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Principal reflects on 10th anniversary of new Olds High School

The move has been good for school and community
WebStudentsMarchIntoNewSchool
Students march into the new Olds High School in February 2010. File photo/MVP Staff

OLDS — Feb. 22 marked the 10-year anniversary of high school students and staff moving from their old premises on Highway 27 to their current location at the Community Learning Campus (CLC).

The CLC is a joint venture between Olds College, Chinook’s Edge School Division, the Town of Olds and Mountain View County.

The school, now known officially as École Olds High School, l moved over in stages. Principal Tom Christensen said the  Bell e-Learning Centre opened in 2008. He said the fine arts department moved into the Fine Arts & Multi Media Centre in 2009.

But the date when students and staff moved over for good (with a police escort) occurred on Feb. 22, 2010.

Christensen reflected on the move and what it’s done for the school and community during an interview.

“It’s just, I think, such an exciting time to kind of reflect on how it’s changed our community over the last 10 years and what we now have access to and have had for the last 10 years,” he said.

“We have a concert series; we have so many more visitors to our community than we used to.

“Both the gym and the theatre I think just bring so much to our community.”

One of the most significant changes, he said, is the dual credit program.

It allows students to take college-level courses and earn credit at both the high school and college levels.

“Every year we have — we average 18 to 20 kids per year — or more (in that program) and yeah, it’s just really interesting to see them,” Christensen said.

“They actually do better in their studies here because they have a focus at their college program and then we really are seeing that impact a lot of kids.”

Christensen said students taking fine arts have really benefited from the Fine Arts & Multi Media Centre too.

“The stained glass room and our art room is awesome, whereas in the other building, it was just basically a classroom that we put paint in,” he said.

“And how many drama classes have their class on stage? We’re just so blessed.”

The same goes for the Ralph Klein Centre, which includes a gym, workout facilities, a running track and even racquetball courts.

Christensen said they certainly didn’t have anything like that at the old high school.

 “We had a couple of dead weights in, like, some little closet,” he said.

Christensen said the Ralph Klein Centre, which is part of the CLC and includes some government offices, is also a blessing.

“Just the enrichment that gives; kind of the wrap-around services around the child, has been just a great experience,” he said.

Outside, students have access to improved playing surfaces.

 “We didn’t have, really a scoreboard at the other football field. And it was hard as a rock,” Christensen said.

“This one, we’ve had a couple of years where we’ve had drought, basically and that’s been a little tougher, but the spaces — we have a practice field, we have a soccer field, we have our own baseball diamond that we use for doing our phys-ed classes.”

The athletic field for the old school was also located in a very dangerous place: across Highway 27 from the school building itself.

Christensen said some students were actually hit by vehicles over the years. And one time, a vehicle hit the ball bag a teacher was carrying as he crossed the highway to the athletic field.

“We were kind of on borrowed time there,” Christensen said.

“It was going to happen, there was going to be a serious accident of some kind, because it got busy; the highway got busier, compared to when I first moved here.”

Christensen moved to Olds in 1984.

“My first day teaching was when (former prime minister) Brian Mulroney was elected,” he said.

This is his 20th year as principal of École Olds High School.

Christensen paid tribute to the old high school.

“That building didn’t last for a hundred years, but education happened in that spot for a hundred years,” he said. “But the town grew from there and it just didn’t work anymore.”

And the facility had seen its best days. 

“The building we were in, that we left, there were cracks in the wall that students could actually look through. Students in English class could actually look through the walls and watch cars driving by,” Christensen said.

“The brick had separated and it was just time to come. And we’re lucky we got what we got.”

The march over to the school was something else.

A final assembly was held at the old building. Christensen spoke about the history of education on that land.

Then, students and staff literally marched over from the old school to the new one, accompanied by a police escort and news media recording the entire event for posterity.

“The college faculty were here to greet us,” Christensen said. “They cheered us in. It was a really neat experience actually, to be part of.”

 

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