The Edwin Parr Composite High School Grade 12 class was dressed to the nines last Saturday for their graduation at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex.
Friends and family of the 120 graduating students packed the Jim Woodward Rotary Fieldhouse for the ceremony.
The theme song for the day was “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors.
Aspen View school board acting chair Dennis MacNeil touched on the song during his speech.
“Today is not the best day of your life, and if you believe it is, then tomorrow the best of your life is going to be behind you, and that’s not true either,” MacNeil remarked. “The best is yet to come.”
Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA and Minister of Education Jeff Johnson gave a speech reminding graduates of the value of their Aberta diploma.
Anika Asfeldt gave the valedictory address, and her peers cheered her on.
“School has been kind of, sort of, maybe sometimes fun,” she said. “Despite the sleepless nights we have spent desperately trying to write decent social essays after weeks of procrastination; and despite hours and hours wringing out our brains over impossible physics questions; and despite our failing attempts to find any chemistry at all with the science class itself; here we are, ready to receive our diplomas, then get a job, get rich, get married and live happily ever after.”
Asfeldt quickly dispelled any impression that such a life is all that should be aspired to.
“Yes, a diploma lays the foundation for what one might call success, but I would never dream of spending 13 years in school if the American dream was all I could achieve. We are educated,” she continued. “We know stuff now.”
Asfeldt stated she has been rereading Anne of Green Gables.
“Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it, yet,” she said, quoting the famous red-haired heroine.
Without imagination, Asfeldt stated, Anne would not have fueled her ambitions.
“Now gentlemen, maybe you are not too eager to let the female protagonist of a children’s book guide you through your endeavours,” she said. “Albert Einstein is a pretty smart guy, you know, and it seems to me that he also read Anne of Green Gables.”
Asfeldt quoted Einstein: “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world.”
She explained that knowledge cannot account for situations one has not experienced. It is imagination that allows one to empathize with those less fortunate than affluent North American grads — those without clean water, for example.
In closing, Asfeldt reminded graduates of the ripple effect.
“So, fellow graduates, as you enter the realm of Kraft Dinner and wacky roommates, remember to be positive, remember to dream, remember to think outside the box, and consider that whatever path you take, it may very well determine how other people’s lives play out,” she said.
The guest speakers at this year’s graduation were the McMorris brothers, Mark and Craig, from Regina, Saskatchewan.
Mark won a bronze medal at the Sochi Olympics this winter in the event of slopestyle snowboarding; Craig was a broadcaster for the CBC at the Olympics.
“We are really happy to be in Athabasca, and we are not going to lie, we haven’t done much of this. This past year has been a bit of a whirlwind,” said Craig in his opening remarks.
Craig explained the brothers learned a lot this past year.
“We get to travel the whole world, and we learned all these experiences,” Mark continued. “Today is, ‘Yay, I graduated and I did this, and I won an Olympic medal,’ but who helped you get there? That is most important in life. Your family, your parents, doing it together and knowing who helped you. When you go out into the world, those people are still going to be there.”
Craig said these people are your support group, and they are instrumental in helping you achieve your dreams.
