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Editor’s note: Citizen reporter Jacquie Miller and photographer Ashley Fraser joined the students and staff of Rideau High School in the days leading up to the graduation dinner and dance of the school’s final graduating class. The school board has decided the site will be closed. Determined to give the school and its students a proper sendoff, the community rallied to help put together a proper prom. This is their story.
Friday, June 23
2 p.m.
Asha Dahir Hassan rifles through a rack of party dresses set up in a spare room at Rideau High School.
“I think I’m going to go with this one,” she says, pulling out a sleek, dramatic black number with a slit down the side. She surveys a pile of shoes on the floor. “And heels. I love heels.”
The pop-up prom shop packed with donated dresses and suits is part of a community effort to create a graduation dinner and dance for Rideau High School’s class of 2017.
Hassan and her classmates are the final graduates from Rideau High. This spring, the city’s English public school board voted to close the half-empty school on St. Laurent Boulevard. It had been in a death spiral for years, its enrolment steadily dropping.
But for 60 years, the feisty school welcomed a wildly diverse group of students, many the children of immigrants, refugees and low-income families.
Hassan was 14 when she walked into Rideau after arriving in Canada from Mogadishu, Somalia. A new country, a new language, a new culture, she says.
“I was really scared. Then I walked into class, and this girl kind of looked like she was from the Middle East. So I started speaking Arabic, and she was like ‘How do you know Arabic?!’
“She was my first friend.”
Now 19, the confident, articulate Hassan is helping organize the grad dinner. In a few days, she will leave high school behind. “I learned English here, I learned to play sports, I learned to dance here,” Hassan says.
“It’s amazing. We’re a family here. I feel welcome, accepted. I don’t have to try to be somebody else here, I can be myself and be accepted for who I am.”
3 p.m.
Sara Gareau bustles about the room, unpacking jewelry and attending to a million details.
As of early June, there had been no grad dinner planned for Rideau’s last class of about 60 students. Students at Gloucester High School, where Rideau students will be directed next year, had invited Rideau students to take part in a multi-school, privately organized prom. But tickets were expensive. Efforts by some Rideau students to organize a dinner had sputtered.
Then Sara and her husband, Peter Gareau, who have a son in Grade 9 at Rideau, stepped up. Every graduate deserves a special night, says Sara. And she vowed to give them one. “I’m sure you remember your prom, whether it was good, bad, ugly or sad.”
Her plan? “A night to remember,” in her words. But it’s now five days before the June 28 dinner. And although the Gareaus and a small army of volunteers and donors have been enlisted, she’s still not sure how it will all come together. The food? Still being organized.
3:15 p.m.
Someone arrives with a cardboard box stuffed with rolls of tulle, a fine netting. “Oh my God, what’s that?” says Mohammed Cheikhezzein, 18, who’s also helping organize the dinner.
“That is part of my vision,” jokes Sara, who promises the tulle will be employed to help transform the school library into a dining hall.
Cheikhezzein clowns around, trying on a hat and jewelry.
He’s excited, but the school closure hovers like a shadow.
“It’s depressing,” says Cheikhezzein, who received an award from the school board for his leadership at Rideau, where he was involved in student council and clubs. “I’ve been part of this school community for four years. To see it go down the drain is not something I can wrap my head around.”
Rideau, he says, “is probably the best school you could go to.”
His family moved to another neighbourhood when he was in Grade 10, but Cheikhezzein chose to continue at Rideau. It meant a 45-minute trip on two buses. “I have to wake up at 7:30 every morning, but that’s OK, I don’t mind,” he says cheerfully.
What makes Rideau special? “You can talk to anybody, everybody knows each other. It’s easy to ask for help. When you walk into this school, you feel very safe.”
Cheikhezzein is headed to Carleton University next September to study psychology. “I don’t want to leave yet,” he admits. “I’m not ready.”
