Alumni Relection
by:  Andrew Darley
Graduating Class, 2000

When I think back on the days of Hazel, all I have are fond memories… Well I’m sure that’s what you would all love to see, however it is almost true. Hi, I’m Andrew Darley; I go to Streetsville Secondary School, and am starting grade 11 in September, which means I was part of the “Graduating Class of 2000”. Lucky for me, I’ll be able to remember that date… I mean come on; it was the turn of the century.

          Graduation was definitely the most amazing part of my short two years at Hazel. In the days approaching  Grad, the one thing I was really looking forward to was the whole experience of being with my best friends for the actual Grad and for the days leading up to it . I also remember that I couldn’t wait till the dance part after the whole Grad ceremony. Let’s face it, I was a hormone driven 14 year old, some things to do with the grad were slightly more important than others….what can I say? Graduation was just one great memory of Hazel.

          One thing that stuck out more than anything about Hazel were my friends. Sure, some of them didn’t always get along with me, but all in all, we were like a big family. Mr. Riddell could definitely back me up on the fact that our “family ness” made it quite difficult for us to work in his class. One thing that I wish, and I’m sure many people would want to erase from their memories, were the times that we got janitor duty for doing something wrong. I can’t even remember what it was for; I just remember how horrible it was. Although, in the long run, those experiences probably helped to prevent me from doing further stupid things.

          Through the two years at Hazel I think that I developed as a person. That school taught me discipline, maturity and hard working skills. Who am I kidding? I didn’t learn any of that stuff at Hazel. To be honest, the two things that I really developed at Hazel were my writing and research skills. In addition, I also learnt to critique movies, which now makes every half decent movie look like garbage. (Thanks Mr. Riddell)

If I ever had the chance to re-do the whole Hazel experience again, the only thing I would have done differently would have been to work harder and given some more respect to some of my teachers.

          One person, before anyone else that I’d like to thank for their help through my time at Hazel is Mr. Riddell. He not only encouraged me to be my best, but he taught me how to put my curiousity and inquisitive nature to good use. He had many interesting and humourous speeches. The first day of grade 7 my class was welcomed by his speech about grade 7’s and how we even walked up the stairs like grade 7’s. Then there was the concluding speech at the end of grade 8, where he was advising us about hormonal lifestyle decisions (if you get my drift) when Devin McElroy walked in, definitely at the wrong time.

 Other people that I would like to thank are my boys, Devin McElroy, Matt Girgis, Khalid Saleh, and all my teachers , with special thanks to Mr. Koruna and Mr Riddell.

          In conclusion, I have been asked what advice I’d give to someone that would be attending Hazel for the first time.  To start off, I would explain to them what a great education they would be getting at Hazel, and I would tell them the endless stories of fun and games I had when I was there. Then I would tell them about the amazing teachers and that their two or three years at Hazel would be a time that they will never forget for the rest of their life. I know I never will.