For some people, high school represented the best days of their lives. For others? Not so much.
TVO’s new six-part original documentary series, Yearbook, is shining the spotlight on those days for six Canadians — including two graduates of Twin Lakes Secondary School in Orillia.
In Episode 4, titled Apology, which will air Feb. 6 on TVO, Bracebridge resident Victoria Hammond, a musician with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is trying to reconnect with her former Twin Lakes classmate, Ben Taylor.
The pair first met when they were both members of the Couchiching Young Singers and went on to be classmates in high school.
Hammond, who grew up in Orillia, now works her dream job at Santa’s Village, while Taylor and his family live in rural Dungannon, Ont. He is a home renovator who is building his life in a former church.
Hammond recalls in the episode about the difficulty of living with ASD and one particular episode at a birthday party where Taylor “could have been a better friend to her.”
According to a news release from TVO, “he stood by while others bullied her about her disability.”
The goal of the program is to help old school mates “address the past and heal together.”
In the episode, the pair share an emotional reunion at their old Orillia high school and, later, perform a song together that Hammond wrote about her high school experience.
The episode is one of six that follow people on “meaningful and nostalgic journeys to reconnect with people from their school days, as they seek to resolve, relive, and better understand the critical events” that shaped their lives.
“Yearbook opens a window into powerful and relatable stories that will resonate with many in Ontario and beyond,” said John Ferri, vice-president of programming and content at TVO.
“Nostalgia meets reality in some surprising ways, taking us far beyond the idea of friendship as defined by the likes of Facebook.”
Executive produced by Mark Johnston (who also directs and writes) and Amanda Handy (who co-writes and produces), of Nomad Films, and Tom Powers, of Open Door Co., each episode follows a main subject who is motivated to reconnect with someone from their youth — whether it’s to rekindle a friendship or seek resolution to an emotional scar — and examines the poignant moments and complicated emotions that resurface when revisiting school years from decades past.
Yearbook also includes interviews with social workers, counsellors, therapists, and other experts who provide analysis of the circumstances experienced by each subject as they navigate their journey.
“Everyone has a story from their school years that they never resolved,” said Johnston. “This is a show about all of us, and the events that shaped our lives. What if we could find the person who we always wanted to see again, the person who may have wronged us, or inspired us — the person, though, that we could never find?”
“This series was born out of our nostalgia for our past. There’s value in looking back, not just at the relationships during those years, but with the era that shaped us: the music, the fashion, the politics,” Handy added.
“Hearing from people and then finding and persuading the person they wanted to reconnect with was a lengthy process, but worth it. Viewers will love these stories and identify with them strongly.”
The series airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on TVO in Ontario, and all six episodes are currently available to stream nationally on TVO.org and the TVO Docs YouTube channel.
