In the photo: Kamloops United Church pre-school teacher Patti Pernitsky has been educating young minds in Kamloops for a long time. The school marks its 60th anniversary this year and will host an open house on Saturday, Feb. 15, when past students are urged to return and reminisce.
Dave Eagles photo/KTW
It was just another one-block walk from Kamloops United Church to Stuart Wood elementary, one the church’s pre-school teacher, Patti Pernitsky, made every weekday, taking her charges in the before- and after-school program to class.
Outside the then-empty Coast Canadian Hotel building, workers were smashing entertainment centres with sledgehammers.
“I stopped and asked them what they were doing and they said they had given a lot away, but nobody wanted these, so they were breaking them up to get rid of them,” Pernitsky said.
“So, I smiled and said, ‘Could I have three?’’
When she showed up a few days later, pushing her little dolly cart, the same workmen laughed and said she’d need something bigger.
“Those things are solid wood,” Pernitsky said.
Long story short — one of the workers delivered them to the church, got them down to the new nursery-school location in the basement and helped her set them up.
That’s been the story of the KUC pre-school since the day it began, Pernitsky said — people helping out, all to ensure the youngsters who go there have a positive, fun, educational experience.
It’s a story that marks its sixth decade this year and Pernitsky has planned an open house on Saturday, Feb. 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., for people to come back, reminisce, and check out the larger and improved area the school occupies.
She knows plenty of grads will come back — and, in its 60 years of operation, the school has a lot of graduates in the city — and is hopeful one in particular, Mayor Peter Milobar, will be there to help cut the ceremonial ribbon at 11:15 a.m.
When the pre-school started, there was no kindergarten in B.C. and the school had upward of 600 students tending.
“We filled the building from the ground floor all the way up,” Pernitsky said, noting the original structure was later replaced as the church went through renovations.
Once the half-day kindergarten was added to the public-education system, the school switched to accommodate preschoolers and kindergarten kids when they were not at school.
It’s always been parent-participating, Pernitsky said.
In addition to ensuring there was always someone else there to help with the kids, having parents involved created its own larger pre-school family.
She started as a substitute teacher a quarter-century ago, going full-time when then-teacher Joan Lyons left. Pernitsky has her own retirement plan, one that sees her ideally leaving in about five years.
“I want to retire while I’m still a good etcher,” she said.
She’s thrilled with the new school, which now has its own fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher and deep freeze.
There are a lot of items that will be familiar, though.
There’s an animal cage, this year providing a home to a chinchilla.
There’s a dress-up area for kids’ imaginations to soar.
The kid-sized tables and chairs are still there and artwork adorns the walls.
Her rocking chair is still there, a stack of books nearby for story time.
Even the old cubbies kids used to keep their shoes and coats in are there — but they benefitted from another Pernitsky walk.
“I was walking by and one of the workmen asked me if I could use the old ice buckets from the rooms,” she said.
They’re now filling each cubby, holding a variety of fun items for kids to play with — and from which to learn.
