graduation

So my cousin graduated from grade 12 today from MBCI, which is the same school that I graduated.

Interestingly there were I think 6 people that I graduated with who had younger siblings in that class.

For those of you that don't know it is a very small school and pretty well connected. It is also a christian school and I feel like I noticed more in her grad that it was much more overtly religious. The parent giving the address was very good (although my favourite commencement speech was the one given by conan O'brien this year at dartmouth).

The thing that struck me the most that I remember from my time at MBCI came with the student awards. Basically if you aren't a good contributing christian you better hope that you're smart if you want to win an award. There was such a favouritism for those people who were basically goodie-two shoes. Just because you aren't in worship band or didn't go on any missions trips it doesn't mean that you are a "worse" christian. It would have been nice to have a "Ms. Congeniality" type of award. I like to think that I would have won that. From my years away at university it seemed that those who were smarter likely may hve had some more struggles in university because I like to think those less smart people had more social skills which is really the most important thing. You can get fantastic grades but it does not guarantee jobs. NETWORKING, PEOPLE!!!!!

Another thing that seemed stress was about following God and good things will happen. I do believe this, but just because you follow God it doesn't mean bad stuff won't happen to you. It also seemed to focus on material wealth and value as well. It seems that MBCI may be getting a little bit more corporate than I remember. I also got the message that success for MBCI is defined by getting a good job as mentioned in the valedictory address, and the way Fred Pauls was talking made it sound like you are going to be unsuccessful if you don't attend some sort of post-secondary institution...I feel a little bad for those students who weren't. All in all it just seemed like there was a high pressure on material success for those grads.

My advice to those grads....

- don't sell yourself short, don't give up and say yes!