THUNDER BAY - You may spot Sir Winston Churchill popping up in various locations throughout the city, or at least his head.
To celebrate the 50th grade nine class to start at Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, students and staff will be participating in Where’s Winston, a photographic scavenger hunt featuring a bust of the famed British prime minister.
“This is the 50th year that grade nines have entered our school and we want to make it a very special year for them and for the rest of the student body,” explained Meghan Smelow, chair of communications with Sir Winston Churchill C.V.I.
A bust of Sir Winston Churchill that was found in the school’s library will be popping up in various locations throughout the city. Students can then guess the location for a chance to win prizes. When the bust is back home at the school, students can take their own pictures with Churchill.
“A lot of people are already posting pictures on Instagram and Twitter and a lot of these pictures will be featured in our year book,” explained grade 11 student, Brandi Hale.
Hale added that the Where’s Winston campaign is also a great way to reach out to past graduates and let them know about what is going on at the school.
“There’s a lot of Churchill graduates that may not know about this so doing things like this might help get the word out,” Hale said.
This is a particularly important celebration for staff and students at Churchill because it could be the last anniversary the school celebrates.
Earlier this year, the Lakehead Public School Board listed Sir Winston Churchill for possible closure at the end of the school year due to declining enrollment.
“As a lot of people already know, it could possibly be our last year, so we want to generate a lot of school spirit among everyone in the school, teachers and students, so an initiative like this is really helpful to get everybody involved and spread the word,” Hale said.
Smelow is also looking at where Churchill has come in the last 50 years rather than focusing on what might happen in the future.
“This is an important year regardless of what happens,” she said. “We are just really trying to approach it from the standpoint that we are going to celebrate this year and this group of students that we have. If it ends up being our last year, we are going to go out with a bang.”
