Grads bid farewell to Dr. S.E. McDowell

June 19, 2019

Caleb Nickerson

caleb@theequity.ca

CALEB NICKERSON

SHAWVILLE June 14, 2019

On June 14, the newly minted Bryan Murray Gymnasium at Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary School was packed as the class of 2019 held their graduation ceremony. This is the first cohort of children to graduate from the immersion program that was put in place several years ago, and the class size of 40 reflected that increase.

Principal Anne Valcov led the ceremony and thanked the parents and community for their support. It was also a sad day for Valcov, as she was departing for a posting at the board office. She said that over the three years she spent at the school she was proud of her efforts to build a community but was excited for new challenges, working as a consultant on early literacy and numeracy in rural schools across the board.

“They’re very near and dear to my heart,” she said.

She also singled out the recent renaming the gymnasium as a significant milestone in her tenure at McDowell.

Grady Robson, currently the principal at Onslow Elementary in Quyon will be replacing Valcov in September and was present at the ceremony along with Pontiac High School Prinicpal Debra Stephens.

The school body also recognized long-time Home and School volunteer Ronda Richardson for all her hard work over the years. Humble as always, Richardson gave credit to the dedicated group of parents and staff.

“I will accept it on behalf of all the team I’ve worked with during my time at McDowell,” she said, before introducing the student volunteer award recipient. “Being a volunteer is a very important part of your life. I think we talked about that yesterday with Bryan Murray and this community coming together to name this gym after him.”

After awards were given out, the grads had an opportunity to share their favourite memories from their time at McDowell before closing the ceremony with a song. To cap everything off, they gathered on the gym’s balcony to give everyone a send off to Alice Cooper’s classic track “School’s Out.”

Achievment awards:

Mathematics – James Twolan

Language Arts – Destinee Barber-Boisvert

FSL – James Twolan

Immersion – Cade Kuehl

Art – Makenna Soulière

Female Athlete of the Year – Paige Dubeau

Male Athlete of the Year – Cole Douglas

Highest Overall Academic Achievement – Cade Kuehl

Most Improved – Madisson Mzee

School Spirit Award – Jana Côté

Volunteer Award –Jody Poirier.

Grads launched paper airplanes from the gym’s balcony after completing a rendition of Alice Cooper’s classic, “School’s Out.”

Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary held their graduation ceremony on June 14, with hundreds of family and friends turning out to celebrate the 40 youngsters heading to high school next year. Pictured, Rev. William McDowell shares a laugh with outgoing Principal Anne Valcov.

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