During this Holy Week we remember God's love for us and look forward to the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. "Be joyful always, pray continuously, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ."

As we continue to journey through this season of Lent we remember the great sacrifice that Jesus made for each of us. He offered himself to show his love for us, so that we could be people of joy, knowing that we have the promise of eternal life. For this we give great thanks to God and prepare for the celebration of Jesus' resurrection. Amen.

Tuesday April 22 - Friday April 25

• Earth Week Shoe Drive

Tuesday April 22

• Performing Arts and Sports for Life Registration Deadline

Wednesday April 23

• Linking Generations @ 11:45am

Thursday April 24

• Theme Day - Lazy/Comfy Day (PJs, slippers, comfy clothes)
• Chuck a Puck - Last day to purchase

Friday April 25

• Hawks Hockey Challenge - Sherwood Park Arena @ 1:15pm
• Earth Week Shoe Drive - Last day to bring any unwanted shoes

Tuesday April 29

• Theme Day - Rhyme Without Reason (partner dress up as rhyming words ex: one is a cat the other is a bat)

Wednesday April 30

• Grade 6 - Telus World of Science

Thursday May 1

• Friday Schedule

Friday May 2

• PD Day - No School

Does your Son or Daughter like Performing Arts? Are they interested in Drama, Music, Movement and Dance Supplemental classes in; Media and Set Design.

The Performing Arts have the power to engage students in a dynamic educational experience, where they can uncover and explore their God-given talents. The arts allow for students to develop creativity, ingenuity, empathy and innovation, which are the keys to success in today’s complex, changing world.

With registration right around the corner, we asked parents of our Performing Arts students a few questions: How do you think the program has impacted your child? How has your child grown? What do you like about the program as a parent? Here are a couple of the perspectives from our very own Performing Arts Parents!

“In the first year of performing arts, I was in awe of my daughter’s ability to get up on stage. Her performance was quiet but I was so proud of her. In her second year, she is very committed to the upcoming performance, she is dancing and rehearsing and very excited for her part. Performing arts has done and continues to improve her self confidence, and I believe is helping her find her truest self.

I love getting snippets of the performance shown to me at home while the group is learning and developing their parts. I love the joy on my child’s face when she has learnt a new dance routine, and I love the music and singing along with my child.”

~ M. L.

Is your Son or Daughter interested in Sports? Are they interested in gaining exposure to a range of physical activities and sports, so they can begin to discover sports they enjoy and build confidence in basic skills?

The mission of the Sport for Life Program is to provide students exposure to a variety of sport and recreation activities in a Catholic environment with the focus on creating life-long active and healthy lifestyles. Students will have the benefit of building athletic skill, along with leadership qualities in a faith-filled setting.

The program is based on the Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) model, which is a movement to improve the quality of sport and physical activity in Canada through improved athlete training and better integration between all stakeholders in the sport system, including sport organizations, education, recreation and health.

Sports for Life Testimonials:

" I went to St. Teresa for two years and participated in the Sport for Life program. I truly believe that the Sport for Life program helped improve on my leadership and teamwork skills that got me where I am today as a post-secondary athlete, playing volleyball for the Nait Ooks. I really enjoyed trying new sports and activities while creating lasting friendships and memories that got me through high school and that we still talk about today. If you're thinking about doing the Sport for Life program, I really recommend it. "

- Emma Buyar

Both of our kids have taken part in the Sports for Life program, and it has been an incredible experience. It kept them active while teaching valuable lessons in teamwork, responsibility, and resilience. The variety of activities helped them grow as individuals and as part of a team. They learned to communicate effectively and support their teammates. Setting goals taught them responsibility and leadership. The challenges built resilience, showing them how to overcome setbacks. They especially enjoyed bonding with peers and meeting students from other classes. It created a strong sense of community and belonging. Sports for Life helped them grow in character and confidence. We are grateful for this amazing program.

- E.N

To donate, please click on this link: https://www.canadahelps.org/s/6UFmBf

With the warmer weather arriving, we’re seeing more students riding their bikes to school! Just a quick reminder: by law, all students are required to wear a helmet when biking. Please remind students to dismount their bikes and walk them across crosswalks, especially those surrounding the school. This not only ensures the safety of the students themselves, but also promotes safe behavior and attentiveness from drivers in the area.

Also, please note that bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc., cannot be stored inside the school building. If these items do not fit in a locker or can’t be securely left at the bike rack, we ask that students leave them at home.

Thanks for helping keep our school safe and organized!

Starting Tuesday April 22nd to Friday April 25th, St. Theresa will be participating in the Earth Week Shoe Drive! Please help us keep shoes out of the landfill by bringing in any unwanted shoes of any kind and any size to be recycled. Please tie laces together. Individuals who have participated will be entered for a chance to win a prize.

Starting Wednesday April 16th, students will be selling pucks for the Hawks Hockey Challenge Chuck-A-Puck activity. Pucks will be sold at the front of the school next to the cafeteria doors during the lunch hour. The puck that is thrown closest to the faceoff dot will be declared the winner and that class will win a class pizza party. There will be one prize for Grades 5/6 and another prize for Grades 7/8.

