Borden School Grade 11 class beautifully decorated the Borden Community Centre for the June 12 graduation celebration.
The Borden Lions, with the help of the Grade 11 class, served a meal to聽 about 170 graduates and invited guests. Connor Wainwright and Avery Fairbrother were MCs for the evening. Peter Peters gave the blessing.
The toast to the parents was given by Emma Pidwerbesky, with her mother Pamela singing most of her reply. The toast to the staff was given by Emma Prescesky with Mrs. Nicole Kaufman giving the reply. The toast to the coaches was given by Duncan Sutherland, and Mitch Luiten replied. The toast to the bus drivers was given by Andrew Derksen and, by way of background music that kept getting louder, Darrel Wiebe replied with humorous tales of driving many of these students to school.
For the exercises, as the grads came in with their escorts, Mr Broughton introduced each graduate and told stories of their school years about each one and what they plan to do after graduating.
Dallas Burnett, accompanied by Christine Hay, was in Borden for elementary school, then was in Martensville and returned to Borden for Grades 11 and12. Dallas participated in sports and was on the senior and club curling teams. He is an honour roll with distinction student, on the SRC, Borden website and is attending McGill University taking atmospheric science.
Andrew Derksen, accompanied by Raylene Roth, took kindergarten to Grade 12 here. He took part in sports including school and club curling. He looked after the sound system for school events and is on the honour roll. He plans to work and then go to the University of Saskatchewan to study architecture.
Emma Hebig, escorted by Preston Hebig, attended Borden School for Grades 11 and 12. She plans to work and then study to be a hairdresser.
Kristie Hembery, escorted by George Hembery, came from England in Grade 3. She鈥檚 been involved in sports, drama and the SRC. She plans to eventually join the Saskatoon police.
Kayla Knorr, escorted by Jesse Larenger, was in Saskatoon for kindergarten to Grade 10 and at Borden School for Grades 11 and 12. She was on the yearbook committee as photographer and played basketball. Kayla plans to work for a year, and then take a personal aide care program.
Cassandra Lumgair, escorted by Ryan Turgeon, was home-schooled to Grade 7 and attended Borden School for Grades 8 to 12. She is artistic and plans to be a mechanic.
Emma Pidwerbesky, escorted by Cole Sutherland, went to Radisson School for kindergarten to Grade 4 and then attended Grades 5 to 12 at Borden. She is an honour roll student, with distinction, and participated in the SRC, all sports, club volleyball, dance club and the yearbook club. She plans to attend the U of S College of Agriculture.
Emma Prescesky, escorted by David Emigh, also took kindergarten to Grade 4 in Radisson and Grades 5 to 12 at Borden. She participated in sports and the SRC. An honour roll student, Emma won the Lions and 4-H public speak-off competitions. She plans to study nursing.
Cullen Sutherland, accompanied by Darby Chappell, was at Borden School from kindergarten to Grade 12. Cullen participated in sports, likes snowboarding and played in the school band for a while. He plans to work on the farm and travel.
Duncan Sutherland, accompanied by Sara Prescesky, took kindergarten to Grade 12 in Borden. He participated in all sports including track and field, club volleyball and basketball. He is on the honour roll. Duncan plans to either attend the U of S in kinesiology or the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, B.C. and play on their volleyball team.
Eric Westad, accompanied by Rachel Sutherland, came to Borden from Langham for high school. He played trumpet in the school band, was in sports, particularly the senior and club curling teams, and plans to work.
Mr. Broughton congratulated them all and wished them the best of luck in the next two weeks through final exams and for the future.
The valedictorian address was given by Dallas Burnett. He stated it鈥檚 been a long 13 years, never knowing when Cullen, Duncan or Eric would play jokes. He said it was great to curl with Andrew and his stinky feet, and told stories about the three Emmas, Kristie, Cassandra and Kayla. He thanked the parents for support, gave credit to the teachers for all their expertise and stated, 鈥淭oday is a new day and I hope you all go on to achieve great things.鈥�
The guest speaker was Clayton Gartner, a former teacher at Borden, who congratulated the grads. He told the graduates, you made it so now go out and be awesome. You have all been inspired by teachers, parents and peers, now you go out and inspire others, work hard to the best of your ability and have incredible success.
He gave four ways to be awesome. Opportunities are out there 鈥� use them and your hard work will pay off. Be humble, never know it all, stay on the right side and rely on support of family and others. Be a servant 鈥� get involved in the community, give or volunteer for a cause. Love and respect people and make the world a better place for those you meet.
Gartner closed with an inspiring and humorous video on being awesome.
A slideshow set to music, compiled by Kristie Hembery, was then shown depicting photos of the life of each grad. Diplomas were handed out by Mr. Broughton, and then the hall was cleared for the social and dance.
After everyone was again seated, each grad came in and picked up roses to give to their mothers, grandmothers or other special women in their lives. The first dance was the grads and their escorts followed by dancing with the parents before everyone could get up and try their hand at twirling around the dance floor, with music provided by Night Owl Entertainment.
Beverages and dainties were set out for everyone to enjoy, wrapping up around midnight.
