An area high school is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the story of how one aspect of the reunion celebration came to be organized is anything but ordinary.
Tagwi Secondary School – located between Avonmore and Monkland – officially opened in 1974. It has turned out countless graduates since then, including many that now call North Dundas home. The school’s 50 year anniversary was being anticipated as far back as 2020, but one of the anticipated exhibits was spearheaded not by school officials, but by a former student.
Bart Bilmer graduated from Tagwi in the 1980s. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of his time at the school was his participation in a club called “Reach For The Top”. The Reach club participated in competitive trivia with other area schools. Bart was reminded of his time spent in the Reach club in October of 2020, when a friend from high school came across a Facebook video of one of Bart’s Reach games from the early 1980s – almost 40 years prior!
“After watching it, I thought it would be great to get together with these teammates for a coffee or dinner and catch up,” said Bart. “Then I thought it would be nice to do this with all my former teammates!”
Considering that Tagwi won a national Reach championship in 1989, Bart decided that it would be worth it to try and get multiple generations of former Tagwi Reach teammates together to catch up.
“I had saved a lot of memorabilia, I had the names of the championship team members, and between my brother and I, we had covered 7 of the 40 years the school had teams,” Bart added.
Tagwi SS faculty granted Bart permission to set up a Facebook page to try and get as many former Reach players as possible together for a reunion. This Facebook page has been running since late 2020, and its member base has grown steadily over the years. While many former players were catching up on social media – and some from different generations getting to know each other for the first time – Bart was busy planning a Reach reunion. He wanted as many videos of former matches as possible. This proved challenging since previous CBC footage had long since been erased, so Bart had to think outside the box, seeking private videos from Tagwi, YouTube, and members of the public (whom he reached out to via newspaper ads).
Through his diligent work, Bart found 3 of the 5 members from Tagwi’s national championship team, and was able to have a long chat and ongoing correspondence with one of them. He learned through Internet research that the team never got to take home the Reach For The Top trophy for the year in which they won due to a “legal dispute”.
Bart was able to get in touch with most of his own former teammates, but was saddened to learn that one of them had passed away in 2012. Then, life dealt a devastating blow: another teammate passed away after the reunion planning had already started, and this one was Bart’s closest friend throughout his time at school. Bart was demotivated, but he soldiered on.
Finally, Tagwi officials decided to organize a full scale reunion in celebration of 50 years of the school, and the Reach reunion was rolled into the larger event.
Planning has continued for Bart while he attempts to make the Reach part of the reunion as special as possible. He recently discovered that teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s made it to the provincial championships. There are also 3 videos of the 1989 national championships which will be played at the reunion.
“Contacting the Reach For The Top organization for videos led me to the national quizmaster, who is going to come to the reunion with the official RFTT set and host an alumni game,” Bart explained. “Part of the trophy that the championship team never got to bring back to Tagwi will be coming too!”
Bart notes that Tagwi staff have been very helpful in providing any information they can to help in his research and planning. “With all the info and memorabilia I’ve found, I’ve started compiling and making exhibits”, he added. One helpful source was his former coach’s spouse, who provided not only helpful information, but also a “banker’s box full of memorabilia”.
The Tagwi SS 50th anniversary reunion will take place on October 26. A wine and cheese social will take place at the school from 1-4 p.m., followed by dinner and a dance from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. at The Metcalfe Centre in Maxville. Tickets are on sale until October 15 and can be purchased at tagwi50.eventbrite.com