“It’s the last time I’ll ever be walking into this school,” he says. “It’s terrifying. I’m nervous, I’m sad. There’s a lot of mixed emotions.”
June 28
2 p.m.
Half a dozen students are in the school drama room, perched in front of mirrors doing their makeup, gossiping and sipping mock cocktails. They want to get ready for the grad dinner together.
Barbara Mouholo, 18, stitches up a pink gown with a needle and thread. “There’s just a little hole here.”
Nathalie Tardif works on 17-year-old Leah Haller-Watters’ hair in the drama room before the big event.
Ayan Mohamed does her makeup in the drama room at the high school.
Ayan Mohamed works on Saa Mer Ree’s makeup.
Saa Mer Ree does her makeup for the big night.
Volunteers have dropped in, including four Grade 10 girls from St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School in Gloucester who are eager to help. They brought cases of their own makeup to share.
They hover over Susan Mokh, applying layers of gold and black eyeliner. “Thank you guys so so much! I love it!” Mokh says.
She’ll be turning 18 in three days.
“It’s scary,” Mokh says. “We’re going out into the real world. But it’s exciting! You talk so much about graduation, but when it comes, it’s surreal.”
Mokh, who arrived in Grade 10 from Lebanon, had heard rumours that Rideau “wasn’t a good school.”
Rideau battled a lingering reputation as a school for tough kids who were not academically inclined. Most high school students who live in the catchment area — about 80 per cent — chose to attend English public schools that offer French immersion programs, or Catholic, French or private schools.
“Being here has crushed all those rumours!” Mokh says emphatically. “It’s been an amazing experience. I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.
“Rideau has been a huge part of my life — memories that will last a lifetime.”
The last week of school has been tough, says Mokh, saying goodbye to her friends and teachers. Many former Rideau grads also dropped in to say hello. “I won’t get that,” says Mokh wistfully. “I won’t have my alma mater. And that’s kind of depressing, because I won’t be able to come back and visit.”
In the fall, Mokh will move to Kingston to study psychology at Queen’s University. “I hope to make wonderful memories there as well,” she says softly.
Rideau High School: The last graduating class
The school library is being transformed with balloons and fabric streamers. The rolls of tulle are now wrapped around satin chair covers and tied in a big bow.
Tara Doucet from Governor’s Walk Retirement Residence in New Edinburgh is fussing over the place settings at the round tables. It’s formal: white tablecloths, floral centrepieces.
Like virtually everything associated with the dinner, most things were donated, Doucet explains. “The tablecloths were donated by Canadian Linen, the silver is from the RA Centre, the flowers are from Mille Fiore Flowers on Beechwood, the plates we found on Kijiji, the napkins are from my wedding.”
Governor’s Walk, where parent Peter Gareau works, took a lead role in organizing the dinner. Staff rounded up donations from local businesses and responded to a flood of offers from people who wanted to contribute dresses, suits, jewelry, cash and anything else that was needed. Anne Kielland, a 94-year-old at the residence, volunteered to alter the dresses.
“Something about this is touching everybody,” says Doucet. One woman who was visiting Ottawa, says Doucet, read a story in the Citizen about the graduation planning and dropped into Governor’s Walk with an envelope containing $1,000. Her own son had died shortly before his high school graduation, the woman explained.
“Oh my God, I don’t want to cry,” says Doucet, who wells up telling the story.
The high schools library was transformed into a beautiful event space for the students to enjoy a lovely dinner for their prom night. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia
The tables were set, the decorations in place, as the final grads from Rideau High School had their end-of-year dinner and dance.
Stella and Dot jewelry was made available for the grads to wear on the special night.
5 p.m.
A crew from radio station Live 88.5 sets up in a corner of the school library to spin music, with lights and a haze machine. “We’re trying to hit them with all the songs they’ll remember from the last four years,” says DJ Noah, who volunteered his services. And, of course, he’ll take requests. “Anything,” he says. “Whatever they want.”
