Like most Grade 12 students expecting to graduate this spring, Hannah Loukes is disappointed she won’t get the chance to experience the normal traditions that come with celebrating the end of her grade school career.
B.C. still remains under a provincial health order that limits public gatherings to no more than 50 people and that means Hannah’s family – father Wade, mom Krista and sister Rachel – won’t be present at Vanier Hall this week to watch the grads walk across the stage to get their diplomas.
COVID-19 protocols won’t allow it and only groups of 35 students at a time will be allowed to take that walk. The grad ceremonies will be recorded with still and video cameras and those permanent memories will be made available to the families. Prom activities have been curtailed and there won’t be the usual school-sanctioned dance and dry-grad parties that provide a formal send-off for seniors to say goodbye to their teachers and school staff.
Loukes is hopeful by the end of summer, before she makes the jump to university at Grant MacEwan in Edmonton to take a spot on the Griffins varsity basketball team, the restrictions will be lifted and some of the events she and her classmates at Duchess Park Secondary School won’t get to attend this spring will happen before she heads off the Alberta capital.
“It’s been weird going online for school, it feels like I have no school at all, to be honest,” Loukes said. “I think it would be different if I had more core classes right now but I wrapped that all up last semester. I’ve always been really excited for Grade 12 and my friends are really upset that their friends and families can’t be there to walk the stage and stuff. It still bothers me but I’m really forward to next year and that’s something that’s keeping me motivated.
“It’s hard for the teachers, lots of them have been teaching us since Grade 8 and this is the last bit they get to see of us.”
Loukes has been a basketball player almost as long as she’s been a student. Her dad Wade, a former University of Victoria standout who went on to play professionally in Australia, got her playing at a young age and by the time she was eight she was heavily involved in the Prince George Minor Basketball Association.
She shot up through the ranks of the junior squad at Duchess Park and played three years on the Condors senior team. At this year’s triple-A provincial tournament in Langley, her fourth high school provincials, Loukes led the Condors in scoring with 54 points in four games on the way to a seventh-place finish. She also made her mark as a provincial team player with the B.C. under-15 team and as a 15-year-old when she was an alternate for the under-17 team.
“I got lucky because I still got to have provincials for basketball,” she said. “One of the other recruits for MacEwan from Sherwood Park in Alberta and she didn’t get to play provincials.”
Sprung from a five-foot-eight mother and a six-foot-six father, Hannah stands five-foot-11. Her height, athleticism and solid grades attracted the interest of several university teams, including her hometown UNBC Timberwolves. She was invited to the MacEwan campus for a tour in November and made her decision shortly after to join a young Griffins team. Loukes likes traveling and the lure of living in a different city drew her to MacEwan.
“I really liked the coach (Katherine Adams) and I enjoyed the team and the campus and I kind of knew right away it was the place for me,” said Loukes. “Katherine made it the team like a family and really included everyone and that’s what I enjoyed. I wanted to go somewhere where I had a better opportunity to play.
“I’ve always loved playing high school basketball but I’ve noticed university basketball is that one step further. You’re really a family, you’re doing training for it, you’re lifting (weights), you have to watch your nutrition, it’s basically everything.”
Loukes will be in Edmonton for the start of training camp on Sept. 1. The Griffins will play a COVID-19 shortened 16-game schedule that will keep them in Alberta for the whole season, facing the perennially top-ranked Alberta Pandas and Calgary Dinos.
Hannah has had her dad at courtside as her coach for as long as she can remember and Wade served as an assistant to head coach Louise Holmes on the senior team while also helping coach Rachel’s junior Condors team.
“I love having my dad there, he’s one of my favourite coaches and I’m not just saying that because he’s my dad,” said Hannah. “I just think he’s a very good coach. It’s going to be a lot different not having him there.”
Loukes is entering a bachelor of arts program and is considering switching to communications after her first semester to pursue a career in sports broadcasting. She exercised her option to return to school last Friday after nearly three months away due to the pandemic shutdown and brought her prom dress with her for a photo in the gym with her holding a basketball. Loukes has been connecting with her teachers in virtual classrooms for most of the second semester since in-class schooling was suspended March 17 and that has been smooth sailing for her. All her university courses will be online until the pandemic is officially declared over.
