Mr. Borkowski's Year End Message to the Grade Seven Class and Their Parents

Thank you to the students for 8 years of learning and service at Cloverdale Catholic School.  I have seen you since you were just little ones and now here you are, grown up and ready to make the next big step.  Thank you for being so kind, caring, and loving towards one another.  Now that the year is over I can finally admit, when we made this huge class, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.  Sure, I knew you had adequate space, great teachers, and new furnishings, but I didn’t know what it would be like to have 38 students in one room.  It worked extremely well and though credit for that goes in part to the hard work and devotion of Mr. Pistrin, Mrs. Sene, and Mrs. Daly, a great deal of credit goes to you students.  You were always there for each other.  Through very trying circumstances this year including the tragic passing of our friend Mrs. Nicole Mahussier, this class actually grew closer and more loving.  Your friendship, your presence, your genuine love for one another lifted up the entire community.  Thank you.

I wish to express my gratitude to the parents of this class as well.  I know there was some hesitation at the idea of an extra-large class.  I am grateful for your patience and willingness to bear with this little experiment.  I am so glad the kids had this opportunity and it wouldn’t have worked without your support.  I wish to especially recognize some families who will be leaving us this year for the last time: Caspers, Cespedes Morales, Dodd, Ellery, Garcia, Gorospe, Hiemstra, Kim, Legazpi, Marrujo, Millo, Naunheimer, Orosz, Park, Ruiz, and Taruc.  Thank you to these families for their years at CCS.

Thank you to the teachers.  Mr. Pistrin for always being there for these kids.  My own children have grown to admire you so much that I have to remind them that I am still their father.  Thank you to Mrs. Daly and Mrs. Sene for being such good role model for the kids.  You have demonstrated what a strong, bold, loving, Catholic woman can be.  This team of teachers has really created a family-like environment in which the kids feel safe and loved.  Thank you teachers.

Finally please indulge me for just couple of more minutes while I give my last bit of advice to these grade Sevens.  Here is what I want you to remember as you head off to high school.

To make my point, let me begin with a confession that is a little embarrassing but, whatever, we all have a thing.  I collect Amiibos.  What’s an Amiibo?  Jackson knows, they are these little Nintendo character toys that you scan into your video games.  They are not that fun, really, but I am obsessed with them.  I have about 60 of them.  It’s a not an addiction, it’s a life choice.  Anyways I love these things.  They are cute and cool and rare and collectible and now I sound like a weirdo.  I scour Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for these things.  I trade in old video games to get one of these things.   I take good care of them on my shelf.  But do you know which one is my favourite?  Donkey Kong.  Do you know why?  Because I bought him second hand from a guy whose dog had chewed on it.  It still has the teeth marks in it. I feel like I saved him so he is extra precious to me.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, as much as I love my little toys (as my wife calls them), God loves you infinitely more.  Just like I go looking for these things at thrift stores and online, God is always seeking you, trying to bring you closer to himself.  Just as my favourite Amiibo is the one with the teeth marks, God longs especially for those of you who go astray and sin.  Nothing you can do can change how much he loves you; in fact he rejoices all the more at one who comes back to him from a life of sin.  Remember that no matter what, God loves you and longs for you to be with him.  In high school you may feel excluded, despised, unloved, and rejected.  Remember how precious you are to the one who made you and wants to be with you.  You are always loved.