“Community. It’s just a huge part of who we are at Parkland,” said valedictorians Hugh Devey and Christian Musicco when asked to describe their graduating class.
Devey and Musicco both applied to be Parkland Secondary School’s valedictorians for 2025.
“We had about a month or so to prepare a speech in front of the entire grad year class and a vote happened after,” Devey said.
The valedictorian honour is picked solely by student vote.
For Musicco, the prospect of speaking in front of a large audience was initially daunting.
“I'm normally not one to go out of my way to speak in front of a ton of people,” he admitted.
However, the opportunity to represent his graduating class and celebrate their shared experiences was too significant to pass up.
In their individual speeches, both 18-year-olds spoke passionately about the community they've been a part of and the friendships they’ve cultivated over the past four years.
They confessed the people are who they’ll miss the most about Parkland.
“I think once we graduate, we'll miss the strong sense of community that we have here – just being able to recognize faces in the hallways, the staff and teachers we've become friends with” Devey explained.
Musicco echoed this sentiment, adding, "Parklands is a little bit smaller than other schools, so we just have such a tight-knit community within our grad class – everybody knows everybody."
The duo will jointly address their classmates as the Class of 2025 valedictorians at their graduation ceremony on June 24.
They will be among 120 teenagers marking the culmination of their high school journey.
Both students admit to taking a curious interest in embracing challenging subjects.
“It's tough to maintain good grades for pre-calculus and math, but it's not impossible if you just pay attention and do your homework,” Musicco remarked, chuckling. “But it's also fun knowing that it's a bit challenging.”
Devey expressed a similar view, saying, “Physics has definitely been a super fun course for me, especially with my keen interest in aviation, but it's definitely a tough course."
Outside of the classroom, both students have actively pursued their passions, shaping their personal identities and future aspirations.
Musicco has participated in police and fire camps over the past two years, experiences that helped him develop his leadership skills and self-confidence.
“I really want to be a first responder and spend some time in the BC Wildfire Service, and then after school, I’m hoping to be a police officer,” he shared.
Devey is dedicated to fostering inclusivity and bringing people together, both through sports and as co-leader of the school’s Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) club.
“The big thing is inclusivity and so bringing people together through sports, no matter the language you speak, or sharing your unique connection to your ethnicity, that’s always been a part of my personal identity,” Devey explained.
Looking ahead, Devey plans to study aviation, inspired by his family’s background in the field. He also intends to take a year off after graduation to travel to Southeast Asia.
“I really want to focus on putting myself out of my comfort zone and learning new perspectives and gaining new experiences,” he said.
Musicco plans to attend UVic to study kinesiology this fall. He also envisions taking a year or two off to backpack through Europe and further explore his career path.
Hugh is the son of Akiko and Bill Devey of North Saanich and Christian is the son of Trish and John Musicco, also of North Saanich.
Parkland’s graduation ceremony begins at 4:30 p.m. June 24 at the University of Victoria, followed by a dinner/dance and dry grad at Mary Winspear Centre.
