ESTEVAN - The monument celebrating the Estevan Comprehensive School’s Class of 2020 is now installed at Torgeson Park.
The COVID-19 pandemic stripped the graduates of 2020 of their proper ceremonies, and it also delayed the progression of their legacy project until recently.
The author of the design, Gale Tytlandsvik, and Dart Services, who donated their time to the community, were on location July 21 to complete the two-year project.
Now the metal tree can be seen by all students coming out of ECS for generations to come.
"It's a tree [symbolizing] the growth and the roots. After debating, I just decided this would be a lovely design for them and be simple enough that it would make everybody happy," Tytlandsvik said. "It has the roots and, in the roots, there's a 20, Class of 20. And there is one leaf for each graduate,"
There is also a part of a quote by Lilli Vaihere on the monument, which says "Behind you, all your memories. Before you, all your dreams. Within you, all you need."
"We were going over quotes and when I got to this one, they all loved that quote, and I actually do too. It will remind [all students] every day when they're leaving the Comp. that within you is all you need," Tytlandsvik said.
It took several ideas before the final plan was approved. First, Tytlandsvik suggested making a barograph of life, but it was vetoed because of the colour scheme. Then students came up with an idea of a wave, but Tytlandsvik had to veto it as it was impossible to make it work the way they saw it. Some other ideas were discussed as well before everyone involved agreed to go with a tree.
Once the decision was made, which happened about half a year ago, Tytlandsvik developed the design and then she worked with KRJ Custom Fabricating to make sure that the design would stand and be sturdy enough to last for years.
"We just kept tweaking it until it was structurally sound and stayed together and worked for us, and [Kody Hall with KRJ] was so wonderful and so patient, he was just a pleasure to work with," Tytlandsvik said.
A plaque with the names of all 2020 graduates still needs to be installed, and then the monument will be completed.
Once it's done, Tytlandsvik said they hope to have an official dedication ceremony at the location.
