Thursday night, the 2020 graduating class of Morden Collegiate Institute (MC) and family members gathered at Morden's drive-in to celebrate the 150 students who have now completed high school.

Valedictorian Mollie Wheeler will be taking online courses at the University of Lethbridge, and will hopefully attend January. Her goal is to become a physics teacher and inspire future students as her teachers encouraged her—submitted photo. Due to COVID-19 and public health requirements, traditional graduation could not occur, so MC's grad planning committee developed the idea to record videos of each graduate and feature it at the drive-in.

"I'm so impressed with the staff at Morden Collegiate, they've gone above and beyond," says valedictorian Mollie Wheeler. "I know many teachers have kids who are graduating, so they've taken this to a professional and personal level, and they did everything they could to make this special."

In her speech, Wheeler admits it was a challenging year to learn new skills as students transitioned to a home learning environment. But having to adapt and change to the unpredictable year will be beneficial in the long run.

"All the skills you're supposed to learn after you graduate, adapt and face changes, and figure out situations you weren't prepared for, well the 2020 grads had to face that months ahead of schedule. I think it shows we are ready for the future."

Not only did the students prove they can adjust to changes they have spirit, says Wheeler. She says they were never afraid to be themselves, dressing up for spirit weeks, being the majority at a school dance, or speaking their minds.

"We were never afraid to get out there and give 100 percent."

Wheeler says she is honoured to have been chosen by her classmates to represent them as valedictorian, and she had always dreamt of it by never expected it because there were so many involved people in the grade.

In the writing process of her speech, Wheeler pretended she would be giving it at the Access Event Centre like every other graduation, so it felt personable, and she wasn't talking about them but to her fellow students.

"Delivering my speech in the [MC] gym, looking out to see my family and a couple of teachers was pretty weird. I asked our Vice-Principal if her daughter, who is in our graduating class was around, and asked if she could come so I could have one person I could focus on, who shared the memories I was talking about."

The pandemic events have shown what a strong and connected group this graduating class is, says Wheeler. Although this is not what many students had planned, she says it is exciting to see how everyone moves forward knowing they can take on challenges.

Wheeler would like to thank the community for their support and making the grads feel special. All the signs, banners, supportive car honks, and congratulations have meant so much more this year because of the limitations of celebrations.