Muriel Martin students will bask in the glory days of 1991 next Monday as they celebrate their school's 25th anniversary.
Students, staff and alumni will celebrate Muriel Martin's 25th year of operation this Jan. 23. Students walked through the school's doors for the first time in early January 1992, construction of which had finished about a month before.
The school has planned a talk-show format for its celebration modelled on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, said Katie Boyd, the school's assistant principal. Student hosts will grill teachers who have been at Muriel Martin since it opened about what was hot in 1991, such as Big Bertha golf club and the World Wide Web, and the comedy Full House, which, interestingly enough, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Laurier Bisson, the school's first principal, talks about the creation of its mascot, Marty the Dinosaur. Guests and students will play a "then-or-now" guessing game with photos from the school's past and present, and sing "The Dream," a song commissioned by the school for its opening written by Nancy Telford.
"We also used to do something called the Dino Shuffle," Boyd said, which is a dino-themed version of the Hokey Pokey. Students have been practicing this classic dance and will bring it back for a special one-time performance at Monday's event.
Students will also get to learn about the school's history from a display of pictures and news clippings in the front lobby. The display includes antediluvian technological artifacts such as record players and film projectors sure to mystify today's kids, and a copy of the dino-themed colouring book all students received as part of the school's opening.
Then and now
Boyd is one of the many Muriel Martin staffers who were at the school when it opened in 1991. At the time, she was a parent of students at the school.
Deer Ridge was still under construction then, and there were still a lot of homes being built around the school, she recalled. She and her kids would often bike over to watch the school going up.
"They were pretty excited as they knew this was their new school," she said.
As the school opened mid-term, Muriel Martin students spent the fall of 1991 split between Ronald Harvey and Edmonton's Dovercourt School. The Gazette notes that parents fiercely opposed this decision, as many feared the traffic on St. Albert Trail would put kids at risk.
The school had several unique features when it opened, including live indoor trees, a central hub library, bulletin-board walls and reading nooks in every classroom, said teacher Liane Carter, who attended kindergarten at the school when it opened.
"I remember how muddy it was," she recalled, as the school's fields weren't seeded until the spring. Students were repeatedly told to stay out of the mud and not to touch the trees.
Boyd remembered how bare the school looked. Teachers had yet to customize their bulletin boards, and the library had maybe 400 books – there are about 25,000 now.
The school was also a lot smaller, with just 200-some students, said Donna Hamilton, the school's original custodian.
"They all fit in the middle of the (library) pit there," she said.
The school population doubled the next year, with some three additional wings added to the building soon after. Today, the school is bursting with some 744 students.
The school held an opening celebration in May 1992 complete with bands, clowns and food, the school's history displays show. Hamilton notes that there was a huge crowd, as all of Ronald Harvey was invited.
Carter said she now works alongside many of the teachers she grew up with, and often gets flashbacks of her life as a student as she walks the halls. Her daughter also now attends the school as a student.
"The sense of community is still here, and it is my community."
The anniversary celebration starts at 1:30 p.m. Jan 23. Call the school at 780-458-0205 for details.
