Crocus Plains graduates urged to embrace change

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This article was published 25/06/2013 (4666 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School students prepare themselves for life after graduation, their class valedictorian wanted to remind them to embrace the changes headed their way.

“We don’t know who we are supposed to be in high school, we don’t know who we’re supposed to be now, we may never know,” Aidan Shamray said during his valedictory address to roughly 200 grads and hundreds of parents and school staff at Westman Place on Monday.

“We are constantly figuring out who we are and our place in this world and changing may be the only way to truly find it.”

Although Shamray said he was a little nervous leading up to his speech, he anticipated being on “cruise control” afterwards and was looking forward to celebrating with the rest of his graduating class. He added it was “a real honour” to be chosen valedictorian.

“It’s such a big school and it has so much variety and it’s just really neat to be the person that kind of captures that,” he said.

“Especially with a school like this you can’t pinpoint your circle or your group of friends. It has to be everybody, so I just tried to keep it more general and include things we’ve all gone through.”

While Shamray admitted the last four years have been full of “ups and downs,” his teachers made it worthwhile.

“Sometimes you don’t want to be there, there’s times you do really want to be there, but overall, it’s been a really good experience,” he said.

Following graduation, Shamray said he plans to take a year off and then attend the University of British Columbia. He said he’ll spend the summer months working with hopes of going overseas to do some volunteer work.

He plans to study international development in the future.

“The end game would be a job with the UN or a diplomatic kind of position, so that’s sort of my plan,” he said.

Similar to the message in his speech, Shamray said he wants to be part of the movement that helps change things for the better.

“I think our world has a lot of troubles right now and we need a new direction and things the way they are now aren’t working, so I’d like to just be able to get my hand in there and do some good.”

After playing on the school’s volleyball team for the past four years, Shamray said those are the memories he wants to take with him as he exits the Crocus school doors for the last time.

“Big games and city championship games … just when we had those moments when we were a big school and you could tell we were kind of a family,” he said.

Asked what kind of advice he has for those gearing up to enter high school, he said there’s no need to worry.

“You just got to go in there, open-minded, optimistic, hopeful and it’ll be all right. Every year it gets better … you just got to go in there, both feet in, and just immerse yourself in all of it,” Shamray said.

The graduation ceremony also included a performance of Carrie Underwood’s “Whenever You Remember” by Jaci Pirie, Jayson Krahn, Daniel Chavez and Devin Selinger.

Crocus Plains principal Terry Osiowy also presented Paige Froese with the Governor General’s Medal and the Jostens Canada Scholarship.

Earlier this month, Froese was chosen to receive the $60,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship and an additional $12,000 from the University of Saskatchewan.

In an earlier interview with the Sun, she said that come fall she will be heading to the U of S, where she hopes to earn a bachelor of science degree and then plans to go into medicine.