By James Bowler

Carlton students say ‘goodbye’ to high school

Jun 25, 2013 | 4:55 PM

Shendaia wanted to be a musician, Ashtin wanted to be a fireman, Paige wanted to be a dentist, and while some dreams have changed with age, 326 students took the next step towards those dreams.

Carlton Comprehensive High School staff and students took the stage at the Art Hauser Centre Tuesday morning celebrating the 2013 graduating class.

Principal Dawn Kilmer said she is extremely proud of all the graduating students.

“We’re really proud of all of our students, today is a big accomplishment for many of them,” Kilmer said. “The stories that each one of them has to get to this place are very unique, and it’s a tremendous accomplishment on their part.”

Groups of students, some nervous, some excited and some somber, stood at the north side of the Art Hauser Centre waiting to take the next step in front of their families.

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Many of them remembered the years of hard work and sacrifice it took to get to this point.

“Lots of schoolwork, I had a job, but I mostly enjoyed most of my high school,” said 17-year-old Shendaia Benson. “I enjoyed high school but I’m ready to go.”

Benson said she’s hopeful to find a career with Cameco in chemical engineering.

“I like my calculus and physics and chemistry classes a lot and I like designing things,” Benson said.

“It took me a lot of concentration and making sure my work was done on time,” added 18-year-old Ashten Bear. “I’m looking at a couple jobs right now and in about a year I’ll be doing some schooling again and going to University.”

“I really think I want to be a carpenter,” said Bear because his family have worked in carpentry for generations.

Paige Baranieski, 17, said she’s nervous, but excited graduation is finally here, “[it took] a lot of studying and hard work, but it paid off,” said 17-year-old “(It was hard) near the end but we did it.”

She added she would be pursuing her long-time dream of dentistry.

While some students had university, college or even a job waiting for them outside of high school, a few were looking to give back to their country.

“I’m in the Canadian Forces right now,” said 18-year-old Ty Balych. “A lot of my family members are in it.”

According to Balych his life-long dream of being a soldier led him to join the infantry, and he would be looking to specialize in specialty weapons tactics.

And some students are just looking to take some time off before they take the next big step.

“I’m going to take a year off and do some snowboarding in B.C. and live there,” said 18-year-old Devereaux Gatin. “[I want to] maybe go into Kinesiology and maybe be a gym teacher or something in education, or take a different path and be a chef, so I’ve got lots of planning to do.”

Gatin credits his success to his hard work as well as hands of support of teachers at Carlton.

“You know as much as hard work is the answer, great teachers at Carlton make everything easier, I’d like to thank all the staff, that really made a big impact on my life being here at Carlton,” said Gatin.

Kilmer said it’s extremely important to her and the teachers at Carlton to see these students succeed.

“It’s critical, high school education shows students that they can learn and how to learn, and gives them the gift to life-long learning,” said Kilmer.

Kilmer said all the students would be pursuing different walks of life.

“I would predict usually around 10 per cent are going on to a university education, usually about 15 per cent are going on to SIAST or some type of skills training, and the rest are travelling the world and working,” said Kilmer.

Carlton Comprehensive is the largest high school in the province averaging around 320-370 graduating students a year, according to Kilmer.

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim