La Colombiere School celebrated its first graduation for the Senior Six leavers of 2013 where all 50 students passed in Division One. 

The ceremony was held on Saturday at the school premises in Kacyiru,Gasabo district.

"It requires sacrifice to achieve what we have here today but it’s due to the collective effort and selfless input.” Godfrey Wasswa the headmaster of La Colombiere high school said.

He added that it was a great day for the school because the graduates before them were a result of the tireless efforts from both the teachers and parents who took it upon themselves to see that the students excelled.

According to him, the ideal of excellence in their students was not for school, but to benefit the country.

Wasswa encouraged parents to continue teaching their children the values of life and love. He asked them to avoid violent actions like the Genocide and its effects.

Alfred Munyentwari, the President of the District Consultative Committee Gatsabo, also thanked the school for up holding its responsibility of ensuring academic excellence and parents for making education a priority in their families for it’s the future of this nation.

Munyentwari also urged parents and the community at large to embrace reconciliation in their different communities .

"What we did as a school was to sensitise both parents and students to focus on their studies.” said Martine Umubyeyi, Principal of LaColombiere School.

She added that they did not stop at sensitising parents but they also hired professional teachers who are available full time.

According to her, they made monitoring of students much easier by having few students in every classroom which enabled teachers to have a one-on-one review for each student. This helped them to appraise and review each student’s performance on an individual basis.

The graduands and their parents were just as proud of the school’s stellar performance.

"As a parent I just thank my child for not letting me down,but most of all am happy that he made himself proud.” Owemana Koreta, a parent, said

She also called upon parents to invest in their children’s education because without education there was no bright future ahead of them. "Competition, a winning spirit and trust in God are the three things that drove us as a class to achieve the 100 percent performance,” Christian Nsengiyumva, the graduands’ representative, said.

He also thanked his teachers for the constant guidance and support they offered them that led to their academic excellence.

"All I can tell the other students here is that when you set your mind to achieve something, remain focused because then you are bound to achieve exactly that. So when you dream, dream big,” Esther Nyota, another graduate said.