High School Reunion

This month, my high school celebrated their 50th anniversary. The plans of a big celebration was in the works since 2024 so there was ample of time to get the word out regarding the big celebration.

The school was founded in 1976, and to this day remains one of the busiest high schools in Toronto. I graduated just over 20 years ago and man, I feel old.

I wasn't sure if I would go as a lot of my friends from my grade didn't really want to go. Everyone has their own busy lives and kids to worry about so going to a reunion wasn't really on many people's minds. 

After debating for a while, another friend had asked if I would go. Well, as long as I knew someone, yes I would definitely go!

The day of the event, my brother had called and stated that he totally forgot about the event happening, and asked if I was going. I said yes and after going back and forth, we decided to just meet at the school.

Unfortunately I did not have the Genesis that day, as it was in the shop (haaaaa again for maintenance work), so I had to take the Cayman. I mean, I guess it's an excuse to take it for a spin.

When the time came for the event, I realized that yeah, damn the traffic was quite bad. As soon as I turned into the school parking lot, I knew it was a horrible idea. The lot was not very big and of course, all the spots were taken. The other option was to drive across to the plaza next door and that was another bad idea. I decided to circle around and park at another empty school lot adjacent to the high school. There were just 2 cars in the lot, and no sign to say we couldn't park there.

I made the trek to the high school and met with my brother and eventually my friend. There was a nice tribute to all the teachers who had passed over the years. I knew some of the teachers, one of which was my gym teacher. I was shocked and saddened to see that a good handful of the teachers and vice princpal during my years, had passed away. 

After a few speeches and a lovely music played by the school's band, we were free to roam the hallways and some classrooms that were open for viewing. I had to admit, it was nostalgic to walk through the hallways again, and go through some of the classrooms. A lot of things haven't really changed physically - the chairs and desks are still the same (I swear, older equipments last a hell of a long time), the wall paintings are still there. Even the lockers are still the same. They're so old that the numbers have faded on each locker, so someone had resorted to writing the numbers with permanent locker on each one. 

I went through one of the science class rooms and I could swear it was where I had my physics 11 class. The teacher was a Polish lady with the thickest accent and for that semester, I could not understand for the life of me what I was learning. Physics is one of those things that either you get it, or you don't. It's really hard to teach it and understand it. 

I had got to see my previous music teachers. Honestly, that class is what made high school so memorable for me. It wasn't the math or the science, but it was music. I had taken music all throughout the 4 years I was there, so the teachers really got to know me as a student. If I had a mental breakdown, they were there for me. They remembered I played piano and prepped for my exam during my spares. That's how special these teachers are to me. It's so amazing to see them after all these years and to see they haven't really changed much.

I also bumped into my previous graduates and no joke, some I haven't seen since graduation. It's been a good 2 decades since I last saw them. Of course we had to take pictures with each other. The next fun part was to find our graduating year photos. That was easy as it was right in the middle of the big forum. It just brought back so many memories and all the fun times we all had as friends.

My brother was there much earlier and I ended up finding his graduate class photos. He of course bumped into his classmates from the past and literally for him, it's been 3 decades since he last saw them. 

Brother and I ended up walking around to try and find more things to check out. Unfortunately someone (or maybe it was something technical) triggered the fire alarm so the high pitch siren started going off along with the flashing lights. Just like old times. This was about 30-40 mins before the end of the event. At first we all thought it was just a fluke, so many of us still wandered the hallways. It wasn't until we tried to go to the pool area, that a staff member had shooed us out. That's when we realized oh, they're not joking. We had to evacuate the building.

We all poured into the walkways and sidewalks, and for the first time I realize this turnout was huge. Traffic came to a halt, with all the nearby parking spots all filled out. 2 firetrucks had arrived to check the scene. It was at this time that we decided it was time to go home.

All in all, it was a great event. Those who didn't go, all expressed regret of not going. I think many thought it would be a lame turn out but reality is, it really brought back old memories.

If you haven't gone to any of your high school reunions, I recommend it. You'd be surprised who you bump into and it just triggers an entire flood of memories.