Hey Ram’s nation!
For those who don’t know me. I’m Steve Colquhoun class of ‘88 and ‘89. I have a lot of memories from my time at Laurier; from highs and lows, hanging and partying with old friends and meeting new friends. I was the kind of student that just got by in some of my studies. I struggled with some of my classes and I excelled in others. I liked to hang out with friends on the patio, smoke my face off and talk about where the next party was going to be. Which turned out to be mostly at my house. In grades 10 and 11, I hit my rebellious years. I didn’t want to listen to people. I knew better then everyone. And I struggled even more in my classes. To the point I wanted to drop out. The teachers at Laurier were all amazing and wonderful individuals! One teacher in particular was Mrs. Young, who over heard a conversation I was having and took me aside to talk to me. She convinced me to stay in school and get my grade 12. I will never forget her and owe a lot to her for that conversation. Because of her I got my grade 12 diploma. Thank you so much Mrs. Young!
Moving forward to the introduction of Facebook. Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with a lot of friends and classmates from both public school and high school. Over the years I have rekindled old friendships and started new ones. In 2015 during a chance run in with Andrew Thibodeau at an Iron Horse festival in St Thomas, my social circle would grow. I started reconnecting with even more people from public and high schools. Andrew and I, who weren’t really close or close friends in school have since that day become really good friends. It started with attending concerts together. Then football games. Although I didn’t play sports in high school. For which I wish I had. I still was a follower of both Laurier Rams and Western Football programs. With Andrew, I started to attend a lot of games for both football teams even becoming a season ticket holder for the Mustangs. Because of that I reconnected with even more former classmates.
As my love for both teams, and as a fan grew. I attended more games. I started meeting more people from Laurier. As I started to join Laurier Facebook pages. I started to connect with former Rams. Some who attended Laurier long before I was there. In 2022, I got to meet some of these Alumni at a few Rams football games. One in particular was the Laurier vs Parkside game in St Thomas. This is when the plans for the Alumni Association began. As the Rams went deeper into the season and into the play offs, we attended more games and more talks took place. I started to become friends with guys that in high school I knew who they were but we were not friends. Now I’m friends with them. Guys like Jamie Calwill(Heather) and Dave Woodey. These three are the founders of the Alumni Association and I am proud to be a part of it. In high school I did not play sports or participate in clubs or really have any involvement in anything at Laurier. Joining the Alumni Association allows me to give back. It allows me to help out students to join teams, clubs, music and art programs. Let them get out what they can during their high school years. Allows them to build fond memories. I want to help those that maybe can’t afford to participate in these programs or to help make the programs better. Help buy better equipment for the sports teams or instruments for the music programs etc.
In closing, I hope fellow past and present Rams who read this decide to join the Alumni Association. Everyone is welcome and I hope you can make a difference too!
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