare should have been used for. Most likely if you had a spare first period you would sleep in at home and then come to your next class. If you had a spare second period you would just have an early lunch. If you had a spare third period you would just have a late lunch. And if you had your spare last period then you would be home free, because the second the bell rang to go to last period most of us would be out the door going home. But as
exciting as grade twelve was, there was always that fear that next year we were beginning the rest of our lives. Some of us talked to our guidance councillors until we were blue in the face about our future, and I can guess that some of us still have no idea what we want to do. That's alright. All of you have a whole life ahead of you to determine what you want to be and what you want to do. Now I'm not sure that all your parents will
want to pay for your education for your whole life; but don't cut yourself short of anything less than your dream. As we enter this new stage in our lives don't be afraid to ask questions. Don ' t be afraid to make a fool out of yourself and most of all compromise who you are. If you don't know how to do your laundry while away at school, don't be afraid to ask someone. If you walk into the wrong classroom and everyone stares at you, just laugh at yourself. And if you feel that a job just isn't you, don't try to be someone else because there are millions of other opportunities out there. Now as much as we hear this phrase all
the time, I'm going to say it tonight. We are the future. And all these people in this room tonight should rest easy knowing the future is in our hands. I know I can speak for most of us when I say that we are ready to enter adulthood. We have spent the last four years preparing for this night.
We've endured many obstacles like exams, tests, essays, labs; you name it we've experienced. I saw us as warriors trying to survive the harsh realities of high school, and I am proud to say that all of you have earned the medal of honour tonight. Our drill sergeants, otherwise known as our
teachers tested us and tested us and tested us some more so that we were ready for the battle of the real . world. Our drill sergeants, otherwise known as our teachers tested us and tested us some more so that we were ready for the battle of the real world. And now that we are armed with our weapon of choice, our
Graduates look ahead to the next phase of their lives at Commencement.
"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar , and tonight we are all courageou s. Good evening fellow graduates , administration, teachers, family and friends. Tonight I'm both proud and honoured to stand before such an amazing group of people. These past four years seemed to just fly by. It was not long ago that we were all entering
these doors for the first time, anticipating what the next years would bring. After a while four years turned into three years, three years turned into two years until finally tonight we closed this chapter in our lives and begin a new one. This is our time to go into the world full force and show everyone we can succeed. All of us have the drive and determination to obtain what we want; whether it is good marks at University or College, or getting our dream job. Winston Churchill said that success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm and I agree with him. After watching the teachers lose endless fireball games, they never seemed to lose their enthusiasm and that is what life is all about. Never losing the drive and determination to get back out there and try again. At this exact time, four years ago, we were all fresh new faces to CCI, not having any clue what the future had in store, let alone if it was a 3-4 week or a 4-3 week. Before coming to CCI we had heard many stories about the tech hall, initiation, teachers and most importantly how long
entered CCI
the line- ups were at Subway. We had all this freedom, kind of like we do right now . Ifwedidn't want to go to class, we technically didn ' thave to. Although by all you being here tonight I can tell we didn't sue that freedom to much. We were simply carefree. Our minds were not flied with the University or College we wanted to go to, or what we wanted to be when we were older. We cared about intramural sports at lunchtime, cafeteria days that involved ice tea chugging, dances and most of all was having a party on the weekend. we are older, priorities have changed but in many ways we are still the shy grade nines that too long ago. I remember walking down the halls and being very intimidated by the grade 12 like they knew that we were a grade nine. They walked the halls with such ease, while we walked and bewildered trying to find our next class. We would soon realize that CCI wasn't as big