Table 10: 4, Graduates of First Grade XI Class13

Kinkora High School, 1942

Sister Clare Theresa

Louise Cairns Helen Campbell Beatrice Duffy John Forbes Raymond Gallant Thelma Hennessey Zita Johnston Lorne Keefe Monica Kelly Yvonne Kilbride Annie McCarville Leslie McCarville Rosleen McCarville Marion McEntee Ita McIvor

Rita O’Brien Kathleen O’Connor

Patricia Pendergast

Noreen Smith Raymond Smith Kathleen White

Kinkora Maple Plains Charlottetown North Wiltshire Kinkora Kinkora Charlottetown Kinkora Kinkora Roseville Foxley River Newton

South Freetown Kinkora Emerald Newton Wellington Clinton Kensington Kinkora Newton Emerald

Sister Mary Peter (Bernice Cullen), C.S.M., who graduated from St. Dunstan’s University with a Bachelor of Arts in May, 1941, was employed as the grade eleven teacher. When the Superintendent of Education arrived at the convent in Kinkora on the morning of September 2, 1941, he found all his preconditions satisfactorily met, and gave permission for grade eleven classes to proceed. The only inconvenience Sister Bernice recalled was that the students’ desks had not arrived from Bass River, N.S., so they used chairs and card tables from the Kinkora Hall until later in the year. Sister Bernice remained the sole grade

eleven teacher until 1955, i.e. she taught all subjects which included: Algebra, Chemistry, Economics, English, French,

103

Sister Bernice Cullen, C.S.M. (Courtesy of Sisters of St. Martha)

Geometry, History, Latin, Physics, and Religion; and the convent remained the grade—eleven classroom until Kinkora built a new high school in 1955. Her salary in 1942 was $1000.00, of which $800.00 were paid by the P.E.I. govern— ment, and the remainder by the Kinkora School District.

As a result of the foresight and steadfast determination of a few leaders, much co—operation, and some luck, Kinkora became the first rural school district in RBI. to offer grade eleven. Other districts followed its example in the next few years. Having residence facilities for outside- the-district students made it possible to attract students from other parts of P.E.I., and even from outside the Island. This gave Kinkora a leadershp role in education, and made it probable that Kinkora would expand again when P.E.I. decided to make grade twelve necessary for a full high school certificate, in the 19505.

It seems likely that the addition of grade eleven was a fac— tor causing an increase in the number of students from the