The Charles Hays Secondary Class of 2019 to be celebrated tonight at the Lester Centre

The Lester Centre helps to close one chapter in the lives
of Prince Ruperts graduates tonight

A  major milestone for many families arrives this evening as the Graduates of Charles Hays Secondary make their walk in the Lester Centre, the short trek from the staging area to the stage marking a transition in life and the promise of new adventures just ahead.

With rehearsals through the week, the grads will know their marks for their arrival on the stage and the start of proceedings as the night of celebration gets underway.

The 7 PM start  at the Lester Centre will take the Grads on a journey of remembrance of their time at the city's high school, with words of advice from guest speakers, greetings from officials and the salute to the Class of 2019 from their valedictorians.

126 students are among those to take the final walk up for their high school years, sitting in place in front of the audience at centre stage, awaiting the call of their name and the recognition that awaits.

As the names are called, the the iPhones and cameras will record the moment as the grads take their place at centre stage diplomas in hand.  For some the night will also deliver some added recognition, with bursaries and scholarships to be awarded for achievement and academic effort with the School District.

As it has been for almost forever, the city's business community, social organizations, unions and individual residents will come to the Lester Centre to share in the evening, offering up a volume of financial awards that will be put towards future study in the post secondary  years.

Many of those tonight will be taking on studies at far off colleges or universities, others perhaps staying a little closer to home at Coast Mountain College or the University of Northern BC, others perhaps destined to make their transition from education to the workforce.

But before those life changing moments come about, this weekend is about shared experiences with friends and family, starting with tonight's ceremony at the Lester Centre and then onto the Grad Night festivities of Saturday night and the celebration at the Highliner Inn to bid farewell to their high school days.

For those that can't be at the Lester Centre this evening, CityWest will provide coverage of the event starting at 7PM.

The ceremony will be available in High Definition on Channel 310, in Standard Definition on Channel 10 and streamed through the CityWest live stream feed on Facebook.

The North Coast Review offers up our congratulations to the Class of 2018, enjoy all that the weekend has to offer, stay safe and Best Wishes for what may just over your horizon!

For more items of interest related to education on the North Coast see our archive page here.