‘We’ve waited a long time’: Staff and students move into new Catholic Central after a decade of lobbying, planning and building new high school

New Catholic Central High School opens Staff and students had their look at the new school Tuesday, saying it was worth the wait. Michelle Maluske reports.

Catholic Central High School (CCH) is now open at 2465 McDougall Avenue, less than one kilometre from its old location on Tecumseh Road.

“The building was over 100 years old, but we made it work for 35 years,” says CCH chaplain Jeff Gendron, who graduated from CCH in 1992. “I've literally been waiting 30 years for the new school and we were told back then it'd be five years and so we’ve waited a long time.”

CCH was established in the building on Tecumseh Road in 1986, which according to the school website, had already served as an elementary school, a high school and an adult education center.

Current students describe the old location as dark and dreary.

“The whole building was just a mess,” says Grade 11 student Shawn Osei. “The washrooms were horrible. The gym had like very dark lights.”

The new location is the exact opposite, according to staff and students.

“The first thing you see when you walk in is the bright lights,” says Grade 12 student Benjie Roberto. “Everything is all alive, it’s vibrant. I hope this bright light translates for students and their bright future.”

Osei for his part thinks the new school will result in improved grades.

“I feel like not only will it help people want to come to school more but like, I think it may even help people get even better grades because like they'll want to focus more in a better building.”

Principal Amy Lo Faso agrees.

“This community is really well known for the family effect. We embrace each other and work together incredibly well,” says Lo Faso. “Our spaces actually are designed to encourage what happens naturally here every day.”

Each wing of the new school has common areas - some with comfortable armchairs equipped with power outlets - to make collaboration easier outside the traditional classroom.

“Everything is meant to bring us all together,” says Lo Faso. “When we bring kids together incredible things happen.”

Lo Faso was the principal of CCH from 2011 through 2014, at a time when faculty, the board and the community started to lobby the province for “priority status” to get a new building funded.

“We got it and then I moved on (to a different school) and I was brought back to actually see this to fruition,” says Lo Faso. “Coming back full circle, (it’s) truly nothing I expected. (It’s) everything I hoped for and really has surpassed my expectations.”

According to a news release, the province agreed to build a new CCH in November 2016.

The board wanted to build the five-acre property at the site of the former Windsor Arena, affectionately known as “The Barn.”

When that fell through, in June 2019 the board announced it had provincial approval to build on the 11-acre site on McDougall Avenue.

Construction started in March 2021 and while some areas of the new school aren’t fully finished, students will officially begin learning at the new CCH on Wednesday.

Staff got in on Jan. 9 to start unpacking boxes while students toured the school on Jan. 10 in staggered starts.

“The whole feeling of new and fresh is taken over everybody and we're really excited to be here,” says physical education teacher Dave Walls. “To see the kids here and their eyes are bright and shiny and they're looking around and seeing and say ‘this is for us.’ That's a really cool feeling.”

Grade 11 student Ashley Munozgonzalez says she was told in Grade 9 they were moving to a new school. She says it’s been worth the wait to move now, with a year and a half to go before she leaves CCH.

“We're gonna build a lot of memories, accomplish many things,” says Munozgonzalez.