Interviewed by: Hivda Ates

What may come as a surprise to those who have had Ms. Doan as a supply is that she’s a former drama and English teacher at Forest Hill, having started in September of 1985. Accordingly, I took advantage of an opportunity to learn more about our school’s past through the firsthand experiences of someone who is a great part of it.

What are some notable differences between FHCI then and FHCI now?

The school is physically sort of the same – the exterior and blueprints, but there used to be a lot of portables in the area of the basketball nets. I was in portable number seven and even planted a garden. There was once an incident when a rabbit had taken refuge under my portable. The portables provided great many challenges. There have been renovations since then.

The drama department was huge when I first started here. The kids were very bright and creative, they were go-getters. They were keen and had pep rallies among many events. Huge numbers of people would show up for auditions. Kids also supported things, they would come out to school events out of their own will. It was not like you were dismissed from class, you wanted to.

What’s the same?

The students generally want to do well, the idea of doing well exists. There is not a whole lot physically the same.

What was grade 13 like? 

People were a little more mature in 13. They covered more work, it did benefit some. But for those who were bright, and worked, it wasn’t necessary. It did help in many ways because you could cover more work in more depth. Though it was a double edged sword because every one else in the world was graduating earlier (Grade 13 only existed in Ontario).