[2024-05-30] High school mementos

Today, I dug out various mementos from my time in Carleton Place High School:
  • the booklets for my commencement ceremonies, reminding me that, in grade 13, I had been the top student in English, French and Creative Writing,
  • newspaper articles from 1984, providing details of the school's graduation ceremony,
  • graduation diplomas and an Ontario Scholar certificate, signifying that I had achieved an average of at least 80% in my final year,
  • my Valedictorian address, on which my classmates had written heartfelt messages, many thanking me for having helped them,
  • medals from grades 9, 10 and 11 for being among the top three students in my grade (they were replaced by plaques in grades 12 and 13).
But the most cherished memento I have of my time in high school is my Ontario Scholar pin. The five gold bars hanging beneath my school's logo signify that I achieved an average of at least 80% in each of my five years in high school. The Year 5 bar contains a diamond chip.

As I wrote two years ago (The story of our possessions), I believe there is merit in passing along to future generations not only the objects we hold dear but the stories that go with them. As Globe and Mail reporter Erin Anderssen wrote in her article The great junk transfer is coming, "possessions have meaning; they tell stories and reinforce our memories."

I want my kids to know the story of my Ontario Scholar pin. I'm proud of the effort it took to maintain an 80%+ average five years in a row. I've long wanted to write down the story of that pin. I hope that someday, in the distant future, someone going through my effects will connect this article with that article, this information with that item, this story with that special piece. And I hope they'll keep it for decades, just as I have done.

When I told my mom about my Ontario scholar pin as well as a few other prized possessions that I had dug out recently, she reciprocated with stories about a few cherished objects that she has kept since her childhood: a statue of St. Joseph she had won for being one of the top students in her parish on a Catholic catechism exam and a cloth token of St. Joseph that had belonged to her father, who passed away in 1956.

As I continue to collect my mom's memories and my own, I will tell the stories behind our possessions.