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William E. Hay welcomes German exchange students

We are now into our first full week of classes and activities are in full swing.
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Miranda Peters

We are now into our first full week of classes and activities are in full swing. William E. Hay enjoys taking part in the German exchange program every year and on Monday we welcomed 12 German exchange students who will be with us for three weeks.

Welcome to Pauline, Alex, Heike, Isabell, Elisa, Hendrik, Eike, Tanja, Calvin, Henry, Gordon, Annie, Jennifer, Nele and Mrs. Guenther from our twin school in Sanitz, Germany. We hope you enjoy your stay in Stettler and at William E. Hay.

Many of our teams and clubs have started up for the new school year. Fine Arts Board, Athletic Board, Students Against Drinking and Driving, Be the Change, Volleyball, Cross Country and Golf are underway.

Our outside-of-school classes, such as Video Production, Hunter Education, Sports Performance, Outdoor Education, Wildcat Theatre and Band, will be starting up this week, as well. We encourage all students to get involved in school activities to make their year even more engaging.

For Welcome Week this year, the Students’ Union has planned activities for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during flex. This year, each activity, including poster designing, Marshmallow Relay Race and a Field-Goal competition, will be scored and the TA with the most points at the end of the week will win Tim Hortons hot chocolate and Timbits. Good luck to every TA.

Our Fitness Facility is now open to students. If you currently have a gym card, please see Mrs. Bolin to pay your monthly $10 fee to reactivate it. If you do not have a card and are interested in using the weight room and cardio room, please see one of the gym teachers to arrange an orientation.

Gym cards are $25 ($10 refunded if card returned), the user fee is $10 per month and the hours are 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

We enter this school year as the last year in the High School Flexibility Enhancement Pilot Project. This is a four-year pilot project that we have been in with Alberta Education where we have been free from the restrictions of the Carnegie Unit.

The Carnegie Unit requires students to have 25 hours of face-to-face instruction for every one high school credit and has been a system in place since 1906.

Being part of this project has allowed William E. Hay to implement many unique programs, such as Teacher Advisor, Flex, Self-Directed Courses, Blended Courses, a variable timetable and Project Week, just to name a few.

At the end of this year, we will be reporting our findings over the last four years to Alberta Education — these recommendations might lead to large-scale changes in the way students in Alberta are educated.

As a result of our many innovative programs, William E. Hay has been asked to present at a prestigious NSSP/CSSR Conference in Washington, D.C., in February. William E. Hay is the first international school ever to be asked to present at this conference.

Stay tuned for next week’s Wildcat news!