Skip to content

Imagine High officially added to Chilliwack school roster

New arts and tech school will be headed up by new principal to the district
21459982_web1_copy_school4
The former UFV campus on Yale Road will be the home for a new integrated arts and technology school. (Paul Henderson/ Progress file)

It’s official.

Chilliwack’s newest school will be Imagine High Integrated Arts and Technology Secondary School.

The name of the school showed up on the district’s online list of schools this week, and they sent out a press release outlining details of the school’s start-up process. The school is scheduled to open for September 2021, and a new principal has been hired from outside the district.

READ MORE: Chilliwack’s newest schools to be named Imagine High and Stitó:s Lá:lém Totí:lt

Brooke Haller, currently the principal at Desert Sands Community School in Ashcroft, will lead the new school as it opens.

Previously she was principal at Cache Creek elementary, a district technology collaboration teacher for School District 74, and a teacher at Lytton Elementary/Kumsheen secondary. She has a Master of Arts in Education from UBC, a Bachelor of Education from Lakehead University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Lethbridge.

In the announcement, the district notes that Haller “is an innovative, collaborative and creative leader and we look forward to welcoming her to the Chilliwack School District on August 1, 2020.”

When Imagine High opens in 2021, it will be for Grade 9 and 10 students. As those students progress to higher grades, the school will grow. It will have Grades 9 to 12 by 2023. A similar process was used when GW Graham was opened.

Registration will officially open in the fall of 2020.

The new school will be located near AD Rundle, at the old UFV site next door. It will make use of the theatre on site, as well as commercial kitchen space and other tech spaces that were once used by the university. A public call out was made for school name ideas and a committee was formed to choose the name, which was approved recently by the Chilliwack Board of Education.

The school will focus on the arts and technology, providing unique space and opportunities for students to explore related studies. It is a first for Chilliwack for the senior grades, and will provide continued education opportunities in the arts for students who attend FG Leary Fine Arts elementary as well as the new fine arts and technology co-hort added to AD Rundle middle school.

The district adds that Haller is “excited to work with teachers, district staff, and community to create a learning space where design, technology, the arts, and meaningful learning flourishes.”

“She is committed to nurturing an integrated instructional approach connected to authentic learning that mirrors the real world,” the say in the release.

“She believes that the redesigned curriculum offers incredible potential to enhance student learning, and holds great promise as a catalyst for innovative pedagogy at the secondary level. She hopes to build a vibrant culture that supports inclusion, risk-taking and the cross pollination of new ideas through deep and transformative collaborative work.”

READ MORE: New arts-technology focused high school coming to Chilliwack for 2021


@CHWKcommunity
jpeters@theprogress.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Want to support local journalism during the pandemic? Make a donation here.



Jessica Peters

About the Author: Jessica Peters

I began my career in 1999, covering communities across the Fraser Valley ever since.
Read more