It’s been awhile since the first students entered the hallowed halls of Earl Marriott Secondary, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The South Surrey school opened in September 1973, just over a half-century ago, with its first graduating class donning their grad caps in 1976.
For the past year, the current staff at the school have been planning an event to celebrate the special occasion: EMS is hosting an open house on Saturday, April 27, and all former students, teachers, and other staff are welcome to attend.
Light refreshments will be served, and the school will be open for people to look around, find their old classrooms and lockers, and check out the various renovations the building has undergone in the past few decades.
The school’s Wheelhouse Theatre, the welcome posts carved by Semiahmoo First Nations artists, the mural in the main gym, and many other improvements will be on display for everyone to see, and offers an opportunity to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in years and take a trip down memory lane, said special education teacher Sara Coyne, who used to attend EMS herself in the 1980s and graduated in 1988.
READ ALSO: Staging a tribute
“It was a wonderful experience! One of the most enjoyable aspects for me was taking part in the theatre productions of Grease and Up the Down Staircase. Drama teacher Rick Harmon spent decades teaching students and directing dozens of productions which were phenomenal,” Coyne said.
She remembered many beloved teachers, many of whom taught at the school from the 1970s through to the early 2000s, spending the majority of their careers at the school: Lili Bevan, Gerry Falk, Lorna Graham, Colin Hyatt, Anssi Rantama, Henry Sovio, Dave Short, Diane Peterson, Richard Berry, Derwyn Dunbar and “so many others.”
“When I was given the chance to join the staff at EMS as a teacher in the 1990s, I was thrilled,” Coyne said in an email.
“Many of the teachers mentioned above were still on staff and became mentors for me in the teaching profession. I’ve been lucky enough to wear several different hats while working at Earl Marriott: English teacher, career facilitator, and now special education teacher.”
She is looking forward to seeing familiar faces from her years as a student and also as a staff member, at the open house, which will feature old yearbooks, graduating class photos and other memorabilia from over the past five decades.
Tickets to attend are $10; the cost is to help offset the cost of the event, but a portion of the funds collected will also be used for an EMS scholarship for a current Grade 12 student. Tickets can be purchased through the school; visit their website at surreyschools.ca/earlmarriott
The open house is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on April 27.
Coyne, her colleagues and other alumni students and staff are hoping for an excellent turnout.
“It’s been amazing to witness the changes that have happened over the past several decades here at Earl Marriott, and I feel privileged to have been part of it.”