The Grade 7 graduates of Oliver Elementary School were the guests of honour during a goodbye ceremony last week in the gymnasium. Pictured, students are seen leaning in to hear their principal Karen Sinclair share words of inspiration and encouragement. (Dan Walton photo)
As children grow from a seed to a tree, there comes an age when it’s time to transplant, and as another batch of students gear up for high school, there was a goodbye ceremony for those on their final year at Oliver Elementary School.
Oliver’s Grade 7 students are in for a paradigm shift – summer 2016 serves as the watershed between life as they know it in elementary school, and the beginning of the days they’ll be living as high schoolers.
“No matter what, we can always count on change,” said principal Karen Sinclair. “Even if you want things to stay the same, they are not going to.”
Sinclair said challenges are common manifested out of change, and she’s confident that this year’s graduates will be able to handle whatever life has to throw at them.
“You’ve became more confident with yourselves and I’ve seen your leadership skills have improved,” she told the crowd or students and parents.
The June 29th assembly was the last time the younger students would share the gym with the big kids. Even though high school is still a distant worry for the students returning to elementary school, Sinclair shared some wisdom about growing up that spans the ages.
“Will they make mistakes?” she asked the returning students. “Yes!” the crowd exclaimed.
“Yes they will – we all do, we all mistakes,” Sinclair said. “It’s what we do after the mistakes that makes the difference.”
Using the analogy of baby steps, Sinclair reminded the students how they came to use their legs – first by crawling, then by walking, and eventually most people will figure out how to run.
“When we fell down, did we stay down? No – we got back up again.”
With her final advice, students were told to take their time, make the best out of each day, and for students to focus on themselves and the person they become.
Students addressed the audience to share their favourite memories of the past eight years, which heavily favoured class pets, school trips and invaluable relationships that were developed.
DAN WALTON
Oliver Chronicle
