No classmates? No problem, says only grad at prom night in St. Brendan's

The town of St. Brendan'sis getting ready to celebrate the graduation of its high school class but for the second year in a row that class consists of just one person.

"I'm both the youngest and the oldest," 17-year-old Liam WalshtoldCBCRadio'sOn The Go.

St. Brendan's is a community of just 114 people that sits on an island just off Newfoundland's EastportPeninsula.

St. Gabriel's All Grade is the only school in the community, and its high school graduation Friday will be solely focused on Walsh, who's been the only student in his grade for several years.

But that isn't stopping Walsh'sclassmates, teachers, friends and family from coming together to celebrate his grad.

"The entire community is invited to attend so anyone who wants to come, which is the vast majority, will come," he said.

"I do have to take on a few extra things. So usually someone would do a valedictorian or a toast to the parents, I kind of have to do all of that. But it's really not that much of a burden."

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St. Gabriel's All Grade currently has just six students from kindergarten to Grade 12. There were nine earlier in the year but three moved away. According to Walsh, all three of the students in primary/elementary are from the same family.

"At one point there was another kid in my grade but he moved away a while back so now I'm the sole Grade 12," Walsh said.

Obviously being the only graduate means that his grad night will be a little different than at bigger schools. But Walsh said they've worked around it by avoiding slow songs at the dance and making the event more of a party for the entire community than just for him.

Not as lonely as you'd think

Walsh said people from bigger communities might think that being the only person in Grade 12 would make for a lonely year, but that's not the case.

A big part of that is the fact thatall but three of his courses were done online with students from other parts of the province.

"I'm in a room with some other students who are in different grades, so it's not terribly lonesome or anything like that," he said.

His plan for the fall is to move to St. John's to study architectural engineering at the College of the North Atlantic.

"I spend a big portion of my summers in St. John's, so it's not as much of a radical change," he said.

"Unlike most people around here, I do enjoy going into town and going to the movies, having all the stores around me and a lot better internet."