Celebrating 60! Looking back at where FGM started
The history of Elk Point schools goes back to 1907 according to our "Reflections: A History of Elk Point and District" by The Elk Point Historical Society. Our focus this year, however, is in our more recent history (if you consider 60 years ago recent history).
F. G. Miller High School's story began on August 22, 1960 when the site of our curreent east wing was approved and construction began. The section from Mr. Larmand's music room (which was the main entrance of the school at the time and contained the administration office) and to the end of our current administrative office was the original building (pictured on the right) which students from grades 9 through 12 moved into in April 1961 with Mr. R. E. Beattie, Principal, at the helm. To the west were our existing washrooms and Mrs. Richer's science lab. There was no gymnasium, industrial education shop or home economics room. The original library was in Mr. Braga's room. Graduation ceremonies for 1961 and 1962 were held in the Elk Point Elementary Gym. Home Economics classes were held next door at Elk Point Elementary, while the gym at the now demolished Elk Point School which was located at the bottom of the field to the east of our school (now student parking) was used.
The above puts into context the first of our modern yearbooks. To the best of our knowledge, booklets chronologing the history of our school. the students and staff date back to 1936-37 and sporatically until 1951 when "The Wapiti", an in-school publication, began. "The Wapiti" as a yearbook name, first appeared in a 1945 published publication which we have in our archives. A fitting name for a book published in Elk Point. "Wapiti" is the Cree word for elk. Digital copies of all these publications can be found here and some copies of yearbooks after 1974 are still available for purchase. Note: If you have a copy of a publication you see we are missing in our archives, please let us know!
The first full year of school in our present building began in September 1961. It was Mr. Albert Boratynec's first year of teaching, and it also saw the first modern publication of our yearbook - "The Wapiti". Among the first class to graduate were Orest Capjack, Carol (Booth) Hellquist, Lillian (Stepa) Demchuk, Diane (Scraba) Anderson, and Loretta (Aarbo) Pinder just to name a few graduates who still live in our area. Pictured is Mr. Boratynec with the first of our modern yearbooks.
F. G. Miller High School was named after Dr. F. G. Miller who was dedicated to providing quality education to students from Elk Point and area and was instrumental in construction the building. You can find his story by clicking here.
In celebration of the 60 years of the F. G. Miller High School building, and the 60th publication of "The Wapiti" yearbook, we would like to highlight the first book (1962) above (click on the image to open the pdf document), and the following years found below to 1966. View the books by clicking on the image. Watch for another blog post on the history of our Realm, but for now enjoy the trip down memory lane!
Keep going...
and going...
and going...
almost there...
Check out the Elk Point Historical Society website to find out more about our schools and the history of Elk Point! Click here! We would like to thank the Society for keeping our history of educaton alive on their website and in their publications.
We encourage all our Crusader families to invest in your Crusader's memories by purchasing the 60th edition of our Wapiti yearbook. Pre-orders are being taken now with school fees. The book is a 60 page, full-colour book which will highlight the defining moments of 2020-21 and links our past to the present book! The cost of $35 (below cost) and is a priceless way to keep memories alive.
If you did not receive a copy attached to student fees, you can download the order form below and send it with payment to Mrs. Loughran at our front desk.
Yearbook order form 2021 grade 7 through
.
Download • 173KB