SCHS: Igniting Minds, Kindling Hearts and Forging Futures
By Jason Duchscherer
South Central High School Principal
The first seven weeks are complete at South Central, and a number of accomplishments have taken place and students are experiencing success in many different areas. South Central High School and Prairie Rose School Division are working on three different strategic goals in the Education Plan this year and they include: Ignite Minds, Kindle Hearts and Forge Futures.
Under Ignite Minds the Awards Day for the 2021-2022 grade 10-12 students was held on Friday, October 7. Congratulations to all of the award winners. SCHS held its first Attendance Recognition assembly on Wednesday, October 5 in TAG. Any student who had perfect attendance in the month of September was entered into a Subway draw for a gift card. Each month a student qualifies for perfect attendance they receive one entry into the Year End Assembly draw in June where a number of larger prizes will be given away. SCHS values attendance and wants to recognize students who work hard at coming to school every day. There were 16 students in Junior High and 8 students in High School with Perfect Attendance in September.
Mrs. Hagens brought in the “Agriculture for Life” trailer through her “Know and Grow” junior high option. The trailer taught students about the technological advancements in the field and career opportunities. Continuing with Agriculture there is a new program in PRPS called “Science Experiential Aerial Research (SEAR) and SCHS has three students in the program. The program will teach students how to use Drones to monitor crops and check for disease. Students will leave the program with their certification to fly the Drone.
There are many students signed up with Green Certificate this year and many of our students are working on the cow/calf portion of the program. The new grade 10 students just attended their first course for Green Certificate at Olds College on October 13.
In addition to the “Know and Grow” junior high option, students have the opportunity to participate in “Bio Bosses” where they learn how to dissect, Art and Fitness. Students got their choice of options this year and there are many cool things happening in junior high options. A number of English classes have run a book tasting in their classrooms. Students had the opportunity to learn how to pick “good fit” books and how to determine if a book meets their interests. Work experience was a huge success last summer and students earned 215 credits. Great job students and Mrs. Grover.
South Central is Kindling Hearts in many ways, but one of the most noticeable is the Breakfast Program. Every morning Mrs. Hoffmann prepares breakfast for every student in the school. Some students come for the toast, bagels, waffles and granola bars and others come for the chocolate/white milk. It is great to watch the students eating together in Barwacz Hall in the morning and playing pool, ping pong and socializing. Thank you to all the donations that are coming in to support the Breakfast Program. The junior high teachers had the opportunity to recognize a student in their class who shows good character, works hard and is a great person during the October recognition assembly. SCHS has many students who are awesome. The senior high students will be recognized in the November assembly. Thank you to Mrs. Hauck and Mrs. Hagens and the Yearbook crew who are working hard on completing Yearbooks from last year and this year. Thank you to Mrs. Jorgenson and the Students Union who are working hard on planning a number of different activities for the school this year. We are hopeful the new furniture order will arrive within the next few weeks which includes soft seating for the Common Areas. Thank you to PRPS for splitting the cost of the furniture with SCHS.
Forging Futures is alive and well at SCHS. Mr. Bradshaw is busy with the hockey academy and the students involved are loving his coaching and the use of the new academy room at SCHS. Badger’s Baseball is thriving, and Coach Nolan and Zach are doing a tremendous job with the team on the field. Scorpion Athletics is busy, and we currently have 5 volleyball teams, a Cross Country team and Senior and Junior High golf. Both Ki Laughlin and Gabe Logan qualified to represent the South Central Zone in Cross Country Provincials on October 15. This is a huge accomplishment, and the staff and students are very proud of you.
Truth and Reconciliation was honored at SCHS with the wearing of Orange Shirts and the students participated in an activity where they cut out an orange hand and wrote how they personally could help with Reconciliation in our country. Education in the area of Truth and Reconciliation is an on going process throughout the year at SCHS.
Photos courtesy SCHS, click for larger images and captions