Part of the fun, he adds, is that the students will be surprised. Organizers are keeping details of the dinner and decorations under wraps, including the LED-coloured light dance floor being assembled.
Tracey Black, owner of Epicuria Fine Food Store and Catering on St. Laurent Boulevard, displays the placard with the menu of appetizers her company is providing, with help from suppliers: a crudité platter, with beet hummus; a cheese and fruit and sushi platter. “Well-fed kids? I love that!” she jokes. “Pretty much in our neighbourhood, if you ask us to help, we say ‘Yes.'”
In another corner, containers of roast beef and mashed potatoes warm on hot plates, ready to be served by restaurateur and philanthropist Dave Smith.
Ayan Mohamed and Asha Dahir Hassan took a selfie outside the school before the big event kicked off.
5:30 p.m.
Austin Monette, 18, attired in a jaunty blue bowtie, arrives outside the school with several buddies and his proud mother, Jessica Butler, who snaps photographs. “This is so cool,” says Butler. “Little old ladies sewing the dresses. … It’s so great the community pitched in.”
“Excited?” says Monette. “Yes!” He sums up his years at Rideau. “To me, it’s a fun place, where a family is.”
“Yo, Mo!” the gang yells as Cheikhezzein saunters into the school yard in a black suit. “I tucked in my shirt for this,” Mo jokes. “I haven’t done that, ever!”
“I’m wearing what my dad got me for my birthday,” Cheikhezzein explains, deadpan. “I’ve only worn it once before, so it’s relatively clean.”
A chorus of girls shrieks as Jerry He, 18, arrives in jeans. “Someone arrest him! He’s not wearing a suit!”
He, who didn’t get the memo about formal attire, is ushered by fellow student into the school and straight to the pop-up shop.
5:45 p.m.
Students file into the school lobby, which has been decorated with balloons, streamers and flowers. A man plays guitar while black-suited waiters — also volunteers — circulate with trays of sushi and glasses of San Pellegrino.
Susan Mokh (middle) arrives to sign in to the reception.
Michael Bradford look around in awe. “This is amazing. Look at all this.”
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” he adds. “This means the community does care about us, about what happens to Rideau.”
Principal Steve Spidell assures several students, who are reluctant to take a snack, that it’s all free.
“This feels really proper,” says Mason Paulin, 19, whose black bow tie contrasts nicely with his white shirt and runners. Paulin says he enjoyed going to a small school that is “not so crowded or busy.”
“Staff here are really excellent. They’ll do whatever they can to help you graduate. They treat you like family, in a sense.”
“I’ve gotten close to a few teachers,” Paulin says. He considered one his “school mom,” while another helped ensure he got the credits he needed to graduate. He plans to attend Algonquin College for a bartending course.
“People think all the students at Rideau are bad kids,” Paulin says. “But we’re really not. We’re all just trying to graduate, like everyone else.
“Just because we’re from a ‘bad part of town,'” Paulin says, making ironic air quotes, “we’re not a bad school.”
6:30 p.m.
Jerry He, now attired in a suit and dress shoes, samples an hors d’oeuvre as the party in the lobby winds down. When he arrived from China four years ago, says He, “I was scared.”
But Rideau welcomed him. “This is a very multicultural school. They don’t look at you like ‘Oh, you’re Asian.’ I’m really grateful for that.”
His parents suggested he transfer to a school with a better academic reputation, but He refused. “I didn’t, because I like this place, to be honest.”
6:40 p.m.
The Rideau graduates are ushered, two by two, down a red carpet and into the library as teachers and fellow students clap and cheer.
“It’s so beautiful,” cries Leah Haller-Watters, taking her place at a table and gazing around the room. “Honestly, we didn’t expect this! It’s amazing.”
Barbara Mouholo watched friends enter into the transformed library.
6:45 p.m.
