Ecole St. Mary High School celebrated the Class of 2026 as they walked across the stage at the Art Hauser Centre on Wednesday.
Valedictorian Jadon Sosnowski said it was exciting to receive the honour.
“I know especially at St. Mary marks are a very tight thing,” Sosnowski said. “I have a certain friend group and we’re always like comparing marks. It’s a competitive thing, so to know that you were the best out of all them, it was a very exciting process.”
Sosnowski said that it is always a close competition.
“It’s always down to the decimal point, not even overall,” he said. “Everything’s always so, close.”
Sosnowski said that his experience at Ecole St. Mary was great.
“Coming into Grade 9, I knew that I was going to have a fun time here,” he explained. “A whole bunch of my friends all came to St. Mary. We were in a lot of the same classes so it was a really fun experience.”
Sosnowski came from Ecole Holy Cross and said playing sports of all types was also a great part of his experience.
“A lot of my friends, we were all extremely active people, so together, we all did the same things. We just made the process of transition from elementary to high school so much better. Then as the years went on, I did more things, met more people. I eventually joined curling,” Sosnowski said.
Sosnowski and Sara Pawlyshyn captured the school’s first-ever Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association championship in curling.
“Winning provincials in curling, that was something,” he said. “If you told me in Grade 9, ‘you’re going to win provincials, I would have said, ‘there’s no way,’ because at that point, I’d never even touched a curling rock.”
He said that he was encouraged to join curling by his father with some of his friends.
“It was me and my one friend. We kind of started going and then we told more of our friends about it and slowly we kind of built up our own group,” Sosnowski said.
Sosnowski said that he had a lot of great memories of Ecole St. Mary. One was being on the Junior A volleyball team in Grade 10 when the SHSAA Volleyball Provincials were in Prince Albert in 2023.
“Me and a few other of my grade 10 friends, we went with the senior team to that tournament and they won provincials. That was a really cool experience because it’s in our hometown.”
That year the girls team also claimed provincials at home with the boys winning at Carlton and the girls at the Ecole St. Mary gym.
“I remember riding back here and one thing that I actually do remember vividly is when Mr. Quintal and Mr. Hunko saw each other, they gave each other just like a big hug. It was just like a very heartwarming moment,” Sosnowski said.
Jadon Sosnowski gave the Valedictorian address during the Ecole St. Mary High School Class of 2026 Graduation ceremony on Wednesday at the Art Hauser Centre
Wednesday’s graduation also included an awards ceremony. Ava Clifford won the second academic award and Mishael Adepoju won the third academic.
Sosnowski received the Governor General Scholarship, the Governor General’s Medal and the First Academic Award. Sosnowski, Noah Welter and Danika Linfitt have each received the Chancellor’s Scholarship from the University of Saskatchewan. Sosnowski is planning to study education.
“I plan to attend the University of Saskatchewan, hoping to obtain a Bachelor of Education degree. Majoring in chemistry, minoring in math. I am hoping to eventually, potentially come back to St. Mary and teach or something along those lines,” Sosnowski said.
He wants to enter education because of the important role educators play in society.
“You’re inspiring youth to become certain things in the future, right,” Sosnowski said. “You spend so much time with kids and you have such an impact on their lives and that can affect our society.”
He said that teachers at the school also helped inspire him to become a teacher.
“I’ve seen how they’ve interacted with me and other students and it’s like, man, they help them learn, they help them work through certain things, and because of that, they’re now interested in this topic, and now they’re pursuing this down the line,” Sosnowski said.
At the time of the interview Sosnowski had not yet begun to work on his speech. Sosnowski said that he had done some conceptualizing in his head.
“It’s going to be a little nervous because in the Art Hauser Center where we do our grad, going up there. I’m going to see all my graduates below me all the people in the stands,” he said. “It’s going to be nerve-wracking, but I’ll be fine.”
“It’s like the first minute of my speech, I’m going to be nervous, but once you get past the first little bit, you’ll start to settle in,” Sosnowski said.
Sosnowski thanked everyone who helped him on his journey.
“I just want to thank all the people that I’ve met in high school and even in elementary school, especially my teachers who have helped me to become the person I am today,” he said. “I’d like to thank just my family too. They’ve always been an inspiration for me, helping me through Tough times, whether that’s schoolwork or personal life.
“Lastly, I want to thank God because my faith. It’s a pretty big part of my life and without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve these things that I have.”
After the diplomas were handed out and before the official part of the ceremony, Monsignor Maurice Fiolleau and others performed the Liturgy of the Word which had the Spiritual Theme “Celebrating Christ’s Presence: Faithful Hearts, Bright Futures”.
Bishop-Elect Rev. Father Kenneth Thorson, O.M.I. was also in Prince Albert to take part in the Mass and perform the Holy Communion.
Before the Mass Elder Liz Settee also said a prayer.
Mayor Bill Powalinsky brought greetings from the City. Board of Education chair Suzanne Stubbs brought greetings on behalf of the board of education.
The emcees for the graduation were Denis Orsar and Iro Liviakis. Clifford gave the Salutary Address.
The day concluded with an address from principal Dwayne Gareau. Both Gareau and Fiolleau used the Upstage Productions presentation of Legally Blonde as a part of their speeches to graduates.
