In front of a capacity crowd at the Prince Edward Community Centre, graduates walked the stage, accepting their Ontario Secondary School Diplomas to the exuberant cheers of family, friends and supporters. Nearly half of this year’s graduates were Ontario Scholars, with an average of 80 percent or higher in six Grade 12 subjects.

Natalie Baldwin was elected Valedictorian. Ms. Baldwin won the Ontario Principals’ Council Award for Student Leadership and took home a handful of academic and leadership awards.

Introducing Ms. Baldwin, teacher Beth Kuipers noted she somehow mastered the impossible art of being a great student, a leader, and a top-tier event planner all at once.

“Natalie is the kind of person who shows up for herself and others, making sure everyone feels seen, heard, and included,” Ms. Kuipers said. “Her superpower is her genuine kindness and her ability to connect with everyone. She’s heading off to the healthcare field next, which makes perfect sense because taking care of people is just who she is.”

In her address, Ms. Baldwin noted her class spent the last four years pondering one question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“But standing here looking at you all today, I realize that’s the wrong question,” she said. “The real question is, ‘Who are we right now?’

“We’ve learned to be good friends and good community members. We’ve learned the value of teamwork and the determination needed to just get through the group project without losing our minds. We’ve learned vital lessons in perseverance, resilience, time management, and self-discovery. We started to envision ourselves outside of our high school walls. We started to dream of what our future might look like.

“While all of this seems overwhelming and sometimes even scary, we must continue to dream big and believe in ourselves. Be open to new ideas and new paths, the most terrifying part of the future is stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking risks,” she concluded. “Leaving high school, none of us know exactly what comes next, but that’s the exciting part.”

As is tradition at PECI, the graduating class is well supported. A total of 77 schloarships, bursaries and monetary awards were handed out.

Cameron Billing took home the Governor General’s Academic Medal for highest academic standing for overall average in both Grade 11 and 12, in addition to three other awards.

Other multiple award-winning graduates included Jake Banfield, Lillian Hoekstra, Kara Guernsey, Lydia Aulthouse, Brook Gannon, Jayden Vandenburg, Grady Holmes, Annora DeRoo, Malcolm Gregor, Kieran Craig, Emily Wager, Ethan Thompson, Annabelle Sprigings, Kaiden King, Emerson Blakely, Chantal Hurst, M.J. Patel, Kate Cowan, Avery Anderson, Brooklyn Moore, Thomas Rice, Holden Courneyea, Darcy Wood, Taylor Thurston, Kaden Koutroulides, Hannah Armstrong, and Mallory Wood.

Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Patel and Ms. Guernsey were presented with PECI Student Council Salt of the Earth awards, for graduating students who have undertaken major responsibilities in extracurricular activities and carried them out with exceptional devotion to duty and enterprise.

Congratulations Graduates!