Our young people thank you!

ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED YOUNG PEOPLE... SAY THANK YOU!

More than 1,100 times... thank you! The students whose photos accompany this text have been speaking on behalf of all these wonderful people for the past 15 years to express their gratitude.

They come from one of the following 13 municipalities: Cookshire-Eaton, East Angus, Dudswell, Weedon, Chartierville, Lingwick, Hampden, Scotstown, La Patrie, Newport, Westbury, St-Isidore-de-CliÍon, and Bury.

You, the elected officials of the communities and the Caisse Desjardins du Haut-Saint-François and Verts Sommets, responded positively to the support we requested in 2009 to motivate our young people to stay in school and obtain an official diploma from the Ministry of Education at the end of their studies. This recognition is all the more important given that each year, in collaboration with Cité-école officials, you organize an evening event in each of your communities during which each graduate receives a scholarship of several hundred dollars. Believe us, this scholarship honors them all the more because it comes from their first community of belonging.

Your financial contribution over the past fifteen years totals $391,000. In Quebec, you are the only institutions to regularly celebrate academic perseverance and graduation. You will always remain essential partners who, in your own way, contribute to the development of the region's French- and English-language public high schools, Cité-école Louis-Saint-Laurent in East Angus and Alexander Galt Regional High School. Because of this long, inspiring, and ever-relevant journey, all of us—the young people and staff of our Cité-école—would like to thank you, Desjardins and representatives of the municipalities, for your generosity and your confidence in the future of our young people... at the heart of our local communities!

Renée-Claude Leroux, community organizer, and Charles Labrie