For 2021 Graduation Celebration
We're glad you're thinking of running for valedictorian!
What is a valedictorian?
A valedictorian gives a farewell and congratulatory speech addressed to the students, their guests, and the institution. There will be one valedictorian or one pair of co-valedictorians selected from each VIU Faculty that delivers educational programs. Each valedictorian will be given five minutes to address their peers.
Valedictorians are selected by students in their Faculty’s graduating class, based on a candidate statement and photo that will be posted online for the election. If only one nomination is submitted for a particular Faculty, that nominee will be declared to be elected by acclamation, and no election will be held for that Faculty.
How to become a valedictorian
To nominate yourself, send an email to Convocation@viu.ca by March 19, 2021, that includes this information:
- Your full name as it is on your student record
- Your VIU student number
- Your program (MBA, Culinary Arts, etc.)
- This statement: "With this email, I declare myself a candidate for valedictorian of my graduating class in my Faculty. If I am found to be ineligible to graduate, I understand that I will also be ineligible to act as valedictorian."
- OR, if you are nominating yourself as co-valedictorian with someone else, we need emails from each of you. The statement in each email in that case should read, "With this email, I declare myself a candidate for valedictorian of my graduating class in my Faculty, as co-valedictorian with [Name of your partner]. If I am found to be ineligible to graduate, I understand that I will also be ineligible to act as valedictorian."
- A photo (not too large, please) of yourself--formal or informal. The photo should be in the highest resolution possible and at least 1 megabyte, and either a .jpg, .png, .tif, or raw file. Please send the photo as an attachment to your email. Co-valedictorians, we will need a separate photo of each of you.
- A one-paragraph (150 words max please) candidate statement that answers this question: "Why should I be your valedictorian?" Remember you will be addressing only those graduates who are in your Faculty--they will be the ones voting in your election. Please submit the paragraph in MS Word document, as an attachment to your email. Co-valedictorians, please send in one candidate statement for you both, answering the question, "Why should we be your co-valedictorians?"
- Note: Because not all students have equal access to technology, no video is required as we have done in the past for our formal convocation ceremonies. The photo and candidate statement take the place of the video.
Convocation Valedictorian Election Process for 2021 Virtual Celebration, June 24, 2021
Date | Deadline |
|---|---|
March 19, 2021, 3pm | Deadline for all nomination emails, photos, and candidate statements to be submitted to convocation@viu.ca by 3pm. |
March 22-24, 2021 | Valedictorian elections, one election per Faculty. All students expected to graduate from within your Faculty by June 30, 2021, will be emailed instructions to view the photos and candidate statements and vote on the valedictorian for their Faculty. |
March 25 to April 2, 2021 | VIU staff will contact winning candidates and collect information for brief bios to be included in the printed convocation program. Arrangements will be made to rehearse your speech with you, and to arrange for video-recording of you giving your speech. |