Name game

The Selkirk name has significance in Thunder Bay, particularly with people who attended Selkirk Collegiate and Vocational School from 1957 to 1988.
 
The former south side public school was sold to the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board in 1988 and became St. Patrick High School. However, the school auditorium kept the Selkirk name.

The Catholic school board is considering changing the name of the auditorium to honour former chairman of the board Phil Colosimo, who not only sat as chair from 1980 to 1982, but was also a trustee from 1966 to 2009.

Also a graduate of Selkirk Collegiate and Vocational School, Colosimo died in August 2009.

“Phil was also very active in the community and a number of other places,” said director of education John De Faveri. “When we went through the renovation of the current Selkirk Auditorium, one of the conversations that started is ‘I wonder if we have an opportunity to honour the longstanding work that Phil has done.’”

Monday evening, the board decided to get response from the community, including the St. Patrick High School community on the possible name change.

De Faveri said they sent a letter to the school’s principal asking him to collect feedback from the staff, school council and students and present it to the board March 7.

St. Patrick alumnus Tiffany Miller said she’d be OK with the name change and had no objections aside from the familiarity of the current name.

“If it’s honouring someone that was really important to the school, to the school’s history, then I would support that,” she said.

Naming spaces throughout the Catholic school board is an ongoing initiative, said De Faveri, adding it’s an opportunity for the board to honour longstanding supporters of the of the community and the school board in a way that recognizes their contributions.