INNISFAIL – Graduating students at Innisfail High School have embarked on the next phase of their young lives armed with a special message that began from personal painful experience but morphed courageously as a source of inspiration for all.
The 65 graduating students, all resplendent in their blue cap and gowns, came to the high school on the morning of June 10 in high anticipation for the end of four extraordinary years, and the beginning of a new life chapter.
They listened intently to several impactful speeches of best wishes from several special guests that included local politicians Earl Dreeshen, Jean Barclay, Devin Dreeshen, Holly Bilton and Connie Huelsman; as well as the valedictory address from graduate Alexis Newberry, who reminded all of the trials and ultimate triumph over the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Thankfully, our school has leapt over that hurdle, and gradually (we) recovered as a community,” said Newberry. “We're now able to gather and celebrate our accomplishments together.”
While there was a well-deserved celebratory atmosphere for those accomplishments, Kurt Sacher, the superintendent of schools for the Chinook’s Edge School Division, noted in his special address that many students will often face the pressure of having a plan for what comes next.
“I want to talk to you about that, the plan that is,” said Sacher. “A famous boxer named Mike Tyson once said, ‘everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.”
Sacher then said he endured his shot six years earlier when his 27-year-old son Julian fell and suffered spinal cord and a brain injuries.
“What you do after it happens will help define who you are and what you are about,” said Sacher, noting graduating students already had a head start with adversity from three separate school years of pandemic learning loss and disruption.
“COVID stole your valued time with friends, to learn face-to-face with your amazing teachers, and time to just enjoy your precious youth in relative normal,” said Sacher to his audience. “Unfortunately, the world is likely going to sock it to you a few more times before it lets up.
“So what's your plan when you get popped?”
Sacher went on to tell students, parents and guests that after his son’s accident he remembered the summer after his graduation when he followed through on a “crazy idea” to ride his bicycle from Calgary to San Diego, California.
“I knew that my spirit had always thrived on a bike,” said Sacher. “So, after my son fell I got back on my bicycle.”
To add to his spirit, Sacher then asked Innisfail Middle School teacher Mike Walsh if he could teach some math to his Grade 7 students.
“I wanted to remember what it felt like to teach. Most of the students in that Grade 7 math class are graduating here today,” said Sacher. “These students helped to give me my spirit back and they didn't even know that. Thank you graduates.”
Sacher then asked them what it was that gave each of them their spirit – dancing, playing hockey, riding a horse?
He then offered two examples, with the first being American figure skater Ilia Malinin making history in 2022 by successfully landing the sport’s first ever quad axel in competition.
“For Ilia, I bet he skates after life punches him in the chops,” said Sacher, who then noted the inspired journey of Australian Jessica Watson who in 2009 and 2010 sailed solo and unassisted around the world.
“She was told by many she couldn't do it. Her parents were vilified in the media for supporting her and allowing her to even try,” said Sacher. “After seven months at sea, facing winds up to 130 kilometres per hour and waves to the height of this gym's ceiling, she pulled it off.
“I bet when she gets clocked she climbs aboard her sailboat and finds her spirit.”
Sacher ended his message by imploring students not to underestimate what is possible.
“Be you. Find your passion,” he said. “You can handle the punch.”