The doors to the library close, so 38 students from the class of 2017 can dine and dance the night away.
Jerry He captures a moment at the Rideau High School prom.
jmiller@postmedia.com
Rideau High School: the closure debates
1957: The school opens, after some complaints from a taxpayers group that said the building with an auditorium, double gym and cafeteria was too luxurious;
2009: School board staff recommend the school be closed because of shrinking enrolment. Trustees listened to uproar from the community and give the school a last-minute reprieve;
March 2017: After hours of emotional speeches from students, parents and community members, trustees voted to close the school. Staff argued that students were not getting the course selection and extra-curricular activities they deserved at the half-empty school; and
September 2017: Rideau students will be re-directed to Gloucester High School
The transition: from Rideau to Gloucester
Sports memorabilia: School banners in the Rideau gym are being consolidated into one banner that will hang at Gloucester. Digital copies of photographs from the Rideau “Athletic Wall of Fame” are available at Rideau to anyone who requests them;
Aboriginal lodge: The lodge at Rideau, which includes a smudge room, artwork and lounge area, will be recreated at Gloucester;
Day cares: The two child-care centres now at Rideau and the adult ESL class will be relocated to other schools; and
Name: The school board will consider giving Gloucester High School a new name to reflect both schools
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•••
Friday, June 23
2 p.m.
Asha Dahir Hassan rifles through a rack of party dresses set up in a spare room at Rideau High School.
“I think I’m going to go with this one,” she says, pulling out a sleek, dramatic black number with a slit down the side. She surveys a pile of shoes on the floor. “And heels. I love heels.”
The pop-up prom shop packed with donated dresses and suits is part of a community effort to create a graduation dinner and dance for Rideau High School’s class of 2017.
Hassan and her classmates are the final graduates from Rideau High. This spring, the city’s English public school board voted to close the half-empty school on St. Laurent Boulevard. It had been in a death spiral for years, its enrolment steadily dropping.
But for 60 years, the feisty school welcomed a wildly diverse group of students, many the children of immigrants, refugees and low-income families.
Hassan was 14 when she walked into Rideau after arriving in Canada from Mogadishu, Somalia. A new country, a new language, a new culture, she says.
“I was really scared. Then I walked into class, and this girl kind of looked like she was from the Middle East. So I started speaking Arabic, and she was like ‘How do you know Arabic?!’
“She was my first friend.”
Now 19, the confident, articulate Hassan is helping organize the grad dinner. In a few days, she will leave high school behind. “I learned English here, I learned to play sports, I learned to dance here,” Hassan says.
“It’s amazing. We’re a family here. I feel welcome, accepted. I don’t have to try to be somebody else here, I can be myself and be accepted for who I am.”
3 p.m.
Sara Gareau bustles about the room, unpacking jewelry and attending to a million details.
As of early June, there had been no grad dinner planned for Rideau’s last class of about 60 students. Students at Gloucester High School, where Rideau students will be directed next year, had invited Rideau students to take part in a multi-school, privately organized prom. But tickets were expensive. Efforts by some Rideau students to organize a dinner had sputtered.
Then Sara and her husband, Peter Gareau, who have a son in Grade 9 at Rideau, stepped up. Every graduate deserves a special night, says Sara. And she vowed to give them one. “I’m sure you remember your prom, whether it was good, bad, ugly or sad.”
Her plan? “A night to remember,” in her words. But it’s now five days before the June 28 dinner. And although the Gareaus and a small army of volunteers and donors have been enlisted, she’s still not sure how it will all come together. The food? Still being organized.
3:15 p.m.
Someone arrives with a cardboard box stuffed with rolls of tulle, a fine netting. “Oh my God, what’s that?” says Mohammed Cheikhezzein, 18, who’s also helping organize the dinner.
“That is part of my vision,” jokes Sara, who promises the tulle will be employed to help transform the school library into a dining hall.
