Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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Mr. Chairman. Mr. Headmaster, Honoured Guests, Faculty, Staff, Parents, Fellow Graduates and Friends. We the graduating class of l987 sit here today really for the last time as classmates and friends. ln a few moments, that will slip away as fast as the year has, we will be saying our last good- byes and perhaps taking another walk through the halls of the residence, Rogers House or even the gym. You can obviously tell that l spent a lot of my time there, with David White and Douglas Leung! But these final moments will be our last memories of our time here on the Hilltop, after which we will part and venture into life on our separate ways, into the future that may be frightening and unnerving. This is only so because the future is new and undiscovered. Accept its challenges as it beckons to be revealed. You have a sound base at Pickering and support of your classmates around you today. We will be distancing ourselves from the physical Pickering, but that is not where it ends. The Pickering we truly know will live in our hearts and minds forever. Our time here has ranged as much as the people themselves. For some it has been one year, and for two select and dedicated individuals whose feeling for the school is reflected in the time they spent here, David White and Mike Bolt, being our seven- year-lifers. Each one of us has become a part of Pickering and will be so as long as the pillars will stand. As one old boy wrote. People are Pickering lt is not the buildings you see around you nor the grounds that surround them. It is the people who fill the classrooms and the halls that make this school live and breath. Each one of the students sitting out there today - each one of you made this year what it was! And what an eventful year at that! With the reconstruction started on Firth House, the New residence became home to all boarders and our one big happy family was united under one roof. Although most members of our happy family got water bucketed through the year. our time together should be considered nothing less than a success. lt gave us better conditions to learn about ourselves and our neighbours and with the formation of our all grade I 3 floor each graduating students personal sense of responsibility and good judgement was Valedictory Speech bu Matthew Gordon made clear. I'm sure that any staff member can attest to that Certain individuals even tried to make New House more home like for everyone inside. To create 'A more welcome and corri fortable kind of Come in and put your feet up kind of an bience' Thus the statue of the water-madonna was installed over the entrance to New House. Obviously if it made the Headmaster house warm and inviting, why not New House? But school life could not exist without the students and student would not be here today were it not for parents making the deci sion to entrust their child to Pickering or in some cases trus Pickering to their child. To our parents here today and thos abroad thinking of us now, we, the leaving class, wish to thanl you from the bottom of our hearts. Your support here make this occasion even more special. Your support has been felt ani wholly appreciated over the years. Your love makes us strong and it is your son leaving school today. They searched fo knowledge and it is testament to their discovery of it that the- sit here now. For the students here who cannot get home much during the year, Pickering becomes, inevitably, a home from home. Oun time here lets the relationships between teacher and student move more into the role of a friend passing a friend knowledge in thi hope that it will bring success in his journey through life. I mean - why else would Mr. Taylor ask us to stay behind foi five minutes at the end of each geography class as he tried tc finish a paragraph or thought as he left the rest of the sclioo out? Mr. Clark in his 'Master-Ph.D.-University' English cours: known as English ll had us read 6000 novels and presented u: with l00-mark quizes only out of the selfless hope that we woulc become scholars, with the ultimate dream of becoming gentlemen That too is obviously evident in the Leaving Class here today To the grade I2's moving up next year. Cherish your time at Pickering for it will slip by as fast as it did this year, only there is not another year to look forward to. You are going tc begin a year that will challenge you, amuse and maybe scarf you a little. But, as you can see by looking around you, yot can make it. We did. Take everything the school offers you and give it all you car for you are now and will be forever part of the Pickering com I -I muniti- ilmwil liililli on pl gm a Ml al inihel Ol iii one ol li I wuisel all-rugl med llhe lwun I lOl.l llinli l sins linlic limp, lim heb Ol i lard v Pitl miers leyor long. falga Wh We ciii ice in am T l

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JUE GRAHAM SCOTT 'Scratch' graced Pickering with his company for a surprising three years during which time he was always in trouble, but never did anything wrong! Graham enjoyed many sports but. along with many of his fellow Trinida- dians, regarded them as games to be played just for fun not com- petitively for goints. Next year should see raham studying veterinary med at the Universi- ty of South Florida. ERIC TSE An avid basketball and badmin- ton player. Eric came to P.C. two years ago from the Bustling city of Hong Kong. He applied equal enthusiasm to his academic work. resulting in an average that would cause most of us to swell with pride. Remarkably, Eric managed to live with Bill Graat the entire year without giving up his secret love of calcu us! U of T or York U for Engineering in '88. IAN WITHERSPOON Or 'Spoon' as he is known to his buddies, hails from the thriving metropolis of Aurora. As a day student. lan was well-known for his daily routine of: arrival at 8.29 a.m. with bed-head, sar- castic jokes and second period trips to Pizza Pizza. 