Wolseley School, community gather for centennial

Students, staff, families and community members joined together to help Wolseley School mark its centennial year in the sunshine.

One hundred years ago, the school was built as a budget project to help with student overflow from Laura Secord and Isaac Brock schools. Today, it has become as much a part of the Wolseley community as its famous trees.

"We are still standing today. That tells me that there was love put into each and every one of these bricks laid here at Wolseley School...and we all appreciate the glorious, beautiful school that we get to attend every day," said Principal Brian Rogowsky during the June 23 ceremony. 

In attendance for the afternoon ceremony were WSD CEO and Chief Superintendent Pauline Clarke, WSD Board Chair Betty Edel, MLA Lisa Naylor, WSD Assistant Director of Literacy, Arts, Enrichment and Careers Dino Di Fabrizio and several alumni including Ben Russenholt, who attended the school for six years starting in 1945.

Mr. Russenholt, who attended the school for Grades 1-6, remembered a kindly caretaker from the years he attended Wolseley.

“We had a caretaker who came from the Maritimes, and he knew all about the Bluenose Schooner—he had some of us carve our own, that was very interesting to me,” Mr. Russenholt said, adding that he was pleased to be back at his old school. “The trees are huge now.”

Alumnus Peter Rempel, who attended the school in the 1960s, had fond memories of being a school patrol at Wolseley. 

“We had a very rigorous school patrol program; we would march to our stations. We had white belts and little silver badges…and we’d win for the best school patrol in the city regularly,” he said. 

Students entertained the crowd with dancing and the songs “I Am The Earth” and “One Voice” under the choir direction of teacher Sarah Roche. The school also unveiled a centennial mosaic built by students with local artist Dimitry Melman.

The mosaic features a large tree connecting to the world, representing the school’s ties to its community. The world also has several green-coloured pathways, representing the school’s obligation to protect the planet and the environment.

“We spent a lot of time sketching all of the pieces of it,” said Grade 6 student Patience Desjarlais. “We basically wanted to have things about our community in it.”

The mosaic also includes Indigenous culture, a Pride flag, a Black Lives Matter logo, a NASA logo and homages to nature, the arts, sports and more.

“It was really fun because everybody in the school had a chance to be involved, like all the students, a bunch of the teachers too. We all worked really hard on it,” said Grade 6 student Olivia Tran. “It doesn’t just have stuff about Wolseley School, it has things about our entire community—many different types of people, not just people that go to our school, can have a chance to be a part of the mosaic.”

Mr. Rogowsky said it was important for the centennial to reflect Indigenous culture as part of the celebration. Hoop dancer Shanley Spence and drummer Darryl Buck performed at the event, and students also had an opportunity to demonstrate some of the hoop dancing they had learned under Ms. Spence’s tutelage.

“In learning hoop dancing with Shanlee Spence, it was really about honouring the past and where we came from,” Mr. Rogowsky said. “About a third of our population is Indigenous, so it’s important that we represent that.”

The principal said students and staff were pleased with the success of the centennial celebration. 

“Things went beautifully, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. It was so good to see community members, family members, alumni and our other special guests come out to celebrate with us.”