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Roberta Watt helps out Breanne Weatherby with her cap before the start of the graduation. (DAVE SIDAWAY/The Gazette)
Graduation a special event at Portage centre
Academic success and sobriety celebrated
Karen Seidman
The Gazette
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Roberta Watt helps out Breanne Weatherby with her cap before the start of the graduation. (DAVE SIDAWAY/The Gazette)
Graduating from high school is always a big deal, but for the nine teenagers who graduated this week from the Portage centre in Beaconsfield, they were celebrating not only their academic success but their success at staying clean and sober.
It was seen as a double accomplishment and the festivities at a Monday afternoon graduation ceremony reflected the joyous mood of the students and their families.
It was also the greatest number of students who had ever graduated at one time from Portage, and communications director Seychelle Harding said everyone involved with the non-profit organization was feeling quite proud.
“It was a real feat," said Harding. “Just getting through the program is hard enough.
They’re trying to get clean, which is tough, so for them to also be able to finish high school is really exceptional.”
The Portage centre in Beaconsfield is for anglophone youth ages 14 to 18. Teens come when they have a serious drug addiction that has interfered with their lives. They typically stay four to six months and they attend classes at the centre while they are residing there.
Harding said the centre has a great relationship with the Lester B. Pearson School Board, which provides teachers and the curriculum for the Portage students.
There are 23 students currently in the program.
“Dylan” is a 17-year-old student who was one of the nine graduates this week. He spoke on condition of anonymity so his name has been changed for this story.
He has been at the centre for nine months and is feeling really good about having completed his high school diploma while staying there.
“I feel a real sense of accomplishment,” said Dylan. “I did the entire 11th grade and it went well. I felt better educated than I had in the past.”
Now, he’s preparing to leave the centre and go to Dawson College, which does have him a bit worried because of the size of the college.
“I hope I’m ready,” he said.
However, the focus this week is on the accomplishments of the last school year, and Dylan - who entered the centre after an ultimatum from his parents - was pleased about that.
He recalled how he started by drinking at the age of 13 to fit in with other kids, and then got seriously hooked on drugs for the same reason.
He’s happy he stuck with Portage, although he found it intense at times.
“I definitely made the right choice,” he said. “Nothing in life that’s worth having is easy.”