Classrooms rise from ashes
Classrooms rise from ashes
Tue Jan 15 2008
Winnipeg Free Press
By Nick Martin
YOU wouldn't know that St. Ignatius School suffered a devastating fire less than 11 months ago.
Rising from the ashes, three new classrooms and a new school office in a gleaming new wing have replaced the school's oldest wing, badly damaged by a fire last Feb. 20 that started in a washroom ceiling.
"Today, we have a lot to celebrate. No one was hurt. The community rallied," principal Danielle Kolton told a community celebration at the school Monday morning, officially reopening the Crescentwood nursery to Grade 8 Roman Catholic school.
Kolton told the kids, teachers, parents and community members that the fire was a misfortune. "This is not a tragedy -- tragedy has irreversible consequences," she said. "Revel in the pride of having risen out of the ashes."
Kolton paid tribute to now-retired principal Rick Querat, who led a remarkable effort by staff, students and the parish to relocate the youngest grades displaced by the fire. A brick wall and quick work by firefighters kept the fire from spreading into the main body of the school.
"I want to thank them for containing the fire to one wing of the school," Kolton said to firefighters who took part in Monday morning's ceremony in the school gym. They received a prolonged standing ovation.
Classes resumed a few days after the fire, and all the children were accommodated within the main building of the school.
Many students and staff recounted their memories of the fire in a DVD shown to the ceremony Monday -- kids and teachers alike recalling how awful they'd felt last year, but emphasizing that no one had been hurt, only largely-replaceable material had been lost, and St. Ignatius School had bounced back as a building and as a community.
"I am filled with such an enormous sense of pride" in the students and staff, Kolton said.
St. Ignatius priest Father Brian Massie offered a blessing to the school's new wing.
The main entrance has been moved from the corner of Harrow Street and Corydon Avenue, to the southwest corner at Harrow and Jessie Avenue. The school office is part of that new section, which had been the school's oldest wing at the time of the fire.
A big highlight for the kids Monday morning was hearing several songs from the recording group Keith (McPherson) and Renee (Lamoureux). McPherson is a St. Ignatius alumnus and a former competitor on Canadian Idol.
Kolton said that enrolment this year is 219 students, only a couple less than last year. She said that the parish has not yet settled on a final damage figure with the school's insurers.
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