The last few hours of August are remaining and the Labor Day long weekend is upon us.
After it's over, it'll be a new month of September, and with that comes a new school year for students all across the province.
My perspective on school these days is different from when I was an actual student. Today, I welcome the arrival of a new school year because it brings with it all manner of news stories, whether it's the fascinating happenings that are taking place in the classroom, like the incredible exhibit created by LCBI students earlier this year that put a spotlight on the residential school system that affected generations of First Nations children, or the action in sports that's taking place on the basketball court or the football field.
And of course, everything in between.
But whether it's the presence of school buses roaring in and out of town, or kids coming down my block with their backpacks strapped on as they walk home after every day, it brings up a lot of memories of when I was going to school.
I attended three schools in my academia career. Growing up in Conquest, of course I went to class in that legendary brick building in the Caragana Capital, starting from Kindergarten and ending with my Grade 5 year before the school division decided to close the doors on both Conquest and Macrorie. With that, we were then bussed every day to Outlook Elementary where, if I'm being honest, I always kind of felt like an outsider. Not with any of my fellow students, no no, but it actually felt like a few of the teachers didn't necessarily want all of us Conquest and Macrorie "country hicks" adding to the numbers of their school. I can remember a few instances where it looked like one teacher in particular was picking on an "outsider" student when in reality, it was the Outlook kid who was in the wrong.
This just in - even adults can be bullies.
From there, I went next door to Outlook High School, where things were going smoothly until the end of my Grade 8 year in June of 1999, when it was decided that I needed to be held back and repeat the grade. I offer no excuses because I was a lousy student, especially when it came to math, and I often did the bare minimum in most other subjects in order to skate by. But my skating days were over then, and I can remember that entire summer of '99 feeling like torture because it was leading up to that fateful first day back to school, where I'd be surrounded by kids who I didn't know and everybody in my "correct" grade would be wondering, 'Hey, where's Derek?'
In the end, though, it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. Repeating the 8th grade meant that I would eventually meet the guys who are my best friends to this day; Kyle, Chris, and Alex. These days, I sometimes wonder where I would've ended up in life if I didn't have to repeat that grade and I didn't meet those guys. To be honest, it's kind of a scary thought.
I graduated from OHS in June of 2004, and let me tell you, man: A lot can happen in 20 years. Life pulls you in all manner of directions, career options take you all over the map, families are forged and continue to blossom, and before you know it, you're reminded that two decades have passed since you were just a punk kid in high school with the rest of your classmates.
Depending on who you ask, I think a sizable chunk of us would be honest and tell you that our graduation made for a rather bizarre day. For one, it was a grey and rainy day in a week filled with sunshine. Secondly, the bowling alley in the rink couldn't be used because someone "forgot to book it" for our class, meaning the night just kind of ended randomly.
Finally, the whole event had a weird, hush-hush vibe to it because earlier that spring, our school principal was fired out of the blue for reasons still unknown to this day. We students weren't told why, even our parents were kept in the dark, and there was even the threat of having diplomas withheld if any of us "got too chatty" about it and asked too many questions. At one point, we even heard that if he showed up to the grad ceremony, he'd be arrested on-site.
It goes without saying that knowing what I do now for a living, I would've been all over this soap opera of a story!
Regardless of how insane our high school days ended, I look back on them fondly and with a smile on my face. Coffee runs, the cruise lap, spare periods in the hall, and burning enough CDs for anyone who asked that I'm surprised Metallica didn't include ME in that Napster lawsuit.
Perhaps the funny thing about it all, at least from my perspective, is the fact that if I were a better student in Grade 8, I wouldn't have experienced any of the things I did with these amazing people. But life had something different in mind for me, and I would end up meeting my best friends that year who I still count as 'unofficial brothers' today. Life can be interesting that way, I suppose.
It was fun, it was memorable, it was crazy, it was hectic, it was heartbreaking, it was wild.
We were kids, and it was high school.
Students of today, I wish you the best school year possible, and I hope that sometimes, you're able to stop, pause, and remember the little things.
Sometimes in life, they wind up being the most memorable.
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
