Shevchenko grads living their ‘good old days’

It was a reminder from a high school graduate often said by those generations older: enjoy your youth.

“You are all living in the good old days,” Shevchenko School co-valedictorian Annika Thiessen told her graduating class of 19 students.

She and Nathan Storoschuk took turns telling stories of attending the Vita K-12 school, and the memories they made that will stay with them for the rest of their lives as they move on to a post-secondary education or into the workforce.

“It is time for us to become adults. Our whole lives have led us to this moment. Everything our parents have done has prepared us for this moment, the moment we step into the real world,” said Storoschuk.

“I will measure my time here not in the years, but the memories and friendships I’ve made along the way.”

Retired principal Peter Osadchuk, who served from 1998 to 2022, whose wife worked at the school and where his son attended for 13 years, came back to address the kids he saw grow up.

English leacher from 2002 to 2023 Melissa Nogier also came back. She is teaching in the Northwest Territories, where she said she is living a longtime dream but missing the “warmth” of minus 40 temperatures of southern Manitoba.

Nogier told stories of the education she got from the students, one that could only be learned at a rural school like Shevchenko. She recalled unpacking photos of animals at her new job last fall given to her by her Vita area students.

“I’d learn about their ducks, their dogs, or any other random animal or pet that was at home. And I learned the difference between a pet and an animal: one you eat, one you don’t,” she said to a round of laughter in the school gym.

Nogier ended with her own piece of wisdom.

“Do the things you dream of now, so when you’re old you can tell really funny stories and laugh at all the dumb things you did when you were young. That’s what life is about.

“Each and every one of you should go out and live your best life. Don’t forget to call and text your parents occasionally, they kind of like it when you do that.”