Went back yesterday to my old High School for one last look around. It was an event by the Alumni to give us a chance to look around before the wrecking ball comes in.
http://www.bcivs.brantford.on.ca/index.htm
My old school is being partially demonlished.
The old part was build in 1910 and had lots of charecter. Concrete floor and steps were redone since I left, wooden floor replaced, but some of the structure was as it was. The old auditorium, which had bats when I went to school, had been redone but the stage still felt the same.
Originally the plans had been to demolish the whole thing and start again somewhere else, but the Alumni fought that tooth and nail. There was a major addition in 1963 that was worth refurbishing. Eventually they decided to keep the facade of the old section, refurbish the 1963 section and replace the old section with new construction.
I was happy at my high school – it was old and had traditions and was excellent in many areas. We won the provincial championships in football and a national mathematics contest in the same year. I won a school letter for participation in Band (yes I went to band camp, and this one time…), Yearbook, cross country running, student council and camera club.
We had some famous alumni, though other than the guy who played Tonto (Jay Silverheels was his stage name) only Canadians might know;
June Callwood, David Fox, Gary Summerhayes, Pauline Johnson and others.
I kept in touch with a few friends a decade or more since high school, but don’t talk to them much anymore, which is sad.
I guess this old rambling has a point. My head says, all things must pass, the old must give way to the new, but my heart says it will never be the same, I will miss that old building where so many memories were made and so much personal history took place. I have to thank many teachers who helped shape and mold me – we never think of it at the time.
My wife doesn’t get it, she was eager to just get through high school and move on to university. But I went from a big High School of 2000 students to a big university of 40,000 and I can’t help think the high school days were better days.
Do any of you look back? Go Back?
James
