A little story to share about me not really being a Grad of 1985.
November 5 2019: As some of you might remember, I transferred to Caledonia in April 1984 from the Alliance private school. (Because, you know, it’s not proper to be a teen mom in a one room, all grades, Christian private school. Oops). That is when we found out that all the grade 11 and 12 work I had done in private school was not recognized by the BC Ministry of Education curriculum. Caledonia was nice enough to let me catch up a few courses before I had my daughter in June 1984. I went through the next full year at Cal, but was short credits so I was not allowed to graduate with “my” Grad 85 class. I had a few more courses to catch up. I got married over the summer, and went back for one semester. I remember I dropped an Algebra 12 class that I could not wrap my head around, but still took 2 courses. Although still short one credit, they let me cross the stage for Grad 86. I was 6 months pregnant coming down the stairs of the REM Lee, with my second daughter Melissa. Then, with 2 small kids and married life, it took me 2 years to complete a Business Communications course via correspondence. Caledonia sent me my “graduated” transcript in October 1988. I got a job at the post office in 1990. Grade 12 is a requirement which I proudly checked off. Fast forward. I moved to Prince George in 2001, transferred with post office. In 2008, I decided to go back to school taking psychology courses to earn an Associate of Arts Degree. In 2009, as part of my courses and interests, I took a biology 12 course by correspondence but dropped it to take at a later date. A few months later, I received a letter from the Ministry of Education with a transcript showing I had dropped the Biology course, but there was also a note “this student has not met the requirements of a Grade 12 education”. I was short 2 credits. WHAT???? Had I been working at the post office as a fraudulent grade 12 graduate all these years? After some frantic phone calls to Caledonia and to the Ministry of Education, plus to the career counselor at CNC, we finally figured out the issue. Caledonia had given me an “in house” transcript, but the Business Communications course had not been submitted to the Ministry of Education. I had dropped the Algebra 12 course and this apparently was not properly recorded either, so technically I was still short one credit. Thankfully, since I had been taking university transfer courses at CNC, they were able to use a credit towards graduation. So my official high school graduation date was in 2009, and my Associate of Arts graduation was 2018.
Another amusing note here, my daughter Melissa decided to move back to Terrace for her grad 12 year to graduate with her friends. It was quite surreal seeing her come down the steps at the REM Lee in 2004, and it dawned on me that my daughter had graduated “twice”. That has become a family funny for us, and she now has a Bachelor’s in History Degree as well.