Cheikhezzein clowns around, trying on a hat and jewelry.
He’s excited, but the school closure hovers like a shadow.
“It’s depressing,” says Cheikhezzein, who received an award from the school board for his leadership at Rideau, where he was involved in student council and clubs. “I’ve been part of this school community for four years. To see it go down the drain is not something I can wrap my head around.”
Rideau, he says, “is probably the best school you could go to.”
His family moved to another neighbourhood when he was in Grade 10, but Cheikhezzein chose to continue at Rideau. It meant a 45-minute trip on two buses. “I have to wake up at 7:30 every morning, but that’s OK, I don’t mind,” he says cheerfully.
What makes Rideau special? “You can talk to anybody, everybody knows each other. It’s easy to ask for help. When you walk into this school, you feel very safe.”
Cheikhezzein is headed to Carleton University next September to study psychology. “I don’t want to leave yet,” he admits. “I’m not ready.”
“It’s the last time I’ll ever be walking into this school,” he says. “It’s terrifying. I’m nervous, I’m sad. There’s a lot of mixed emotions.”
June 28
2 p.m.
Half a dozen students are in the school drama room, perched in front of mirrors doing their makeup, gossiping and sipping mock cocktails. They want to get ready for the grad dinner together.
Barbara Mouholo, 18, stitches up a pink gown with a needle and thread. “There’s just a little hole here.”
Nathalie Tardif works on 17-year-old Leah Haller-Watters’ hair in the drama room before the big event.
Ayan Mohamed does her makeup in the drama room at the high school.
Ayan Mohamed works on Saa Mer Ree’s makeup.
Saa Mer Ree does her makeup for the big night.
Volunteers have dropped in, including four Grade 10 girls from St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School in Gloucester who are eager to help. They brought cases of their own makeup to share.
They hover over Susan Mokh, applying layers of gold and black eyeliner. “Thank you guys so so much! I love it!” Mokh says.
She’ll be turning 18 in three days.
“It’s scary,” Mokh says. “We’re going out into the real world. But it’s exciting! You talk so much about graduation, but when it comes, it’s surreal.”
Mokh, who arrived in Grade 10 from Lebanon, had heard rumours that Rideau “wasn’t a good school.”
Rideau battled a lingering reputation as a school for tough kids who were not academically inclined. Most high school students who live in the catchment area — about 80 per cent — chose to attend English public schools that offer French immersion programs, or Catholic, French or private schools.
“Being here has crushed all those rumours!” Mokh says emphatically. “It’s been an amazing experience. I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.
“Rideau has been a huge part of my life — memories that will last a lifetime.”
The last week of school has been tough, says Mokh, saying goodbye to her friends and teachers. Many former Rideau grads also dropped in to say hello. “I won’t get that,” says Mokh wistfully. “I won’t have my alma mater. And that’s kind of depressing, because I won’t be able to come back and visit.”
In the fall, Mokh will move to Kingston to study psychology at Queen’s University. “I hope to make wonderful memories there as well,” she says softly.
