Sunday, May 25, 2008

Congraduations

Yes, I know how I spelled that. And it's what I meant to say. Yesterday was the Graduation Ceremony for the College. There were 27 graduates (and I will admit that that is a smaller than usual number). Two were from the Fiber Arts department. So I would like to say congratulations to Bronwyn and Paula (or Pippi as we call her)!

Pippi is off to BC to study Environmental Studies at UVic. And Bronwyn shall be back next year to take advanced studies.

And I had been feeling unwell and forgot my camera. The ceremony was very nice and I wished that I had brought some kleenex. An address to the graduates was given by a teacher who had been in a very bad car accident in their first year. He had given them an assignment to do a Jackson Pollock type painting and wasn't able to collect it the next week. Two months later, on his first trip out of the hospital, the staff and students arranged an exhibition of the paintings. He was very touched by show of support and had a hard time keeping his emotions under control. So did the rest of us.

The other portion of the ceremony that had people crying was a slide show tribute to a student that had died in a car accident out west last fall. Jenna Sullivan was a beautiful young woman and she died far too soon. I can't imagine that there was a dry eye in the house.

But it wasn't all sad. The valedictorian address was funny in that the two young men who gave it played well off of each other and fully admitted that they had gotten together the night before to hammer out their speech. There were a few times when it showed. It was a joy to see such great young people launching themselves into the world. I know that they can do great things.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hope that you are feeling better today Jackie.

A very touching post

To help you wean off from your craft students I have email you some photos from the garden that Bill and the kids prepared this afternoon with the help from your dad of course.

Mamoo