Community.
That is the core of the high school experience, according to this year’s Princess Margaret Secondary School valedictorians Kyla Finlayson and Tyler McKee. It also will be the one hardest to give up.
“The people are what I’m going to miss most,” said Finlayson. “It’s like a community here.”
“It’s the close-knit community I’ll be missing,” McKee agreed. “I know a lot of people here. It’s really close, especially with the grad class.”
The valedictorians were selected out of a half dozen students this year, and the choice was not one they thought was a certainty.
“It’s absolutely amazing, I personally didn’t believe that I would actually be in this situation,” said McKee. “I’m honoured, and it’s a really humbling experience to me.”
“Especially since all the other candidates were really good. They would have been excellent as well, so it really means a lot more,” said Finlayson.
The selection, they believe, came down to their relationship with the other students in the school that helped earn them the honours.
“I think it’s because we’re friends with a large range of people,” said Finlayson.
“We’re friends with a lot of the groups, and we know a lot of people personally,” McKee added. “We’re able to speak with everybody.”
Finlayson plans to go to university to study medicine, and McKee plans to go to Okanagan College where he hopes to nail down a more specific path to travel. The energy of the last few months though, can’t overshadow the fact that their lives are soon going to change forever.
“I’m excited, but honestly it’s kind of shocking the fact that this is the last few months that we’ll have with all these people in the same building and the same room,” said McKee. “Once we’re done, we’re going to be off on our own paths, on our own journeys, to wherever we’re going; universities, colleges, or just going to work. We’re not going to be in the same room together anymore. “
“It’s true,” Finlayson added. “Some of them I’ve known since I was five. It’s such a small school, you can basically go anywhere and you can know someone, be friends with someone in the room.”
As for the speech itself, both students are keeping the details close to the vest.
“You’re going to have to be there,” said McKee.