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Queen Elizabeth School history preserved

The former chair of the Queen Elizabeth School Community Council undertook the huge project to preserve the history of the school with the end of the school now looming on the horizon.
QE yearbooks

The former chair of the Queen Elizabeth School Community Council undertook the huge project to preserve the history of the school with the end of the school now looming on the horizon.

Deana Mainil spent many hours going through every scrapbook and yearbook since 1958, and took over 7,700 photographs as she catalogued all of these histories into one project, placing the yearbooks in a format that people can buy as a DVD or USB flash drive.

She explained she was asked to take on this project, and decided to dive in and tackle it, for her family and for the many other families whose children have attended or are attending Queen Elizabeth School.

“A few women who were involved heavily with the Home and School Association in the 1970s and 80s were inspired to repair many of the older yearbooks … and one of them heard that I worked a lot with scanning and editing of old family photos,” she said, as she was asked to do the same with the school’s scrapbooks and yearbooks.

Deana had been involved as a room parent for many years, and served for four years as president of the QE Home and School as all four of her children attended there, and said, “I have very fond memories and knew I wanted to do this project for my children as well.”

She picked up five to 10 yearbooks at a time from the school, took them home to do the photos of the pages, and brought them back to the school, picking up another batch, a time-consuming process.

“The part that took the most time was cropping and editing every photo individually to achieve the best quality for each photo,” said Deana, adding of the process, “I didn’t take a lot of time during this process to enjoy the photos or read the articles, as I just wanted to get the job done. Completing the 58 albums some 7,700 photos later gave me a great sense of accomplishment and relief.”

Since finishing the project, she goes back through the files now to read all the stories that told of the progression of QE School through the years. The digital yearbook covers the years 1958 to 2017, the year the school celebrated their 60th anniversary.

“I am so happy that the whole project wasn’t just for my personal benefit, and that the current School and Community Council has decided that this stuff needs to be shared. There are so many great photos, newspaper clippings and all those letters to Santa, thank yous to Home and School, that are completely priceless,” said Deana.

She noted that she kept everything in chronological order, with year’s scrapbook or yearbook in its own file, so those with family members who attended the school can quickly find the years they want to see.

“This will be especially meaningful in a few years when Queen Elizabeth School amalgamates with the new elementary school currently being constructed in Weyburn,” said Jennifer Cugnet, member-at-large for the School Community Council.

She noted that once the school is done in June of 2021, the final years of the school will then be added to the digitized copies of the school’s history. The new school is scheduled to be open in September of 2021.

Anyone who wants to purchase a digital yearbook can contact the school office at 306-842-3553, or use the order form on the school’s website under School News.

The USBs are $20 each, and DVDs are $10 each. All proceeds raised by the sale of the digital yearbooks will be used by the School Community Council to fund events or equipment for QE students, such as guest speakers, school dances, Family Fun nights, movie nights, and technology in the classrooms.