By Jeff Henson

CONVOCATION 2022

Convocation 2022 set for Saturday at Northwestern Polytechnic Grande Prairie campus

May 6, 2022 | 12:36 PM

Saturday is Convocation day at Northwestern Polytechnic University.

The certificate, diploma, and apprenticeship programs ceremony will take place at 10 a.m., while the degree ceremony goes at 3 p.m.

Over 340 students are set to graduate from certificate, diploma, or apprenticeship programs, including this year’s Valedictorian Stephanie Meen.

“It took them a few extra days to make the selection, so as the days went on, I sort of got a little bit discouraged, and my confidence in whether I got Valedictorian or not started to fade. So it definitely was a surprise by the time they had called me.”

Meen says the application process to become Valedictorian included having a minimum GPA of 3.3 in the fall semester, along with having a minimum 60 per cent course load on top of a few other requirements.

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She then had to submit a letter with all of her leadership skills, achievements, and why they should select her as Valedictorian, along with a copy of her speech, and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member.

Those that were short-listed were then interviewed by the Valedictorian selection committee, where Meen had to present her speech to them.

“My speech is essentially to inspire and encourage students and potential students. Those that are doubting themselves, those that are ready to quit, and are finding it hard to continue.”

“It is also about the challenges we faced in the last couple of years.”

Those pandemic-related challenges included maintaining grades while learning virtually, and then adjusting to returning to campus and learning in the classroom again with restrictions put in place.

“There will also be some general personalization in the speech, talking about relationships we built with our instructors, the friendships we made with fellow students, the memories we made, the laughs we shared.”

“There is even a line in there about the tears we shed, especially over the statistics exam because it was especially hard.”

Meen is graduating from the business diploma certificate program but will be returning to the post-secondary school in the fall through the SAIT partnership to complete her Bachelor of Business Administration degree with major in accounting.

The Convocation ceremonies will be live-streamed on NWP’s YouTube channel.