Into the Wild

Up here I am constantly struck by how much I have taken for granted in my life. Yesterday was Grade 12 graduation day in Fort Good Hope. What an exciting time for the whole town! 9 students graduated which was the biggest graduating class from the school to date.
In the community and family I grew up in, it was just assumed that my sister and I would go to school until grade 12 and then graduate and move onto to bigger and better things - university, career, etc. If you dropped out of school or didn't make it to grade 12 grad you were the exception. Here, for many different reasons, it is the opposite. It is the exception to graduate, and families don't naturally assume that their young people will pass all the way through to grade 12. And if they do, it is a VERY big deal.
Many in the town came out for the ceremony and feast. The school gym was decorated in a beautiful Hollywood theme. And the graduates all looked so wonderful! Even though I haven't been here that long and I don't know the grads that well, I was so proud to be a part of such a big milestone in their lives. Congrats to the grads of '10!!!