Gwen King graduated from North West College Meadow Lake campus and gave the student representative address. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

Graduation Day

Grandmother graduates from North West College campus in Meadow Lake

Jun 1, 2019 | 10:00 AM

Gwen King graduated from college on Friday but she won’t be the only one in her family graduating this year.

The 56-year-old grandmother said one of her daughters will be graduating with a Social Work degree and one of her grandchildren will be graduating from high school.

“There’s like three graduates in the family this year,” King said.

King and 175 other students graduated from North West College Meadow Lake campus. King finished her schooling with a certificate in Office Administration and was one of the student representatives who gave a speech at this year’s ceremony.

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Graduating students filled the Carpenter High School for the graduation ceremony held on May 31, 2019. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW)

King had been off work for five years before deciding to go back to school. She said the first two weeks were a struggle especially when it came to organizing her time.

“It’s been 38 years since I graduated [high school], it was a struggle,” King said. “I thought it was going to be just answering phones and it was something really easy. But, it was a lot of things I had to relearn again.”

She said she enjoyed the program and learning how to use excel, powerpoint and improving her communication skills.

King praised the teachers and staff in helping her get through her studies and wanted to congratulate all the students on their hard work.

“I’m happy,” King said. “I’m happy for everybody else as well and I would highly recommend any of the programs for students and grandma’s going back to school.”

North West College President and CEO Jay Notay presents a diploma to one of the graduates. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW)

Alongside King was Caitlin Daniels who also spoke for the student representative address and graduated from a high school equivalency program.

Born and raised in Meadow Lake, Miles Nachbaur gave the keynote speech and talked about the obstacles he faced in life and how he overcame them by getting back up.

Miles Nachbaur gave the keynote speech in front of more than 100 graduates. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW)

Jay Notay, the North West College President and CEO, reiterated this lesson. “We’re always going to be hit with obstacles,” Notay said. “Learn from those challenges and use those learning experiences to make you stronger.”

Not all graduates were at the ceremony but Notay it’s not a problem because the students are already seeing success. “I don’t think all of the students were here today but that’s okay because a large number of them are working already.”

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @Nikitaganov