Gordon Bell students loving the ice

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This article was published 12/02/2015 (4055 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hundreds of ecstatic students were waving glow sticks and manoeuvering broomball sticks around to celebrate the opening of Gordon Bell High School’s first skating rink.  

The green space that the school lobbied for back in 2012 between Broadway and Portage Avenue is close to becoming a year-round recreational facility, and principal Arlene Skull couldn’t be happier.

“This means they can play on the field that they dreamt of having, because we didn’t even have a field before, all year round,” Skull said.

The school, which has 750 students, came up with countless campaigns large and small to raise money for the project, called “Field of Dreams.”

“We had a little boy when he was first here in Grade 7 who brought his pennies in every Monday because he wanted a field,” Skull said. At the end of the year his contributions totalled about $39, but it all adds up.

The pep rally at Gordon Bell School on Feb. 3 celebrated the skating rink as well as the help they received from the community that brought the project to fruition.

Peter Mikus, from the Winnipeg-based lighting company EnduraliteLED, donated lighting fixtures for the field to extend the hours of play for the students.

Mikus attended Gordon Bell High School 27 years ago and the school still has a special place in his heart today.

“When I came to Canada, this was my first school, they gave me the first learning opportunity in my new country to learn the language and comprehend what was going on around me,” Mikus said. “It was my first home outside my apartment, the first place I could exchange my stories.”

Estimating the lights he donated to be worth at least $30,000, he says people can
expect to see between 18 to 24 fixtures mounted on four posts in each corner of the field.

Bob Somers, a landscape architect connected to the project, says they’re hoping to get power to the site, get the lights up and the sign lit come springtime, though that’s still dependent on funding. While the lights donation was a massive help, the school is still trying to raise money for poles, wiring, boards and other final touches to make the facility function after the sun goes down.

“I think the most unique thing about this space is that it has completely changed the school,” Somers said. “It now has a front door on Portage Avenue and Broadway, which has opened up this school that was hidden before and these students that were kind of hidden behind the walls to the whole city.”

The president of Gordon Bell High School’s parent council, Mel Whitesell, works for the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council  and through the organization, recently donated 75 pairs of skates and 30 helmets for the school to use.

“Our kids don’t have skates, 30 per cent of our school population is refugee so they come from Burma, the Middle East, Afghanistan,” Skull said. “So believe me, skating is going to be taught out there.”