Hello, grads, families and especially staff and teachers.
For my years at Brooks, I’ve taken classes that ranged from chemistry and law to soccer skills and hockey academy. It’s crazy to believe our high school journey is coming to an end after all the early mornings, late-night assignments and the break time hallway debriefs. We made it!
But today I am honoured to be standing in front of you saying thank you teacher, coaches and support staff; thank you for being there for all of it. The hours you’ve seen us at our worst — sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated and during a double block on a Monday morning.
Then there's our best: when we get a good grade on a test, when we hear that you can get a cheese bun and tomato soup for only $1! And yet, you still showed up every day with a lesson plan, a smile and just enough energy to say, “Phones away, please.”
So, thank you, for not just teaching math, English or science, but for teaching us how to better ourselves, how to act in different situations, how to deal with different people and how to embrace the people we want to become.
On behalf of the student athletes, we all really appreciate the support, the patience and the help every teacher has given through our years at high school. I know it can’t be easy when we come up to you and say “I won’t be here Thursday and Friday, we have a tournament.”
Your flexibility and understanding have meant a lot, and we’re grateful for everything you’ve done to help us balance academics and athletics. Thank you for being such a big part of our first steps into adulthood, shaping us into the people we are becoming and who we want to be.
I also want to thank the support staff who have been there throughout our years. Even though you didn’t stand in the front of the classroom, you still had a huge impact on us.
You would make us laugh when we were in a bad mood, you would walk us through the chemistry question we didn’t quite get, but most of all you had the patience to sit with us and help us when neither of us really understood what was going on.
When we think back on our time at high school we won’t think of the lessons from the textbook, we will think of the fun nicknames you had for us, the stupid jokes you made to try and cheer us up on bad days, or the time and the effort you made to help us throughout these years; you believed in us when we didn’t believe in ourselves.
You didn’t just help us become better students, you helped us become better people, and for that we thank you. Your guidance, your wisdom and your support will carry with us throughout the next steps of our life. And good luck without us, because let's be honest, we were your favourites.
The Peak will publish its annual graduation special section on June 26, 2025.
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