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Rideau High School: The last graduating class
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Rideau High School: The last graduating class
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 18-year-old Austin Monette Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 18-year-old Susan Mokh Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 17-year-old Leah Haller-Watters Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 19-year-old Asha Dahir Hassan Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 17-year-old Ryan Dubeau Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- L-R 17-year-old Ryan Dubeau and 18-year-old Austin Monette Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Andresitaabua Alogo Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Sarah Picotte Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Idil Jama Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 18-year-old Micheal Bradford Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- L-R Yassin Boukhriss, Micheal Bradford and Idil Jama Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Yassin Boukhriss Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 18-year-old Barbara Mouholo Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- L-R Arzo-Mohammad Rahman, 18-year-old Barbara Mouholo and 18-year-old Saa Mer Ree Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 18-year-old Ayan Mohamed Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Arzo-Mohammad Rahman Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 19-year-old Asha Dahir Hassan and 18-year-old Saa Mer Ree Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Noorullah Hussain Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- L-R 18-year-old Ayan Mohamed and Noorullah Hussain Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 17-year-old Tylor Bussiere Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 18-year-old Micheal Bradford, 17-year-old Tylor Bussiere and Noorullah Hussain. Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Syed Samdani Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 17-year-old Gaby Caloca Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Fatima Idris Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- L-R Fatima Idris and Andresitaabua Alogo Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Gabriel "Rico" Riascos Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Mohammed Cheikhezzein Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Paulin Mason Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- James Worlor Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- 19-year-old Asha Dahir Hassan and Mohammed Cheikhezzein Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
Rideau High School held a prom for the last graduating class Wednesday June 28, 2017, as the school has closed the doors permanently. -- Caleb Etienne Photos by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia Ashley Fraser, Postmedia Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen
The school library is being transformed with balloons and fabric streamers. The rolls of tulle are now wrapped around satin chair covers and tied in a big bow.
Tara Doucet from Governor’s Walk Retirement Residence in New Edinburgh is fussing over the place settings at the round tables. It’s formal: white tablecloths, floral centrepieces.
Like virtually everything associated with the dinner, most things were donated, Doucet explains. “The tablecloths were donated by Canadian Linen, the silver is from the RA Centre, the flowers are from Mille Fiore Flowers on Beechwood, the plates we found on Kijiji, the napkins are from my wedding.”
Governor’s Walk, where parent Peter Gareau works, took a lead role in organizing the dinner. Staff rounded up donations from local businesses and responded to a flood of offers from people who wanted to contribute dresses, suits, jewelry, cash and anything else that was needed. Anne Kielland, a 94-year-old at the residence, volunteered to alter the dresses.
“Something about this is touching everybody,” says Doucet. One woman who was visiting Ottawa, says Doucet, read a story in the Citizen about the graduation planning and dropped into Governor’s Walk with an envelope containing $1,000. Her own son had died shortly before his high school graduation, the woman explained.
“Oh my God, I don’t want to cry,” says Doucet, who wells up telling the story.
The high schools library was transformed into a beautiful event space for the students to enjoy a lovely dinner for their prom night. Ashley Fraser/Postmedia
The tables were set, the decorations in place, as the final grads from Rideau High School had their end-of-year dinner and dance.
Stella and Dot jewelry was made available for the grads to wear on the special night.
5 p.m.
A crew from radio station Live 88.5 sets up in a corner of the school library to spin music, with lights and a haze machine. “We’re trying to hit them with all the songs they’ll remember from the last four years,” says DJ Noah, who volunteered his services. And, of course, he’ll take requests. “Anything,” he says. “Whatever they want.”
Part of the fun, he adds, is that the students will be surprised. Organizers are keeping details of the dinner and decorations under wraps, including the LED-coloured light dance floor being assembled.
Tracey Black, owner of Epicuria Fine Food Store and Catering on St. Laurent Boulevard, displays the placard with the menu of appetizers her company is providing, with help from suppliers: a crudité platter, with beet hummus; a cheese and fruit and sushi platter. “Well-fed kids? I love that!” she jokes. “Pretty much in our neighbourhood, if you ask us to help, we say ‘Yes.'”
In another corner, containers of roast beef and mashed potatoes warm on hot plates, ready to be served by restaurateur and philanthropist Dave Smith.
Ayan Mohamed and Asha Dahir Hassan took a selfie outside the school before the big event kicked off.
5:30 p.m.
Austin Monette, 18, attired in a jaunty blue bowtie, arrives outside the school with several buddies and his proud mother, Jessica Butler, who snaps photographs. “This is so cool,” says Butler. “Little old ladies sewing the dresses. … It’s so great the community pitched in.”
“Excited?” says Monette. “Yes!” He sums up his years at Rideau. “To me, it’s a fun place, where a family is.”
