Glacier View Secondary’s send-largest ever graduating class was recognized in an outdoor ceremony on Thursday, June 24.
The Class of ’21 featured 31 students - second only to the 2019 graduating class of 32. COVID protocols called for a scaled down ceremony, with grads and their families waiting in their respective cars until called upon to be individually recognized by school principal Murray McRae.
On behalf of all the graduates, class valedictorian Rain Warling expressed her thanks and gratitude to all GVS staff and volunteers. Her speech was followed by McRae’s annual address to the graduating class - his final such address, as he is retiring.
“The days of Glacier View’s infancy are behind us now,” he said in his address. “This is our eighth official graduation ceremony for a school that has had its doors open for over 10 years now. We now have a history, and it’s growing… I am proud to say that Glacier View Secondary now has a very important footprint in our community, and we have earned it.”
McRae reflected on the day’s events with bittersweetness afterward.
“I am going to miss all of this. People talk about retirement being a happy thing, but all I feel right now is a kind of sadness, because I am going to miss this.”
The graduates shared more than $30,000 in bursary funds - a record for a GVS graduating class.
To see a photo gallery of the event, visit bit.ly/3qCak3a
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terry.farrell@blackpress.ca
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