‘It’s new beginnings’: Special ceremony marks Dene High School grand reopening
The phrase ‘Dene Strong’ was repeated over and over again at a grand reopening and memorial ceremony Jan. 18 at La Loche’s Dene High School.
While cameras and audio recording equipment weren’t permitted inside the event, hundreds of students, staff and local residents gathered in the gymnasium to celebrate $4.5 million in renovations, as well as remember the school shooting nearly three years ago where a gunman took the lives of four people and injured seven others. Many of the attendees at the ceremony wore purple and nearly a dozen dignitaries were present to speak.
“It was good because you could feel the energy and the renewal,” La Loche Mayor Robert St. Pierre told larongeNOW after the event. “When you come into the new entrance and see the words ‘Dene Strong,’ you know the renovations have taken place and the students are excited to be here.”