“What’s in a name?” asks William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet.
For a group of Squamish high school students, putting a name to their bridge puts their unique stamp on it and is closure on a job well done, according to their teacher.
The Alternate Crossing Bridge, as it is now known, is the newly constructed pedestrian bridge, off of Carson Place behind Howe Sound Secondary School and it was named by the bridge’s builders – the students at the Sea to Sky Alternative School.
The bridge was completed at the end of last year and about 18 students and their teacher, Mark Willmot, presented the name to council at the community development standing committee on April 7.
The bridge name is a play on the name of the school, and the fact that there is an alternate crossing further up the trail, according to Willmot.
Building the bridge was a lot of fun, according to student Raiden Gillie, 16. “It was nice to get out of the classroom,” he said. “[Building the bridge] was by far the thing I looked forward to most.”
Willmot said having the students at council to present the new name was a powerful way to end the bridge project.
“Any time the kids, the students, can do something within the community and they can get recognition for it, it is just a huge thing,” he said. “That final piece of getting that recognition was huge,… I think that the kids felt really proud.”
Councillor Susan Chapelle said the bridge was a welcome addition to downtown.
“This is such an amazing connectivity from the school that goes all the way into the Discovery Trail and to have downtown connectively that is pedestrian and cycling friendly and cycling accessible is just a fantastic addition to downtown,” she said.
Councillor Doug Race praised the students for chipping in and helping Squamish.
“I just wanted to say thank you really on behalf of the community for your efforts… things like that typically governments just don’t have enough money for and we rely on the citizens in our community to actually kick in and do that,” said Race. “It’s a great-looking bridge.”
Willmot said it will be interesting to see where the bridge will lead.
“The most exciting thing that came out of it is that we can likely do future projects with [the district],” he said, adding there have been talks about the students helping with the construction of the Legacy Project Canoe Restoration Shed slated for downtown this summer.
