Brian Risk ready for Raiders to return home . ‘We are the Raiders, the mighty, mighty Raiders’, is just one of the many cheers sure to be heard over the weekend of June 28, 2008.
‘We are the Raiders, the mighty, mighty Raiders’, is just one of the many cheers sure to be heard over the weekend of June 28, 2008.
Chippewa Secondary School officials announced today that the school will mark fifty years of excellence in education that weekend, and in celebration they will host the 50th Anniversary Reunion Celebration.
A steering committee has been established and the framework, for what promises to be a weekend full of nostalgia, has been established.
“It’s a couple years away but we're really excited. 50 years of excellence, and we are hoping we will get a large number of our alumni coming back,” says Brian Risk, Event Chair.
The school has not always had smooth sailing through its 50-year history, as students were homeless at one point.
“As soon as you have 50 years of history, there are all kinds of things happening. I guess the major event is in our history was the fire in the late 1970s.”
“The school basically burnt in October, and for the remainder of the year we shared the West Ferris facility with the Trojans. So, there was the morning shift for one school and an afternoon shift with the other school. It brought the staff and students together and we turned the negative into a positive.”
Not only is the anniversary designed to reflect back on events such as the fire, as part of the fun of a reunion is finding out what ever happened to so-and-so.
“Certainly we've had lots of success with various Olympians, actors on stage, and artists. That history is very, very rich,” says Risk.
“We’re very proud that we’re a ‘Triple A’ school. We focused on arts, athletics and academics. We hope to attract a lot of these alumni back.”
The committee is planning a major party at Memorial Gardens on the Saturday night. As well, many others activities are tentatively planned, such as a golf tournament, art show, concert band jam session, outdoor volleyball tournament, tours of the school, heritage exhibits and much more.
The Steering Committee is just fresh into the planning stages and is putting a call out for Raider volunteers to help ensure a successful event.
“We’re putting out a call for volunteers to come and help out with the event. We are going to have this call out on July 11th at 7 p.m. and are hoping the volunteers will come to a meeting, see what's going on and see how they can pitch in to make the weekend even more successful,” says Risk.
A second information night will be held in the Chippewa auditorium, Wednesday, September 12th 2006, starting at 7:00pm.
Again, the two information sessions are planned for Tuesday, July 11 and Wednesday, September 12th in the Chippewa auditorium starting at 7:00pm.
