The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
When Flin Flon educators began developing an alternative high school in the early 1990s, no one knew what to expect. Twenty years and 400-plus graduates later, Many Faces Education Centre stands as a true success story in Manitoba education. 'Many people have graduated from Many Faces who, without that school, would not have gotten their high school diploma and are today very successful as members of our community and outside of our community as well,' says Blaine Veitch, superintendent of the Flin Flon School Division and a one-time principal of Many Faces. Known simply as Alternative High School in its first year, Many Faces launched in the fall of 1992, utilizing leased space in the lower level of the Friendship Centre. Mixture The student population was small, a mixture of working adults, single moms and students who had not found success at Hapnot Collegiate, the traditional high school that had served generations of Flin Flonners. What students found at Many Faces was a learning environment tailored to their needs. They could take courses individually, completing them as their schedules allowed. Smaller classes meant more one-on-one instruction. A lighter attendance policy helped them juggle life's demands. Most striking of all was the tearing down of some traditional student-teacher barriers. Teachers went by their first names and while they remained authority figures, they were seen as equals, even friends, by their pupils. 'You'd come in in the morning and grab a morning coffee and sit down with (staff members) and chit chat,' recalls Darren Romo, who graduated from the school in 1995 and now works in information technology at Hudbay. 'Like you would with your buddies.' Years earlier, when he was in Grade 10, Romo had dropped out of Hapnot. As he puts it, 'Regular school and me just didn't agree.' Romo entered the workforce but found that in order to get ahead, he would need an education. 'Regular school' still wasn't a palatable option, so he gave Many Faces a chance. In this new atmosphere, he shone. Romo was voted valedictorian and after graduation enrolled at the University of Manitoba. He had become one of Many Faces' early successes. By now the school, once barely known to the general public, was becoming more recognizable. Whereas the first graduating class in 1993 had just four students, by the time Romo donned a cap and gown in 1995, there were 15. The school also made efforts to forge an identity. In 1993-94, with the blessing of the school division, a student committee christened the institution 'Many Faces Education Centre.' The name symbolized the diversity of the student body. A school logo depicted an aboriginal peace pipe, representing the harmonious environment Many Faces endeavoured to create. Teal, black and white were chosen as the school colours. See 'Image' on pg. Continued from pg. None of it could completely erase the school's image problem. Many Faces was (and still is) sometimes seen as a warehouse for misfits and, perhaps worse, a diploma mill with low educational standards. The reputation is not necessarily fair. In terms of behavioural issues, a 2000 student survey found that the majority of students at all but one Flin Flon school considered bullying to sometimes be a problem at their school. The lone exception: Many Faces, where only four per cent of students worried about bullying. No wonder former principal Ron Biberdorf used to joke, 'My discipline file is so small it barely exists.' Does Many Faces have low standards? Not according to the Manitoba government, which requires the school follow all provincial curricula and its students write every mandatory exam. Maureen Reagan, who has taught at Many Faces for the past nine years, says students new to the school sometimes arrive with the belief that they are in for an easy ride. 'And they find out that's not the way it is,' Reagan says. Monique Wall, a Grade 11 student, can attest to that. 'They don't make it easier, they'll work around your schedule and they'll help you as much as they can,' Wall says. While Many Faces feels like home for students like Wall, its own physical address has changed a few times in two decades. When the school outgrew the Friendship Centre, it relocated to a school division building on Timber Lane in the mid-1990s. After the armoury on Highway 10A was vacated by the Canadian military, Many Faces moved there in the fall of 1996. With Many Faces now practically a stone's throw away from Hapnot, the two high schools began to work more closely together. It became common, for instance, for Hapnot students to enroll part-time at Many Faces. Perhaps they were missing a credit or were drawn to a course exclusive to the alternative school. The more central location of the armoury helped boost Many Faces' profile and enrollment. A school that had always had a significant segment of adults began welcoming more high-school-aged pupils. Space demands The armoury was not perfect, but as a makeshift school it sufficed. The old army drill hall became a gymnasium, and there was room for a portable classroom to meet growing demands for space. By 1999-2000, space was officially at a premium. Having produced fewer than 65 graduates in its first eight years combined, Many Faces had a graduating class of 35 students in 2000. Three years later, in 2003, came a record 56 graduates. Such numbers prompted criticism: Was Many Faces accepting students who didn't really need alternative learning? Had the school overreached its mandate? The question of who 'belongs' at Many Faces and who doesn't has always been complicated. The stereotypical student is one who fails in the mainstream, or whose life circumstances make a conventional academic setting impractical. For the first four years or so, Many Faces turned away would-be students who didn't fit a certain profile. When that practice ended, the school was increasingly viewed as an option for a broader base of students. 'As it happened, we were able to grow and develop and fill some needs for people who would have been able to function in the traditional system...but were just as happy to function at Many Faces,' the late Charlie Mott, a long-time teacher at the school, once told The Reminder. Nonetheless, after the record graduating class of 2003, student numbers began to drop. Many Faces, like Hapnot, was feeling the pinch of two realities: Flin Flon was shrinking and Creighton was opening its own high school. By the time Many Faces moved from the armoury to the remaining wing of the old Parkdale School in 2007, space was not the worry it once was. It was nice, however, to finally be in a facility designed for education. See 'Fac...' on pg. Continued from pg. What has always made Many Faces work, regardless of enrollment or location, are the teachers. And not just any teacher will do. 'I think the teachers that go there have to be able to balance the individual needs, and a wide range of needs, of students and still have expectations,' says Veitch, the school division superintendent, 'because you don't want the quality of education to be second-rate.' For all of the unique challenges it presents, Many Faces has not struggled with staff retention. The list of teachers and administrators who have stayed multiple years is long and distinguished. It includes, among others, Reagan, Mott, Kathleen Woodward, Jane Dupre, Kaylynne Neubuhr, future Flin Flon MLA Clarence Pettersen, Betty Bortis, Craig McIntosh and the late Conrad Ziehlke. 'It's very rewarding because when you see students accomplish what they've had such a difficult time doing, it gives you a really good feeling,' says Reagan.Veitch recalls his year as principal at Many Faces, in 1994-95, with fondness. 'That year was a wonderful experience,' Veitch says. 'I got to meet a lot of very intelligent people who had struggled in their schooling, and when they had the opportunity to have their learning in a more one-on-one and small group setting, at a different pace and in a different environment, they excelled. 'I saw adults that were mentoring and helping the younger students in an attempt to have their experiences impact those youth before they made decisions that the adults had made, so I think it was a great blend.' In 20 years Many Faces has produced its share of thriving alumni. Graduates have become nurses, teachers, technologists, journalists, paramedics, tradespeople, soldiers and, in the case of James Lindsay of Lynn Lake, a mayor. Wall, the current Grade 11 student, plans to study early childhood education after graduating next year. She wants to open her own daycare, a dream her teachers believe in as much as she does. It's that kind of support that led Wall through the doors of Many Faces. Asked why she picked the school, she simply says, 'Just knowing how you're treated here and you always feel welcome.' With about 70 students today, Many Faces is less than half the size it was at its peak. Next week's graduation is expected to celebrate 17 students, half as many as three years ago. Population trends being what they are, it's unlikely Many Faces will grow much larger. But Veitch knows one thing: the school will continue to innovate. 'Many Faces has undergone many changes over the 20 years,' says Veitch, 'and is continually evolving to try and meet the needs of the students that most need it.'
