After a year of missed events like musicals, field trips and sporting events, the principal at Landmark Collegiate says their teachers have done a really good job of still trying to make class fun, interesting and engaging for their students.
When it comes to the 30 students in their graduating class, Principal Greg Sawatzky says, their grade 12’s have had to learn a lot of life lessons in the past two years of the pandemic. He says, “They have learned to deal with adversity and with things that are beyond their control.”
And yet Sawatzky says, he has heard a lot of uplifting comments from these students. Things like, “You have to be resilient. You can't control everything. Your attitude matters." Some of those life lessons that many of us learn as adults, some are learning much quicker now, in their early teens.
Giesbrecht shares what the past year has been like at Landmark Collegiate."It was definitely difficult for most of us. Learning online is completely different than learning in person. It's been a growing experience. I've talked to most of my classmates and they've said that they are trying not to be bitter over it. I'm really proud that most of them are at a place where they can accept things and I’m just happy that we actually made it through the year.”
To next year’s students, she encourages them to, “Just be content with the hand you're given in life. We don't know what's going to happen. We had no idea that Covid would change our lives this much, but it has, and we have to make the most of it. Even if Covid goes on for another two years, we have to find a way to adapt and make the most of it, because we can't get this time back, so I think that we should all live in the now and just learn to be happy with what we're given.”
Here’s her message to her classmates, “Because the world always tells you to pursue happiness and do whatever makes you happy. Instead of pursuing happiness, we should pursue peace. Happiness is mostly based on self-centred goals and circumstances. Clearly in the past year of Covid, if happiness is only based on circumstances, then not many of us would be happy. I’d like to encourage them to have peace with what they are given and what life brings them and that'll make them a lot happier than what we're looking for in circumstances.” 
Giesbrecht has been accepted to the U of M where she will study to earn a Bachelor of Nursing Degree.
In closing Principal, Sawatzky says, “I have to say our community has been just super supportive. We are blessed to work here in Landmark. The community has been just fantastic and understanding in the things that we've had to do to make school safe.”
The Landmark Collegiate Graduation Ceremony will once again be an outdoor drive-in event on Thursday, June 24th. Most of the ceremony will be recorded and watched on a big screen, to which Principal Sawatzky says, “All we need now is really good weather.”
Fri, May 17, 10:30 AM
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