“Yo, Mo!” the gang yells as Cheikhezzein saunters into the school yard in a black suit. “I tucked in my shirt for this,” Mo jokes. “I haven’t done that, ever!”
“I’m wearing what my dad got me for my birthday,” Cheikhezzein explains, deadpan. “I’ve only worn it once before, so it’s relatively clean.”
A chorus of girls shrieks as Jerry He, 18, arrives in jeans. “Someone arrest him! He’s not wearing a suit!”
He, who didn’t get the memo about formal attire, is ushered by fellow student into the school and straight to the pop-up shop.
5:45 p.m.
Students file into the school lobby, which has been decorated with balloons, streamers and flowers. A man plays guitar while black-suited waiters — also volunteers — circulate with trays of sushi and glasses of San Pellegrino.
Susan Mokh (middle) arrives to sign in to the reception.
Michael Bradford look around in awe. “This is amazing. Look at all this.”
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” he adds. “This means the community does care about us, about what happens to Rideau.”
Principal Steve Spidell assures several students, who are reluctant to take a snack, that it’s all free.
“This feels really proper,” says Mason Paulin, 19, whose black bow tie contrasts nicely with his white shirt and runners. Paulin says he enjoyed going to a small school that is “not so crowded or busy.”
“Staff here are really excellent. They’ll do whatever they can to help you graduate. They treat you like family, in a sense.”
“I’ve gotten close to a few teachers,” Paulin says. He considered one his “school mom,” while another helped ensure he got the credits he needed to graduate. He plans to attend Algonquin College for a bartending course.
“People think all the students at Rideau are bad kids,” Paulin says. “But we’re really not. We’re all just trying to graduate, like everyone else.
“Just because we’re from a ‘bad part of town,'” Paulin says, making ironic air quotes, “we’re not a bad school.”
6:30 p.m.
Jerry He, now attired in a suit and dress shoes, samples an hors d’oeuvre as the party in the lobby winds down. When he arrived from China four years ago, says He, “I was scared.”
But Rideau welcomed him. “This is a very multicultural school. They don’t look at you like ‘Oh, you’re Asian.’ I’m really grateful for that.”
His parents suggested he transfer to a school with a better academic reputation, but He refused. “I didn’t, because I like this place, to be honest.”
6:40 p.m.
The Rideau graduates are ushered, two by two, down a red carpet and into the library as teachers and fellow students clap and cheer.
“It’s so beautiful,” cries Leah Haller-Watters, taking her place at a table and gazing around the room. “Honestly, we didn’t expect this! It’s amazing.”
Barbara Mouholo watched friends enter into the transformed library.
6:45 p.m.
The doors to the library close, so 38 students from the class of 2017 can dine and dance the night away.
Jerry He captures a moment at the Rideau High School prom.
jmiller@postmedia.com
•••
Rideau High School: the closure debates
1957: The school opens, after some complaints from a taxpayers group that said the building with an auditorium, double gym and cafeteria was too luxurious;
2009: School board staff recommend the school be closed because of shrinking enrolment. Trustees listened to uproar from the community and give the school a last-minute reprieve;
March 2017: After hours of emotional speeches from students, parents and community members, trustees voted to close the school. Staff argued that students were not getting the course selection and extra-curricular activities they deserved at the half-empty school; and
September 2017: Rideau students will be re-directed to Gloucester High School
•••
The transition: from Rideau to Gloucester
Sports memorabilia: School banners in the Rideau gym are being consolidated into one banner that will hang at Gloucester. Digital copies of photographs from the Rideau “Athletic Wall of Fame” are available at Rideau to anyone who requests them;
Aboriginal lodge: The lodge at Rideau, which includes a smudge room, artwork and lounge area, will be recreated at Gloucester;
Day cares: The two child-care centres now at Rideau and the adult ESL class will be relocated to other schools; and
Name: The school board will consider giving Gloucester High School a new name to reflect both schools
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