An 18th birthday is supposed to be a transcendent moment, a giant step from adolescence into adulthood.
Unfortunately in the COVID-19 era that step is usually reduced to a car parade.
However, that disappointment was not evident on the face of Yale Secondary student Sophie Michael, who was surprised with a car parade on her big day earlier this week.
Michael, who recently signed with the Columbia Bible College Bearcats women’s volleyball team, has managed to stay busy during the pandemic.
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Her family shared some of her background with The News:
Canadians can do hard things. This has been evident over the past two months as we have come together as a community and as a nation. Our daughter Sophie is a good example of a young person in our community trying to spin the negative into positive during these challenging times.
It was Sophie’s 18th birthday yesterday. This is a girl who has worked tirelessly to support her community throughout the years wanting nothing in return. Of course everything thinks their child is amazing, but we have to admit, Sophie goes above and beyond. Throughout the pandemic, she has been in constant contact with her teachers as she is on Grad Council and has collectively come up with Plan B’s, C’s and D’s for her classmates so that they will still have events to celebrate their graduation. She has also delivered Purdy’s chocolate bars to three Federal Jails, the Ambulance/Police and Fire Stations and has delivered chocolate bars to special needs students from her school. There has been many disappointments as a result of Covid-19, one being that she is no longer able to attend Camp Ignite which is a 4 day camp that educates and inspires young women to follow their dreams and gives them an introduction to the world of firefighting. On a positive note, she was recently signed by Columbia Bible College to play for their volleyball team…and she has recently applied to be Valedictorian for Yale Class of 2020 - whatever that may look like.
Yesterdays surprise birthday parade for Sophie was an amazing celebration of community, family and friends. It was an example of people coming together during these difficult times and taking a moment to smile and celebrate a special day. It was a story of hope and love and community.
The parade was led by a dancing dinosaur and included over 50 cars and Abbotsford Fire. There was classmates, teammates, coworkers, friends, family and teachers (even the Principal).