Montreal’s Summit School for neurodiverse students opens $15M arts and physical education facility

Montreal’s largest school for neurodiverse students officially opened their new $15 million Creative Arts and Physical Education Centre Tuesday.

Summit School built the centre in Saint-Laurent for students with autism, Down syndrome and other neurodevelopmental conditions to thrive through music, art, performance and movement.

“So many of these students have trouble expressing themselves through words and so music becomes that medium, art becomes that medium and so it is so important for us to provide these resources so that they can express themselves,” said Steven Abadi, a music teacher and music therapist at the school.

Abadi, who was formerly a Summit student himself, was on hand Tuesday morning at the new facility, which sports a gym, media and music studios, a visual arts gallery and a yoga and dance space.

“What we’re seeing is music, the arts, drama, it’s becoming a central part of the school itself. Where these used to be just classes, we’re now seeing it take on a world of its own,“ said Abadi. “We have students who literally have their entire world through music, through arts, and so this space allows them to live their world through their chosen medium.”

Bena Finkelberg, the school’s senior principal, said that where her students might struggle academically, they can be very talented in many of the creative arts.

“We realized that because our students are so involved in the creative arts, that we also needed more space for the creative arts,” Finkelberg said.

Tevin Saunders, a student at Summit School, spent his Tuesday morning editing music audio on a computer in one of the centre’s studios. Saunders, who wants to be a musician when he’s older, said he is able to do the things he likes at the new facility.

“At the old building, we never had a proper setup. Now we have enough room to have proper lights here and there, a green screen,” he said. “We are able to further bring our imagination to life now that we have a bigger space to really do what we want to do here.”

The centre’s official opening brought out students who presented arts performances to teachers, parents, community members and donors who funded the multi-million dollar project. A “private school in the public interest,” according to Finkelberg, Summit receives funding from the provincial Ministry of Education for core services, but many programs — including the construction of the new centre — rely on donation and community partners.

One mother at the opening said she couldn’t wait to see her son perform for the first time.

“He told me, ‘Mom, you better be there, because it’s the opening of a theatre,'” said Linda Dighenakis. “He’s more (of an) introvert, surely like me, and I find the theatre will help him develop even more.”

“These kids have a lot of talent and art, and I think this is where they shine, so why not give them that opportunity?” she continued.

Abadi, who just started teaching at Summit earlier this year, said he feels “blessed” to be able to give back what he received from the school.

“I would trace all my milestones throughout my entire life back to Summit School, because they’ve been super supportive of my successes and my difficulties,” he said. “I felt like I had this responsibility to come back and do the same thing for the next generation.”

“I think very often we underestimate the importance of arts education, and we’re seeing a lot of schools throughout Canada, throughout the world for that matter, defunding arts education,” the music teacher continued. “To see it’s not only maintaining its arts (but) expanding on it is very refreshing, especially for this clientele, and I think if we can keep doing that, and if we can keep encouraging the students to express themselves through the arts, we’re going to see a much higher success rate — not just in the arts, but it’s going to transfer into their own personal lives as well.”