When he returned to Walnut Grove Secondary School to work as a teacher, Logan Kitteringham said it took a little getting used to, because about 20 of his new colleagues were his former teachers.
“It was really hard not calling them by ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mrs.’ and actually learning their first names,” Kitteringham said.
Kitteringham, now the vice-principal of the 1,920 student school, helped to organize the 25th anniversary reunion and open house at Walnut Grove on Saturday.
The all-day event included everything from bouncy castles to live theatre and music performances and walking tours of the facility.
Jeremy White, one of the very first students at Walnut Grove, ran into his Grade 8 math teacher when he brought his family for a visit.
“She recognized me right away,” White said.
“I couldn’t believe it.”
White and his family live nearby in Willoughby and he is hoping his kids will be able to attend his old school when they get older.
“We haven’t strayed very far away,” White said.
In the school foyer, some of the current students were selling souvenir T-shirts.
Spencer Chapman, Christine Yoon and Esme Huang were members of the Walnut Grove Secondary young entrepreneurs club, which raises money for worthy causes.
“This time, it’s for the anniversary,” Chapman said.
Vice-principal Kitteringham said the initial impetus for the anniversary celebration came about a year ago, when some people at the school realized the last of the “originals” — the 10 to 12 staff who started when the school opened in 1991 — were near retirement.
“A quarter of a century is a long time”,” Kitteringham said.
“What are we going to do about all the stories and the magic and all of the moments that they (the originals) have in their heads?” Kitteringham said.
To “tap into that knowledge” the anniversary aimed to conduct interviews to create an interactive digital timeline of the school history that can be accessed in the foyer.
So, what kind of a student was Kitteringham, anyway?
He laughs at the question.
“I didn’t get in a lot of a trouble but I wasn’t an angel either,” he says.
“If you look in the yearbook from 2000, I was voted the ‘loudest guy’ in the school.”
