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Thursday, July 7, 2022 Volume 115 • Number 26
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Members of the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute 2022 graduating class, from left, are: (back row) Eric Moriarty, Dutch Wapash, Tristen Chernoff, Cole Keshane, Rowyn Kitchemonia, Kyler Allen and Kalen Hotomani; and (front) Karen Luu, Hailey Yaremko, Rylee Zbeetnoff, Lilyanna Quewezance, Tara Taylor, Kate Erhardt, Jordyn Thomas and Ilyana Carpenter-Bloudoff. See story and photos on Pages 6, 7 and 12.
First-ever Indigenous KCI valedictorian said he is elated, overjoyed and truly grateful “Being granted the title ‘valedictorian’ was both amazing and terrifying, because I knew I had to craft a speech that perfectly sends us all into the sunset,” Dutch Wapash said. “It feels so cathartic being up here, but it also feels extremely nerveracking, and if you were to feel my pulse right now, you would honestly feel my heart beating a million miles a minute.” Wa p a s h s a i d t h a t h e was elated, overjoyed, and truly, truly, truly grateful to be KCI’s first ever Indigenous valedictorian, “and I am over the moon to welcome and thank everyone for coming to honour and celebrate the KCI grad class of 2022. “It is so easy to just
b r u s h o ff t h e p a n d e m ic and everything that came with it, because of the ease of restrictions. However, over the past two years, it has messed up a lot of our time here. “For us all, COVID-19 shaped and moulded high school, including everything we went through, how we all had to personally deal with it, and how we all had to overcome it. So it is important that we acknowledge it. “Emotions, like stress, u n c e r t a i n t y, a n d c o n fusion, are all perfect ways to describe how our Grades 10, 11, and 12 school years were directly impacted by the coronavirus. It could honestly have been the worst thing that could have ever
happened. It was, and still is, easy to look at all the negative effects, but over time, as we all faced lockdowns, mask wearing, hand sanitizing, and an overall wonky change of pace, I tried to turn these thoughts into positives and see it as nothing but a slight hurdle, a bump in the road, per se, that guided and allowed us to triumphantly stand where we all are today.” Saying that his KCI journey began in September 2019 when he entered Grade 10, Wapash said that all his fellow graduates have had a significant impact on his life, whether they know it or not. He then mentioned each graduate by name and explained what each
had meant to him. “When that clock strikes midnight tonight, we can officially say that our high school journey has come and gone,” he said. “From the bottom of my heart, there is truly no other group of amazing people that I would have wanted to do this with. “These past few years have been splendid, and if you were to ask me if I would do this all again, with all of you, I would in a heartbeat.” Wapash proved an anecdote from the film Kung Fu Panda in which Master Oogway says: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” Continued on Page 2
Dutch Wapash was the valedictorian for the 2022 KCI graduating class.
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