The first grads of the area from Edwin Parr Composite (EPC) School graduated to a flood of advice, well wishing and no few tears.
The graduation ceremony started with the class of almost 100 graduates marching in to Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds, while a full Field House watched on. They, then, listened as Aspen View Public school board chair Dennis MacNeil and Mark Francis, Aspen View's superintendent, congratulated them and offered them their words of wisdom.
“Graduation is one step, there's many more ahead. Life, at times, will be difficult,” said Francis. “Remember where you came from. Remember your roots, remember those family and friends that helped you get here. The hard times are more easily born with close family and friends, but so too are the celebrations in life.”
Their guest speaker Brian Potts', a teacher at the school, talk went a different way. He spoke to the graduates about dreams and the importance of following them.
“After all, it is not those people with the highest salaries or the most toys that inspire us, not really,” he said. “The people that inspire us is those rare adventurous few with the guts to go out there and make those daydreams a reality and happiness that is theirs. Those are the people inspire us; those are the people that change the world.”
After the valedictorian Thomas Webber’s address to the graduates, each student walked across the stage and got their diploma. Several received large cheers from both the audience and the graduates and quite a few were awarded with scholarships after the diploma presentation
They, then, walked back out the Field House, official graduates of Edwin Parr.
“You are grownup,” said Potts. “Think about that. You can say that, you're adults now. Feels weird, doesn't it?”
