New Bracebridge centre inspires Almaguin dreams

by Rob Learn

Oct 17, 2007

BRACEBRIDGE – If there was one word to describe the new high school that opened in Bracebridge this past September, it’s impressive.

From the moment one walks into the glass-lined foyer, one can’t help but be struck by the amount of natural light pouring into the building.

The light was a stark contrast to the dark fogged-window school bus a delegation of Almaguinites and Near North District School Board (NNDSB) officials rode the morning of Friday, Oct. 12 to the new facility. The trip was to gather ideas for their own new high school.

Eyes blinked in unison as the more than 30 people — trustees, administrators, teachers, principals, municipal council members, community-minded residents and this reporter — entered the high-ceilinged building to start their tour.

Bracebridge Muskoka Lakes Secondary School (BMLSS) is more than just a high school. It is a facility that works on partnership between the Town of Bracebridge and the Trillium Lakelands District School Board. It combines a state-of-the-art high school with a community recreation centre that includes an indoor walking track, lap pool, leisure pool, therapy pool, weight room, exercise facility and space and gymnastics club all under the same roof.

Students, at the end or beginning of their school day, can just walk down a hall and be training for a number of different sports.

Or if sports aren’t their cup of tea, the school is also home to a 304-seat theatre with many modern production facilities.

Then there are the multi-purpose rooms that really let all community members gather at BMLSS and the adjacent facility.

The Almaguin delegation was told that on the last Friday in September, the facility was able to house, without incident, a video dance party in the auditorium, a rock concert in the theatre, a basketball game and a badminton game, and a drama workshop along with other smaller community events all at the same time.

Bracebridge mayor Don Coates told the delegation that the Town of Bracebridge quickly realized that joint-user agreements between the municipality, the school board and community groups would give all parties facilities they would not otherwise have been able to afford.

“There are people coming to town and wanting to stay here, because there is nothing like it (the facility) in similar-sized communities,” said Coates.

Retired principal Peter Elliot, who oversaw much of the planning and construction of the new BMLSS, had a similar sentiment.

“If you spend your money on a recreation centre or a theatre, you are making a statement to the rest of the province that ‘We are a destination — a place where people want to be.’ ”

One of the joint-user agreements is with the local gymnastics club that leases 10,000 square feet of the building for an excellent training facility. Membership in the club has already climbed from 112 young people to more than 300.

“I have no doubt that we are going to see our students go onto the Olympics because we have this facility here for them,” said Elliot.

But a new building means more than just great facilities — it means the best of modern construction technology. The entire school has wireless Internet access. Good architechtural design employing an abundance of windows meant a recent power outage at the school only disturbed four computer classrooms.

In this reporter’s mind, there is no doubt that every member of the delegation was impressed with what they saw. That the reality of the Bracebridge facility sparked their own dreams of what Almaguin’s new high school can be.