There were many heart-rendering moments that underscored the graduation exercises at West End Primary School this week. Parents, students, invited guests and staff first enthusiastically applauded the 23 graduates for their excellent presentations in song and speech as they introduced item after item on the morning's programme.

And then there was the high-tech procession through the audience of the graduates themselves, voicing pre-taped gratitude to their elders for supporting them thus far. Their heart-felt sentiments brought tears and a distribution of soft tissues to both students and their audience alike.

Another emotion-filled highlight was the "leaving speech" of West End's principal Mr. Livingston Tuzo. He's retiring after 34 years in the teaching profession. First he was years principal of Victor Scott School for ten years, and for the last 14 years he has been head of West End.

Mr. Tuzo said he wanted the ceremony to give emphasis to a concern he has that not enough is done in the public school system to highlight and celebrate the cultural and historical achievements of Bermudian people themselves. He had specifically invited what he termed eight "Living Legends" to take front seats at the prize-giving.

"In layman terms, we collectively have diminished the worth and value of ourselves. We don't celebrate us, one another, enough. We don't teach about 'us' enough," the principal stated, adding, "We don't, 'BIG UP', as the youngsters say, 'US' enough."

In that regard, Mr. Tuzo wanted to celebrate and fully recognize the achievements of the 23 school leavers, who will be going on to Middle School. He acknowledged and thanked all of the staff members, "who really are the 'hub' of West End Primary," and then thanked parents and guardians "who have nurtured and guided their children through the chaos that accompanies growing up in this unsettled Bermuda".

And finally, the Principal noted, the country is "full of iconic figures that still walk and talk amongst us". He had focused on nine "living legends" whose beginnings were in Somerset. They were husband and wife Gerald and Izola Harvey, cited for their leadership role in the 1959 Theatre Boycott.

Also Mrs. Dianne Hunt for gearing up The Big Blue Machine, the Bermuda ladies Softball team that swept Championship honours in the Caribbean and Central American Games. Also called on to take a bow was Clyde (Bonnie) Best, whom Mr. Tuzo urged his listeners to check the internet for an idea of the extent he had super-starred in professional football in England.

Others cited were educator Mrs. Margaret Manders; Ira Philip, author; former Cabinet Minister Dennis Lister MP; scientist Dr. Kent Simmons; and William Todd, whose wife Winnifred a long-serving teacher at West End, sadly died earlier this year.

Guest speaker at the ceremony was a former West End Primary School graduate, Jessica Lightbourne, who has embarked on a promising career as a barrister and attorney in Bermuda's corporate world.