This is Saudia's beautiful Valedictorian that touched all of us. I'll never forget this speech as long as I'm living. Thanx for the touching speech and moments Saudia. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!
 
 
 

Good Afternoon honored guests, staff, parents and fellow students. I am
Saudia Jabar and I am proud and honored to be here as valedictorian, to
represent the class of 2000 of Ecole Sir Ernest Macmillan Senior P.S.
It is hard to believe that 2 years have come and gone since we first entered
Macmillan's grand cafeteria on the first day of grade seven. We were all
anxious and fearful. It was the start of a new life. We were entering a new
school, with new people, new classes and new teachers.
I'm sure all of us had strange and funny first impressions of Macmillan.
Perhaps, like me you felt scared and nervous but also excited about what was
in store for us. I remember thinking that I would get lost the first day if
I didn't stick with my friends from Brookmill. I also remember getting
really confused with all my classes and my schedule that I had to get
changed the 2nd day of school anyway.  It was hectic and busy but we all got
used to it, I hope.
I'm sure since the beginning of grade seven we've all made new friends from
different schools, formed new relationships, had arguments and
disagreements, even some misunderstandings, but all in all these were 2
exciting and unforgettable years of our adolescent lives. When we think back
about Macmillan we'll remember all of the funny, happy and sad things that
have happened between friends and teachers.
Grade seven was an interesting year. I still remember our grade seven trip
to Valcartier, Quebec. There were many funny memories like Aaron Ko falling
into the lake, Kara and Jordan being thrashed down the big hill while
tubing. There was also that certain person who couldn't find the light
switch at 6 o'clock in the morning and ended up knocking over everything.
Then there was our evening social that turned into a 50's sock hop. That was
a great trip. I'm sure we all remember the dances last year as well. There
was that special request for Mr. Cousins and Ms. Townshend to dance. Those
are some of the many memories from grade seven.
Then came grade eight. We were finally the older students in the school.
There were also many wonderful memories from grade eight as well. There was
the ski trip to Dagmar when Andrew Clegg fell off the ski lift. And then of
course there was the beautiful hill tumbling done by Sobana. I'm sure that
trip will be in our memories forever or at least for a while. Each of the
four dances will definitely be remembered as well. Another thing we'll
remember is our trip to Queen's where the guys serenaded the rest of us with
"You Drive Me Crazy" by Brittany Spears. There was also the cruise around
the Thousand Islands that I will surely remember for as long as I live.
Those were great and fun times.
I must admit that these 2 years have been very rewarding. I've learned many
things about others and myself. It has made me see the world in a different
perspective. If it weren't for these 2 years, I wouldn't be able to speak in
front of all of you at this moment.
We have been through many changes, and that is good. I am positive that most
of us are not the same people we were when we first walked into Macmillan.
We have grown up. Some of us have conquered many phases and stages in life
and have learned and matured in many ways.
Now we are going on to bigger and better things, where we must now reflect
on our future, our education and our career and how we will master and
achieve them all. You've got to have a dream. If you lose your dreams you
will eventually die, spiritually.
Yes, we are leaving our school behind. A school is just a building right,
WRONG. It is more than just a building; it is what's inside that counts.
What makes a school special is all of the people inside of it, like the
students and the teachers. It is a hall of memories, in which we've learned
many educational things like math, science and French. But we also learned
about life, commitment and friendship in Macmillan's halls and classrooms,
from some teachers and from our peers. Whatever we've learned here
educational or otherwise we will take them with us forever, and forever we
will cherish all this school has taught us.
I would like to recognize all of my friends at Macmillan. We've all helped
each other tremendously throughout these 2 years and maybe even longer. I
know that we are all going to different high schools and I know that it is
heartbreaking, but because of these 2 years we'll all hold on to the
memories we've created in Macmillan. We'll remember what our friends have
done for us.  I can tell you right now that being a friend is the best gift
you can give someone. Never underestimate the power of you actions. With one
small gesture you can change a person's life forever. Friends are angels who
lift us off our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through these 2
years. I would definitely like to thank every single one of our teachers who
have taught us during these past 2 years.
 I see our lives as a big book with millions of pages filled with memories
of life, but most of the pages still need to be filled. As creators of this
book and our lives, we are at the beginning. I flipped through some pages of
this book to the chapter named Macmillan. In this chapter I can read names
of friends and teachers but on the first page of this chapter I see the
names of each of our parents. This is my thanks to the parents of this
school who helped us through each stage of life throughout these years. On
the second page of this book I read the names of our teachers who gave us so
much time, energy, help, and encouragement, not just to teach us the
subject, but how to become better people, and more beautiful inside. On this
page I see a big, "thank you" to all of our teachers.
 One of the teachers is Mr. Boyd who taught us design and technology. He
taught us many other things also. He encouraged us to do the best we could
no matter what. I remember him saying, "If I were as smart as you guys, I'd
be a millionaire by now." That statement made us believe that we had
potential to be very, very successful in life.
There is Mrs. Tarascio, our creative art teacher who taught us the beauty
inside our artwork and ourselves. She taught us how to express ourselves in
a way we never knew possible. We all brought out the best of our selves in
our artwork because of her. Art became one of the best classes to be in. We
now understand what true beauty is all about.
 There is also Mr. Veilleux who taught some of us history and geography. But
he also taught us a lot of other things as well. He taught us not to sweat
the small stuff, because if you keep worrying about it, you eventually miss
out on the big important stuff.  He taught us to be proud of ourselves and
to believe in ourselves and we can do anything that our heart is set on.
Then we have Mr. Cole. When I see this name, I see a great person who
brought so many laughs in math class. Not only did we learn Algebra and
Geometry, we also learned how to have fun, even though we had those
occasional math drills. I will always remember Mr. Cole commenting on 8B,
about talking to Mme. Kourman in French and he would always say, "Still, je
ne comprends pas"
Alors maintenant je veut parler de Mme. Kourman. Elle est la professeur qui
est un peu comme une deuxieme mere. Elle m'a enseigne tout ce que je sais du
francais mais elle m'a enseigne beaucoup de la vie aussi. Elle disait
toujours a la 8B que si nous elle donnons cent pourcent de notre effort,
elle va nous donner cent pour cent dans notre bulletins. Je dois dire que la
majoritie des choses qu'elle m'a enseinge sont tres personelle et Mme, je
vais les garder dans ma Coeur pour toujours.  Je me rappelle dans la classe
de Francais avec Mme, elle disait toujours "8B, vous devez parler Francais,
pour avoir des bonnes notes," alors Mme. Kourman, maintenant je parle
Francais, et parce que vous m'avez enseigne, je peut le faire. Merci, Mme,
pour tous l'encouragment.
I don't want to read all of the pages of this chapter because it will take
too long, but the main idea of these pages is a big THANK YOU to all of the
teachers in Macmillan. On behalf of all the graduates of the class of 2000,
I want to thank each and every one of you for your patience, encouragement
and the great job you did teaching us. You are the ones that got us in these
seats today.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, ALL OF YOU.  I would also
like to say that we are going miss you all very, very much because of all
you've done for us.
To my fellow students, I would like to wish all of you the best in life and
that each page of your books of life be filled with good memories, successes
and good things you'll all do for everyone you meet in life. On one of the
pages of this book I see as the song goes… "As we go on, we remember. All
the times we had together. And as our lives change, come whatever. We will
still be friends forever."
Merci, au revoir et Bonne Chance a Tous le Monde.