PRINCE ALBERT — Ecole St. Mary High School celebrated the Class of 2025 as they walked across the stage at the Art Hauser Centre on Tuesday.
Oliver Hunter-Providenti was named valedictorian. He said the news came as a surprise.
“I'm still kind of processing it,” he said. “I wasn't really expecting to be named.
“It kind of proves to me that all the hard work I put into high school paid off, it meant something,” he added.
Hunter-Providenti described the St. Mary graduating Class of 2025 as a strong one. At times during his high school experience, he wondered how much it would matter. He said being named valedictorian put high school into context and made him realize it was important.
“My best friends are all from elementary school, so I don't know, I always expected that to be kind of more defining for my life, but I was surprised,” he explained. “Like I said, I think it really just showed me that this was something (important) and that my work paid off.”
During his speech on Monday, Hunter-Providenti said that his best memory of Ecole St. Mary was his first day.
“I came here in Grade 10,” he remembered. “I started in Ecole Valois, a small school, right? I went from having four people in my class to probably over 200 in my grade. I guess it seems kind of daunting. I had no idea what to expect.
“On my first day I was kind of scared, and within like five minutes of me sitting down in my first class on my first day of school in Grade 10 at St. Mary, I made a friend and that friend stuck with me for the next three years. That's like probably the thing I remember most about the school,” he said.
"It's pretty special, right? (It was) not at all what I expected. It is a nice surprise.”
Hunter-Providenti has already enrolled in arts and science at the University of Saskatchewan. He’ll be attending classes in the fall.
"I'm planning on doing chemistry right now just because that was the high school class that interested me the most, so why not try that in university too, but obviously it's arts and sciences. You have to take a bit of whatever and we'll see if something else is interesting. Then I'll switch into that,” he said.
Eventually, he wants to transfer to a university in Quebec. His sister is studying at Concordia, and he does not know whether it will be an English or a French university.
Hunter-Provendti began working on his valedictorian speech weeks before graduation.
“I had no idea what to say because … I wasn't planning on this. I have a small social circle, and because I'm also in French immersion, that also kind of compounds that. I don't know how many people actually know who I am, besides the people I know. It’s strange because I don't really want to ramble or just be like, oh, who's this guy talking? I'll try to keep it short and sweet, but we'll see what I can do.”
Tuesday’s graduation also included an awards ceremony. Hunter-Providenti won the second academic award and Sadie McFarlane won the third academic.
Arwa Kondi, who was unable to attend, received the Governor General Scholarship, the Governor General’s Medal and the First Academic Award.
After the diplomas were handed out and before the official part of the ceremony, Bishop Stephen Hero and others performed the Liturgy of the Word, which had the spiritual theme “Living Christ’s Mission.”
Mayor Bill Powalinsky brought greetings from the city. Board of education chair Suzanne Stubbs brought greetings.
The MCs for the graduation were Michael Edet and Denis Orsar. McFarlane gave the salutary address.
The day concluded with an address from principal Dwayne Gareau.
Hunter-Providenti did have a final message for students: try to have fun in school.
"In my Grade 11 year, I was a bit of a workaholic,” he said. “I didn't really have any time for myself and it was draining. It didn't just affect my mood at school. It was at home and everything.”
He said that in Grade 12, he tried to take it a little bit easier and it made a difference in his mood and he was much more content.
“Last year was just the same grind every day and I didn't have much fun and it definitely affected my Grade 11 experience,” Hunter-Providenti said.
“Grade 10 was fine because it was Grade 10 and the novelty, I guess, of high school was still a thing or this high school, anyways, and it's Grade 10. You're not as busy and obviously it gets harder as you go on. Just make sure you have fun, but don't take things too seriously because, like I said, it's high school, but it can still be worth something, so just live.”
