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wpe OF THe BARD, HONOURS GUEQINS, AND FELLOW STU vtinTs

 

Reins selected as this year's Valedictorian came as a complete
surprise to me, as I had elways envisioned a Valedictorian as a
younm™, full-time, ambitious student, stopping briefly at Jouglas
Collere on his or her way to grander things, and probably a life
in Politics. I, on the other hand entered this Tollese five years
avo no a mature part-time student, and have seen many of those
youns and anbitious students come and fo. Perceiving myself as a
rather A-typical student,.I felt very apprehensive about bearing
the responsibility for delivering the farewell speech for this group
of grraduates. Wowever, the more thoucht I gave to this responsibi-
lity, the more I realized that the education which I and every
rraduate from this institution received ~eant the same thing:

OPPORTUNITY. For the vast majority of students, education means an

 

opportunity for employment, but for many others the opportunity is
the education itself. Those are the people, like myself, who want
and need educational services, but find Universities too expensive,
inaecerrsable, or intimidating, and thus are frustrated in their
academic or vocational pursuits. For myself, this College provided
me with the opportunity to pursue an education in preparation for a
career, while not compromising my conmitment to my home and family.
At the same time it has provided a place for those much older than
nyself to pursue an education in a non-threatening atmosphere, and

for those much younger a place close to home and less expensive

than the larger post-secondary institutions.

However, to many, particularly the very young, the concept of Oo

 

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