June/July 2013 - Community Connections

Community Connections Page 28
June/July 2013
Memoirs of a High
School Graduate
By Rachel Cote, RHS
Correspondent
Relaxing. Terrifying. Self-defining.
An adventure. There are so many ways
to describe the high school experience,
yet not one is applicable to all.
Everyone’s journey is infinitely
different, although one thing remains
the same: every child who enters these
halls leaves as new, more grown up
individual. The frail little bud grows up
and blossoms into a beautiful flower.
Rosemere High School is a special
place. Although each grade is huge,
with over 200 students in each, a closeknit
community is formed year after
year. A family is made through the
sharing of little things – the inside
jokes, the weird teachers, the long,
homework-filled nights, and the
endless memories that can make a place
feel like home.
Thank you, Lindsay and Rachel
Lindsay Parr of Lake of Two
Mountains High School and Rachel
Cote of Rosemere High School have
contributed much more to the
Community Connections than these
retrospective articles about their
schools. Lindsay wrote her first
article for us when she was in Grade
Sara Giard, Our Champion
By Gordon Wetmore
She is only 10 years
old but already Sara
Giard is an Eastern
Canadian and Quebec
champion gymnast.
On May 12 she placed
first overall in the
Eastern Canadian
Championships held
in St. John’s, Nfld., May 9 through 12,
with second place finishes in the Vault
and Beam and third in the Bars.
Senior Judith Dicaire expresses it
perfectly; “It’s a place where my second
family is, where I have places to make
me feel better when I'm down.” We are
about to enter the even bigger world of
post-secondary education, where no
one is there to hold our hands anymore.
All the friends who were always by our
side will most likely be on the other end
of town, fighting their own battles in
their own school. Suddenly, high school
will seem so far away and we’ll yearn
for the good old days when everything
was simple. “I’ll miss how much fun it
is because there isn’t much work to do,
and I can spend way more time doing
what I enjoy,” says Timothy Ahern.
Drastic changes are coming our way,
and all we can do is anticipate them
with open minds.
The thought of entering high school
might be scary, but leaving it will be
even scarier. So many good things have
happened during my time in the halls
of Rosemere High School. I’ll never
5. It was about adjusting to living
with juvenile diabetes, a theme she
has returned to several times and
about which she maintains her own
blog. Rachel, among her many
other activities, has been a sterling
member of the creative writing club
in RHS. She jumped at the chance
when she learned we were looking
On April 20, the little dynamo from
McCaig Elementary School in Rosemere
had won the ‘Coupe Quebec’ and the
‘Championnat Quebecois 2013’ in the
gymnastics Pre-Novice National Aspire
category.
In a letter to the Community
Connections, her proud mother, Shirley
Dolan, told us that Sara reached the
national level of competition this year,
competing and winning gold in the
floor routine at the National Stream
Cup in Edmonton, Alberta. She was
part of Team Quebec, which also won
gold in Edmonton.
forget the lunchtime adventures, the
deep in-class conversations, the
incredible class trips, and that special
feeling I still get when I look at my
friends and know I’ve met my
companions.
T o t h e C l a s s o f 2 0 1 3 ,
congratulations. In less than one short
month, we will be closing our lockers
for the very last time and saying
goodbye to our beloved classmates. To
the undergraduates, enjoy your
remaining years, for they pass by much
more quickly than you think. To the
new secondary ones, remember to be
true to yourselves. Going off to high
school might seem intimidating, but it's
only really as scary as you make it out
to be. Chances are it’ll be an experience
you’ll take with you forever.
A special thank you to Timothy Ahern,
Judith Dicaire, Benoit Lemieux, and Nancy
Pettinicchio, who agreed to be interviewed
for this article.
for a correspondent from RHS.
Lindsay plans to attend CEGEP
Champlain Saint-Lambert for an
International Baccalaureate of
Science. Rachel is headed to Vanier
College to double major in music
and world languages and
eventually a career in journalism.
We wish them every success.
Sara’s dream is to make it to the 2020
Olympic Games and “we can proudly
say she is on her way there,” her
mother said.
Sara trains a minimum of 17 hours a
week at Gym-Plus in Boisbriand. Ms.
Dolan said that Sara is at a level where
her sport is getting quite expensive.
This year it has cost the family $8000
and, with added travelling, they expect
next year it will rise to $10,000. They
are looking for a sponsor to help Sara
make it to the 2020 Olympics. Ms.
D o l a n c a n b e c o n t a c t e d a t
dolans@videotron.ca .