Just over 30 years since first opening its doors, St. Dominic Catholic Secondary School in Bracebridge is welcoming alumni, present and past faculty members, students, community partners, and friends back for an open house to celebrate the milestone anniversary.
Steve Johnson, who was one of the four founding faculty members, said that this celebration will be the first time in 20 years that there has been a gathering of all alumni and staff from the past.
“It’s been a long time,” said Johnson. “I think we were planning a 25th anniversary, but COVID hit and we had to lay off on that for a few years.”
Johnson said that it has been incredible to see the growth of the school from day one to the present.
“It’s been pretty amazing to watch, particularly back in the first few years where we started with just grade 9. We had 63 students for the first year, and then we added another 50 or 60 in the second year.”
By the fourth year, when grades 9 through 12 started attending the school, St. Dominic boasted a roster of almost 300 students. Johnson said that the immense increase in size over those years meant they were ready for a new location.
“We were bursting at the seams over in the old industrial mall at the south end of Bracebridge. In 1999, the school board decided to build an actual full-blown school for us to accommodate that growth, and then over time they added a full-sized gymnasium and other aspects of a full school that we have today.”
Despite the rapid growth, St. Dominic remained a close-knit community. Johnson said that he, along with his wife Kristan and close friends Mike and Josée King who made up the rest of the teaching staff, knew every one of the students that walked through the doors each day.
“It was really exciting to be part of that with our first year students because they knew they were part of something special. We knew all the students and they knew all of us well, and it was a great time being part of that early on in the history of St. Dominic.”
Current enrollment for St. Dominic sits around 160, allowing for very small class sizes and for teachers and students to better connect with one another over the four years that they’re in high school.
Anybody who wishes to attend the celebrations can stop by St. Dominic CSS anytime between 5 and 7 p.m. on May 15. Johnson said that even though it’s a short period of time, people are welcome to bring any mementos they may have.
“Most of the time we’ll spend simply talking with each other, but if people have things that trigger memories, bring them along and we’d be happy to take a look and converse over anything that’s brought up. If we can’t contain those memories in the two hours, we’ll just let it spill later into the evening.”
