JANET Turewicz reminisced about three decades of memories at Wodonga High School on the weekend as she said goodbye to its past.
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Having taught at the school since 1985, she laughed as she told the tales of the last 1960s building remaining at the school which is due to be demolished to complete the upgrade.
“It was only about four years ago I was teaching English in room 105 with another teacher and all of a sudden she half disappeared down a hole,” Ms Turewicz said.
“Her foot went straight through the floorboards because of all the termites and it was up on Facebook within about 10 seconds, it was very funny.”
She said they had been through just about everything in the building, which is more than 50 years old and has provided 17 classrooms, which housed 9000 students.
“We’ve been through the termites, we’ve been through the mould, we’ve been through renovations and we’ve been told for years we’d have a new building,” she said.
“This new building will establish Wodonga Senior Secondary College as a school now and not just the old Wodonga High School.”
As the old goes out, a new $11.5 million state of the art administration building has come and is now in use.
Sporting facilities are set to replace the building being demolished, and will include hockey fields, tennis courts and basketball courts.
Former student Wayne Crichton said he spent a lot of his time at Wodonga high outside the vice- principal’s office.
He took his children to the old building and told them stories of his school days when there were lino floors and no airconditioning.
“One time in room 302 I threw a bottle of liquid paper at the fan and it split it open,” he said.
“It got stuck to the fan and was going all over the classroom.”
The building will be handed over for demolition on Thursday and Wodonga Senior Secondary College principal Vern Hilditch said the upgrades were welcome.
“The new buildings are purpose-built and are more conducive to student needs,” he said.
“The whole school has a university feel about it for students.”