Graduates from the College of New Caledonia - Quesnel Campus (CNC) crossed the stage and accepted their degrees, diplomas and certificates to the sounds of cheers and applause.
The ceremony opened with Nazko First Nation dancers and Indigenous drummers from SD28. CNC's acting regional principal Judy Crain served as the master of ceremonies and welcomed the graduates, audience and guests. Ellie Peters, an elder from the Lhtako Dene Nation, welcomed attendees to the territory and gave the opening prayer.
Of the graduates crossing the stage, mother-son duo Tamara and Braydan Chizmazia got their certificates from the nine-month health care aide program.
Tamara works at Dunrovin Park Lodge, a complex care facility in Quesnel. She heard about the program at CNC from Braydan and was in the class ahead of him.
Tamara said she and her son were competitive about their grades, with Braydan declaring himself the winner because he got a perfect score on an exam. She disagreed and said her higher GPA was the real winner.
"I enjoyed the whole thing. I think it's a fun program, if you want to do it and you have the niche for it, it's a rewarding thing," Braydan said.
Nearly 100 people graduated from the same program across CNC's campuses.
"I met a really great group of people in my class that will probably be friends forever. That was really nice, coming from all different walks of life," Tamara said. "If you care about older people, take the course."
"It's like paying it forward because someone's gonna have to look after you and you'll already have a leg up on everyone because you'll know what's coming," Braydan added.
Shyanne Hachey, a health care assistant certificate graduate was the event's graduate speaker.
"I am absolutely terrified to be standing up here right now. But I still chose to do this speech because I am a believer that doing hard or scary things can inspire amazing outcomes," she said in her speech and was met by applause from the audience.
The graduates join over 100,000 CNC alumni who have achieved degrees, diplomas and certificates in a wide variety of areas including healthcare, trades, arts and many more.