The Tri-City News asked SD43 valedictorians in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody to reflect on their high school years and tell us what their future brings.
We'll publish their answers daily this and next week, at 8:05 a.m.
Angie Ivanov
Port Moody Secondary (Port Moody)
What are your plans after graduation?
- I plan on attending Queens University next year for direct entry into mechatronics and robotics under their faculty of engineering.
What are you most proud of during your high school years?
- That feeling when you are so focused on achieving a goal that all perceptions of time and space seem to fade away. That was a feeling that characterized high school. The challenges we faced only brought us closer together. I have seen my classmates at school from the break of dawn to when the streetlights come on, running clubs, fundraisers, band, and sports teams. While also finding time to juggle schoolwork and tests. What I am most proud of is the dedication and ambition we have exhibited as a grad class. That is something even the greatest adversity couldn’t take away from us.
What would you change about your high school years?
- I think we could do with an escalator instead of 50 flights of stairs to the main entrance. Showing up sweaty to block one English really has a way of humbling you. In all honesty though, a year or two ago I would have had a lot to say about change. Now though, I realize that we may have faced challenges, but those challenges made us who we are.
What does being a valedictorian mean to you?
- Being a co-valedictorian means having the opportunity to represent a grad class. One that I have watched grow and simultaneously grown with over the course of the past four years. I remember when I found out I had gotten the role of co-valedictorian, and the number of congratulations I had received. When in fact it was those people who gave me that chance. I am honoured to take on this responsibility, and really must thank my family, friends, teachers and classmates for their unconditional support.
What advice do you have for the next graduation class?
- Right now, it may feel like the world is falling apart around you. Like the ground might crumble and cave below your feet. In a years time though, you will reflect on these experience and realize that for better or for worse you overcame it. That you are not defined by expectations, but instead by your own will, ambition, and resilience. You got this!
