Riverview school graduates

Ken Johnston
Editor

Thirteen students at Riverview Elementary School in Rainy River graduated into high school last Friday evening when the annual commencement exercises were held.
The evening opened with a procession of the graduates and the singing of O’Canada.
Grade 8 teacher and emcee for the night, Greg Wilson, asked all the grads to reach under their chairs to find a ticket with a number on it to see if the won. Wilson then read out the number as the grads all eagerly followed along.
When he asked who had won all of them put up their hands. “Yes that is right! You are all winners!” He was referring to the winning ticket offered them by graduating from Riverview. “Take that winning ticket and make the best of it. There are only so many winning tickets in life.”
He encouraged them to use common sense and make their choices in life wisely.
Ethan Swentik gave the valedictory address which was followed by a comical slide show featuring all the grads when they were babies and now.
Principal Bob Derksen then encouraged them to follow the board’s motto of “dream, believe and achieve!”
Diplomas were then presented to Jeremy Bonhomme, Issac Dyck, Brandon Gough, Haley Gulbrandsen, Santana King, Kam Kuzyk, Matthew Sawatzky, Dayna Seguin, Mitch Seguin, Tristan Shumaker, Ethan Swentik, Jeremy Thompson and Kevin Wiersema.