The small group of grade twelve students graduating from Carman Collegiate belies the sense of energy and closeness that characterizes the Class of 2022.
Quinn McLaren and Coltyn Plaitin, co-valedictorians for today's commencement ceremonies, describe their class as small, close, high energy and lots of fun.
The two graduates look back on their secondary years.
"This past year in May, our fast pitch team won zones for the first time since 1982," said McLaren. "Throughout our entire elementary school years, every single recess we would break out to play 'contagious' for the whole recess."
"The highlight for me," adds Plaitin, "was definitely high school hockey. We had 24 wins in a row. That was the first time that I've had that on any team, and probably the first time that that's happened in quite a while in Carman history."
"School ski trips were a lot of fun. We would all go to La Riviere to ski or snowboard, whichever you preferred. A friend of mine slayed, he went straight down the hill and just ate it. It was pretty funny to watch. He didn't like that very much."
Aside from the fun and satisfaction of performing well, both students say it's the friendships and connections made that they will take with them after high school.
One of the major challenges was maintaining a balance between sports and academics as well as dealing with the pandemic.
"That was tough, said Plaitin. "We definitely missed school sports a lot at the time. It's just a way to kind of relax and a stress reliever.
McLaren agrees that sports were a big miss.
"It was definitely a tough couple of years because we didn't really get to see each other at school the same way that we normally had."
After graduation, Coltyn plans on entering the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Science and then pharmacy. Quinn has received a scholarship to play NCAA Division 1 hockey at Lindenwood University in St. Louis, Missouri which she will pair with an academic program in Exercise Science.