When a local institution thrives for decades, it’s because countless people dedicated themselves to serving it.
That’s what the former teachers of Twin Lakes Secondary School showed as the school heads into its 50th year of educating local students.
Dozens of former staff members, including teachers, educational assistants, and secretaries, gathered at the high school Thursday afternoon on Birch Street to catch up, take photos together, and make plans for a 50th-anniversary reunion party in April.
Among the crowd were several of the school’s original staff members from 1972.
One of them is Jim McKean, a former geography teacher, who said the school’s first principal, Bob Mitchell, made a point of ensuring all staff felt they were in it together.
“He wanted everybody to feel part of the school,” McKean said. “It was a fantastic community. The students and staff got along so well together.”
He noted many staff members were around the same age.
“So, our kids were growing up at the same time,” he said. “We were going through the same kinds of experiences in life, so it was a great social gathering every time.”
Former English teacher Ruth Watt said Twin Lakes was the most creative of the four high schools where she has taught.
“Everything we did here in education was, I think, cutting edge. We did creative things,” she said. “If we saw a need, we’d figure out how to how to deal with it. It was the most creative staff I ever worked with, and the most collegial.”
The fact some students have come back to the school as teachers over the years is “testimony of what was going on,” added McKean.
Former Twin Lakes teachers and staff are planning a 50th-anniversary party for themselves and former students April 29.
