It is the end.
How can such a diverse and life-changing month possibly be summed up? One day won’t do it, but today, the last day before we leave, comes close.
Frantic preparations consume the morning. Then there is Open Day, where we showcase our House’s work. Soon we are released for the banquet. The girls are going insane with preparations... I throw on my make-up and discard clothes on my bed and almost forget my cue cards for the Variety Show as we rush to the banquet.
First are some short speeches, then food, then the presentation of the Hank Williams Memorial award, for an enthusiastic, welcoming, inclusive, and musically gifted Shad: Colin.
The Variety Show begins at 9:30 PM with a Bollywood dance as fellow MC Steve and I rehearse our parts backstage. When we come out we are wearing matching bright yellow Newfoundland waterproof hats. I don’t know about me, but Steve looks hilarious in his suit topped with the Sou’Wester.
My personal favourite act is when Steve, Colin and three other guys dance. Meant to be completely ridiculous, the five guys do things like stroking each other’s ties while mouthing the lyrics to each other while the audience laughs along. I really hope someone recorded their performance. The second-last performance is by the staff, where they act as Shads and say things we say all the time: “Where’s Patrick?”, “Dr. Lye, I’m tired…” The show ends with the all-Shad act, where we sing about Shad Valley Memorial 2012 to the tune of “the Lazy Song”.
The Variety Show ends at 11:30. Then all 54 Shads gather in the lobby and are told to be completely quiet. Finally, Chris, a Program Assistant, leads us out of the building and into the night. We stop under a huge tree and listen to the eerily loud birds screeching in the trees around us. As Chris talks about building the community of Shads, I hear my friend beside me begin to cry.
Four weeks earlier, on the first day of Shad Valley, we were given free time before the program officially started. Expecting the Shads to go off in different directions, the staff instead found all 54 Shads sitting together under this massive tree: complete strangers ready to become best friends with no facilitation required.
The staff tell us this story on the last night under darkness, under the tree where everything started. More people are crying now. As we proceed to our next unknown destination, all the Shads walk in each other’s arms. We stop next at a small clock tower. It is midnight exactly. Another short speech, more tears, then we move on again.
This “campus tour” is Shad Valley on a smaller scale: the past month we never knew what we were going to do next, but we had each other and the bonds we had formed and the trust we freely gave, and it was enough. It is the same thing now; the staff leading us in the darkness to each new destination; the Shads following with their arms around each other, holding each other up.
Soon we arrive back at the Landing Room. I remember running out of these doors, ecstatic with the success of the Variety Show less than an hour ago. Now I am sombre and mournful, incredibly aware of these bonds I’ve unconsciously made with my fellow Shads, and more fearful than ever to lose them.
Sitting in a circle, we each take a stone from a cloth bag and then talk about what we’re feeling. Some speeches are short, some are long, some Shads speak through their tears and some sound strong. After the Shads share their feelings, the staff follow. I am amazed by how much we have touched their hearts, although I shouldn’t be since from day one I have felt the love and compassion they have openly offered us. After, we return to the lobby for hoodie and documentary distributions, and MUNth book signings.
It is the end of Shad Valley.
To my Shad Valley Memorial siblings: I will miss you forever and I love you all. Oh, and the Shad Valley Entrepreneurship Cup is ours.
Linshia Luan, Shad Valley Memorial 2012
