'It's a marriage of old and new': Province officially opens newly renovated Victoria High School

After a long four-year renovation of Victoria High School, some would say what was old is new again. Others dispute that.

“No it’s not, it’s a marriage of the old and the new,” said Linda Baker, vice-chair of the Victoria High School Alumni Board.

Baker is a graduate of Victoria High School’s class of 1969. She says the results of the renovation are a perfect blend of preservation and rehabilitation.

“This is a multi-purpose room with great seating,” said Baker, showing off the room in the expanded section of the school.

The seating was all repurposed from bench seating from the old gymnasium’s bleachers.

The original entrance to the old building still exists, although now it separates the school’s interior expansion and the original structure.

“You literally are crossing over the threshold into the original building,” said Baker.

“This is one of the oldest schools in British Columbia and one that the community wanted to ensure was kept,” said Rachna Singh, the minister of education at a press conference at the school on Wednesday.

The renovation began in 2020, with a budget of nearly $80 million and a completion date of September 2023.

Now eight months overdue and nearly $20 million over budget, students have returned to class.

“I love it,” said Maya Davidson, a Grade 10 student at Victoria High School. “It’s so nice here and it’s so much bigger.”

“It’s beautiful,” said Laura Biro, another Grade 10 student. “It’s modernized inside but it’s also meant to look as if it was the original school.”

“Students were in on Friday,” said Aaron Parker, principal of Victoria High School.

Parker says he saw the pride in the students’ faces as they entered the school for the first time.

“To be able to be tied to this building is very special for them,” said Parker.

It’s the oldest continuously functioning high school west of Winnipeg and north of San Francisco. The school opened its doors in 1876.

The Victoria High School now has a neighbourhood learning centre, an outdoor classroom and room for 200 more students, up to 1,000 from 800.

“We have original registration cards from the 1900s, we have exam results,” said Baker. They’re all held in the school’s archive, securing 148 years of history.

“This is the only in-school archives in Victoria,” said Baker. It houses sweaters, trophies, photos and among other memorabilia. All records of a rich history which will now continue for many more years to come.