CANORA - Kailey Sleeva started her valedictorian speech by saying “I am very honored to be here today to represent our 2023 Canora Composite School graduating class.”
Sleeva went on to give an animated and engaging glimpse into this diverse, talented and often entertaining class.
“When I originally sat down to write this speech it was the traditional, ‘Wow everyone we did it, who would have thought?’ But the more I thought about it, why write a traditional speech when our class is far from traditional? Now many of you might be thinking, ‘What does that mean?’ Well, let me tell you a little about our class,” she said.
“We are a fun, energetic group of individuals that like to keep our teachers on their toes. Every Monday morning the first class was often to catch up on what happened on the weekend and listen to Nick's crazy weekend events.”
It appears that tradition led to Sleeva and her classmates making a recommendation to the teachers, which no doubt would have been extremely popular with students everywhere.
“We always expressed to the teachers that we believed they should invent a morning class that is just for talking and catching up,” said Sleeva. “In science classes I couldn't tell you how many times Mrs. Sznerch heard us ask if we could do an experiment with explosions because extracting strawberry DNA just didn't quite cut it. When it came to class debates we definitely brought down the house, give us any topic and we could go on for days. We were a very competitive class, especially when it came to school-wide events that involved winning pizza parties or Blizzards.
“Looking back on our high school years it's hard to believe how much we grew and changed. We started out in kindergarten with our little backpacks in hand, not knowing that the next 13 years would bring some of the best, worst, craziest, and most fun times of our lives. From Grade 1 to Grade 4 we spent most of our time learning how to do the basics like reading, writing, and our times table. But we also spent a lot of time playing kickball, grounders, and for some reason, watching Bill Nye, the science guy in Mr. Vaughn's class.”
Moving on to Grade 5 meant making the transition from Canora Junior Elementary School to Canora Composite School.
“Now during this time we were not so concerned about school but more about who was dating whom and how we were going to tell them at the next recess,” said Sleeva. “We enjoyed playing the rough games like red rover, or in winter just full-on tackle. We thought we were pretty smart for going on the opposite end of the playground so the teachers wouldn't see us, but little did we know that if Mrs. Sznerch had to walk all the way out there it would result in a walking ticket. During these years we learned a couple of lessons, like if the boys are late for class they might be pantsing each other in the hallways. Thanks to Mr. Greerdts, we learned a very detailed lesson about what the word resilience means.
“Once we got into Grade 8, life changed a bit. We were now out of our bad haircut era and who liked whom wasn't a big concern anymore. But don't get me wrong, just because we matured a little doesn't mean we stopped having fun.
“Remember our Grade 8 field trip to the beach with Mr. Knight?” Sleeva asked her classmates. “Even though it rained, we got to kick some Melville butt in beach volleyball. Or in History 20 when Mr. Tomilin gave us a lesson on old times in Russia and Rasputin. Or even Mr. Machnee's presentation this year on free trade. Did anyone get that recipe yet? And I mean we can't forget about the Alka-Seltzer lab, or the times we convinced Mr. Lowes we couldn't work that day and needed to go for slushies.
“Looking at this amazing class, I could tell you that we are like an old family recipe,” said Sleeva, who then proceed to share the many important ingredients.
“Daylia and Brooklyn were the most organized and best artists, Ethan, Havin and Everett were the best welders and mechanics a class could ask for, Jackson K. and Toby never failed to make our class laugh, Zoe was the mathematician, Meadow was the best DJ and Methyl always supplies the speaker, Logan L and Robin drive the coolest cars, Logan G, Haydn P, Latifah, and Jayden showed us that in just 15 minutes you could make it to Tim Hortons and back. Nick was the cowboy, and Hayden S. was the farmer, Logan W. loved and had a passion for baseball and hockey, Kenyon was the best at roasting people, Elizabeth was the fashionista, Tomas and Cole M. were the best hunters and fishers and knew all the good secret spots, Jaxon B. was the Frisbee master and had the coolest socks, Joey was the biggest gym bro and holds the record for the most question asked during a class, Cole F. knew all his history facts, and Dawson always knew how to keep it real.
“I'd like to take a minute to thank all the wonderful teachers we had over the years,” said Sleeva. “If it wasn't for you, we would not know how to write an in-class essay, do the quadratic formula, or how to solve an ice table. Throughout the years you have put up with our shenanigans, patiently explained each assignment more than once because we forgot to listen the first time, and were always there to answer any questions we had on assignments or during tests. As we move on into the next chapter of our lives, we will carry each lesson with us. So thank you again for all the time, effort, and energy each one of you put in so we could be on this stage today.
“I'd also like to thank the parents for everything you have done over the last 18 years. If it wasn't for you we wouldn't be where we are today. You have always been there to support us during every challenge and triumph. You believed in us when at times we didn't believe in ourselves. We will never be able to thank you enough for your guidance, wisdom, encouragement, and unwavering love and support.
“As this bittersweet moment now comes to an end, it is our time to go out into the world and write our own stories. For the last 18 years our story has been outlined for us but now it's time to take the pen and paper into our own hands and write our own story. Unlike our English and history textbooks we can not flip the pages of life to see how long the chapter is.
“So go out into this world and be brave and bold, make a few mistakes and learn from them, work hard and do what you love,” encouraged Sleeva. “The old saying is, ‘We only have one go-round so we might as well make the most of it.' These last 13 years together have been a blast and we've created memories that will last a lifetime. To end this speech I leave you with a very wise quote which we always heard from Mr. Lowes: To sum it all up, ‘Bob's your uncle, you're out.’”
