Plans are in place to celebrate the centennial of Souris School from Thursday to Saturday, May 20-22, including having the school open for anyone in the community who has no connection with the school.
Plans are in place to celebrate the centennial of Souris School from Thursday to Saturday, May 20-22, including having the school open for anyone in the community who has no connection with the school.The celebrations will begin on Thursday, May 20, with an open house for the general public to come and see the school between 7 and 9:30 p.m.The current students in Grades 5 and 6 will give guided tours of the building, and students will also show their heritage displays. The school will have prints of Gordon Stairmands painting of Souris, and school centennial pins, available for sale, and refreshment will be available.The big day in terms of celebration will be all day Friday, May 21, when current and former Souris students have been invited to attend.During the day, the current students of Souris will be able to play some heritage games (organized by the school community council), with a noon barbecue and then there will be a program with some special visitors, including a visit by former Roughrider great, George Reed.Alumni of Souris will be able to attend official ceremonies in the evening, with registration by decades from 7 to 8 p.m., along with guided tours of the school as it looks today with Grades 5 and 6 students. They will be showing off their heritage projects, and the Stairmand prints and pins will again be available.The official ceremony will be held at 8 p.m., including having greetings from the Southeast Cornerstone School Division, MLA Dustin Duncan and MP Ed Komarnicki. There will also be cutting of the Centennial cake, served with coffee, with a time for alumni to visit afterwards.The school will also be open on Saturday, May 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will again be tours by current students along with showing of their heritage projects; prints and pins will be available, and a noon luncheon will be put on for a cost of $5 per person. For the alumni and current students who come on Friday and Saturday, there will be a time also set aside when they can write down some of their favourite memories, and there are plans to eventually put everything together in a book.The plans have been put together by the Souris Centennial committee, which includes Murray Hoium, a former principal; Carole Miller, a former teacher; Dana Dean, formerly a Home-and-School member and a former school board trustee; Pat Schutz, a former student and parent; April Sampson, a former teacher and parent, and member of the school community council; and treasurer Barb Hudson.Weve had a ball putting this together, and were so committed to seeing this thing through, said Sampson. Its been a pleasure.She noted Souris students have literally ended up all over the world, and there has been tremendous support from former students for this celebration.Sampson taught at Souris from 1961 to 65, plus both her children went through Souris as students; while she went on to teach at nearly every school in Weyburn, she still feels drawn back to Souris, particularly as a proud South Hill resident.Theres something about this school thats pretty special, and we want these kids to know theyre something special, she said.
