Wednesday, May 2, 2007 · Page 16 School days revisited at Colchester North's 50th anniversary BY DANIEL SCHWAB During Colchester North Central School's 50th Saturday, anniversary retired teacher Jean Reed spent her day greeting a steady stream of former students. She challenged her memory by trying to guess their names before they had the chance to introduce themselves. "Ninety-eight per cent of the time I get it right," she bragged. Reed began her teachingr career at the Gesto school in 1972 with a Grade 2 class. She can recall a time when there were so few teachers that each one was required to become a coach, "even if they didn't know anything about the sport." Reed wore a constant smile during the celebration as she greeted some of these former players, students and teachers. "I've seen a lot of old faces," she said. "Seeing my old students with children of to accommodate a growing rural population. Now, Colchester North has 13 classrooms and 300 students from JK to Grade 8. But for those who remember the original oldfashioned schoolhouse, classrooms were converted into "memory rooms", where former students could take a trip into the past. Each room highlighted a different decade from the `50s to the present and was adorned with old yearbooks, photos, ledgers, maps, class lists and school board notes. Parent council chair Leslie Andrade started col- lecting artifacts for the event in September. "I kind of had a vision of what I thought today would be," she said. "I made a plea out to old staff and the community. The teachers chipped in and made posters and students decorated. This school has never had anything like this before. We didn't have a 25th celebration, so it's a big thing." The event also featured a plaque dedication to Irene Anderson, one of the first teachers at the school, and a tree planting in honour of Gerald Calhoun, the first chairman of the school's board of trustees. Former students Ralph Brown and his sister Mary Brown share a laugh after finding their old class photos in a yearbook from the 1970s. Murray Ferguson gets a closer look at class photos from the 1970s during Colchester North Central School's 50th anniversary celebration Saturday. Ferguson's six children attended Colchester North during that decade. their own is just amazing." Hundreds of people relived their school days, which for some dated back to the opening year of the facility in 1957. In those days, Eleanor Price served as secretarytreasurer of the newly formed school. Back then, the school had just five classrooms, 168 students and a principal, she said. "They just loved it," she recalled of the students. "It was such a close, well-disciplined school." In the `60s, the school underwent two expansions Grade 7 student Brittany O'Neil carefully puts the finishing touches on a face painting job for Grade 2 student Julia Harnadeck.