Good evening,

It is my utmost honour to be on this stage, presenting myself as one of the Valedictorian’s of Dawson’s graduating class of 2026. It is an achievement to be able to have your name called today as a graduate, one that reflects not only hard work, but also the support of people along the way who made it possible.

To my patient professors who always made time to answer my countless questions; to my close friends who have seen me evolve throughout this journey; to my loving partner, who has always been my biggest cheerleader; and to my family, for being so supportive and listening to my long rants about how difficult physics is, thank you endlessly.

Je voudrais également remercier Dieu de m’avoir guidé tout au long de ce parcours et de m’avoir donné la force nécessaire pour traverser les années de CÉGEP, alors que je vivais certaines des périodes les plus difficiles de ma vie. Comme beaucoup d’entre vous, mon parcours a été loin d’être linéaire, et au départ, c’était une réalité que j’avais du mal à accepter. Pourquoi ?

Well, that is because there is something we often don’t talk about in success. We celebrate it loudly, whether it be the students with the highest grades, the athletes who dominated their season, the artists whose creativity seemed to shine the brightest, or the scientists whose discoveries gained the most recognition. And we SHOULD celebrate them.

These achievements are often the result of discipline, sacrifice, and years of dedication – staying after class for office hours, attending every practice, and searching endlessly for ways to grow into the people they aspire to become.

But then, you begin to wonder the countless people whose efforts go unnoticed simply because they were not the ones standing in the spotlight.

Is the student who graduated with a 65% average somehow less intelligent or hardworking, when behind the scenes they were sacrificing sleep and working long hours just to pay the bills?

Un athlète blessé, qui traverse une saison difficile, qui vit avec la douleur physique et l’épuisement mental, est-il moins dévoué simplement parce qu’il ne peut plus performer comme avant ?

How about the artist or researcher who spent countless nights pouring their heart into their work? Are they any less talented or brilliant just because this year their efforts were not the ones the world chose to notice?

When we step back, we realize that all of these stories are not isolated examples, but they all point to the same truth: we rarely see the mental load that someone is carrying.

We tend to focus on results, the grades, the performance, the final product, but we rarely consider the pressure, the responsibilities, and the moments when people may look fine on the outside, but deep down, are simply trying to hold everything together.

As a close professor of mine told me when I was struggling to even pass my classes here at Dawson, everyone hits a wall, some just encounter it earlier in life than others. But there are two ways to face it: you can keep running into that wall, again and again, hoping it will one day break, or you can climb, step by step, up a ladder until you reach the other side.

And, all of you, my friends, chose to take that ladder, because you are all here in the same room today, graduating, and entering a new chapter of your lives, regardless of where you may have felt you stood along the way.

In this room, there is no single definition of success because everyone, and let me make it clear when I say each and every one of you, has something worth celebrating. And for many of you, that celebration goes far beyond earning a diploma.

It is the quiet victories that shape you the most: the moments where you wanted to give up, but you kept going anyways. The mornings you showed up for an 8am class despite the exhaustion and the weight of everything you had been carrying. The times you had to rebuild your confidence after failure, even when no one believed in your potential. Those moments may never appear on transcripts, trophies, resumes, nor be openly recognized by the people around us, but you know what they reveal? That you are capable of doing anything and everything that you put your mind to.

Because at the end of the day, it will never be awards or recognition for your results that define you – it will be your resilience and who you’ve become that takes you further than any title ever could.

Thank you. Merci.