Recently there was an open house and community picnic at the French Creek School. Having never visited the school before, I wandered from classroom to classroom. In each room there were volunteers waiting to tell me all about the school and the amazing history of it.
Having been a school secretary in Alberta for many years, I must admit that I have never before seen so much activity, pride and hard work put into any school. Each classroom had photo books relating to the years students had attended.
Many families consisting of children, parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles were pouring over the books looking for relatives that had attended the school up to 100 years ago. The photos all had names and dates for each of the students and a hundred years is a huge number of students and photos.
There were photos throughout the hall and anywhere there was a little space there was art work and written work displayed.
I cannot understand why the school is closing. It is a very unique school. The community is losing not only the school but a close knit family group where everyone knows everyone else — very rare thing these days.
One wonders what will happen to the pictures when the school closes. It is all very well to say they will go to a museum but to put them on display you would need a building the same size as the school.
I came away from my visit with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. It saddens me to see the school closing and a piece of history being thrown away.
Susan Mohan
Qualicum Beach
