Canyon High gets ready to celebrate 50th school year
This September, Canyon High School will celebrate its 50th anniversary with alumni, students, parents and staff.
The celebration held on the school’s “Back to School Night” Sept. 4 will honor the school’s 50-year legacy and honor the high school’s 50 Most Influential People.
“We want a genuine back-to-school night to take place,” Canyon High School Principal Jason d’Autremont said. “It should be very inclusive to provide the rich history of our school back to the ’60s and ’70s.”
Typically, all schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District host their back-to-school nights on the same day; however, in fall 2018, Canyon High School will host its one, separate event in honor of its 50th anniversary.
“(2017-18) is our 50th school year this year, but we opened our doors on Sept. 3, 1968 -- and unfortunately Sept. 3, 2018 is Labor Day,” Canyon High School Principal Jason d’Autremont said. “We’re going to have a standalone back-to-school night… There are a lot of Canyon High School graduates that work at other schools and we want them to be able to come back to campus.”
Canyon High School began preparing for the celebration more than a year ago, when the school formed a committee consisting of current staff members, former teachers and principals, district staff and current and former parents.
“We have a wide reach to try to get as much input from our stakeholders as possible and that input has been awesome so far,” d’Autremont said. “We meet each month, and we’ve had some really successful meetings.”
So far, the committee invited all of the school’s living former principals to the event, and set up an Instagram account, @Canyon50th, to provide the community with spoilers about the event and share photos from the school’s history.
Committee member and Canyon High School Movie Making and Digital Photography teacher Taggart Lee is also creating a 20 to 30 minute documentary film about the school’s history.
“One of the things we’ve really been working on for a year and a half now… that is started and more than halfway done, is a 50-year film that documents the school over the years,” d’Autremont said. “It’s going to look really cool.”
Another major element of the event is honoring the school’s 50 Most Influential People who contributed to the school’s success or made a difference in their professional industry.
“I wanted to have something that set apart people at this school day,” d’Autremont said. “The committee decided to think of different professions and industry sectors that would encompass a lot of great people…. We want to reach that wide net to involve all the stakeholders that have gone to Canyon High School.”
To create this list of Canyon High School’s Most Influential People, the high school is seeking the public’s help to nominate individuals in one of six categories: Education, Athletics, Arts/Entertainment, Business, Government and Other.
The nominees can be graduates, teachers, administrators or those who were instrumental to the success of the school and those associated with it.
To nominate someone for the 50 Most Influential People, go to the Canyon High School website, Canyon High Cowboys. org, and click on the “50 Most Influential” link on the home page.
Individuals can also be nominated on a Google Doc, which can be located at SignalSCV.com