What’s your best Gradvice?

Editor Pieta Woolley asked three locals what advice they’d like to go back and give themselves, for the five years after high school graduation: Joyce Carlson, Kristian Ki-Un Yen Hansen, and Luke Ramsey.

Advice from Joyce Carlson

Retired Newspaper Publisher

Brooks Secondary Class of 66

A Phd from the University of Life

TOUGH COOKIE: Joyce Carlson, 15, in 1963. She and Don had been dating for less than a year at this time; they’ll celebrate 59 years married in July.

No matter what circumstance you find yourself in, it is up to you to decide how the rest of your life will be.

I didn’t actually graduate with the rest of my classmates. I got pregnant on my 16th birthday and left school after Grade 10. However, I have always been included in class reunions over the years.

I went to night school to obtain my Grade 12 and one year went to summer school for algebra.

I started in the newspaper business writing up my brother’s hockey games, then became the “women’s” editor, sports reporter, senior reporter and then publisher of three different community papers, retiring after 45 years. I was on the boards for BC and Canada, serving as the second woman president for both organizations.

Joyce tells her life story in a YouTube video. See her at youtu.be/oz37hL97zqc and youtu.be/jVnbBJyk6Es

Since high school, I have volunteered for many different organizations and was the first female minor hockey association president in BC. In 2009 I was recognized as one of the top 50 BC volunteers at a ceremony in Government House. Most of my volunteering these days is as a member of the Rotary club.

I decided what the rest of my life would be as a teenage mother of two and, with the support of my husband and father of those children, I have lived it on my terms.

Advice from Kristian Ki-Un Yen Hansen

Production & Analysis Specialist at Meridian 125 W Cultivation Ltd.

2012 from Burnaby North Secondary School

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences with a focus in Applied Biology from the Faculty of Environment at Simon Fraser University, plus other certifications.

The advice I would give, is to always look for opportunities and open doors provided to you. If you aren’t looking for them, you will miss them!

The job market I entered when graduating from university was one that sought years of work experience, and rewarded you with little pay. Had I taken more opportunities during my studies for internships, volunteer positions, or part time jobs that I could have managed with my course load, I would have had the experience employers were seeking.

It is also a great way to gauge whether or not one truly enjoys the work before paying heavily, both in money and time, for a degree in a field you don’t enjoy.

Aside from that, make sure to enjoy it! Post secondary education can sound stressful and tedious, and it will certainly have its moments, but studying becomes easier the more you enjoy the material being taught.

Advice from Luke Ramsey

For 12+ years, students learn what schools and parents project the world to be. When graduating, there is this opportunity to experience the world not by how it is said to be, but by how it is through lived experiences.

Visual Artist 1997 Claremont Secondary

No degrees or certificates, self taught artist.

I honestly wouldn’t give my younger self much advice, other than to buy noise reducing ear plugs for punk concerts.

I figured out some things as an adult, but what I learned in my youth helped shape my creative path. I’d prefer my younger self to give my adult self advice, not the other way around.

As soon as I graduated high-school, I hitch-hiked with a friend across Canada to St John’s. After that adventure I worked uninspiring jobs to save money to travel again.

I bought time and always felt that time and purpose are valuable assets, next to good health and beings to love. Drove a beater car from Victoria through Mexico to Belize with another friend. Travelled to over 20 countries, many with my wife of 23 years.

My younger self did stupid things and took risks, but there is a freedom and naivety in youth that doesn’t translate as well in older years. If I gave my younger self advice, I’d be disrupting a path I have few regrets about.

Growing older comes with wisdom, and guidance from elders is not to be taken for granted. Being young, open and ignorant can be a wonderful thing, and there can be hard lessons to learn.

TAKE YOUR TIME: Luke Ramsey, then 22, with a friend in Baja, Mexico.