In today’s Gospel from Mark 10:17-30, we encounter a man who seeks eternal life and approaches Jesus with sincerity, asking what he must do to attain it. His question reflects a deep yearning for a life beyond this world, a longing for communion with God. Jesus, recognizing this, begins by reminding him of the commandments, but the story takes a deeper turn when Jesus invites him to "sell what you own, give the money to the poor... and come, follow me."

The man’s response reveals a tension that many of us can relate to: the difficulty of letting go. His wealth is not merely material possession; it represents security, identity, and perhaps pride. Jesus is not condemning wealth itself but rather the attachment to it, which can create barriers between us and God. The invitation to "follow me" is not just about action, but about a radical reordering of priorities, where God becomes the center of our lives.

As we reflect on thanksgiving in light of this gospel, we are reminded that true gratitude is not just about recognizing the blessings we have received. Thanksgiving is about our willingness to share those blessings with others. We are called to go beyond words of gratitude to actions of sacrifice and charity. True thanksgiving is a movement of the heart—a willingness to let go of what we cling to so that we can fully embrace the life God calls us to. When we give of ourselves, when we let go of our attachments and follow Christ, we receive "a hundred times as much" in spiritual riches—love, community, and, ultimately, eternal life.

Monday, October 14

- Thanksgiving. No school.

Tuesday, October 15

- Japan 2025 Exchange student information meeting at lunch time in the library

- Grade 11 Counsellor visits during period 3 - Planning for Post-Secondary

- Grade 9 Girls and Boys Volleyball versus FR Haythorne at ABJ. Games at 4:00 and 5:00 pm respectively.

- Junior Girls Volleyball at Spruce Grove beginning at 5:30 pm

Wednesday, October 16

- PEP Day. Choose your sessions at abjpep.sched.com

- Grade 11 Counsellor visits during period 3 - Planning for Post-Secondary

- Senior Boys at Bev Facey beginning at 5:00 pm

- Senior Girls at St. Albert High School beginning at 6:30 pm

Thursday, October 17

- Boys 9-12 Basketball Open Gym 7:00 - 8:30 pm

- Junior Boys at SCA beginning at 5:30 pm

- Junior Girls at Sturgeon High School beginning at 6:30 pm

Friday, October 18

- Grade 10 Retreat to Birch Bay

- Grade 9 Volleyball teams at Sal SpikeFest Tournament

- Student Council "Tape the Teacher" event

Upcoming...

October 20

- ABJ Catholic Education Mass at OLPH beginning at 7:00 pm. All students, staff, and families are invited to attend.

October 22

- Access 52 Presentation

- Halloween Costume Pop-up Shop

October 23

- Halloween Costume Pop-up Shop

- Jeff Gerber Presentation in period 3 (class sign-up)

October 24

- Grade-level assemblies in period 3

- Grad Parent Meeting at 7:00 pm in the large gym

The newsletter is organized based on our four school assurance priorities for this year.

1. Faith Integration
2. Learners and Learning
3. Systemic Wellness
4. Community Engagement

Access 52 will be hosting a parent night on October 24 for all EICS parents (in all of our communities). Here is the link to register (the event is free).

In Catholicism, the month of October is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Rosary. This devotion stems from the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated on October 7, which commemorates the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, a victory attributed to the intercession of the Virgin Mary through the praying of the Rosary. Throughout October, Catholics are encouraged to focus on the mysteries of the Rosary, reflecting on key events in the life of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, and praying for peace and spiritual renewal. Many parishes organize special Rosary devotions, processions, and prayer services during this month.

Each day, we are called to do a different set of the Mysteries of the Rosary:

Mondays & Saturdays: Joyful Mysteries
Tuesdays & Fridays: Sorrowful Mysteries
Wednesdays & Sundays: Glorious Mysteries
Thursdays: Luminous Mysteries

• Learn the prayers of the Rosary by watching this video.
• Access the Mysteries of the Rosary here.

GrACE (Grateful Advocates for Catholic Education) is pleased to warmly invite you to the GrACE October Summit 2024: “Testify! Share the Reason for Your Hope” — a day dedicated to Renewing Our Commitment, Rejoicing in Our Faith, and Strengthening Our Communion in the service of Catholic education.

This inspirational event, co-hosted by the Calgary Catholic School Division, will be held on October 25, 2024, at St. Luke’s Catholic Parish in Calgary. The Summit will emphasize unity, dialogue, hope, and renewal, highlighting how these values are integral to the ongoing vitality and growth of Catholic education.

Parents are encouraged to consider attending!

Students in Social 20-1, 20-2 and Etudes Sociales 20 students will be traveling to Cineplex Cinemas on Tuesday, October 22 to watch the film 1917. Payments can be made on PowerSchool and that should be posted this week. Also the parent letter that has the curricular outcomes will go out this week as well.

