Image: A film still showing students hard at work in Eaglesham School (SPRA 0137.03.02, Fonds 137: Donaldson family collection)
Movie Monday highlights videos from the Archives’ film collection. Every week, an archival film will be featured on our YouTube channel and here on our blog. The Movie Monday project is made possible with the generous funding support of Swan City Rotary Club of Grande Prairie.
Welcome to the first installment of Movie Monday! Because the school year has just begun, it seems only fitting that the subject of today’s video should be a school: more specifically, the Eaglesham School.
The first classes held in Eaglesham were taught by Mary Pilon (Peterson) in 1936. At that time there was no school building, so lessons took place in the Catholic Church. In 1937, a log school was built half a mile west of the hamlet, where five more teachers would preside over the one-room schoolhouse in the nine years that followed. It wasn’t until 1952 (after a six year interval where all students were bussed to Fox Creek) that a centralized school was erected in Eaglesham, serving Grades 1-9 in its opening year.
By the time this school tour was filmed (ca. 1995), Eaglesham School had added specialized spaces such as a science room, computer room, and a library, and the school catered to students from Kindergarten through Grade 12.
Narrated by Chandra Rooney and filmed by Renee Thibeault, this video will take you through the entire Eaglesham school, beginning with the kindergarten class and ending with the computer lab – an obvious source of pride for the community.