Wallaceburg District Secondary School has completed a Gymnasium Revitalization Project nearly two years after planning began, transforming the school’s aging 1990s gym walls into a new mural-covered space.
The more than $50,000 project, led by the Tartan Booster Club along with school administration and staff, will benefit both the high school and its elementary school, as well as the broader Wallaceburg community that regularly uses the facilities.
Custom mural artwork celebrating the school’s Tartan identity was created by Jack and his team at iLLUSiON iMAGES Ltd.
The school credited the project’s success to the generosity of its sponsors, donors and community partners, including platinum-level supporters the Municipality of Chatham-Kent’s Hydro One Councillor Ward Funding, the South Kent Wind Community Fund, the Chatham-Kent Community Foundation, the Tartan Booster Club, the Mikhaila family and Enbridge.
Gold-level sponsors included Canadian Tire Wallaceburg, Dr. Robert and Evelyn Mayo, Maryanne Brooks, the Tartan Alumni Association and an anonymous family donation, while Tartan Athletics, the Wallaceburg Airhawks and the Mahu family gave at the silver level. ScreenArt Wallaceburg was recognized as a bronze sponsor.
The school also thanked the Lambton Kent District School Board, principal Tiffany Cadotte, vice-principal Lisa Kameka, former principal Jeremy Gower, the Tartan Booster Club committee, and the school’s health and physical education and technological education departments for their roles in the project.
“WE DID IT, TARTAN NATION!” the school said in a social media post announcing the completed renovation, adding it hopes the new space leaves students, athletes and community members feeling “motivated, inspired, and proud to be a Tartan.”