Pucks will be sold for $5.00 each with all proceeds being donated to support

Alberta Cancer Exercise Program (ACE).

Dear parents/guardians,

St. Theresa Catholic School is excited to announce that we will be hosting our Annual “Hawks Hockey Challenge” game in support of Alberta Cancer Exercise Program (ACE). This game will take place at 1:15 pm on Friday, April 25, 2025, at the Randy Rosen Arena. The premise of this game is for teachers and students to play one another to build school spirit and support worthwhile causes. We will be adding an optional $2 donation to PowerSchool for students’ entry fee into the game - should you wish to remove the $2 donation there is an opt-out form in your PowerSchool fees page to remove the $2 from your account. In addition, there will be a PAC concession and a “Chuck a Puck for 5 Bucks” during the game. Proceeds from the concession will go to support our school and the proceeds from the hockey game and Chuck a Puck will be donated to the Alberta Cancer Exercise Program (ACE).

Thank you for supporting this charitable event which has become an activity the students and staff look forward to each year!

For more information on the Alberta Cancer Exercise Program please visit: https://www.albertacancerexercise.com/

Thank you,

St. Theresa Staff

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

We’re sharing His Grace, Archbishop Smith’s Easter 2025 message. It’s also posted on Archdiocese social media. If we can help further, please let us know. We wish you a blessed Easter season.

In Christ, Andrew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbBGZGiEd6g

A Celebration of Catholic Education

2024-2025 Theme: Rooted in Christ, “I am the vine; you are the branches… bear much fruit, and become my disciples.” John 15:5,8

GrACE exists to inspire, invigorate and embolden the spirit of Catholic education in order to unite, engage, educate and communicate with one voice on its behalf. GrACE, in partnership with the REAL Foundation, is happy to present this contest to EICS students. This is our sixth annual GrACE Contest: A Celebration of Catholic Education.

We invite EICS students of all grade levels to submit work reflecting the importance of, and their experience with or contribution to Catholic education. This year our theme is Rooted in Christ. Entries need to reflect this theme. It is often helpful if students include a few sentences to go with their entry on how it is connected to this year’s theme.

Student Submissions could include such things as (but not limited to):

*Please note, all digital submissions need to be in “view all” format before submitting.

• A work of art

• A poster

• A formal or informal essay

• Original music

• Poetry

• A presentation (video or otherwise) of social justice work

• etc

Contest Rules

All Submissions due to your school chaplain by May 2

Prizes will be presented May 25 in each community’s parish (The week of World Catholic Education Day, Thursday, May 29). There will be 14 prizes!

• K-8 students = 50 dollar prize in the form of a gift card

• 9-12 students = 100 dollar prize in the form of a gift card

Our Grade 6 students put their entrepreneurial skills to the test at the St. Theresa Business Fair—and what an incredible event it was!

From creative product designs to polished sales pitches, our young entrepreneurs impressed us all with their innovation, teamwork, and confidence. Our students set up a booths to showcase and sell their unique creations—and the fair was buzzing with excitement!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support our students. Your enthusiasm made the day even more special!

Way to go, Grade 6! We’re so proud of your creativity, courage, and business savvy. Hawk pride in action!

Book Club for girls in grade 7 and 8 we began reading The Confidence Code for Girls by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman together. The group discussed confidence and what it looks like as well as learned how to identify confidence imposter behavior, such as being phony, bratty or arrogant or making other people feel bad and putting them down. The girls investigated risk taking and evaluated smart risks versus dumb risks. The book club occurs every second week on Tuesdays and is open to all grade 7 and 8 girls.

What an amazing collaboration, worthy of celebration!!! St. Theresa and École Our Lady of Perpetual Help attended the Sherwood Park Music Festival this week. It was an amazing and fruitful experience, as the students made music and worked together as a team to earn themselves a Platinum Award. We couldn't be any prouder of our future musicians.

Register for the in-person RunWild Marafun 1.2km race in Sherwood Park, Saturday May 3 at 2:00 pm in Greengrove Park in Glen Allen.

Here is a link to their promotional video: RunWild Canada

Badminton

- Congratulations to the badminton team for their success at the Ardrossan Jr Buffalo Cup last weekend. Many teams finished first in their division through round robin play, with Ryan winning a silver medal in boys singles.

- Congratulations to the badminton team who represented our school well as we hosted OLPH in a friendly tournament. The following students won their category:

- Stephanie (girls singles)

- Ryan (boys singles)

- Kayleigh and Sydney (girls doubles)

- AJ and Nathan (boys doubles)

- Next week the badminton team will compete in the EIAA badminton tournament at SCA. Good luck!

Handball

- Congratulations to the handball teams for finishing off their regular season round robin play this week. The girls won their game, while the boys lost a close game in overtime.

- Girls Playoff/Championship evening is on April 29 (location TBA)

- Boys Playoff/Championship evening is on April 30 (location TBA)

5F went shopping with others in mind, and together they created 21 Birthday Bags to donate to the food bank for our school’s Almsgiving Initiative.

