It’s the time of year when many students are graduating and moving to another phase in their lives.
On Saturday, 50 students at Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) celebrated their completion of high school. Recently a separate ceremony was held for Aboriginal students in the three School District 53 secondary schools.
A number of elementary school students will also be moving on to high school.
For many high school graduates especially, it’s a time of big decisions. Many go on to college or university. Some take a little time off to travel and figure out what they want to do. Others set out to find employment.
Some of the decisions made at this stage will shape the rest of a person’s life.
Do they choose a career path on the basis of pressure from family, teachers or peers? Or do they pursue their own passions, perhaps not taking into account the practicality of making a living?
Everyone is a very different individual and no advice suits everyone the same. Some know exactly what they want to do.
Others need a little time to discover who they really are, perhaps making a few mistakes along the way.
For many of us, those mistakes ultimately give us wisdom.
All too often, the advice graduating students receive is to go out and make lots of money and acquire material possessions.
The person with the most toys at the end wins. These kinds of values are too often promoted in society without question.
We all need to make a sufficient income to look after our immediate and future needs, but it was enlightening to hear some of those speaking at Saturday’s graduation emphasizing some of the other values in life that are ultimately more important – happiness, kindness, empathy, integrity, sense of humour, job satisfaction and pride among others.
It was very refreshing and inspiring to hear veteran teachers John Seminoff and Peter Gajda, who gave the keynote address at the graduation ceremony, tell the graduates that becoming a good person is every bit as important as achieving financial and career success.
Gajda told the students more than once that being a decent and kind person and treating others with respect and empathy will ultimately determine their happiness and the amount of quality friends they have in life.
Seminoff said being honest with those people they care about the most will ensure those same people are there to support them when the inevitable difficult times surface in life.
Valedictorians Adam Crouch and Jenna Riznek reminisced about the many special friendships made by members of the graduating class.
Being able to attend a relatively small high school has meant the members of the graduating class have gotten to know each other better than most high school students do in larger schools and this has meant many solid friendships have been formed that will last for years to come, said Riznek.
It can be a scary time for those leaving home for the first time to study elsewhere.
Family and friends may be left behind and it takes a while to make new friends. But it’s part of life and all of us go through it. We grow as people from this experience.
For many students, high school may have seemed like it would go on forever, but now it is abruptly coming to an end. The rest of their lives lie ahead.
We wish every graduating student the best of success and a happy and safe future.
