On the evening of Oct. 23, 2025, Science North’s Vale Cavern echoed with applause as Huntington University conferred the honorary doctorates upon four Greater Sudburians.
Among the honorees, two faces stood out for their longstanding impact on the arts and education in Northern Ontario: Judi Straughan, a beloved teacher, writer and cultural leader, and Ralph McIntosh, an educator, musician, and tireless champion of the arts.
As Scott Darling, vice-chair of the Board of Regents at Huntington stated, “Their dedication to education, culture and community service enriches not only our university but the Greater Sudbury region as a whole.”
At the conclusion of the event, a photo captured them standing side by side with Joe Drago, the former principal of Sudbury Secondary School, smiles radiant, framed by the cavern’s soft, golden lighting.
In that single image, past and present merged: the faces of Straughan, McIntosh and Drago drawing the viewer back four decades to 1985 — the year the Sudbury Secondary School Arts Program first opened its doors — the spark of a cultural journey that would shape generations.
Laying the Foundations
But that is not the beginning of the story. The idea for a dedicated arts program began in 1982, sparked by Drago’s daughter Lisa, a trained singer and dancer, who suggested that high school students should have opportunities to study performing arts in depth.
By early 1983, Drago had formed a committee of key educators — including Straughan, Natasha Sawchuk, Helen Toivonen, Joe Sintic, George Stelmack and Frank Desimone — to launch a pilot project.
The committee organized a board-wide Variety Show (Variety ’84) in the fall of 1984, with more than 300 students from 11 high schools participating. The event raised $50,000 for Memorial Hospital while also generating community interest in this potential program.
“With the type of interest and talent that was shown, we felt there was a need,” Drago said.
"I contacted John King, principal of the Canterbury School in Ottawa, which is strictly a school of the arts, and invited him to visit Sudbury Secondary.”
King believed the school would be the perfect location for the program because the concept could be introduced without major changes. With that vote of confidence from a fellow educator in hand, Drago approached the school board for immediate and long-range budget consideration.
Drago felt that the Sudbury Board of Education had enough personnel to cover the programs — dance, music and theatre — that were included in the first year of this new program. For ballet and other subjects that were to be introduced over the following years, Drago said that teachers from outside the board might have to be hired to maintain a degree of expertise.
The Sheridan Auditorium was then put under a four-year construction plan; new lights and sound equipment were installed, along with small renovations to the stage, to bring the facility up to high standards. One of the gyms was converted to a dance studio with mirrors and wooden bars, while private soundproof music stalls, and a visual arts classroom with a darkroom were also built.
“All alterations were minor ones,” Drago said at the time. “We also hope that local arts groups would offer any expertise or share guest performers with our program.”
Local post-secondary institutions, along with other organizations and clubs, were invited to participate in a community advisory board to keep in touch with what was happening in the arts across the region.
With that, a small but devoted group of teachers, administrators, and community supporters began sketching plans for what would become the school’s arts program.
It was more than a curriculum; it was a vision for a community within a school, a place where music, theatre, visual art and creativity could thrive alongside academic study.
"This program is not designed to eliminate the existing arts programs in other schools," Drago stressed at the time. “The program is for students who are serious about the arts, although the program is not intended to produce professional artists but rather people who will use what talents and education they have throughout their lives.”
While touring local schools to tout the new program, Drago estimated that most students would come from the Sudbury region, but students from all over Northern Ontario were expected as well, because this program was to be the first in the northern region.
Auditions for the inaugural year were held in spring 1985 drawing more than 100 applicants, with approximately 15 Grade 9 students accepted into each discipline, for a total first cohort of 63 students. Each student was committed to two credits per year in their major art form and one in their minor, alongside standard academic subjects.
Barb Steed, the program’s first co-ordinator, played a vital role in managing enrollments, auditions, publicity and event planning. The early staff included Judi Straughan, Natasha Sawchuk, Sally Lesk (music), Arlene Lalonde (visual arts) and Ralph McIntosh (vocal music and piano), supported by Alison Witty, Carolyn Otto, Helen Toivonen, Carolle Mageau, and Karen Rammul. Technical director Bruno Favretto and set designer Rod Parcher ensured that productions ran smoothly.
