Barrie's Maple Ridge Secondary School hosted its grand opening celebration last night, as local families joined dignitaries and school staff in showing off their shiny new facility.
The school, located on Prince William Way at Mapleview Drive in the city's southeast end, saw a few hundred visitors walk through the building and admire its open spaces and brightness.
The grand opening ceremony boasted music, dance, and student reflections, with the school’s principal, Tracy McPhail, describing to the audience the journey of the school’s creation from the first shovels in the ground to its completion and opening.
There are approximately 1,000 students currently enrolled at Maple Ridge, which has been open for a few years now, but the city’s newest high school never received a proper unveiling.
Maple Ridge opened to Grade 9 and 10 students in 2021. The 2023-24 school year is the first year that the school has a full complement of Grade 9 to 12 students.
Grade 11 student Cameron McFarlane thinks his school is “pretty amazing.”
“We have great sports facilities, our computer tech and computer science (classes) are some of the better programs at our school,” he told BarrieToday prior to the ceremony. “I’m currently taking physics and chemistry. I really enjoy the physics program.
“Our school has yet to develop character, because it’s new,” McFarlane added.
The new artificial turf sports field and rubberized running track is impressive, he says.
“And we don’t get muddy, that’s number one overall," McFarlane said.
Val Hargraves, a math and physical education teacher who transferred over from the city's Eastview Secondary School, said “it’s great, it’s bright and there’s lots of activities happening with the kids. It’s a wonderful place to be.”
Erin Klein, a biology and physics teacher, praised the staff at the school along with its new equipment.
“We have high-tech equipment. We couldn’t ask for better. Our science labs are beautiful. Top notch," Klein said.
“I love our labs — they’re big and beautiful,” said Amy Szerminska, who teaches chemistry and biology. “I really enjoy the windows, coming from Eastview, an older school.”
“In a new school, we had to buy all new things, and that takes some time,” she added. “We’ve had some great donations to the science department — of specimens, like skeletons and things — so we really appreciate that because it helps us out.”
