Victoria High School - Victorian Yearbook (Edmonton, Alberta Canada)

Page 9 text:

Year Book 11 OUR SCHOOL I carved my name upon the des when I was going to school, I marked initials on the wall, against the strictest rule. But what I never understood and now can plainly see, Is that my school has left its mar , indelibly on me. I cannot see the red and blac without a sudden pain To ma e me wish that I could hold my colors high again. I never meet a school day friend who does not ma e me feel That all the pals I had at Vic. were well worth while and real. And though my feet may ta e the road, my mind the world-wide trac , Ho journey is too distant for my heart to travel bac . —Lotta C. Dempsey.

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10 Victoria High School 3h fttenunimn K. W. MACKENZIE, B.A. (By William Rea) Mr. K. W. MacKenzie, who had been an esteemed member of the staff of Victoria High School since August, 1915, paid the debt of nature on the 9th of October, 1929. The late Mr. MacKenzie was born on a farm at Holyrood, Bruce County, Ontario, in 1862. He was educated at the Public Schools, at Clinton and Owen Sound Collegiate Institutes, and at Toronto University, where he took an Arts course, graduating- with honours in political science in 1893. Coming west in the same year he took a Normal training- course at Regina, and then became Principal of the Lethbridge Schools, where he remained for two years. He came to Edmonton as Principal of Schools in 1895, and held this position for three years, when he resigned to enter the stationery business in Edmonton, which he followed for the next twelve years. Subsequently, for a period of two years, Mr. MacKenzie held the position of Dominion Land Agent at Edmonton, and as stated above, in 1915, he resumed the teaching profession, which he followed until his death. During his business career, Mr. MacKenzie devoted a large part of his time to the public service and welfare. He was Mayor of the Town of Edmonton for two years, and was the first Mayor of the City of Edmonton, holding this office for the year 1905. This was an historic year in the City’s development, for it saw the inauguration of the new Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the selection of Edmonton as the capital of this Province, and the entry into the City of the Canadian Northern Rail¬ way, the first of the transcontinental main lines to reach Edmonton. Mr. MacKenzie played a conspicuous part in the colourful events of those memorable days and, like the Trojan, he could truly say, “et quorum pars magna fui.” Mr. MacKenzie, when in his prime, was a man of dominating will and great energy and decision, but beneath the “dour” exterior there dwelt a kindly heart and a cultured and generous mind. As a result of the training and influence of that old Ontario home, he retained through life an abiding- faith in the God of his fathers, and when the summons came he went out into the Unseen and the Eternal unafraid.

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12 Victoria High School THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL By Miss K. Teskey 1CT0RIA High School is the direct descendant of the old Edmonton Ny High School, the first high school established on the north side of the city. Prior to 1912 Edmonton and Strathcona were separate cities, each having its own municipal government, and each its own high school. The two schools were called the Edmonton and the Strathcona High Schools. When the new north side building was opened in 1911 with a staff of six teachers, the name was changed to Victoria. Doubtless in view of the approaching union of the two cities, the former name was felt to be no longer applicable. Amalgamation of the two cities took place in 1912, and Victoria High School had now a staff of t en teachers. In the next three or four years the number of pupils demanding High School education had so increased that they filled the twelve avail¬ able Victoria High School class rooms. Other high school rooms were opened on the north side of the city, in various public school buildings. But presently the question of housing high school students presented a problem so acute that it was found necessary to press into service two basement rooms, the library, and two of the science laboratories in Victoria High School. Even this accommodation proved insufficient and about five years ago four temporary rooms were placed near the main building. With this arrangement of class rooms work has been carried on up to the present. Just now the question of accommodating our High School students is being considered by the School Board. Many persons closely in touch with the problem feel that an extensive High School building program must presently be undertaken by the city. One suggested solution is that a group of High School buildings be placed on or adjacent to the grounds of the present Victoria High School, this grouping to afford High School students a wide range of choice in the courses offered. The adoption of such a program would probably involve a complete reorgani¬ zation of our school, and possibly a change in its name. Are we then approaching another period in our development, where the name Victoria, which has been associated with our school since 1911, must in its turn make way for another which will more fitly designate the larger institu¬ tion of learning that will take its place? The staff of Vic school has undergone many changes in personnel since 1911. Mr. L. S. Carr, principal at that time, is now an inspector; Dr. W. G. Carpenter, who succeeded him in 1912, left us in 1914 to be¬ come Superintendent of Public Schools in Edmonton, and later accepted the principalship of the Institute of Technology in Calgary. His succes¬ sor, Mr. E. L. Fuller, is now a high school inspector. Others have left us to take positions as high school principals, inspectors, instructors in the Normal schools or in the University. Our own graduates are ap¬ pearing in considerable numbers on the high school staffs of the city; two of them have returned to us this year, Mr. H. Poole and Mr. J. Hunter.