6D/6M SFL health class enjoyed a walk and booster juice after wrapping up their healthy balanced eating unit!

Performing Arts 8 had a theater makeup workshop this week. They learned all about zombie makeup with Theater Garage! Some of these students have been in the program for 3 years, and have been able to continue to learn and develop their theater make up skills. They have done old aging, cuts and bruises, and now zombies! It was wonderful to see students be able to jump in and use what they have learned in previous years, and also learn those new skills, too! Here are some past and present pictures for this amazing group of students!

6D/6M absolutely crushed their hip-hop dance routine at Groovebox!

Performing Arts 5 and 6 got to hang out with Chris from Rapid Fire Theater this week. They continued to explore and develop their drama skills through improvisation!

Ukrainian Pysanky (українські писанки) are dated back to 1300 - 1500 B.C., that was long before Christianity came to our land in 988 A.D. Since then Pysanky became a part of the Christian tradition of Easter representing the resurrection of God.

The St. Theresa Parent Advisory Council performs many vital functions for our school community, by helping to facilitate school wide student functions and providing valuable funding to our school via fundraising. Parents involved in the PAC learn about planning and development within the school and are part of the planning process. These roles make their involvement very important to the families, administration and teachers.

Next Parent Council Meeting - Tuesday May 27, 2025 - St. Theresa Library @ 6:30pm

https://stt.eics.ab.ca/parents/parent-societies

2024/2025 PAC Meeting Dates:

September 24, 2024

October 22, 2024

November 26, 2024

January 21, 2025

March 10, 2025

May 27, 2025

2024 - 2025 Executive PAC Members:

Chair: Kara Gettings

Bitaemo! Sherwood Park's Ukrainian Bilingual Program began in 1980 and has seen decades of success in academic achievement, global learning, and celebration of the rich Ukrainian heritage. From Preschool/Sadochok to Grade 12, the Ukrainian Bilingual Program offers a community-minded cultural environment along with an enhanced academic curriculum. BUCPS Mission is to promote, advocate, support and foster cultural and educations opportunities for students in the Ukrainian Bilingual Program.

Next BUCPS Meeting - TBA

https://stt.eics.ab.ca/parents/parent-societies

2024-2025 Executive BUCPS Members:

President : Andrea Chmilar

Vice-President: Kelsey Whattam

Treasurer: Laurie Leeder

Secretary: Paula Harasymiw

Please see the below links to register for the Grade 6 and Up Confirmation sessions starting in February 2025:

We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe

OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PARISH

13 Brower Drive, Sherwood Park AB. T8H 1Y7

Phone : 780 467 5470 Fax : 780 467 0530

E-mail: info@olph.ca Website: www.olph.ca

Dear Parents:

Welcome to a new year of Catholic education and faith formation for your child!

Each year, in a Catholic school, your child will learn about many aspects of their Catholic faith— including learning about the seven sacraments. In our Archdiocese, preparing children for the celebration of their own sacraments always occurs in the parish, with the support of the school: • preparing for First Reconciliation, and then First Eucharist, can begin when a child is 7 years of age and in Grade 2 or older

• preparing for Confirmation can begin when a child is about 12 years of age and in Grade 6 or older • special preparation is also available for children of any age who are not yet baptized

Most children attending Catholic schools are ready to receive at the ages shown above, but there is no such thing as too late. Are you seeking for your child to celebrate a sacrament, such as Baptism, First Communion or Confirmation? Are you ready to help them live out their Baptismal promises? Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and Elk Island Catholic Schools are each involved in preparing your child for a Catholic sacrament along with you. It is a group effort, and everyone has a role:

• As a parent, the Church has always held that you are the primary teacher of the faith for your child. You teach them about God; set the example; talk about your own faith; and you bring them to Mass. • The place where the sacraments are celebrated and lived is the Catholic parish. We the people of God in the Church are each part of the Body of Christ. Being in relationship with the parish community (with all its challenges and blessings) is essential for your life of faith and that of your child. The preparation for, and celebration of, the sacraments happens in the parish church. • You must sign your child up for preparation at the parish. The school doesn’t do this part of the process for you. Catholic schools are a special place for children to learn more about Jesus Christ, to practice living in a community of faith, and to develop and deepen a relationship with Christ. We (Catholic parish and Catholic school) are eager to walk beside you and your children during this very special time.

Please call OLPH parish office 780-467-5470, send an email to sacraments@olph.ca or visit www.olph.ca/sacraments to get started or learn more.

As you prepare your child for their sacraments may this also be a special time for you - of deepening your own understanding and of growing in faith for the whole family!

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jim Corrigan, Pastor

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish

A Roman Catholic Christian community.

We come together at our Lord’s invitation to worship God, celebrate the sacraments, and deepen our faith. We strive to be thankful, generous and welcoming, and are sent forth to help advance God’s Kingdom on earth by proclaiming the Gospel and serving others.

Email: stt@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://stt.eics.ab.ca/
Location: 2021 Brentwood Blvd, Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-464-4001
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/St.TheresaCatholicMiddleSchool/