De La Salle Holy Cross College (DLSHCC) recently held a special mass followed by a valediction ceremony for their matric class. The annual event was as sentimental as everyone expected it to be.
As the school has deeply held Catholic values, the mass serves as a way to give each learner a special blessing and well wishes ahead of their final examinations. Staff, family and friends of the 2023 class attended the mass.
The school’s head of marketing, Polite Zhoya spoke of the various special practises that take place during the service. She explained each matric learner is given a pearl which they then place in a large vase that already holds a candle. This candle would then be lit every time an exam is written, “The pearls symbolise that through their DLSHCC journey have changed from the rough sand they joined, to become beautiful, complete and unique pearls.”
Following the mass, the class is then led in procession by a member of the De La Salle Pipe Band through a guard of honour formed by the Grade 10s and 11s into the hall for the valediction assembly. Zhoya explained that theirs is a small school that focuses on community, “So it is important the whole school celebrates with the matrics as their role in the community is changing as their time as pupils end and alumni begin,” she said.
Each year the school aims to make the celebrations of the day distinct to only that group of matrics but the individual as well. During the valediction, each matric gets the opportunity to come up on stage and receive a gift, which is a small token from the school for their time with them. Along with awards given and gifts received, there was also a slide show of videos and photographs that had them take an emotional journey down memory lane from their time at the school. These pictures, in some instances, took some all the back to Grade R at the school.
It is the school’s hope that the matrics leave the school with the knowledge that they are always welcomed back. “Each learner that passes through DLSHCC becomes a part of our wider family and even after school they have an important role to play in the school community,” said Zhoya.
