Hunting Hills High School Principal Darwin Roscoe, along with other staff, dropped off personalized graduation kits Friday to the entire class, including Valedictorian Franklin Ma. (Supplied)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

CLASS OF 2020

Despite circumstances, Hunting Hills grads experience happy would-be diploma day

May 22, 2020 | 4:59 PM

Last September, grads at Hunting Hills High School in Red Deer likely envisioned their May 22, 2020 going a lot differently.

Friday was supposed to be the day the class of about 350 would receive their hard-earned diplomas before taking part in prom festivities.

Instead, teachers, EAs, cafeteria staff, administration and other faculty members showed up at their doors with greetings, well-wishes and personalized grad kits put together by Digital Arts teacher Dominique Gomes.

The kits included bumper stickers as well as the coveted cap and tassel.

Christine Chappell, vice-principal, says they saw smile after smile.

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“Every student we went to today was overwhelmingly thankful for the delivery that staff took the time to make,” she says.

“We appreciate the resilience they’ve shown in coping with all the changes that have occurred, and the flexibility they’ve had with online classes. It’s been an outstanding group of students.”

Valedictorian Franklin Ma, who received a visit from Principal Darwin Roscoe, says the class of 2020 must remember that they are connected no matter what has happened to their final year of high school.

Asked how he’d address his classmates, he said, “Though these are quite frustrating times, they will only make us more reflective and appreciative of our own life afterwards.

“When times are calm, people often start to forget the value of their own life and maybe lack a sense of direction,” Ma continued. “Once a calamity hits or when times are rough, people can reflect and reintegrate that desire to lead their lives in a fulfilling way.”

Ma, who’s family moved from Toronto to Medicine Hat, and then to Red Deer when he was in grade six, is grateful for the work teachers have put in to continue instruction online. A make-up grad ceremony and party is being planned this December.

A speaker of English, French, Japanese and his parents’ native Mandarin, the teen is headed to UBC and wants to be an interpreter.

“Franklin is an outstanding academic student. He’s a member of our Advanced Placement programming and has always had outstanding marks,” says Chappell. “He’s also an exceptional pianist, and as we were delivering his grad piece, he was playing.”

Ma says he’s also planning to write the ARCT History exam and Remote Piano exam offered by Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music.

“I don’t really have a quote I always fall back on, but I did come across one recently that says, ‘If you have a passion, you’ll find a way, and if you’re not passionate about something, you’ll find an excuse.'”