gb100 – GB100 – Gordon Bell Alumni Activities Leading up to GB's Centennial (2026)

Jan 20/18 – Alumni Mini Re-Connect for Gaston Endowment Fund @ Varsity Girls BB Tourney

When: Saturday Jan 20/18 2pm-3:15pm, Championship Game 3:30pm-6pm
Where: GB Choir Room (near main gym)
What: “GB Alumni Mini Re-Connect” pre-championship game, GB Girls Varsity Basketball Tournament

Show your appreciation for one of GB’s most popular teachers ever – Mike Gaston – at our upcoming Alumni Mini Re-Connect. It takes place at GB’s Varsity Girls Basketball Tournament just before the Championship Game.

This will be a very informal opportunity for us to raise $$$ for our Mike Gaston Memorial Alumni Endowment Fund and to meet up with fellow alumni. Over the years, Mr. G coached countless hoops teams, so this is a perfect fit for the occasion!

Details: We’ll be in the Choir Room near the main gym (enter the school at Borrowman doors). Bring a donation of any kind for the Gaston fund, $20 or more get tax receipts (the school/WSD will send a receipt to you at a later date). Also bring any refreshments you’d like for yourself (e.g. beverage, snacks but sorry no liquor).

And stay for the championship game at 3:30pm, especially to cheer on the Lady Panthers if they advance to the Finals (we’ll try to post Friday’s results by Sat AM). Last year the girls made the provincials, first time since 1977/78, so they should have a good run for the big game.

Our goal is to raise $5k by the end of the month for the Gaston fund. More details about our alumni endowment funds and making a donation here.

See you there & please spread the word to other GB Alumni!

Interested in Being a GB100 Class Rep?

We’re looking to organize our GB100 efforts a bit by finding a few “reps” for each grad class.

Reps will:

(1) try to connect w/other classmates,
(2) invite fellow GBers to take part in our GB100 activities, and
(3) help with brainstorming/planning activities.

Ideally 2 co-reps/class but more would be welcome, possibly rotating every 6-12 months.

Preference if you were active during your high school days (e.g. student council, yearbook, extracurricular activities, etc.) and/or have been taking part in our GB100 activities (e.g. Alumni Re-Connects).

Interested? Drop us a line via our Comments/Questions Page.

Today Launched – GB Alumni-Initiated Memorial Endowment Funds

With this the last week of school and many of us thinking back to our GB days, we launch our new Alumni-initiated memorial endowment fund series. If you’re like many of us and feel it’s time to “give back”, this is another way that we GB Alumni can do exactly that.

We’re starting with four endowment funds named after some of our most cherished teachers, with more to come. The first four endowments are (in alphabetical order):

* The Bert Brady Memorial GB Alumni Endowment (Science & Technology)
* The Therese Coyle Memorial GB Alumni Endowment (Language & Multiculturalism)
* The Mike Gaston Memorial GB Alumni Endowment (Student & Community Engagement/School Spirit)
* The Richard Seaborn Memorial GB Alumni Endowment (Music & Fine Arts)

All GB alumni are invited to donate any amount any time to the endowment(s) of their choosing, with tax receipts issued by the school division. Funds are for GB to use as it wishes, with minimal guidance from us, for student and staff projects and activities where the school budget’s insufficient or unavailable. Each endowment has a general theme, closely matched with the teacher we’re remembering.

Do your part and support one or more of the endowments. For more information, visit our info page. And spread the word to other GB Alumni!

Re-Connect 2017 in the Books!

We had a fantastic afternoon on May 13/17 at our Second GB Alumni Re-Connect! Thanks to everyone for coming out and special thanks to volunteers Debbie Potts (’80) and her daughter, Kurt Roche (’78), Nancy Greer (’77), Claus & Shirley (Bellamy) Andreas (’69), Josie Audino (’67) and Patrick Niesink (’79) for all their help and to Principal Arlene Skull for helping make the event a success!

And extra special thanks to our ol’ teachers John Barsby (Math), Jim Ferguson (Math), and Bill Patterson (English) for joining us! Extra thanks “squared” to Mr. Barsby for serving as quizmaster for our more-fun-than-anticipated Reach for the Top game and guesting at our fascinating “Geeks Speak” break-out session! In the first of half of our RFTT game, Team Maryland prevailed 200-90 over Team Broadway, while in the second half Team Broadway won 160-100 over team Maryland. Click here to see the RFTT questions (sorry no answers, as we’ll use these questions again!).

Though our numbers were down a little bit — 41 alumni & 3 teachers – there seemed to be even more camaraderie and sharing of memories and laughs.

We’ll have some pics soon and if you attended, please post your comments on the afternoon.