All grade 12 students are required to complete the ABJ Gold Book in order to qualify for graduation ceremonies. The purpose of the Gold Book is to actively engage students in preparing for their lives after high school by reviewing their academic records, exploring career and education options, and meeting with one of our school counsellors for guidance. The Gold Book was first presented to students in September and there have been numerous reminders sent out to students via our weekly newsletter and the grade-level Google classroom. The final date for students to submit and meet with a counsellor or Mrs. Tymko as the grade 12 administrator regarding the completed Gold Book is Friday, December 13.

Students must complete the Gold Book as assigned through the grade-level Google classroom (using code pqv2uz2).

If you are a self-identifying First Nations, Métis, or Inuit student who submits an application to a participating post-secondary institution, you have the opportunity to have your application fee waived. In the spirit of reconciliation and to honour Residential School survivors, many Universities extend application days and waive the fee.

U of A - September 30th to October 29th

MacEwan - September 16th to November 4th (use code "TAWAW" to apply)

Indigenous identity documentation can be uploaded to your account after you apply and up until you receive an official decision. It is recommended that students upload their documents as soon as possible. Post-secondary institutions recognize that Indigeneity and connecting to your Indigenous identity can be a complex process and have people that are able to assist and work closely with you as a student applicant. Feel free to reach out to Mrs. Glass if you need connection to someone on the post-secondary side in this respect.

Are you potentially considering a HEALTH Program through the School of Health and Life Sciences at NAIT? Many of their programs have an interview requirement which can be a daunting experience for our Grade 12 students looking to get a conditional offer of admission to one of these very popular and very competitive programs!

This year, NAIT will be offering free Health Program Interview Preparation Workshops Sessions. These sessions can be virtual or take place in person on Saturday October 26th during their Open House. For more information or to register for a session, you can email DMS@nait.ca to assist you. It is very worthwhile as prep something that constitutes a large part of your admission evaluation considerations!

Not all health programs require interviews, but many do. To see if the one you are interested in has an interview component, you can click here.

Please reach out to Mrs. Glass if you have any questions!

If so, apply to be ONE OF THREE students from ABJ that are able to attend the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame’s Discovery Day in Health Sciences, hosted by the University of Alberta on, Thursday October 24, 2024.

Discovery Days in Health Sciences are one-day events that provide secondary school students (from grades 10 and 11) with the opportunity to explore a variety of career options in medicine and the health sciences. Participants gain a clearer picture of what it would be like to be a health professional by interacting with researchers, clinicians and educators in their real-life work setting. The event includes:

• A dynamic keynote lecture
• An opportunity to attend two interactive workshops pre-selected from a catalogue of options (link for session descriptions attached below
• "Health Pros Tell All" career panel discussion

Students are FIRST come FIRST served so please email Mrs. Glass at sarag@eics.ab.ca to be considered (again, we are only allowed 3!)

Registration for sessions opens on Thursday September 19th, so sign up quickly so that I am able to get you the registration information so you can get priority workshop selection!

*Note - students will be responsible for their own transportation to and from the University of Alberta on the day of the event. There is no charge for this event.

Mrs. Nelson's Creative Textile Arts 9 class has been hard at work, and their projects are a wonderful display of creativity and skill!

Thank you to all those students have attended previous Japan Exchange meetings. Please see the letter below for more information.

Mr. Boake's leadership class is planning a "Tape the Teacher" event on October 18. This will raise funds for the SPCA. We will have a guest from the SPCA on site to share info about their organization and accept the donations raised. For a small donation, have the chance to help stick your teachers to a wall. We hope this event will stick out as a reminder of our capacity to get involved!

We are collecting gently used costumes in the lower common area. This initiative is good for the environment and also will end with a pop up shop on October 22ns and 23rd in Mrs. Boake's classroom. You can buy items for $2 and all proceeds will go to the Lurana Shelter.

We are excited to welcome Mrs. Laurie Ciezki (lauriec@eics.ab.ca) to the role of Athletic Director as well as Mrs. Courtney St. Amand (courtney.stamand@eics.ab.ca) as Assistant to the Athletic Director. Please feel free to them for any Athletics comments, questions, or information.

Check out the website for all things Athletics.

The ABJ Scots finished off their regular season with a Friday Night Lights win over the O’Leary Spartans at Johnny Bright Bowl. The Scots put a damper on the O’Leary Homecoming game with a convincing 29‐7 win. The Scots scoring came on runs by Luca Steblyk, Cayden Rae, and Keaton Onysyk, a safety given up by O’Leary, and a fumble recovery return by Jack Thiessen. Denys Fesenko successfully converted on three of the four touchdowns.

