St. Mary Valedictorian Oliver Hunter-Providenti said he was shocked to learn he was named Valedictorian for St. Mary's Class of 2025. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW)

By Logan Lehmann

Graduation

École St. Mary valedictorian sees future as scientist

Jun 24, 2025 | 5:04 PM

Over 200 students at École St. Mary High School said goodbye to the institute on Tuesday.

The Class of 2025 crossed the stage at the Art Hauser Centre in a ceremony that included lots of laughter, tears of joy, and memories of the last four years of their high school experience.

The ceremony also included words from valedictorian Oliver Hunter-Providenti. Speaking with paNOW ahead of graduation, Hunter-Providenti shared his message to his fellow graduates.

“You should try to challenge yourself all the time in life, and that doesn’t necessarily need to be education, but it could be like a hobby, could be your job, could be a sport, just anything like that. Work towards something that you can observe, because I think that you can really do anything you want if you put your mind to it. You just have to want to, and I think that it’s important that we keep improving ourselves.”

The graduating St. Mary High School Class of 2025. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)

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He added that the honour came out of the blue, stating that he was “definitely happy and still kind of processing it.”

Hunter-Providenti began learning at St. Mary when he was in Grade 10, having grown up in Saskatoon. He played the piano for the school’s jazz band and for the choir. He called his three-year experience at St. Mary “pretty smooth.”

“The staff are amazing, some of the best teachers – some of the best people I’ve ever met, they really care about what they do. They have kind of fun and quirky ways of just teaching their subjects, which I really appreciate. But also, just there’s a lot of people here. It’s a pretty diverse place, and I’ve made some really good friends.”

Following high school, Hunter-Providenti plans to go to the University of Saskatchewan (USask) to study chemistry, helped by a $30,000 Chancellor’s Scholarship that he was awarded by USask earlier this year.

“The first years of Arts and Sciences are the same for everyone, so we’ll see if I change my mind or not. I don’t really know what I want to be. Hopefully I’ll figure that out and who knows. I’m looking forward to broadening my horizons.”

(Summitted photo/paNOW)

Prince Albert’s graduation week continues on Wednesday with Wesmor Public High School, followed by Prince Albert Collegiate Institute (PACI) on Thursday. Carlton graduated their class on Monday, while Victor Thunderchild High School held their grad on Tuesday.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @loganlehmann.bsky.social