A year of firsts for the Rivier grad class

“I remember the first few months after applying, I always used to phone the secretary asking, ‘So are there any other guys coming?’” he said laughing. “And then thankfully my other good friend Thomas showed up with his older brother who graduated a while back.”

“Thankfully there were a few more guys coming in slowly.”

Rivier had long had a reputation for being an all-girls school, so it was quite a surprise to some that they changed that policy.

“At first I was pretty nervous about going in to the school, but once I was in there my class was really kind and accepting to the guys,” said Hammond. “They really included us.”

Hammond said his mom convinced him to go to the school for educational purposes and, “After a while, I saw that she was right.”

Along with Hammond, two other guys graduated from Rivier this year. Thomas Vachon started in the fall of grade 9 with Hammond and Mason Gray joined half way through grade 9. Vachon’s brother was the only guy who graduated before this group, but he started mid-way through his high school career.

Along with having their first ‘group’ of boys graduate, there was another first for the school. Hammond was given the distinguished Rivier Award, named after Anne Marie Rivier, founder of the school. The award is something Hammond said is based on qualities, those which include spirituality, respect, care and loyalty.

“It means a lot that they thought I possess all of these qualities,” he said. “We have a really big class for a Rivier graduating class and honestly all of them deserved an award like this.”

“It’s just a big honour that they, in a sense, broke tradition and gave me an award such as that, because apparently I was the first guy to win this award.”

As far as his experience as high schooler at Rivier goes, Hammond said it was a good one.

“I can guarantee you, from a guy’s perspective, it was completely different from any other high school experience I feel like any guy could have,” he said. “It was the best thing ever.”

“I feel like I went in meeting friends and I’m leaving with family.”

He said they’re prepared for the future, each having to go on their separate paths.

“Everyone’s moving pretty far away but we’re going to try and still keep in touch,” said Hammond.

His favorite high school memory, without much hesitation, was travelling through Europe with his classmates. In Oslo, Norway they happened upon a car show outside of a restaurant.

“They actually allowed me to sit in one of the cars,” he said. “All my friends got to see me kind of geek out about cars.”

In the future, Hammond plans to study at the University of Saskatchewan, taking a four year Bachelor of Science. He hopes to get into medicine to one day be a family physician.

And as for graduating…“It feels great. It’s the first step into a bigger future,” he said.

Nimra Tahir, class valedictorian, was happy to get the chance to represent her class.

“I think there’s a lot of classmates who pushed me to do my best and I tried my personal best,” she said. “The teachers and the staff here are so welcoming and they always teach us what we need to know and they push us forward in life. That’s what helped me get here.”

She had mixed feelings about the impending change.

“Kind of nervous, kind of scared, but really excited excited for the future,” she said.

Tahir said she also wants to go to the University of Saskatchewan for a Bachelor of Science, hoping to get in to the College of Medicine herself.

Before each student was given their diploma, teachers read out comments from the student’s peers. One memory that was hinted at a few times was one that Tahir said she won’t soon forget.

“In grade 10 we pulled a prank where we pulled the entire lounge into our classroom, and the classroom into the lounge,” she said. “We also photocopied embarrassing photos of our teacher and posted them around the school.”

All in all, the graduating class of Rivier came out smiling, diplomas in hand.

asoloducha@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha

by Alex Soloducha

A year of firsts for the Rivier grad class

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