James Lyng High School to Celebrate 50th Anniversary

From its start in Canada’s Centennial Year, JLHS has brought the best out of thousands of youths from the Côte St. Paul, Griffintown, Point St. Charles, St. Henri, St. Raymond’s, and Ville Emard districts. More than 1,000 people from around the world are expected to join the Homecoming party at the school. Tickets cost $40. The event will feature an array of fine food, numerous cash bars, and the hottest dance music from the ‘60s to today.

James Lyng High School has survived a host of challenges during its 50 years, including demographic changes, the switch to the English Montreal School Board from the Montreal Catholic School Commission, and becoming home to an Adult Education Centre. It has also been the site of numerous innovations in education; chief among them is the acclaimed Urban Arts Program, which instructs students in non-traditional fields like graffiti art, songwriting, and music production, while using art and music to teach standard subjects like mathematics and science.

The English-speaking population of southwest Montreal has always been close-knit, and this sense of community is front and center as the James Lyng High School Alumni pull together the Homecoming festivities. Proceeds from the event will help underwrite the costs of Prom Night for JLHS’s 2017 graduating class.

As Mariannina Forte-Sposato, an organizer of the Homecoming, points out:

“James Lyng High School has kept going for 50 years because of the dedication and hard work of people from many neighborhoods and many backgrounds. This year’s Homecoming will be a way for us to celebrate who we are and what we’ve achieved.”