New 'Wellness Wing' opens at SHS

Mar 06, 2014

As of January 31, staff and students at Sydenham High School have been holding regular classes in the school’s new 14,000 square foot addition, which they have named the Wellness Wing. The brand-new facility, which cost over $3 million, includes four new components: a 5000 square foot gym facility with change rooms, office and storage space; a new state of the art hospitality/food section that includes an industrial kitchen, a serving area and an attached classroom; a new theatre arts facility equipped with a stage, retractable seating for 90 and a control booth; and a new computer lab.

When I visited the school on February 28 all four of the new components were being utilized.

Earlier that same week a number of activities were scheduled in the new facility by staff member Jeff Sanderson in an event called Wellness Week, which focused on activities to promote the physical and mental well-being of students and to give them an opportunity to explore the new wing and what exactly it has to offer.

Tabitha Kirby, who heads up the hospitality/foods programming at the school, was busy in the new kitchen with her grade 11 hospitality students, who were aproned and preparing a catered lunch for 100 students at Loughborough Public School. The students were assembling over 100 ham and cheese sandwiches as well as preparing hors d'oeuvres -smoked salmon and cream cheese canopies, cheese crisps topped with a bean pesto and Thai shrimp rolls that they would later snack on themselves. Tabitha said she is thrilled with the new facility, which includes a brand new industrial walk-in fridge and freezer, four new six-burner stove tops, four ovens plus one combi and one convection oven, and numerous stainless steel work stations plus an attached teaching classroom. “It's wonderful, gleaming, clean and very spacious and we are really excited since we are going to be able to do a lot of new things here that we could not do in our former classroom. We will also be able grow our own fresh herbs outdoors and will expand our composting as well”, Kirby said.

Grade 11 hospitality student Sam Earle said he is thrilled with the facility and it was part of the reason that he chose to relocate to SHS. “I heard about the new kitchen facility and wanted to come to Sydenham because I heard that it was brand-new and so advanced.”

In the new drama room, drama teacher Erik Rutherford was sitting with his grade 10 drama class in a large circle on the stage floor of the new theatre arts facility and said that the facility is helping to raise the bar for the theatre arts program at the school. “It feels a bit like Harry Potter, where we have moved from the little dark hideaway under the stairs to Hogwarts. This new space offers a great learning environment and the new theatre especially gives students not only a large activity space but also a state of the art theatre facility where they can experience what it feels like to perform on stage in front of an audience.”

SHS drama students will be presenting this year’s school play in the new theatre facility with an original multi-media play titled Macdeath, which is based on the Shakespeare's Macbeth but set in the 1990s grunge scene. Show dates will be announced. Jess Sherman, who will be playing one of the leads, said that the new facility raises the bar for students. “It feels like what we are doing here is more serious and more important because of the new facility.”

The new theatre space is fully wheelchair accessible and can be used by various community groups. It is also fully equipped with audio-visual equipment for presentations.

In the new gym, which boasts a floating hardwood floor, 26-foot ceilings, new change rooms, a storage room and an office space plus lots of natural light, a grade nine volleyball tournament was underway and Vice-Principal Brent Pickering said the new gym will allow more physical activities to take place at the school on any given day. “Before this new gym was built we typically had five phys-ed classes booked at one time and only three teaching spaces. With the new gym we can place all five classes in the two gyms.” Extra-curricular sports at the school will also benefit as a result of more available gym space both before and after regular school hours and the space will also be made available to community groups as well.

Vice-Principal Pickering said the new wing will help both teaching and learning at SHS. “These new facilities are state of the art and with them we are able to offer students more and better programming at SHS, which is exciting for both students and staff here.”

Staff are raffling off the 76 new lockers in the new wing as a school fundraiser for the local food bank and students are flocking in in droves to enjoy their colorful and spacious new wing.

The official public grand opening of the new wing will take place in April and the public will be invited to tour the new facility.