JOHN MacNEIL
Independent editor
The walls and halls at William E. Hay Composite High School are sporting a fresh look that doubles as a Stettler honour roll of sorts.
As the new school year began last week, the high school unveiled achievement boards that recognize students’ exemplary performances in sports and other endeavours.
The bright and readable boards have replaced outdated trophies and plaques and dusty banners.
The Wildcats’ regional and provincial sports distinctions through the decades are highlighted on the predominantly green-and-gold boards.
“We’re showcasing it in a more modern atmosphere,” said Trish Schwarzenberger, the administrative assistant with the school’s athletic department.
“The banners were old and dusty and dirty and they were hard to add names to, because they were all hung up on the ceiling, so you had to get up on ladders. Whereas the new concept is that all the information is displayed in one area — with the exception of the football awards downstairs in the gym foyer — but all the history of athletics within the school is in the balcony and it’s easy to add names to each board.”
“There are some boards that have the history of sports that don’t exist within our school anymore, but the history of those sports is still displayed, as to how we did in them.”
One of the most notable boards in the gym balcony recognizes Stettler’s first provincial high school champion, the 1959-60 girls’ basketball team.
“They have a banner that will be hung back up in the gym, but right now, there’s some legacy information on some of the boards here,” Schwarzenberger said.
“There’s a lot of families in Stettler where their children are just coming through the school system now and their parents’ names are up on the boards, so that is kind of a neat thing for them to see.”
“We have a lot of good athletes coming up in our programs, and so hopefully we’ll see a whole bunch of more names on here and new athletes carrying on in the future.”
The new displays are similar to the attractive information boards that are prominent at the Stettler Recreation Centre entrance.
The school recruited the same Calgary company that supplied the Rec Centre boards.
One of the features is a tournament board that can be changed according to the applicable sport.
“It gives you a lot of different options, because the boards are interchangeable, so if you need to add something down the road, you can still use the same concept, but just create a new board,” Schwarzenberger said.
Schwarzenberger and Dawn McKay, a math teacher and the school’s business manager, worked on the sports history project for about a year and a half, aiming to create a modern and appealing presentation.
“The green and gold that’s on the boards are the school colours, and then there are other colours that are sometimes related to the sport,” Schwarzenberger said.
“Swimming has a little bit of blue in it, and curling has red and blue, just to provide a little more contrast so that the boards weren’t all the same.”
While athletic achievements account for most of the boards, students’ standout performances in other fields are also recognized.
“Although it’s not a sport, we have had some students that have been very successful in the School Reach programs as well, so there’s a board downstairs … that does have some of that history,” Schwarzenberger said.