Coach Yuzyk commented after the game:

“That was a good win against a team that is big and tough and always play their best against us. Our guys were well‐prepared and they executed well – we had a very focused week of practice. Defense had another excellent effort – Ryder (Pietrkiewicz) had a strong showing, Jack (Thiessen) played well and got the scoop‐and‐score, Lukas (Thiessen) had a busy night on both sides – he made lot of tackles all over the field as well as ran the ball hard a bunch. The offense put a number of sustained drives together, finished in the red zone, and we did a much better job of not hurting ourselves. Stubbs (Lucas Steblyk) had a busy night running the ball and punched one in. Also had a nice run late by Keaton (Onysyk) to cap the scoring – Keaton also had an excellent defensive performance. Cayden Rae had some nice runs early and got one as well. We did struggle to throw the ball effectively this week so it’s something we will be working on this week. Specials had a solid night – the short kick that we recovered was executed perfectly. It was a very good effort overall and a good end to the season as we ramp up for playoffs.”

The Scots finish the season at 4‐2, which places them in fourth place in the Miles division going into playoffs.

“We have FX next week – looks like a Thursday game but will have to confirm with the league – hoping to arrange the game to be played at Emerald. Looking forward to playing FX again – we have improved a lot particularly on offense but they are a very good program and I know they will be well prepared for us. Should be a fun night of football – would be great to see the stands packed for that one.”

With the end of the regular season the Scots will play St. FX next week in the first round of playoffs. The game time and location are to be determined and will be communicated once announced.

The grade 9 boys played hard against Sherwood Heights. A real nail biter with so much back and forth. Ultimately, they were victorious, winning 2-0. Great job team!

The Junior Boys had a successful week beating Memorial and Bev Facey in 3 sets last week. Go Scots!

The Junior Girls also had a victorious week sweeping Stony Plain in 3 sets on Tuesday, and defeating Lillian Osborne in 4 sets on Thursday! Way to go girls!!

The Senior Girls had some great regular season play last week winning against both O'Leary and Dr. Anne Anderson in 3 sets.

After playing three games in a row at the St. FX Boom Tournament, the girls found themselves going up against Sherwood Park rivals Bev Facey in the cross-overs. They made it to the third set in an incredibly close and nail biting game. ABJ lost but played so well!!

The Senior Boys stumbled Monday in a loss against O’Leary but were victorious at home on Wednesday against Memorial Composite. This past weekend, the boys had their final tournament at the St Francis Xavier BOOM Classic.

We would like to invite all high school and youth club athletes to join us for our youth day at our final home game of the year! The UofA Mens Rugby Program will be playing in a double header against the MRU 1st and 2nd teams on Sunday October 20th. The games will take place at Foote field and the first kickoff is at 1:00pm.

For youth day anyone under 18 can attend the game for free! (for adults who are not U of A students, admission is $10). We hope that many youth athletes would like to attend these games and that the experience helps grow their love of the sport and their ambitions of playing after high school and U18 rugby.

If you could please share this information and the attached poster with as many of your youth athletes as possible we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for sharing the love of the game with your athletes and we hope to see you all on the 20th!

Sincerely,

UofA Mens Rugby

This session explores the potential impact that our screen-saturated culture (smart phones/ tablets/gaming, and especially social media) is having on the developing brains of children and youth. We know there is a growing population of children dealing with anxiety, social frustration, sleep deprivation, and depression as a result of addictive screen time behaviour, but there is a lot that parents and educators can do to help children navigate these complex realities. This session provides parents and educators some guidance to empower our children toward healthy digital choices.

It’s time for Strathcona County Library to create a new service plan to ensure that they’re meeting the current needs in our community.

Part of the process is a survey, hosted on County Voice. The library hopes to hear from a broad cross-section of Strathcona County residents, including school-age children and their parents:

• What draws you to the library?

• What might be missing?

• How can the library make their services more welcoming & accessible for everyone?

The input gathered will shape services and help the library plan for the future.

Take the 5-minute survey on County Voice, open until Sunday, Oct. 20.

Apply for the Youth Water Council today! Collaborate on an environmental project, develop your leadership skills, and make friends and connections along the way! Programming runs throughout the 2024-2025 school year, beginning November 14th and wrapping up on June 7th. The application process is super quick and only asks students to share why they are interested in joining - no prerequisites or previous experience required. Submit before November 10th.

Link: https://www.nswa.ab.ca/initiatives/youth-water-council

Parents/Guardians are asked to ensure that all Yearly Consent forms in PowerSchool are completed as soon as possible. This is especially important in allowing programming to happen in the classroom.

1. Consent to disclose personal information to the School Council
2. Consent to Post/Display personal information of student under FOIPP (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy)
3. Copyright Permission
4. Technology Use Agreement
5. Low Risk Field Trip Consent Form
6. One to One Responsible User Agreement
7. Locker Use Agreement

In addition to Google Classrooms for each course, there is also a grade-level Google classroom. Students are asked to accept the invitation when they receive it in their school email. Parents will also be invited and are urged to accept the invitation as well.

The Scots Week at a Glance (SWAG) newsletter will be shared weekly on Sunday evenings or Monday evenings on long weekends. This will also be posted on our website and shared via social media. Stay informed on all things ABJ through the website, blog, and on social media.