Seven graduates of Borden School honoured

Graduation was hosted at the Borden Community Centre June 8. The theme was “Every End Leads to a New Beginning.”

The banquet was catered to by the Borden Lions, with 107 guests along with the seven grads and their escorts at the head table.

Graduates and escorts were: Natalie Anderson (Ovidio O’Toole), Tiana Chase-Desjarlais (Samuel Hebig), Mackinley Gader (Jesse Hattum), Dallas Munkolm (Whitney Anderson), Rachel Sutherland (Conner Rothenburger), Kirsten Szwydky (Christian Zacharias) and Clayton Wiebe (Brooke Brazeau).

A toast to the parents was given by Clayton with Darrel Wiebe replying. Natalie gave a toast to the Borden School staff with Shaun Dyck making the the reply. Mackinley gave a toast to the bus drivers with Chanda Chabot giving the reply and Rachel toasted the Borden School coaches and Mrs. Kaufman replied.

MCs for the banquet and  program were Brooklyn Gader and Duncan Sutherland. After O Canada was sung they introduced principal Mitch Luiten, who spoke of each grad as they entered under the lighted archway with their escorts. He talked about what they did through their school years and what they plan to do after graduating.

Natalie attended Grade 3 to 12 in Borden. She participated in sports, was on the honour roll with distinction, took Grade 11 in Germany, participated in dance club and won awards at hi-low. She is enrolled in education at the U of S.

Tiana attended Borden School from Grade 7 to 12. She achieved honour roll in Grade 11. She plans to study pharmacy at the U of S.

Mackinley (Max) participated in Special Olympics, track and field and bowling. She plans to help with lower grades at Borden School in the fall.

Dallas attended school in Hepburn from Grades 2 to 11 and was at Borden School for Grade 12. He participated in sports, including karate, and is a musician. He plans to study power engineering or join the RCMP.

Rachel attended Borden School for kindergarten to Grade 12. She participated in all sports, but excelled at basketball and volleyball. She was SRC president, achieved honour roll with distinction and was involved the dance club and 4-H, Rachel is enrolled in the College of Agriculture to study animal nutrition at the U of S.

Kirsten also attended Borden school from kindergarten to Grade 12. She participated in volleyball, badminton, yearbook, dance club and Ukrainian dancing. She achieved honour roll with distinction. Kirsten is enrolled in Edwards School of Business at the U of S.

Clayton was at Borden School from kindergarten through Grade 12. He participated in all sports and does cabinet making, He achieved honour roll with distinction and is enrolled in the College of Engineering at the U of S.

Luiten said teaching at Borden has been an amazing experience. He is leaving to go to Rosthern High.

Valedictorian Kirsten talked about the experience of attending a small town school. She said she was honoured to be graduating with such a great class. She thanked her parents, teachers, Grades 10 and 11 for decorating and working at the banquet, bus drivers, coaches and the community for their support.

Guest speaker was Terry Chalifour, a retired teacher from Langham, who taught many of the students over the years. He spoke to each one, giving them inspiration and positive thoughts for the future and wishing them all the best.

The grads and escorts left the hall while chairs were set up for the dance, with the grads returning for a rose ceremony, with each grad giving a rose to someone special in their family. The DJ played for the first dance which featured grads and their escorts followed by grads with their parents and everyone could then join in.