Fort McMurray student celebrates graduation at Bishop's Falls school
Teen included in milestone moment with Newfoundland class
When Emma Elliott packed her grad dress into her suitcase last month, she wasn't sure why she was taking it with her.
The 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Fort McMurray's Father Mercredi High School was being evacuated from the city because of the forest fires that were threatening the community.
She was headed to Bishop's Falls, the town where she was born and had lived until about four years ago.
When staff and volunteers at Leo Burke Academy — the high school there — found out Emma was home, they sprang into action. She was able to wear her dress to the school's graduation at the end of May.
She said the Bishop's Falls school treated her as if she was one of their own students.
"They went above and beyond, even from putting my baby picture on the wall like everybody else's to putting pictures of me in the slideshow to making sure I was included in every way possible," she said.
Emotional night
Having started school in kindergarten with most of graduating class, attending the celebrations was something she had dreamed of doing before her family was forced from Fort McMurray by the forest fires that started at the beginning of May.
"It was a funny feeling, but it was pretty emotional at the same time because it was something I wanted to do originally. If the opportunity was given to me regardless of the fire I would have jumped on it anyway," Emma said.
While the entire event was touching, she said when the time came for grads to dance with their parents, emotions got the best of her.
Her father, Bill Elliott, had stayed in Alberta when the family came to Newfoundland and Labrador. Emma's uncle stood in for him for the special dance.
"It was very, very emotional, but probably my favourite part of the whole night," said Emma.
With plans for her Alberta alma mater still up in the air, Emma is staying in Central Newfoundland. She'll be attending the Grand Falls-Windsor campus of the College of the North Atlantic this fall.
She and her fellow students in Fort McMurray have something to be thankful for, even though plans for their own graduation are up in the air. They are exempt from final exams.