When you come to the reunion, you can visit the B Wing Art Room, The B Dance Studio, The C Wing Cafeteria, where you...no wait, you can't because the school was renovated...but here is a good reason to come....

SUDBURY SECONDARY SCHOOL TO HONOUR FORMER PRINCIPAL JOE DRAGO

Joe Drago, founding Principal of the Performing Arts / Arts Education Program, will be honoured for his many contributions to the school at a special ceremony on Sunday, May 22, 2016, during the Variety Show.

Joe Drago was Principal of Sudbury Secondary School from February 1982 to June 1993. It was shortly after he arrived that the idea to establish the Performing Arts Program became a reality.

BACKGROUND

When Joe Drago became principal of Sudbury Secondary School in 1982, he knew that the school had gone through some tough times in recent years. Despite programming innovations in the academic, general, and basic streams, a strong staff in all academic departments and optional subjects, and a tradition of excellence in athletics, Sudbury Secondary’s enrolment continued to decline, as fewer young families were moving into the downtown. What could be done to turn this situation around?

Joe’s daughter Lisa, a trained singer and dancer, provided the answer. She remarked that high school students ought to be able to take courses in singing, drama and dance, along with music and visual arts. The light bulb went off in Joe’s head, and the rest, as they say, is history…

In early 1983, Principal Drago sought permission from the Sudbury Board of Education, under Director of Education George Thomson, to launch a one-year pilot project. After a visit to the original “Fame” school in New York City, Joe assembled a committee whose members would play pivotal roles over the next several years: Judi Straughan (drama), Natasha Sawchuk (dance), Helen Toivonen (visual arts), Arlene Wheatfield (teacher-librarian), Joe Sintic (Head of Guidance), George Stelmack (music), and Frank Desimone (technical theatre).

While Joe Drago continued to advocate at the administrative level, he and Joe Sintic visited every elementary school in the Board in the winter of 1984, and recruited fifteen Grade 9 students in each of the four arts disciplines. The pilot project was approved in early 1985, thanks to the support of key individuals such as Superintendent Bill Roman and Director of Education Jim Smith, and several unused shops and the B-wing gym were renovated as studios for music, dance, and drama.

*You can read more in the commemorative booklet that each Reunion participant will receive.