We’re already planning for bigger & better next year — mark your calendars, tentatively we’ll go Sat May 12/2018 (date to be confirmed by the School Division in the Fall). See you all next year!

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Congrats to our prize winners:

– Claus Andreas (’69) – GB Hoodie

– Tibor Baldauf (’82) – GB T-shirt

– Josie Audino (’67) – 50th Anniversary Year Book

– Neil Schaan (’75) – 50th Anniversary Year Book

– Lois Stiff-Ongenae (’77/78) – 50th Anniversary Year Book

– Alex James (’66) – 50th Anniversary Year Book

GB Alumni 5k “Race”

What better way to motivate fellow GB alumni to pitch in and help out the ‘ol school than to start an intramural competition!

Every year until the Centennial in 2026, we’ll be holding 5k “races”, where we’ll be encouraging each grad class to raise $5,000 ($5k) over that year. We’ll try to update the “race” on this website and our Facebook page. The first classes to cross the “finish line” will be recognized at the Re-Connect event.

Some ideas for donations and how to get them to GB can be found here.

So remember when you make a donation to GB, indicate your class year so that your class’ total will be updated.

GB Alumni … Get ready … Set … Go!!!

May 2017 Re-Connect Break-out Sessions

In addition to the Lunchroom, we’ve booked several classrooms in the hallway by the Lunchroom for possible break-out sessions. These sessions might give us the opportunity to reminisce about different activities, classes, teachers, etc.

Some ideas include:
– Memories of some of our favorite teachers
– GB Glory Days (Sports)
– GB Glory Days (Academic Competitions) – Reach for the Top/Math Contests/Science Fairs
– Plays/Concerts

We’ll also be looking for volunteers to chair/co-chair sessions, take notes (for subsequent editing/sharing on our website, FB, etc).

GB Alumni Book Prizes

In 2016, as part of efforts to prepare for GB’s centennial (2026), a fund was launched by GB Alumni to annually award book prizes to deserving students. Each year 9 students – 3 Grade 9, 3 Grade 10, and 3 Grade 11 – are selected by GB staff and awarded $100 book prizes at the year-end celebration. The fund is maintained entirely from donations by GB Alumni, with the intention of encouraging small donations from as many alumni as possible. To date, over 40 different GB alumni have supported the fund.

Donations of $20 are appreciated, with any donations in excess of $20 treated as multi-year contributions (e.g. a $60 donation will be considered support for 3 years). Donations are acknowledged with a single charitable tax receipt and on this GB Alumni website at https://gb100.ca/gb-alumni-donations-update/.

As of June 2021, you can now make an online donation using PayPal or credit card through Winnipeg School Division:
https://www.winnipegsd.ca/gordonbell/page/15496/gb-alumni-book-prizes

Alternatively, you can mail or drop off a cheque at GB (3 Borrowman Place, Wpg R3G 1M6). Cheques should be made to “Children’s Heritage Fund” (Winnipeg School Division’s charitable donations fund) with a sub-note “Gordon Bell Alumni Book Prizes”.

If you can, please also indicate your graduation year, so we can track how much each grad class has donated. We’ll count all donations towards our “Alumni 5k Race” to see which GB grad classes contribute the most annually, with each class’ annual target of $5000.

GB T-shirts & Hoodies Arrived!

Good news, the GB t-shirts and hoodies have arrived! If you ordered one (or more), you’ve probably been contacted by GB’s principal that you can pick them up at the school. GB ordered a few extras, so if you didn’t get a chance to order one at our Alumni Re-Connect, you can contact the school to buy one. T’s are $15, hoodies $25. Wear your purple & gold with pride!

Dress Code May 7?

Some of you have asked about dress code for Saturday — not to worry, there ain’t none!

Come as you are, feel free to wear what you’d normally wear on a Saturday – jeans, t-shirt, khakis, shorts, sports jacket, dress, runners, … whatever you’d like.

If you’ve got an old GB t-shirt or jersey, probably a little snug (!), please wear it! Or a t-shirt about something you’ve been involved with, place you’ve visited, or passion you’ve developed since or during your GB days. The weather forecast looks good, so we’ll get a chance to walk on and around the Greenspace field, so wear comfy shoes/runners.

And the person with the most Purple and Gold will win a GB Panther Power badge!!!

Look forward to seeing you all on Saturday!

Panther Power Badge for May 7 Prize Draw

Here’s another door prize we’ll be giving away — “Gordon Bell Panther Power” badges! Courtesy of the school, we’ve got a few of ’em for May 7. We’ll also award 2 or 3 to the folks who’ve done the best job recruiting classmates to our Re-Connect (not too late to be one of those “top recruiters”)!