Sep 5 2023 - New School New Smell!

 

It is a new school year and for students in Grimsby, Beamsville and Smithville a new high school.  It opens today.  It has been accumulating on the landscape for a few years.  Now is the moment!  The school is at the boundary of Grimsby and Beamsville.  It actually has a Beamsville designation. It is on the site of the brick factory from more than a century ago. Grimsby Brick and Tile Company Ltd. was initially founded by William Tallman around 1875, and was known as Beamsville Brick and Terracotta.  It was an area of clay so it was mined on the site of more than 70 acres of land.  The buildings and kilns  were torn down in 1978 and much waste was dumped into the site.  So you can imagine the remediation that had to happen before the school was built.     So new school, new smell - that's what I can remember going to Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines - brand new when I went.  And when I went to Brock, there were newly built sections there too - the student residences. I remember "new school" smell. Grimsby's has a 750-seat theatre - that isn't quite ready yet.  That was the case with Laura Secord as well.  I remember the workers being there. As for the old Grimsby Secondary School?  It is empty.  What will become of that site?  Huge fields behind it for sports so it could be a big development.  And what about the Beamsville District Secondary School with its historical columns out front?  Questions without answers so far.  Here's the news article's picture of the new school.   Is this cute?  Here's Millie at Nelles Manor on the bench with the owner of this antique bicycle.  She created it herself.  This was the Antique Car Show a few weeks ago.

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High School Graduation Mandatory Phrases

What about graduation? It seems like things have significantly changed over the last 5 decades.  I recall that my high school years were about academics.  While a "School Letter" could only be achieved if one also engaged in social clubs, sports, and extra-curricular activities, the first requirement was good grades.   Now high school graduation talks about preparing for "the journey ahead."  There is tremendous emphasis on the social environment and engagement in community.  There is a lot of talk about these being the best four years of their lives.  I am shocked by such sentiments.  I can't imagine living in the possibility that it is all downhill from here.  So why would one prepare?  So I googled graduation speeches best four years, and I begin to think that these speeches are taken off the internet. The telltale phrases (maybe they are mandatory, who knows?): I would like to start by thanking... It is truly my honour. It is strange how quickly time passes. It feels like yesterday I was standing here at eight grade graduation. Those days went by faster than we ever imagined We did it.  We're finally graduating. We couldn't have made it to this moment alone. They taught us how to be better people. Every end has a new beginning. So the highlight moment is, off course, the caps flying in the air.  Next we see our federal Member of Parliament, Dean Allison, caught on camera passing the finish line.  And then the communicative shoes in movement.