FRIENDSHIPS were renewed as more than 600 former students took a stroll down memory lane at a Cleeland Secondary College reunion on Saturday 13 September.
The reunion encompassed the school’s many incarnations from Dandenong Girls’ High School at its founding in 1957, Dandenong North High School, Cleeland High School and, finally, Cleeland Secondary College.
President of the Dandenong High School Ex-students’ Association Greta Jungwirth, who also taught at Cleeland High School, said the turnout far exceeded organisers’ expectations with ex-students coming from all over Victoria and interstate.
She said many people were drawn back to their old school because they were curious to catch up with former peers and teachers.
In her address Ms Jungwirth said secondary school was a formative experience for most people “tied to a time of expanding consciousness, of intense emotional experiences and growing awareness of the world and our place in it. And everything is still possible”.
“Friendships and relationships formed can have a lifelong impact and with luck can last a lifetime. I guess that is why you are here today.”
Cleeland Secondary College ceased to exist when it merged with with Dandenong High School and Doveton Secondary College in 2007.
Ex-student association volunteers have been painstakingly sorting and cataloguing archival material from Cleeland and Doveton secondary colleges.
“This reunion has resulted in great part from that activity, and next month Doveton Technical School will have its reunion,” Ms Jungwirth said.
“Ralf Halder and his team have been responsible for much of the organisation and all of the enthusiasm.
“When you walk around the buildings you will notice areas of sad neglect.
“That is because everything will be demolished as soon as the renovations are finished at the Dandenong Campus.
“The buildings may go, but your memories will remain.”
A DVD documenting the reunion will be available soon with all proceeds donated to the archives committee.
For more pictures from the event go to the Cleeland High Facebook site or the Dandenong Girls High School Facebook site.
A Doveton Secondary College reunion will be held next month.
