October 6th marked the closing celebrations of the centennial of “Pavillon Saint-Lambert”. On this occasion, the Congregation received special words of gratitude from the personnel and students of the school. Here are some excerpts from the speech given by Mrs. Carmen Poirier, Directress General of Collège Durocher Saint-Lambert.

“Dear students and staff members ...as you know, October 6th is always an important day at the college. … This year, on this 6th of October, 2011, Eulalie Durocher would have been 200 years old. So we have chosen this date to altogether carry out the final duties of the centennial: duties to remember and to give thanks.

Mother Marie-Rose or if you wish, Eulalie Durocher, had a dream and a passion: to provide a good education to the young people of the 19th century. Two centuries later, she is still inspiring the teachers of our school who also deserve our gratitude for their daily commitment.

That is why we will all gather outside to close the centennial celebrations and to celebrate the 200th year of the foundress of our school: Mother Marie-Rose!

I now invite each student and each adult to participate in the largest gathering of our school...it will be an immense ‘thank you’ (Merci) with the letters filled in by all the students, staff members and guests of honour.”

After having formed an impressive human chain between the two pavilions, the 2 200 students headed for the Saint Lambert Seaway Park. About 25 SNJM Sisters from Montreal as well as from the South Shore, waited for their arrival and then joined them to complete the exclamation point and to participate in the historical photo.

At the park, two students expressed their gratitude to the Sisters and the staff members “for their commitment and their love of young people”.

The ceremony ended with these words by a student:

"So as to send an enormous sign of gratitude into the cosmos, at our signal, we will all shout out a loud thank you and release 200 balloons with the colors of the college on them...green and blue… and pink meant especially for Mother Marie-Rose and the SNJM Sisters here with us this morning."

MERCI

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII !