Richard Lott and his friends from Vancouver's first high school felt something had been taken away from them when they were forced to complete their final year elsewhere.
They moved from King Edward secondary, which initially became an adult education centre, to the new, larger Eric Hamber in 1962. "There were no traditions so that all of the emotional part of things wasn't there," Lott said.
Hamber, on Willow Street at West 35th Avenue, wasn't ready when new teachers and students, pulled from across the city to fill the new school, moved in. The playing fields remained swathed in dirt and staff turnover was high after that first rocky year.
But by the time Andrea Nicholson entered Grade 8 in 1975, Hamber had developed its own traditions influenced by the culture of King Edward, which valued athletics, academics, respect and community. She believes Hamber's first principal, K.R. McKenzie, who came to the new school from John Oliver secondary, set the tone. "Hamber is the only school we are aware of that had such a large number of teachers stay their entire careers at one school," she told the Courier in an email. "It truly was a family and it truly was home..."
Reached by phone, she said schools across the district are losing that send of home and family because the teachers and administrators move schools more frequently than in the past. "But it still is here, it's still that pride."
Hamber's key 50th anniversary event is May 17. Nicholson, who volunteers organizing school archives, has been impressed by how hard Hamber's teens have worked to organize celebrations. "We've got kids that have been here from seven in the morning to 10 o'clock at night volunteering their time on their spring break and their pro-D days," she said.
The 50th Anniversary Alumni Basketball Tournament Wednesday night was to see Hamber's 1963 Athlete of the Year hit the court. May 17 activities include a dedication of the school's gym to coaches and teachers Bruce Ashdown and Nora McDermott, two of the first staff members who shaped Hamber over their careers, art exhibits and musical performances that include Ernie Colledge, a retired principal who started as a student teacher at Hamber in 1962.
Lott, who designed Hamber's griffin crest in an art class and then worked on design for Expo 86, Science World, the Museum of Anthropology and projects in Europe, will visit from Vancouver Island. "When you're in high school, there's experiences that you have that influence the rest of your life and you don't know that now, but you'll find out later on," he said.
Registration and decade rooms open at 4 p.m. For more information, see Hamber50.ca.
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