These educators established a standard of professionalism that would persist for decades.
Drago emphasized the importance of student time management, flexibility and commitment as the program required dedication on a scale unseen at the secondary level in Sudbury.
Classes would begin at 8:15 a.m. and finish at 4:10 p.m. Students in this program had to be prepared for a longer school day to accommodate mandatory courses as well as options in the arts. As well, students often stayed late for rehearsals and participated in every major school production.
“It’s a tough course for a kid, but usually students in this program know how to budget their time and can handle more than the regular workload,” Drago said.
Early Growth
A defining moment came in 1987 when drama teachers Judi Straughan and Natasha Sawchuk attended the International Thespian Festival in Muncie, Indiana.
Inspired, they staged Voices from the High School, a play chronicling adolescent experiences, which itself eventually travelled to Muncie in June 1988. Music teacher Ralph McIntosh composed five original songs for the production, cementing the program’s reputation for creativity and innovation, even as it finished its third year.
By early 1988, the performing arts program had become so popular that dozens of students auditioned each year for a chance to enrol. Established only three years earlier, the program had already drawn 155 students across Grades 9 to 12, with administrators expecting enrolment to reach about 220 by that September.
Administrator Barbara Steed noted at the time that more than half of the program’s students travelled from outlying communities, including Monetville and Noelville due to the program’s reputation.
Despite its focus on the arts, students were required to maintain strong academic standing in compulsory subjects. This balance, Steed emphasized, ensured a well-rounded education and left graduates prepared for post-secondary paths both within and beyond the performing arts.
“Between the classroom learning, the performances, and the field trips (essential to their artistic development),” she said at the time, “it makes for a wonderful educational experience.”
The program’s popularity led to more technical innovations: a lighting catwalk, a new lighting console, and portable spotlights funded by the Sudbury Board of Education enhanced stage production capabilities.
Film and video became part of the curriculum in 1989, thanks to pioneering work by Sterling Campbell and Rick Hone. And, along with the MCTV Lions Club Christmas Telethon that would call the Sheridan Auditorium home, connected students to the broader community and professional opportunities.
Those formative years also saw the emergence of annual events that remained a part of the program’s identity for years to come. The Celebration of the Arts showcased students’ talents, while smaller-scale activities such as Improv Games, Brown Bag Theatre, the Mini-Production Festival, and Dramatically Yours allowed students to experiment creatively.
Expansion and Continued Recognition
By 1990, Sudbury residents had become familiar with Sudbury Secondary School’s Performing Arts Program, but a lesser-known initiative, the Special Art Program, quietly offered young visual artists an equally rigorous and innovative path.
Designed to foster both technical skill and personal expression, the program focused on individualized instruction and independent experimentation, helping students grow as artists.
Admission involved an informal audition, where applicants presented a portfolio of recent work to a Special Art teacher also requiring at least 21 credits to qualify. Once accepted, students selected courses matching their artistic interests.
Distinct from any other regional art program, the Special Art Program offered intensive study in specialized disciplines — fine arts, design or video media — and allowed students not only to refine their craft but also to mature personally. Many students described it as a transformative experience that helped them “blossom within themselves.”
Although the teachers, Helen Toivonen (fine arts), Arlene Lalonde (design) and Rick Hone (animation and video) were highly skilled in their disciplines, much of the program emphasized independent work and peer support. Spending the full day together created a close-knit studio environment where students relied on one another’s feedback and developed strong, lasting friendships.
With the Performing Arts Program attracting students from across the region, with buses arriving from Coniston, Skead, Capreol, Cartier, and Whitefish, major musicals such as “Bye Bye Birdie” and “The King and I” filled the Sheridan Auditorium, often to standing-room-only capacity.
Each arts discipline also held its own showcases, while the annual Variety Show fundraiser supporting the Memorial Hospital and the year-end Celebration of the Arts became a highlight of the school calendar with students often rehearsing until 9 p.m.
