By Sharon Fischer
After what seems like a very long winter, it’s wonderful to see the sunshine, feel some heat and watch as the snow quickly disappears. It’s such a time of renewal and reflection, and as we reflect on the past couple of weeks at Stettler Elementary School (SES), we have so much to celebrate.
We feel especially privileged that Wendy Kennelly, from the Terry Fox Foundation, was as able to join us at our last school assembly. She shared with us her personal stories about the Terry Fox Foundation, examples of how the money donated to Terry Fox is helping people throughout our province and country and the importance of this continued work. She then presented our school with a plaque and her appreciation, and announced that SES raised more money for this worthwhile foundation than almost every other school in the entire province. In fact, over the past 20 plus years, SES is the number two contributing school in all of Alberta. It’s for that reason that Ms. Kennelly wanted to personally come show her appreication to our students.
In other exciting news, Camp McE basketball camp wrapped up on April 21, after running for 20 straight years. During this past 20 years, thousands of SES students have had the opportunity to learn basketball, participaction, and team building skills. What these students have learned can’t be measured on a scoreboard, and for many of them the memories created are every bit as important as the skills that they have developed. We appreciate Mrs. Kim Poapst, for bringing this program to our school and for carrying through with it for the past 20 years.
On April 20, our kindergarten students participated in crazy hair day, and as crazy as it was suppose to be, most of our students just looked downright cute (as they do everyday). Other classes are of course busy having fun and finding creative and interesting ways to cover the curriculum as well. In fact, some of our Grade 6 students are going to remember Science 6, and their contribution to science, for a very long time.
This summer, a spacecraft the size of a small car, will launch on a mission to travel directly into the sun’s atmosphere and Mrs. Ruddell and Ms. Sawula’s classes will have their names tag along for the ride! NASA invited people from around the world to submit their names online to be placed on a microchip aboard NASA’s historic Parker Solar Probe. Facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will study the corona and solar winds as the probe travels through the sun’s atmosphere and the names of these Grade 6 students will be aboard.
Other students are practicing for their potential futures in music and acting. Our Grade 5 and 6 band students performed at the Stettler and District Music Festival on April 19. Then earlier this week our other classes got their opportunity to perform.
On April 23 and during the afternoon of April 24, our choral speech students got to bring to light the stories they have been working on for months. These students have been practicing acting and clear speaking to impress the adjudicators, and finally had a chance to show their great work. Also on April 24, our music students had a chance to sing and, in some cases, play instruments for the adjudicators. I am extremely proud of our students and of how well they performed again this year. Congratulations to all of our talented young students.
Congratulations also goes out to our students who raised $1082 for the Humboldt Broncos. On April 12, staff and students wore jerseys to school and brought in a Toonie, or the donation of their choice, to be used to support players and the impacted families from the terrible bus crash. Being able to donate this money to these young people is our small way of letting them know that they are in our thoughts.
And finally, as we move into spring and anticipate continued beautiful weather over the next few weeks, our thoughts turn to safety. In terms of vehicle safety, we are asking parents (and all drivers) to please ensure posted speed limits are followed in school zones. We want all students, in all schools to be safe. If you are a parent, it’s also important to discuss with your children the importance of not walking between parked cars while crossing the streets. Let’s all do our part to keep the children safe.