About 300 former students and teachers of St. Mary School returned to their old stomping grounds last weekend to share memories and celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary.
Sheila Glebe, who is a former student, former teacher and current principal at the school, said she was very pleased with both the turnout and the camaraderie shared by old friends.
“This has been an absolutely fitting celebration of 50 years of Catholic education,” she said.
The opening ceremonies on Saturday morning were the highlight for many of the celebrants, and in particular a unique history lesson delivered by former teacher Amelia Drake. It came in the form of a quiz, in which former students asked former and current teachers about some of the school’s lore.
“That question and answer, that’s how we shared history without any long speeches,” Glebe said. “It was really neat; so interactive.”
Among the interesting tidbits of information to come out were the fact the school at one point had a whopping 442 students and that two families, the Jonks and the Schusters, at one point each had nine of their children enrolled in the school at the same time.
Drake was unable to get the answers to some mysteries that have cropped up over the years, like who spiked the watermelon at a staff party.
Evergreen Catholic Separate Regional Division No. 2 Supt. Dr. Cindi Vaselenak said the school has a proud history of education, as well as a promising future, and noted it’s unique within the division.
“St. Mary School is our only K-12 school we have in the division, so it’s very unique and special,” she said. “I hope you’ll also see the school has evolved to reflect the future of education.”
Being a full K-12 school means a tighter sense of family and community for those who walked through St. Mary’s halls, but the tradition is not holding back progress, as exemplified in the school implementing a pre-kindergarten program and introducing the progressive Reggio Emilia philosophy into its classrooms.
For former student and former principal Ray Renaud, having the opportunity to come back to the school to meet with old friends and students was a worthwhile endeavour — although he’s not too far away now, working as a principal in Spruce Grove.
“A lot of people have gone through this building, and a lot of successful people have come from this school,” he said.
“It’s great to be back and reminisce.”
For Glebe the highlight of the weekend was hard to pin down, exactly — with so much going on like various meals, the penny carnival, the volleyball games, a golf outing on Sunday afternoon and of course the Catholic Mass on Sunday morning she said it’s difficult to pick one particular aspect.
One thing she said sticks out in her mind, though, is what happened right before the dance got started on Saturday night.
“I looked around and there were clusters of people just engrossed in conversation. The memories we shared last night were just incredible,” she said. “It’s so important to feel a part of something and I think those memories shared help us to feel that.”
And like many others at the school last weekend, she said she takes away that sense of family and belonging — in fact, her teachers’ impact on her played no small part in her decision to get into education as a profession.
“There were some teachers that I will never forget; I won’t give you names because there are just too many,” she said. “I recall one language arts teacher and I thought for sure I was going to become an author because of her. I remember one science teacher in elementary who made me passionate about science when she was teaching it.”
Based on the high turnout from former alumni both young and not so young, she’s not the only one to have developed those kinds of connections.
