Community spirit was “shining brightly” at École St. Patrick High School as graduates, including two Loran scholars, were honoured in a special graduation ceremony this weekend.
“Celebrate your achievements. We’re going to see a whole bunch of them,” St. Pat’s principal Todd Stewart told the grads.
Audrey Debogorski and Stella Fairman were recently named 2025 Loran Scholars, chosen from thousands of applicants across the country. At the graduation ceremony on Saturday at MLA Shauna Morgan presented them with the special award.
The graduation ceremony was filled with joyful moments of recognition, including awards honouring the hard work of the graduating class of 2025. Students, including Debogorski and Fairman, cheered loudly as they witnessed their peers receive awards along with their hard-earned diplomas.
Parents and guardians, siblings, sisters, aunties, uncles, cousins and besties filled the school’s gymnasium on Saturday afternoon in the city of Yellowknife to celebrate.
The Yellowknives Dene Drummers began the graduation ceremony with prayer songs that concluded with “The Journey Song.”
Multiple awards honoured the hard work, resilience, compassion and leadership of the community’s youth, including the Indigenous Student Achievement. Indigenous graduates were presented with a carved eagle feather in recognition of their achievements.
Keisha Harris was honoured with the Indigenous Leadership award, Liam Manning received the Learning Centre Heart and Hustle award (an award honouring perseverance, resilience and determination), Oscar Gordon was honoured with the Kevin Solowy award (presented to a student who is dedicated to helping other students with their studies), Jenna Mills and Oscar Gordon both picked up the Rio Tinto Diavik Diamond Mine Scholarship (given to students who have excelled in fields of study including engineering, social sciences and finance), Levon Balyan received the Achievement award, Lily Brennan received the Lanky Muyers Award (presented to a student who has reached the the highest level of excellence in both academic and athletic achiements), Selena Hernandez received the Principal’s Award (presented to a student who has demonstrated courage, perseverance and strength of character to achieve their goals), Johannah Falcunitin was honoured with the Unsung Hero award, Malaika Mirza received the Yellowknife RCMP scholarship award (presented to a student who has excelled both academically and in community leadership roles) and Rylan Nasken picked up the Timothy Henderson Music Achievement Award.
Debogorski and Fairman both received additional awards, along with the Loran award.
Debogorski was recognized with the Leadership award. Debogorski and fellow student Malaika Mirza were honoured with the Service Above Self award.
Fairman also received the Justin Meyer Award (an award honouring a student who makes each of their peers feel “seen, heard and valued)) and the Citizenship award, which was presented by Mayor Ben Hendriksen.
Thanking everyone, including teachers, faculty, parents, guardians, in delivering the valedictorian speech, Debogorski gave a big shout out to the kindness and compassion of fellow students, who “remain a family.”
“Thank you to the community – family and friends, for being the supports along this journey,” said Debogorski, who explained that while many things have changed at the school over the years, that “sense of community” at the school has always stayed the same.
Debogorski called on her peers to recognize their achievements. “Know that your actions and your time and school have impacted countless people,” she said.
The young graduate urged the crowd to appreciate each moment and to appreciate time, pointing out that there are “only 1,440 minutes each day. Be intentional with time and don’t take it for granted,” she urged. Debogorski also encouraged the crowd to “Push beyond their comfort zone.” “We, the youth of today, are the future and it is our responsibility to strive for greatness,” she said.
Lisa Paul, Loran Scholar’s Community Engagement and Communications, Manager told True North FM that the Loran award, given to Fairman and Debogorski, honours “exceptional strength” of character, a “deep commitment to service” and the “potential to lead with integrity.”
“The Loran Award is much more than a monetary scholarship. Scholars benefit from a four-year, comprehensive leadership-enrichment program, financial support, and a network of values-driven peers and mentors—launching them on an inspiring, lifelong journey to create meaningful change,” said Paul.
Paul explained that the two students, now graduates, were selected as 2025 Loran Scholars, out of more than 6,000 applicants across Canada.
“The Loran Scholars Foundation believes the key to building a brighter future is empowering values-driven youth ready to embrace the challenge of leaving the world better than they found it. To find these young people, we look beyond marks to identify students with a guiding sense of purpose: those who demonstrate exceptional strength of character, a deep commitment to service, and the potential to lead with integrity,” explained Paul.
Graduates Fairman and Debogorski told True North FM that graduating and receiving these awards has helped them to believe in “possibilities” and “change” towards goals of social justice.
“It’s been ‘eye-opening’ to the possibilities of what we can do in our future,” said Fairman.
“Everything I’m looking forward to and everything Ii want to achieve seems so much more possible. And the people I want to help seem that much closer to me,” she added.
Fairman is the president of the school’s Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD), a club she worked to reinstate. Fairman plans to attend a SADD conference in New Zealand and to explore Indigenous initiatives to help bring new insights to the North. Fairman is recognized as a dedicated Inuit community leader. She organizes cancer fundraisers and volunteers locally for a number of causes.
Debogorski said that the experience has been “super surreal” and has helped her to see the current and future impacts at work.
Debogorski has a passion for dance, which she has actively pursued for over 10 years. She is the president of the school’s social justice club, which focuses on supporting the local community. Debogorski is also the co-chair of the school’s Relay For Life event, which raises funds for cancer research.
“My biggest thing is graduating with this amazing group of people and realizing how much we can actually help and change the world,” she said.
“Like Stella said, the actual impact that we’re able to make now and the opportunities that we are given to actually help people is something I hold dear to my heart,” explained Debogorski.
It’s also been an emotional journey, Faiman pointed out. “We’re such a tight-knit community,” she said, which was something evident the night before at the prom when everyone was dancing together.
“Something that’s really important and we want to take with us throughout our life, we want to ‘create community’ and do that across all platforms in every step of our way,” said Fairman.
