TORONTO – What students and teachers at the George Harvey Collegiate Institute are preparing to do is not a repatriation like so many others. On Saturday, from noon to 7 pm, they will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the school. 

Seventy years in which thousands of young people have crossed the door of the building located at 1700 Keele Street in Toronto: here they have studied and made friendships that have often become lasting. Many of them were children of Italians who emigrated to Canada in search of a better future for their family. “Many have been successful in life, occupy important jobs in Canadian society”, says Angelo Delfino (in the pic above)  proudly, who attended this school from 1957 to 1961.

But now that the George Harvey Collegiate Church has come to an end, this meeting has a special significance.

Following the 2021 “Student Enrollment Review,” this school and its name will cease to exist by June 30, 2022: George Harvey’s student body will be incorporated and the school will be named “York Memorial Collegiate Institute” starting in September 2022. Until 2026, the school born from the merger will continue to operate in the George Harvey building.

The school, which was built in 1951 and opened in 1953 to a design by architect John B. Parkin, was the first vocational institute in the former city of York for students who wanted to enter the world of work by doing skilled crafts.

In May 2019, the school hosted 900 displaced students from the nearby York Memorial Collegiate Institute, which was destroyed in part by a fire of vast proportions.

But now, students who spent their teenage years within its walls are invited to gather once again to celebrate their school. Many activities are scheduled starting from noon: among these tours in the building, videos of the “Yearbook”, a refreshment, lots of music with a DJ, the sale of memorabilia.

Finally, after the so-called “Meet and Greet” the former students will move to the main gym for social gathering. There will be the opportunity to have long chats, to update on the events that have characterized their lives, especially for those who have lost sight of each other. And of course it will be the right opportunity to remember the years spent in the classrooms of the George Harvey Collegiate.

“We want to have fun remembering the years spent at school”, concludes Angelo Delfino. We can swear that it will be so.

For information visit the website https://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/georgeharvey  

In the pics above, some moments of a reunion some time ago, a school football team and some students and teachers