P.E.I. grad photos: another blast from the past

You can almost hear the strains of Pomp and Circumstance throughout the Island this week as high schools ceremoniously hand over diplomas to gowned teens. Cue the tissue-toting parents, and the hugging teens taking selfies with friends they may never see again.

• P.E.I. prom pics: blast from the past
• What your yearbook photo says about social evolution

Last week, readers enjoyed this story on prom photos from P.E.I.'s past. 

Now for a little fun and nostalgia, some well-known Islanders shared their graduation photos. 

1. David Rashed 

• Class of 1981, Colonel Gray High 
• "When all is one, and one is all, to be a rock and not to roll." — Led Zeppelin

David Rashed began his music career in 1981 as the keyboardist for the hard-rocking, platinum-selling P.E.I.-based band band Haywire — but not before he graduated from Colonel Gray High School in Charlottetown.

When asked what his interests were back then, and his hopes and dreams for the future, he answered, "Music, music and music." 

2. Wayne Easter

• Class of 1968, Summerside High School 

Wayne Easter has been elected eight times as the Member of Parliament for Malpeque, P.E.I., since 1993. Before that he was the president and spokesman for the National Farmers Union for 11 years. 

Back when this photo was taken in 1968? "My future plans were to farm. Probably at the time, start the first hog operation on the moon." Not sure if he's joking. 

3. Jared Connaughton

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• Class of 2003, Bluefield High
• "See you at the Olympics."

Sprinter Jared Connaugton, a native of New Haven, P.E.I., said "see you at the Olympics" in his high school yearbook — and that's what he did, twice, as well as holding several Canadian championships.

"He was a good student, he was on the school track team and he played varsity basketball and soccer, and was part of the school's DJ radio group," his mother writes. 

He received a four-year scholarship to The University of Texas Arlington, graduating in 2008.

Connaughton retired in 2014 at age 29 and is now coaching.

4. Sharon Labchuk 

• Class of 1971, Miscouche Regional High School 

The environmental activist graduated from Miscouche Regional High School in 1971, completing grade 12 there after having gone to high school in France and the Netherlands at AFCENT, a NATO school for kids in military families. 

After graduation, Sharon's plan was to get off the Island and back to the awesomeness of Europe. 

"It was the 1960s, and European counterculture and all it had to offer was a bigger draw than rote book learning," she said. "A friend came to P.E.I. to get me and on the back of his motorcycle, I was away. With $100 to my name, my short-term goal was to get a military flight back to Europe and travel."

"As an anti-establishment back-to-the-lander, with no interest in joining mainstream society, the long-term plan was to buy land in the wilderness, then drop out and live a self-sufficient life close to nature." Mission accomplished: she lives in the woods in rural Millvale, P.E.I., and keeps a huge garden.  

There were no quotes from students in her yearbook, but editors wrote by her photo, "Interests for her are wide and varied, from photography and motor bikes, to hitchhiking back to Holland in the near future. Good thumbing, Sharon."

5. Cynthia King

• Class of 1980, Moncton High School
• "Be who you are"

Cynthia King was well-known to CBC Radio: Island Morning listeners as the comedic character Parkdale Doris for several years before being elected to the P.E.I. Legislature for Stratford for one term in 2007 (she was Cynthia Dunsford back then). She was also a founder of The Drill Queens comedy troupe. She was and is a force in the IT, sport and theatre communities, and now owns P.E.I. Cycling Tours.

Her yearbook quote, she points out, is "very similar to what I still use for social media — 'I do what I am' — so I haven't changed much."