A day of hope and reflection at UCalgary Strong
As Brentwood victims remembered, festival celebrates community bonds
They brought felt markers so classmates could sign their Tshirts and had their cellphone cameras ready to take pictures of their friends, they said, “acting silly.”
But before they headed to their final Bermuda Shorts Day Wednesday as newly minted University of Calgary grads, Shawna Yanke and Kathleen Sawisky made an important pit stop: the Jack Simpson gymnasium, venue for the inaugural UCalgary Strong festival.
“This is a day of celebration, but it’s also definitely a day of reflection,” said 25- year- old Sawisky, who just earned her degree in communications. “This year has brought people closer together,” said 24- year- old fellow grad Yanke.
For the first time in its 55- year history, the school’s Bermuda Shorts Day was complemented by another major on- campus event, an alcohol- free one that was all about celebrating community and moving forward in the wake of tragic loss.
One year ago, five young people — Zackariah Rathwell, 21, Joshua Hunter, 23, Jordan Segura, 22, Lawrence Hong, 27, and Kaitlin Perras, 23 — were stabbed to death in the nearby community of Brentwood, during a gathering that served as an after- party for the 2014 Bermuda Shorts Day.
Hunter, Segura and Hong all attended the U of C, while the young man who would later be committed to stand trial on five counts of first- degree murder, 23- year- old Matthew De Grood, had recently graduated from the school with a bachelor of science degree.
The days and weeks after the worst mass killing in our city’s history were some of the most sorrowful the U of C community has ever faced: heartbreaking memorials for the wonderful young people lost, students needing to defer exams so they could get a handle on their overwhelming grief, families and friends crushed by the incomprehensible loss.
One year later, the school marked the tragedy by holding a private memorial for the victims’ families and friends, followed by the daylong UCalgaryStrong Festival.
For those who attended the memorial service, it was clear that the marking of such a milestone was a profound experience. “We look after one another, our neighbour’s pain is our pain,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “We catch one another when we stumble.”
While Nenshi did his best to focus on the good things on this day, he teared up when asked about how the victims’ families were doing. “It varies,” he said. “There are good days and bad days.”
U of C president Elizabeth Cannon, who headed the UCalgaryStrong initiatives instituted over the past year, called it a day that both marked a great tragedy, but also celebrated a community “looking forward and looking up.”
The atmosphere at the festival was indeed one of hope and celebration. Young artists were kept busy showing their wares to a growing crowd, while kids lined up to get their face painted or portrait done. Students dug into the free treats by vendors such as Good Earth Cafe and Jelly Modern Doughnuts, while several musicians and performers made their way to the stage.
For Jesse McMann, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to donate her talents to the day. “What I do is a healing dance,” said the hoop dancer from Cowessess First Nation. “I’m here to help others heal, to spread good vibes.”
For those who have spent the past year on the front lines helping their community to heal from such tragedy, seeing the vision of the UCalgaryStrong festival unfold was nothing short of astounding.
“You don’t get past something like this, it becomes a part of your life,” said Debbie Bruckner, the U of C’s director of student wellness. “But it’s important for us on the anniversary to celebrate that grassroots communication, the way people have reached out to one another.”
Like Bruckner, Kelly Johnson’s days over the past year have been filled with the tremendous task of healing broken hearts and souls.
Sporting a flaming C painted on his cheek in honour of the Calgary Flames’ playoff start, the U of C chaplain made no apologies for wholeheartedly celebrating life, mere hours after memorializing the young lives lost.
“It was a tough but beautiful ceremony,” he said as he greeted students coming into the gymnasium with hugs and hand shakes.
“We celebrated lives lived well, now we’re living life to the max.”
It’s a sentiment Kathleen Sawisky hopes to hold onto as she goes out into the world as a new U of C graduate. “Their lives were cut short when they were just getting started,” she said just before she and friend Shawna Yanke headed to Bermuda Shorts Day to say goodbye to school forever.
“It’s a day of celebration for many of us, but it’s also a day to remember those we lost last year.”
We look after one another, our neighbour’s pain is our pain. We catch one another when we stumble.