Valedictory Address 2009

June 24th 2009

Dr. Berg, Mr. Oabel, teachers, friends, family and fellow graduates. Today is the big day, we all get together to celebrate and honour all the hard work and achievements of our 2009 graduates of Milliken Mills Public school. My name is ***** ***, et je m’appelle Irene Lai. We are honored to be your valedictorians at this ceremony.

Thank you to our peers for giving us this opportunity to represent all of you. We want to let everyone know that Milliken Mills is a wonderful school, everyone is so friendly and we have exceptional teachers and staff. From kindergarten to grade 8, these terrific ten years have gone by so quickly. Step by step, with the help of our teachers, we’ve finally reached this destination today. So please give all our fantastic teachers a big round of applause!

Also, thank you to the parents and family members for caring, supporting, encouraging and helping us get through all these years. Without your involvement, we cannot succeed. So please give another big round of applause for our parents and familles!

8 years ago, a little girl brought home some seeds from her grade one teacher. The teacher wanted her class to learn how plants grow from a seed to a flower. It seemed like a very easy task to do; just put the seed in soil, add water and watch it grow. The little girl was very serious about this project. Everyday, the first thing she did after school was water the soil to keep it moist. Day after day, a whole week passed, but nothing happened. The second week passed, and still, nothing. Just as the little girl was about to give up, she suddenly finds a tiny green thing which has sprouted. After seeing that discovery, she was so excited; dreaming about the day her flower will bloom. She busily checked and checked and checked on her little plant. But everyday, it was still a tiny, fragile plant which seemed to be taking forever to grow up. She asked her teacher why, and she told the little girl that plants need sunlight, water, nutrition, and a lot of patience to care.

During our ten years of elementary school, we have picked up small pieces of wisdom bit by bit; the wisdom of science, the wisdom of art, the wisdom of math, the wisdom of languages, and the wisdom of finishing homework in the morning just before they're due.

We started out as little kids on our very first day of Kindergarten class and from then on, our school became a big part of our lives. It has been 10 years since then and today the little girl understands the other meaning of her first project. Students are like the tiny plant; our families and teachers provide us with endless care and love so that we become energetic teenagers.


As part of the grade 8 English class, I can think of many memorable experiences at our school - good and bad, happy and sad. One not so pleasant was cleaning out the gym storage room. You do not want to know what we found there! Just be glad it’s clean and organized now. The grade 8 English class also lead the Legacy walk. This was a walk to raise money for the Markham Stouffville Hospital. These past years we had the opportunity to go on two amazing grad trips. Last year we travelled all the way to Ottawa. Visiting the Parliament Hill was an experience of a lifetime. This year we participated in various fun and exciting team-building activities at Brock University’s natural science camp.

Also, today we’re proud to have the first ever grade 8 French Immersion class graduating from Milliken Mills Public School. Parents, membres de la famille, enseignants et amis, aujourd'hui nous sommes fiers d'être la première classe en Français Immersion pour obtenir un dipolme de l'École Publique Milliken Mills. Nous ne pourrions pas l'avoir sans votre soutien.

Notre temps à cette école a été rempli de beaucoup des souvenirs mémorables. Des discussions de la classe, en utilisant Moodle sur l’Internet, en faisant des équipe pour les projets et en jouant des instruments à l’orchestre intermédiaire, nous avons ensemble fait notre année scolaire un grand succès! On ne peut pas oublier nos supers voyages de ski en février! On ne peut pas oublier notre voyage de graduation à l'Université de Brock, bien que les aliments ont semblé succulents, cela a goûté affreux! On ne peut pas oublier le déjeuner-de-Merci de nos enseignants, c'était la meilleure pizza jamais!

Together we celebrate this special day; the once tiny plant has now grown into a thick plant filled with buds waiting to bloom. This year we are at the top of the ladder, as the big kids. Although next year we’ll be back at the bottom, high school will be a new challenge and adventure for us. You know what they say, “When one door closes, another opens.” Dear parents, teachers and friends, we promise to be brave, striving to be our very best and work harder and harder. The flower will bloom and together we will succeed again! Ensemble nous allons réussir encore!

Thank you!

Merci beaucoup!