A private high school in Gretna celebrated 50 years of musicals and made an important announcement to the alumni in attendance.

Last night, Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) invited alumni out to sing and watch as they celebrated a musical history dating back 50 years. In Buhler Hall, MCI's musical home since 2005, alumni who sang in past musicals returned to the stage to sing songs that they had sung when they were in high school.

"[The night] exceeded expectation on every level," said music director Rick Heppner-Mueller.

Past musicals included popular ones like Singing in the Rain, Sound of Music and Beauty and the Beast, along with other musicals like Anne & Gilbert, which MCI performed in 2009, becoming the second high school in Canada to do it.

"I think it changes peoples lives and brings people together," Heppner Mueller said when asked why musicals were so important to the school. "That's what a school community is all about and as a school of the church, that's exactly what we are going for."

The event also featured a special announcement. After a year long search for the next principal after Darryl Loewen left last year, MCI announced that Bernie Loeppky would be the next principal of MCI.

"Not surprisingly, you end up finding someone right under your nose," said Cheryl Braun, Interim Principal and a long-time part of musical theatre at MCI. "I like to call him the pied piper of southern Manitoba, kids will follow him wherever he goes."

"He's a master teacher, he has a heart for God, a heart for kids and a heart for education," Braun said. "We're just so pleased he's agreed to step in and take over a really fun and really hard job."

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