Chapter 2: High Hopes

I arrived at Emily Carr in the fall of 1970 and easily adjusted to making friends, while being an above average student, even participating in sports day activities without really getting close to anyone due to time schedules with Easter Seal that bothered me.

Eric Hamber Secondary School

During the 1970's, only Prince of Wales, John Oliver and Point Grey were high schools with wheelchair access. GF Strong thought I was crazy to choose Eric Hamber Secondary, whose principal didn't want responsibility if an accident happened. I dared to be lifted by the students and put my life at risk, telling the school authorities not to worry. When GF Strong representatives suggested I receive physiotherapy in the afternoons, like five years before, I told them to treat me at Hamber. GF Strong quit controlling me in 1973.

In the 1970s, Eric Hamber Secondary was a rich, highly populated school made up of Jews, Chinese and East Indians who all had money to go to university. I got along with all of them, especially those considered outsiders. In 1972-73, I finished two grades but didn't do extracurricular activities until 1974 due to Easter Seal commitments. Every day, I spent lunch debating issues like sex and drugs with Sue MacIndoe and her best friend Sandie Utas.

In 1974, I decided to be a teacher, but fought to get good marks. I was failing Math but I admired my teacher, Doug Collison, who would stop the whole class just to make sure a student such as me knew how to solve an equation. Collison's commitment to student learning, and the energy of my French Teacher, Carol Bridal, impressed me. Collison's faith in me confirmed that I should follow him as a teacher. In 1975, he passed me after I promised never to take math again.

I was nominated for Valedictorian and got my high school diploma on May 28, 1976. I was driven by Kitty Hudson, who now had a fleet of Easter Seal vans with hoists. Eric Hamber Secondary was the first barrier that I'd broken through and a major turning point for me. It was the happiest time of my life and a place I'll always hold dear.