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Page 11 text:
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VALEDICTORIAN ' S SPEECH Bruce A. McKinnon — Awards Day — June 20, 1975 Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Head- master, Staff and Fellow Graduates: May I start by saying what a pleasure it is for me to have the honour of being Valedictorian. It is trivial that I am terrified, but the honour lies in the fact that I am the first ever to be chosen here at Brentwood. For that honour I thank you, Graduates of 75. For me, this day is the end of 5 of the most profitable and enjoyable years of my life. Several other of you Graduates in this room now have shared with me the victories and defeats of those 5 years and I am sure all of you who have shared this year with me feel much the way I do now — that it is fantastic to get out of school after so long, but in leaving Brentwood, you are able to look back and see what good this school has done for you. Improvement and progress have always been major concerns of the school over the last years. I speak of this with reference to all aspects of school activity. Academics, Athletics, Fine Arts and especially the little things like the food have improved with time. The evidence is before you on your tables. While on the subject of improvement and progress, certainly THE most significant and enjoyable change Brentwood has experienced has been the injection of females into the College blood stream. Their smiling beauty, coupled with great encouragement, enthusiasm and goodliness make them all totally enjoyable (for obvious reasons!!). And so I would like to thank Miss Holden and Mrs. Wichlinski and your often uncontrollable ladies for making Brentwood that much more enjoyable for us boys, (as Shelley wrote — Tameless and swift and proud ) I think that the students here at Brentwood are a fortunate lot because we have a group of ladies and gentlemen who ' s job it is to tame us and mould us into learned individuals. For them the job is difficult requiring great strength and determination (indeed the student too must endure the hardships of their classes) but they do a tremendous job and I would like to thank them immensely — I speak, of course, of the staff. What does the future hold for todays Grade 8 ' s? I can only hope they will have as much fun as I have had and also when they leave Brentwood they leave as bolder, more mature individuals. Brentwood must grow and continue to grow, and seeds are germinating now in the junior grades which I am sure will blossom into fine young people. In closing, I would like to thank you, Mr. Headmaster, Mr. Bunch and Staff, so very much for all you have done, as we, your Graduates of 75 bid you farewell. B.A. McKinnon
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Page 10 text:
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ADDRESS TO BRENTWOOD COLLEGE SCHOOL GRADUATING CLASS FRIDAY, JUNE 20th, 1975 Mr. D. Phillips, MLA Mr. Chairman, Head Table Guests, Ladies and Gentle- men and Graduates: I am very honored today to have the opportunity to address this very distinguished group of both parents and graduates. The graduating class is not only a distinguished but a very special group of graduates because today you have successfully completed your studies here at Brentwood and you are special because you are different from most graduating classes in that you have overcome the first hurdle in life, the hurdle of leaving home. I suppose that hurdle was easier for some of you because maybe you considered it a pleasure to leave home, but I know it was a great sacrifice for most of you. Most graduating classes from the public school system still have to overcome that particular hardship. You have had the opportunity during the past few years to attend an institution which is very highly regarded not only in British Columbia but in all of Canada, and indeed some parts of the world. Brentwood College School is an institution which taxes not only the mind but the physical body as well. You have had the opportunity to be taught by a group of teachers who are specifically devoted and just not here to receive their pay cheque. They have taken a special interest in all of your activities, and I can see by the comments recently made here today that there has been a good rapport between teachers and students. You have also had the opportunity during your stay at Brentwood to be taught discipline. This disciplinary training which you have received will be of great benefit to you throughout the rest of your life. So it has been the combination of the devotion of the teachers, the teaching methods, the students and the parents who have given you this opportunity to make you a very special group. The opportunity you had to attend this school was due to the fact that there was an opportunity of choice in society. This school was created because somebody cared and made the sacrifice to create this institution. It was the availability of the freedom to experiment in new teaching methods which gave the opportunity of choice. These opportunities and freedom that existed that made this institution available to you are being challenged today. There are forces at work in our society that would destroy this freedom of choice, but freedom does not come easily. With each freedom there must be an equal responsibility. When people in a society do not live up to their responsibilities that they must take in a free society there can be no freedom. To understand what I am saying you must look at history. This country was built by pioneers who came from other lands. They came to this country because they wanted the opportunity to own their own homes, to own land, to be able to build businesses, and to worship as thes chose. They wanted to make a new life for themselves and their families. These pioneers put up with many hardships. They had to fight the climate and the elements and had only crude tools to use. The hardships they endured and overcame made the life which we enjoy today possible. These people were, however, free, and they did not look to the government for handouts. We inherited this land and this life that they created by the sweat of their brow. Your challenge has to be — what are you going to do with what you have inherited! Most of you students today come out of what I refer to as the easy life of the sixties, the soft life where everything was free and easy, and your parents were able to make money easily. This life just cannot continue. There must be changes made and the challenge, of course, is what changes are you going to made? As I said before, the freedom of the individual is being challenged. Freedom is being sacrificed for security. The initiative of the individual is being killed. Your challenge just has to be to recognize the spirit of the early pioneers. The late John Kennedy said in a challenge to the people of his nation — think not of what your country can do for you, but think of what you can do for your country . This statement was made not in a time but at a time when the very foundations of his country were being challenged. The battle of today is not the battle of free enterprise vs. the state, not the pattle of private enterprise vs. the state; it is the battle of the individual vs. the state. Are you going to give up and give in? Have you the guts to take your chances and receive your rewards? Can you face this challenge? Are you going to trade future liberty and freedom for handouts today? Are you going to let the government do your thinking for you? Are you going to trade your future, your future liberty and your future freedom because you do not want to live up to these responsibilities? Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States from 1809 to 1865, wrote these words in 1860, and they are as applicable today as they were then: You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot build character and courage by taking away initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves. Graduates, the challenge is yours.
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