LOCAL NEWS: SUMMER CAMPS FOR KIDS AND TWEENS ▼ A17
Times
Thursday, June 13, 2013 ▼ Volume 48 No. 24 ▼ www.clearwatertimes.com ▼ $1.35 Includes GST
THE
NORTH THOMPSON
LISALEE SINGS:
Second Place General Excellence B.C. and Yukon <2,000 circulation 2012
Local girl sings O’ Canada for cabinet. See page A12.
Blue Ribbon Runner-up Best All Round Newspaper All of Canada <1,250 circulation 2012
Clearwater Secondary School holds emotional graduation event Keith McNeill A total of 44 graduates crossed the floor to receive their certificates during commencement ceremonies at Clearwater Secondary School on Friday evening, June 7. This compares with 43 last year, about 50 the year before, and 40 in 2010. Possibly the most emotional moment during the ceremony was when Brent and Tracy Buck, with Rick and Cathy Dekelver, presented the first Skye and Courtney Buck Memorial Bursary to Katie Bieber and Kayla Brock. It had been a difficult 26 weeks since the young couple’s death, said Brent Buck. He thanked the community for its support. Valedictorians Karly Christian and Cody Gunn amused the audience with humorous tales about their classmates and teachers. The worst escapades were being omitted, they said. "Today represents an important milestone," said principal Darren Coates. Coates introduced the three students who wore gold cords to the ceremony: Jared Bourdeleau, Katie Bieber and Kaitlynn VanderZwan. The cords show that their marks were in the top five per cent of the class. The gold cord recipients for all of School District 73 met a week earlier for an event in Kamloops. In his principal’s address, Coates noted that this was his first graduating class since he took over the top job at the school. Quoting Steve Jobs, he said, "Choose the future you want, not what others want for you." Many people talk without first earning the right to speak, said Mayor John Harwood, who is also the North Thompson school trustee. "Wherever you go and whatever you do, earn the right to speak before you speak," he asked.
He gave as an example a CSS grad who now is in charge of four health sites and is responsible for hundreds of people. School superintendent Terry Sullivan voiced the School District’s appreciation of the years of service by teachers Carol Pastorek and Bruce Whitelaw. Both are retiring this year. Sullivan noted that Whitelaw was to retire several years ago but kept on to keep the local music program going. "This community is unique for the outstanding support it gives to this school," the superintendent said. "It is always a pleasure for me to be here." Teacher Tracy Buck, who was the event’s master of ceremonies, read a letter from former CSS teacher Libby Toman. Toman said she would have been there in person but had to attend her daughter’s graduation with her medical doctor’s degree in Alberta. The former teacher noted that her daughter graduated from CSS and that her success proves that there is nothing that students who have gone through the school cannot accomplish. Carol Pastorek was the students’ choice as guest speaker. Topic of her speech was change. "If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies," she said. "Your life doesn’t get better by chance. It gets better through change. Never see change as a threat. See it as an opportunity." Pastorek noted that she had spent 33 years at the school. "That might indicate that I’m a slow learner," she joked. More than $30,000 in scholarships and bursaries were distributed to the graduates, nearly all of them from local organizations and businesses. For a list of which grad won which scholarship or bursary, see page A23 inside.
Thompson Rivers University local coordinator Sylvia Arduini congratulates Kaitlynn VanderZwan after presenting her with the TRU Board of Governors Regional High School Entrance Scholarship. The award could be worth up to $3,000, the biggest scholarship presented during Clearwater Secondary School’s graduation ceremonies on Friday evening. Photo by Keith McNeill
OVER 1000 SPECIALS EVERY WEEK
SAFETY MART FOODS
LOCATED AT BROOKFIELD SHOPPING CENTRE • CLEARWATER, BC • 250-674-2213
BRUNSWICK SARDINES00 106g
10/ $10.
FOOTHILLS CREAMERY BUTTER $3.69 EACH Old Fashioned 454g