In 1992, CBC Radio host Wolf Hess recorded the school choirs, enabling the sale of more than 2,500 CDs that raised funds for the program and showcased its musical accomplishments nationally.
But even with all of this success, as the 10th anniversary of the program dawned, many at the time felt the program — and the school — remained misunderstood. A negative reputation had lingered for decades.
Eric Rose, a student at the time, spoke frankly about the perception.
“We have this image of a downtown school. People think the school is full of crime and corruption,” Rose said. “We are still not seen as a performing arts school, but as the downtown school.”
Ralph McIntosh agreed that the “bad reputation” dated back to the 1970s but believed it was slowly fading. “Word of mouth is slowly trickling out,” he said, and the school’s image gradually improved.
Although productions like the following year’s Variety ’96 drew large audiences, students and staff maintained a belief that most Sudburians remained unaware of what Sudbury Secondary’s performing arts program actually offered.
“People often don’t know about the quality of the shows we put on,” said student Jay Shellew. “They don’t know what the shows are all about, and how much goes into putting them on.”
Students felt that if more residents saw even one performance, many misconceptions about the school would disappear.
By 1999, Grade 9 students faced a new curriculum demanding graduation in four years, the Grade 10 Literacy Test, 40 hours of volunteer work, and mandatory courses in civics and career studies along with the gruelling demands they already endured, setting the stage for the program’s entrance into the 21st century.
Millennial Innovation
Entering the new millennium, the Arts Program had become a defining feature of Sudbury Secondary.
The early 2000s saw more curricular growth for students. Music teacher Gary DiSalle expanded guitar instruction and the visual arts flourished under Vanessa Catto and Robert Luopa, with students engaging in set painting, photography and exhibitions like Exposed.
Dance instructors Heather Downey and Line Roberge introduced innovative choreography, including a fully staged “Snow White” and an annual Evening of Student Choreography.
The Guitars Alive concert series, founded in 2003, showcased local and post-secondary guitar students alongside professional headliners, raising funds for scholarships.
Meanwhile, musical productions became increasingly ambitious. The school staged “Fame!” in 2001–02 with nearly 100 students, followed by “Les Misérables” in 2002 — the second Canadian high school production of the classic musical.
Principal Leslie Mantle, who assumed the role in 2003, guided the program through its 20th anniversary. Milestones included the first Canadian high school performance of “The Laramie Project” and outdoor performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2006.
As the 21st century marches on, the Arts Program continues to mature, combining rigorous instruction with community involvement, technical expertise, and a supportive, family-like culture.
Ralph McIntosh, in reflecting on the program’s history during the school’s centennial celebration (Sudbury Secondary School being an amalgamation of Sudbury High and Sheridan Tech), emphasized its enduring mission: to provide a place where dreams could be realized, creativity fostered, and students prepared to navigate both the arts and life beyond high school.
Legacy
From its humble beginnings in the mid-1980s, Sudbury Secondary School’s Arts Program has grown into a cornerstone of the school and the Greater Sudbury community. Driven by visionaries like Joe Drago, Judi Straughan, Ralph McIntosh and many others, the program combined academic rigor with creative exploration, offering students an environment in which to develop technical skill, artistic expression, and personal growth.
Commencing with that first Grade 9 cohort in 1985, the Performing Arts and Arts Education Program has become a model of excellence and an enduring legacy in Northern Ontario’s educational landscape. It was the beginning of a journey that would carry students and teachers alike into decades of artistic achievement, community recognition and cultural pride.
Well dear readers, as the photo from 2025 fades, and becomes history in its own right, one can almost hear the faint strum of a guitar, the scratch of a paintbrush on canvas, and the tentative notes of a first school play — the uncertain sounds of an Arts Program just finding its voice.
And, now it is your turn to take the stage and step up to the microphone. To all former (and current) students and staff, and the loyal arts patrons who cheered from the audience, we welcome your recollections of a school that urged everyone who stepped inside to strive for the stars.
Happy 40th Anniversary to Sudbury Secondary School Performing Arts.
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.