The sale of the former Acacia College was settled last week with Adventist Schools Victoria taking possession of the title six months after it moved to the site.
The principal of the Adventist Schools’ Gilson College, which operates on the Acacia College site in Mernda, wants to reconnect with former Acacia students.
Mark Vodell said that during the emotional time after Acacia collapsed, many students took home their personalised bricks that had formed a pathway at the school.
“The bricks had things like a student’s name or a drawing on them and they were all taken,” he said.
“We would like people to bring back their brick to form a pathway to acknowledge the previous school.
“In 20 years’ time we want former Acacia students to be able to come here and say ‘there’s my brick, I was a part of that school’.”
The bricks formed a five-metre wide, 25-metre long path between the administration building and junior school. Mr Vodell wants to rebuild it.
“We want to acknowledge the great work of the previous team who established a great school,” he said.
Mr Vodell said Adventist Schools had been looking at five potential school sites from Epping to Wallan at the time of the Acacia collapse.
He said Adventist Schools moved into the Acacia site on December 17, on a lease until a legal dispute involving the previous owner, the Uniting Church, was settled.
He said the sale was finalised on June 17, the six-month anniversary of moving to the site.
Gilson College students on the anniversary buried a time capsule including drawings, photographs and coins for future generations to remember the founding pupils.
Mr Vodell said 70 per cent of the 50 founding students were former Acacia students. He expected about 100 students in 2014.