'Spoon' took part in many sports during his three years at P.C. and served on the student council a number of times. An avid member of the debating, camera and algebra clubs, lan is heading in the direc- tion of M.I.T. DAVID WHITE Dave was this years tall. slender muscular man of endurance and fitness excelling in all sports especially Dungeons and Dragons, Video games and Coca Cola consumption. There must have been many fights between the Sports Day Ca tains over which should have this budding jmake that 'Bud'-ingl athlete in their ranks! Nothing disheartens Dave, not even the current P.C. saying. 'Don't trust Whiteyf I f-is l988 OWEN SIRRS Known to his friends as 'Slim' Owen seems to come from a dif- ferent part of the world each year. and he's had five of them at P.C. He's been an active member of the student commit- tee and, when awake, a Duty Assistant on Team E. Concern- ed with events in South Africa. Owen has propagated info around the campus to draw at- tention to the situation in the un- fortunate part of the world, He enjoys being a silent partner in late night activities and we wish him well at Georgetown Univer- sity next year. TOM TVEDT 'Red Neck' seemed to live a nomadic life. He was born in Winni g, moved to Logan Lake. B.C. then, in search of his fami- ly history. to Pingshuce, China lpop I .OOOj followed by P.C. to round off his education. Tom was active in all sports and was in- volved in the Math. Physics and Algebra Clubs. Tom was deeply missed when he left P.C. and will always be remembered by his classmates. DAVE WOLDER Coming to P.C. in the fall of '87 from Fort Francis, Dave soon overcame his initial shyness and settled into the P.C. modus operandi. He did participate in house league sports but his in- terests lay more in the directions of photography and playing in the infamous group. Veil of Tears He is planning to head for York U in the fall of '88 and we wish him all success. KELSON YANG Kelson has been at Pickering for just one year and has turned out to be not only energetic in sports but also a brilliant Gr. I3 stu- dent. Despite listening to the radio constantly during study time Kelson's name became per- manently etched on the H.M.s Honour List. His Bruce Lee type Kong Fu makes him a better rac- quet player earning points for Red House. Kelson will continue his studies at an American university where we know he will succeed.

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A ies lhathunity. This occasion is special too for the grade 8's here today Jmefvho will be moving into the grade 9 and the upper school. You've :omilit the big time, boys and its your turn to make Pickering your amuwn place in which to live and learn. You will see the school uve row and change and you too will be growing and maturing si light along with it. Demand the most of yourselves just as those ln the leaving class sitting among you did this year. And in four ltmlor five years you will be sitting in the same place listening to leclone of you give this speech. rusll To the leaving class: We did it, Guys! Congratulate I ourselves. You put in the time. did the work, pulled off those an yll-nighters. You did what you knew you had to do and have ik amed the right to sit here today. ii When you think of your time at P.C. and consider what it gg: mounts to, do not think of what you gave the school as much l s you might want to, but realize what the school gave you. h hink of what you take from P.C. as you leave today: U1 sense of responsibility to others and yourselves. lll onfidence in yourself and your abilities. N ompanionship in the friends you have met and lived with. firm academic base provided by your teachers. The bell from the dining hall. l l 'T Of course, you have given the school your time, dedication, 'T ard work and in more cases than one, your sanity. 'H' Pickering creates the ability of people to act and co-exist with thers. Pickering provided us with a chance to unite the world Il eyond Canada. Trinidad, Africa, China, Japan, Britain, Hong n ong, Malaysia, Spain, Mexico, France, Italy, United States, even yCalgary and Woodbridge! f Whether or not you realize it now, this class is a class that We will never bring disgrace to this our city, by any act of dishonesty or coward- ice, nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone i l and with many: we will revere and observe the city's laws and do our best to incite a like respect and reverence in those above us who are prone to annul or set them at nought: we will strive unceasingly to is very much together, is very much one. A closely knit unit in which everyone knows everyone. Every one is a friend, there are no strangers here, nor shall there ever be. Pickering is a common bond between all of us and it will re- main with us for the rest of our days. Your life ahead is one that will be filled with happiness and success. lt is a long and winding road whose secrets will only be revealed as you travel along it. But do not cease to question life. As Socrates said, Life without inquiry is not worth living. Or, as one of our more philosophical graduates put it - Why can't life be an endless beer commer- cial? Perhaps it can and will be for some of you. It can only be found in the future. Today is the end of one phase of our lives and the beginning of another and together we approach the future as one. Ready to accept what life has in store for us. Today we part in body, not in spirit. In spirit we will live as the Class of '87 and that fact will draw us together in the future. lt is unavoidable. My friends of the leaving class and others who are leaving. will you please stand now. Turn to the dedication page in the program and, on our last time together, say with me the familiar words of the Athenian Youth: quicken the public's sense of civic duty. Thus in all these ways, we will transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmit- ted to us.