KAITLYN BECKMAN & SAMANTHA L’HEUREUX

Paul Kane High School

This past year of our lives has been quite the adventure, for us as we’re sure it has been for you.

It has been an incredible amount of hard work for everyone involved — and it breaks our hearts to think some of you will never see the cumulation of all those years in school.

However, we are not here today to remind you of the loss you have suffered. You are well aware of what you are going through. Neither are we here to tell you that there are worse things in the world than this. This is a big deal, and a loss to be felt deeply, but if you know Sam or I, even a little bit, then you know we are not here to wallow in our loss.

Friends, peers, class of 2020, we cannot express how thankful and honoured we feel to have been able to represent you through all of this. We’ve asked ourselves many times this year what in the world we were thinking when we volunteered. Sometimes, we felt like nothing we could do would be good enough, and like we could ever work as hard as you deserved, but we can stand here today and confidently say that we have no regrets. Working for you and with you has truly been a pleasure.

At the beginning of this semester, I remember telling Sam how strange it felt — to be so close to finishing our time in this place with these people, and it is that place and you people that give us the reasons we have to be thankful for everything we experienced in the crowded and ill-lit halls of Paul Kane. We’re thankful for the people who lifted us up in our leadership, and thankful for the people who pushed us to be better.

Kaitlyn Beckman and Samantha L’heureux are co-grad presidents of Paul Kane High School for the Class of 2020. To read their graduation speech in its entirety, go online to edmontonjournal.com/grad2020.