Students, teachers, and administrative staff filled Niverville Collegiate to capacity on June 14 to celebrate the end of one era and the beginning of a new. This fall, the school’s students and teachers will branch off. Some will fill the new classrooms and halls of Niverville High School while others will return to the same building with a new name, Niverville Middle School.

The NCI Parent Advisory Council chose to commemorate the change with a one-hour event, carrying the theme of past, present, and future. A barbecue lunch followed on the schoolgrounds.

“The NCI farewell was born from a suggestion of one of our parent members… who were interested in seeing a Grade Eight farewell, as those students would be leaving the building,” says PAC chairperson Tanya Pomaranski. “The idea and discussion lent itself to the consideration that all students and staff were experiencing a change this year. Between council and administration, we quickly got on board with an overall NCI farewell.”

Stories and memories were shared by the principal, teachers, student council members, and PAC. The event also served as the reveal of the middle school’s new colours, team mascots, and logos.

“A part of the [new beginning] is getting a new identity for each school,” said Vice Principal Craig Cumming. “That involves colours, mascots, logos, and even the school culture. That process is not an easy one… but at the end of the day, it’s an opportunity to move forward and to [create] something fresh and new.”

Hundreds of students provided a collective drumroll as the big reveal took place. In the end, both schools will maintain the Panthers mascot in its colours of red and black. Each school logo is designed with a new variation on that theme.

Principal Michael Koester paid tribute to four teachers retiring at the end of this school year: Tim Sawatzky, who has been teaching in Niverville since 2008; Gerald Negrave, who in 2004 received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Teaching; Helen Schapansky, a 23-year veteran of NCI; and Pat Fast, who has spent his entire 30-year teaching career at this school.

Teachers Deanna Wiebe and Ron Limpright took the gathered crowd on a journey into the past, covering the school’s legends and losses over its many years.

Legendary teachers of the past were acknowledged, including the school’s long-time Phys Ed teacher Don Dulder, who brought many a team to the finals during his 37 years at NCI. Band teacher Fraser Linklater eventually left NCI for a new career as a high-profile music professor at Brandon University. Dennis Fast served as school principal for many years and retired from the position to pursue his passions for birding and photography, winning numerous awards for his work since that time.

“We had some legendary janitors [too],” said Deanna Wiebe. “Peter Friesen, also known as Popsicle Pete, prevented students from climbing on the roof by putting boards with nails [in them] on the landing spot at the top of the ladder.”

Wally Shepert, a custodian known to the students and staff as The Crooner, was the country karaoke superstar, willingly sharing his voice at many of the school’s talent shows.

Incredible losses are also part of the school’s long history. John Kipe will be remembered by parents and NCI team members as the outstanding varsity basketball coach who died of a heart attack in 2010. His life is still celebrated every year with the John Kipe Memorial basketball tournament.

In 2012, beloved teacher Dana Dueck died in a tragic motorcycle accident at just 30 years of age. Another long-time and much-loved teacher, Ivy Friesen, was taken by cancer just a few years ago.

Wiebe and Limpright regaled the students with stories of NCI life some 30 years prior.

“Students today don’t know the struggle,” said Limpright.

Typing, they said, was done on a typewriter with no autocorrect options. Research was performed in the library with the use of encyclopaedias, and papers were written by hand in strictly cursive writing. Messages sent to a friend moved by way of a folded piece of paper circulating from student to student. Secret initiations took place when you joined a sports team and Sadie Hawkins Day was celebrated every November.

“Emergency drills consisted of hiding under our desks in case someone in Russia hit the red button and set off an atomic bomb,” mused Wiebe. “That desk was [supposed] to be the lifesaver.”

Principal Koester also took the students on a reflective journey back to the school’s roots in the late nineteenth century.

The first Niverville school was created in 1884, built at a cost of $560 on land purchased for $83. The Department of Education named it Niverville School District #315.

In 1912, the school was replaced by a larger cement block building and served the community until 1928. In 1942, as space became squeezed, a large house was moved in and remodelled for school use.

By 1947, a new four-room school was built on a site between Main Street and the formerly named Mary Street. In December 1960, that school burned to the ground, as well as two of the three bungalows that had been rented as temporary classrooms.

In great haste, five new bungalows were built and placed on the lot so children could go back to school in January.

The consolidation of school districts was on the province’s agenda around that time, and residents within a 25-mile radius of Niverville, including St. Adolphe, joined the Niverville School District #315. A new six-classroom school was built at a cost of $135,000. With the larger school district, educational supplements were provided for farm families to get their children to school.

The Hanover School Division officially opened the brand-new NCI in November 1961. By 1967, a vote was held to terminate Niverville School Division #315 and consolidate with the Hanover School Division.

Today, NCI has 642 students in 15 classrooms and 12 portable huts. Approximately 300 of these students will be moving on to the new Niverville High School.