Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

PSS top students recognized

Flooding prevents many Lil'wat Nation students from attending

By Cindy Filipenko

More than 100 students at Pemberton Secondary School were recognized for academic, craft, athletic and civic achievement at the school’s annual awards assembly on June 4. Close to 200 family members and friends were on hand to celebrate the students’ accomplishments.

Vice-principal Kathryn Strilchuk, who acted as the evening’s MC, and Principal Lawrence Tarasoff, both spoke with great affection of their pride in the school’s finest students. Strilchuk, who will be leaving Pemberton this year to take a job in Alberta to be closer to her family, elicited much laughter with her open and warm ad libs.

On a more serious note she expressed dismay that a number of talented First Nations students were not able to attend the ceremony due to flooding that had cut off Mount Currie from Pemberton.

Service and citizenship was recognized throughout the evening with a number of awards. The first awards in this category, the Service Awards, were given to students who had provided outstanding service to their school.

Service award certificates went to: Amanda Alfier, Nic Ballhausen, Tessa Beattie, Beth Bikadi, Gregg Bradner, Kayla Cherry, Sara Clark, Ali Faryna, Liam Fisher, Riva Fisher, Holly Gopp, Ben Groulx, George Henry, Blair Hustins, Trevor Hustins, Sage Jubelius, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Emma McClean,   Kylie Robson, Taylor Ross, Vincent Selina, Mandi Sinclair,   Corey Teichman and Mel Williams.

The criteria for the Citizen Award are friendliness and helpfulness to staff and students and consideration of others while acting as an ambassador of the school. Citizenship Awards were presented to: Amanda Alfier, Tessa Beattie, Gregg Bradner, Kayla Cherry, Sara Clark, Renka Daito, Casey Dick-Wyatt, Mikhail Elsa, Miki Eslake, Ali Faryna, Holly Gopp, Ben Groulx, Blair Hustins, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Emma McClean, Kylie Robson, Taylor Robson, Mandi Sinclair, Tiarra Syluk, Stacey Thevarge and Kathryn Williams.

The Margaret Marchand award, presented to a Grade 12 student who works behind the scenes making school a better place for staff and students, was awarded to Maggie Kirkpatrick. While the Citizenship Award, which recognizes a five-year secondary school career marked by outstanding citizenship, was awarded to Kayla Cherry. The PTA award, which recognizes a Grade 12 student who excels in athletic, academics and citizenship, was presented to Gregg Bradner.

Bradner, who is planning a career in pediatrics, also received the Innovation & Science Council of B.C.’s Science Achievement Award, a plaque for the top Grade 12 student in Math and Science, recognition for maintaining a greater than 90 per cent average and a plaque for making the honour roll four out of five years.

Fine Arts awards went to Ben Groulx (Junior) and Sarah Robbins (Senior).   Nicholas Walsh (Junior) and Sear Suter (Senior) were recognized for Applied Skills. The Highest Achievement in Carpentry was awarded to Richard Dan.

Humanities awards were given to Kai Riess (Grade 8), Trevor Van Loon (Grade 9), Bridget Barker (Grade 10), Linley Musset (Grade 11) and Tana Strobl (Garde 11.

The top honours in French were presented Kai Riess (Grade 8), Trevor Van Loon (Grade 9), Miki Eslake (Grade 10) and Kulie Robson (Grade 11).

Math and Science awards went to Kai Riess (Grade 8), Trevor Van Loon (Grade 9), Miki Eslake (Grade 10), Jordan Tarasoff (Grade 11) and Gregg Bradner (Grade 12).

Academic Excellence plaques, recognizing an over all average of greater than 90 per cent went to Kai Riess, Tiarra Sulyk and Kathyrn William (Grade 8); Trevor Van Loon and Nicholas Walsh (Grade 9); Bridget Barker, Katie Clark, Miki Eslake, Taylor Robson, Lisi Schranz and Oliver Snow (Grade 10); and Kelsey Beattie, Gregg Bradner, Maggie Kirkpatrick and Tana Strobl (Grade 12).

Scholastic Achievement certificates, recognizing averages between 80 and 90 per cent, were were awarded to: Guy Bedford, Nikita Cote, Tarun Ghose, Sage Jubelius, Mitchell LeBrun, Jorden Meilleur, Kazutaka Naito.Kae-Lor Sittlinger and Milan Van de Mark (Grade 8); Sara Clark, Claire Crapper, Shurman Esseltine, Ben Groulx, Jacqlyn Kernohan, Alex LeBrun, Sam McKoy, Chelsea Norman, Cynthia Perrett, Nathaniel Protter, Maria Samuels, Trinady Sulyk, Ruby Walser and Kylie Wilkins (Grade 9);   Tanis Aiton, Isabella Bradner, Tessa Beattie, Elise Belle-Rose,Debbie Bowden, Mark Crapper, Renka Daito, Mikhail Elsay, Willow Esseltine, Riva Fisher, Ryan Gobert, Denise Jamieson, Krigi (Kristyna) Marti, Harry Read, Leland Schafer, Noel Strobl, Matthew Van Loon and Morgan Williams (Grade 10); Amanda Alfier, Isabelle Beattie, Megan Black, Ali Faryna, Eric LeBrun, Kathleen Lee, Hilary McCormack, Nicole McGeough, Linley Musset, Kylie Robson, Amy Ross and Jordan Tarasoff (Grade 11); and Casey Dick-Wyatt, Liam Fisher, George Henry, Bridget McEwan, Will Miller, Jenna-Lee Perkins, Melissa Pipe, Tara Rennicks, Taylor Ross, Deborah Schranz, Javia Selina, Amanda Wilson and Lindsey Wray.

Grade 12 Scholarship plaques recognizing four out of five years on the honour roll were presented to Gregg Bradner, Liam Fisher, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Bridget McEwan, Melissa Pipe, Deborah Schranz and Tana Strobl.

Athletic awards portion of the evening kicked off with the presentation of Block Letters. Small Blocks went to Elise Belle-Rose, Katie Clark, Mark Crapper, Ali Faryna, Hilary McCormack, Geoff McLeod, Eric Robbins, Graham Ronayne and Vincent Selina. Large Blocks wet to Trevor Hustins and Valerie Lester. Plaques for MVPs went to Krigi Marti (Girls Soccer) and Chris Fraser and Vincent Selina (Boys Soccer.) Selina was also recognized as Male Athlete of the years, while Amanda Alfier took Female Athlete of the Year. The prestigious Athlete of the Year awards had not been presented since 2001.

The evening concluded with the presentation of the Neil Falkner Award, a scholarship that allows a promising student to take part in Outward Bound. A misty-eyed Strilchuk presented this award to Mary-Ellen Peters.