On Saturday morning, Prince of Wales Public School in downtown Thorold celebrated its 100th anniversary with an open house.
“The community involvement, them showing up here today — I’m super excited,” said Principal Carolyn Jonovich. “We’re really thrilled. There’s lots of faces, old and new.”
At the open house, attendees were invited to take a trip down memory lane.
Several classrooms in the building were dedicated to a piece of history pertaining to the school. One room celebrated distinguished alumni, while another shone a spotlight on the school's achievements, and another showed off historical artifacts.
Down at the school gym, former alumni, principals and teachers all came together to reminisce on the good times.
“I taught here for 20 years,” said retired teacher Margaret Van Dyk. “I’m back eighteen years later to see all my friends. I have my little school bell here so I gave [the oldest principal here] the bell and he rang us in.”
Van Dyk looks back fondly on her time at Prince of Wales.
“I’ve always said, ‘This school is a diamond in the rough,’” she said. “I just loved it here. I got kids that contact me all the time. It’s beautiful.”
That love and appreciation for the school was also evident in the current pupils who attended the event.
Jungwoo Lee has been a student at Prince of Wales for the past three years. His favourite subject is math, but most of all he loves going to school to hang out with his friends.
“I like the place where we can play around — The playground is fun,” he said.
The event on Saturday also lured former students to the school. One of them was Dolores Pounder, who attended Prince of Wales Public School from 1939 until 1947.
“I just wanted to see the old place,” she told ThoroldToday. “I loved school, every Grade. I liked it so much I became a teacher.”
Pounder spent her time at the open house looking through old registry books that go all the way back to the school’s early years.
“One of my uncle’s name is in here and one of my cousin’s in here as well,” she said.
It is evident that in the last 100 years, Prince of Wales Public School has meant a great deal to the local community.
“This is such a big part of Thorold itself,” said teacher Rachael Haynes, who helped organize the event. “There’s people that are finding old friends and seeing old teachers. Just seeing those conversations strike up again, even more memories are being made here today.”
