By Alex Soloducha

Change is a good thing for St. Mary Grads

Jun 26, 2015 | 6:19 PM

As this year’s grads step out into the real world, their life is beginning to change as they know it.

On Friday, after they received their diplomas, principal Mark Phaneuf said the St. Mary class of 2015 is more than prepared for big changes.

“We have such an awesome group of graduates, just beautiful kids,” he said. “Really, they are ready to go on to the next stage of their lives and we understand that, but we also celebrate that.”

“I have every faith that this group will go forward and they’ll just be positive contributors to society and they will make this world a better place.”

Shaylyn Kress, the valedictorian of her class, said the title came when she herself was faced with a big change.

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“I switched schools half way through grade 11, and doing that, because it was so sudden, I just sort of realized I learned how to focus on the important things and get what I needed to, done,” she said.

The move from taking high school in Shellbrook to going to St. Mary in Prince Albert ended up being a positive one for Kress.

“It helped me learn how to deal with change, and unexpected surprises and learn how to meet new people,” she said. “I had grown up with the same people and then I suddenly had to go to a completely new school and meet all sorts of new people.”

Being able to say she’s valedictorian is something Kress said is pretty great, making the studying well worth it.

“I’m pretty excited,” she said. “This might have been a little bit of a goal; I always thought it would be fun.”

“It’s always something I thought I could get to if I tried hard enough.”

Although her time at St. Mary was limited, Kress said it was truly amazing, even down to the little things.

“One of my favorite memories is just being a part of the musicals as a technician for the drama club, helping them build the sets and run the lights, and just meeting all sorts of new people,” she said.

Kress also thanked the teachers for their contributions to their success.

“I think they’ve all been absolutely fantastic,” she said. “They were all wonderful and I’m so glad I had each of them.”

The next step for Kress will be an education in modern languages at the University of Saskatchewan. One day she hopes to travel as a translator.

“It’s never worked out for me in school to take French class or anything like that, but I’ve always loved languages and I think it’s something that I’m really going to enjoy,” she said.

As much as Phaneuf said the experience of saying good bye is a ‘cliché’ bitter sweet, he enjoys it, as well as getting to see successful alumni return for the occasion.

“Seeing older brothers or sisters or cousins when they come back, and now they’re doctors and they’re lawyers and they’re mechanics, that’s the excitement, just seeing them grow into the young people they should be,” he said. “It really is gratifying.”

He said he is never really surprised to see the success of his former students, not just career-wise, but in other aspects of life as well.

“It really just shows that the faith is not just humanity, but faith is in the youth,” he said. “Often in the world we hear that the youth are terrible and there’s all these problems with younger people nowadays. I actually find quite the opposite.”

Phaneuf said he wants the class to continue to be accepting and open-minded individuals.

“Trust who you are and be yourself,” he said.

asoloducha@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha