“Good evening honoured guests, administration, teachers, family, friends and the Class of 2019. We made it.
I’m honoured to be standing in front you all today as class valedictorian – no mom, you’re not dreaming.
Growing up, school was really hard for me and for the longest time I had no idea what I wanted to do my life, I was just trying to pass my classes and get through school as fast as I could. All of that changed the day I stepped foot into CVCEC. For once in my life school was something I looked forward to and enjoyed. I’ve always been really good at working with my hands and doing physical labour, and this program gave me the skills, knowledge, and the mindset that I needed to be able to succeed and accomplish my goals.
I remember during our framing module we had built this little cottage, basically, a house and I remember like it was yesterday. I stayed after class and stared at it for a few minutes and a feeling came over me that was so freeing because all my life I hadn’t known what I was going to do, and at that moment I knew I was meant to do this, and this is exactly where I was supposed to be. I found a purpose.
Coming here to Ormstown was amazing; I can honestly say I never had a single bad day at school. I mean yeah exams were rough and I am the kinda person that gets stressed out a lot – but I think my classmates will agree with me when I say that our teachers here are truly amazing. They really do prepare you and set you up to succeed. They will happily stay with you after school if you need help or just a one on one explanation on how to do something. They were always there to give you tips and tricks on different things and help you improve. But most of all they are the people you can really connect with and talk to and trust, whether it’s talking about last nights hockey game with Jim or music with Big D the connections we all made with different teachers made this experience a great one and are what going to school here such a pleasure. On behalf of all of the students, I’d like to say thank you to all the teachers.
Next, I’d like to take a moment on behalf of myself and my fellow graduates to thank the people that have brought us here. At school, we have our amazing teachers, but I’d like to acknowledge the amazing people we have at home and in our lives who have supported us throughout this chapter. I’d like to thank my amazing mom for always supporting me. My sister for always being there for me, my beautiful girlfriend, my aunt, and my grandmother who’s here tonight in spirit, I sincerely thank you.
Coming to school here you get really close with everyone, and I feel like we are all walking out of here with not only new friends but brothers. I am so grateful to be able to graduate alongside this great group of guys; our hard work and dedication over the past year has finally paid off, and I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for each and every one of us.
Congratulations to the Class of 2019, we really nailed it.”
Kyle Ross (Carpentry Graduate 2019)
*(copy of Mr. Ross speech during the CVCEC 2019 Graduation).