Pair stand out in the crowd

There is one in every high school, sometimes even two.
You know them. . . they are well-known, well-liked, well-educated, and win the awards. And at last week’s FFHS Recognition Night, two such deserving students stood out in the crowd–Chad Canfield and Shaunna Cuthbertson.
when Cuthbertson walked away with the Letterman Award and Athletic certificate last Tuesday night, it meant she had won every one up for grabs (also including Literary, Music, and Executive) over her five-year stint at Fort High.
“I have won every certificate and honour roll stuff . . . two NorWOSSA curling gold medals, the gold clock last year, the Letterman Award, and the curling MVP,” she noted.
In fact, there isn’t much that Cuthbertson hasn’t been involved in during high school.
“I like to be involved. I am the kind of person who likes to be doing stuff and if I am not doing something, I am wondering what is going on,” she admitted.
She played on the Muskie badminton team, sat on the athletic and student executive council, played the saxophone in band, participated in the musical, worked on the yearbook, was on the curling team, worked at the Muskie Mart, and was on the honour roll every year.
“I am a mixture of academic and athletic. I have my academic side, my music side, and my athletic side,” Cuthbertson said. “One of the biggest things for me was to try it all.
“You don’t know if you’ll like it until you try it,” she reasoned.
Still, that doesn’t mean everything went smoothly.
“I had my stressful days, yes and no,” she said. “Sometimes there were times I was over-loaded and just had to have a scream day. I guess it is just a matter of chewing everything before you swallow.”
For her, the most important award she won was the Letterman Award.
“My mom [Connie] got the Letterman Award. . . it was something I felt I had to do,” she noted. “It was the biggest achievement in high school, well one of them.”
Cuthbertson will be attending Lakehead University in Thunder Bay this fall to study Concurrent Education with English as a major. But despite a heavy course load, she’s likely to be involved with school.
“I hope to be involved at Lakehead,” she said. “I have already looked into the student programs there. I have a lot of friends to point me in the right direction.”
Like many students in high school, Cuthbertson is sad to see her time at Fort High drawing to a close.
“I have three days of high school left, it is overwhelming. At my last band concert a few weeks ago, I cried . . . actually I bawled,” she admitted.
“I am not having a rough time closing this chapter but it will be hard,” she said. “[But] it is time to start a new chapter . . . everyone has to go through it, now it’s my turn.”
< *c>Coaches praised
Chad “Ox” Canfield, an 18-year-old OAC student at Fort High, has been involved in football since grade eight.
“In grade eight, I went to J.W. Walker. I used to go over to the high school for practice and sometimes I played with them,” said Canfield.
Canfield attributed much of what he knows and has learned to his coaches and brother.
“My coaches are unbelievable . . . they just know so much,” he noted. “Coach Swinger [Bob Swing] always tried to send us places to teach us stuff. Two summers ago, he sent me and another guy to Saskatchewan for football camp.
“The touchdown club [which runs Bingos to raise money] paid for it,” he noted.
“I also learned a lot from my brother. I always played with my brother and his friends,” he added. “When you are always playing against people better than you, you learn a lot.”
Throughout high school, Canfield played a number of different positions for the Muskies.
“Whenever they needed me . . . I played,” he remarked. “I started off as defensive linemen but moved back to defensive linebacker in my grade 12 year.”
Canfield admitted he would miss his coaches once high school was over.
“They turn out to be your friends,” he stressed. “In the off-season, Greg Allan [and the other coaches] are always giving us tips and stuff. They always try to make us better.”
Canfield said he had a feeling he would win the Paul Renaud Trophy as team MVP but had no idea he also would walk away with the Marc DeGagne Award for outstanding contribution.
“I always gave 100 percent. There sure are a lot of good players on the team, it was nice to win,” he said.
Canfield is planning to attend the University of Manitoba to study business. He would like to own his business and possibly coach football.
He is unsure whether he will play football at the university level.
“I went to the [Manitoba] camp about a month ago. I don’t know if I will play this year but I’ll definitely try out every year,” he noted.