20 out of the 26 grade twelve students at Ecole St. Joachim in La Broquerie have been together since kindergarten and now they all get to graduate together.

Justin Normandeau and Cynthia Cote are the valedictorians of the group and they say it is an honour to have been chosen by their peers to represent them at the graduation ceremony.

"I think it’s really important that my classmates see me that way, it means that they think I’m responsible and I stand out in the group and I guess I’ll be a good role model," says Normandeau. "I just think it’s really nice to know that I’m a well-liked person I guess because we’re all friends, it’s a very close class so just to represent the class is really awesome," notes Cote.

Principal Luc Bremault says this is a group that has mixed interests whether it be sports, the arts or vocational studies. He adds this is also a very vocal group with a lot of natural leaders who are always eager to get involved. On top of that, he adds they are very studious as well. 

"Quite a few of them are attending university this year from what I see so either a university or college education. A few will be pursuing work opportunities but otherwise yes, many of them will be studying either at U of M but most of them at Universite de St. Boniface in St. Boniface." 

Bremault adds they are thrilled to see so many students pursuing their post-secondary education in french. He says this is very much a group that holds to their francophone roots very tightly. 

With a group that has been together for long, comes many great memories and trips. Normandeau takes a moment to reflect on some highlights that stuck out to him over the years.

"We went on our first trip without parents in grade six, we went to Red Rock Bible Camp and that was definitely one of the biggest ones because it was the first time we ever had the freedom of just being ourselves. I mean obviously there were teachers there but that was a fun one. Then we went to Ottawa in grade seven and Saskatchewan in grade eight so those are examples of good trips."

Cote adds they also have some good memories inside the walls of the school. "We’re a class that likes to talk a lot, we’re a very vocal class, any teacher would say that so that’s like a memory I guess. Just lots of laughs lots of talking and we’ve always had fun in our classes and even the boring classes we always made it fun so that was nice."

The convocation will be held Thursday at the St. Joachim Catholic Parish in La Broquerie at 4pm.