By Kirsten Smawley
The old saying is true, time flies when you are having fun.
Everyone at Theresetta was shocked when it was already time to change the calendar to October. It safe to say everyone has settled back into the school routine. Between classes and extracurricular activities, nobody noticed that we left September behind.
On Sept. 27, the Grade 9 class led the school in the annual celebration of St. Therese Feast Day. St. Therese is the patron saint of Theresetta and every year we honour her by celebrating her legacy of “do small things with great love” which is something the students and staff are always striving towards. The Grade 9 class prepared and presented a biographical skit about St. Therese’s life. The first scene was a representation of her childhood. The second scene portrayed her time spent in the convent. And the last scene, was her reflecting on her legacy.
The Grade 9 students, along with Mr. Ries, put in the time and effort to write the script, organize costumes and practiced their play so that they could put on a nice little production to clearly show the younger students the importance of celebrating St. Therese’s life. At the end of their presentation, the Grade 9s continued a time honoured tradition at Theresetta, of handing out a chocolate rose, the symbol of St. Therese, to each of the Theresetta student and staff. It was a lovely way to honour someone who is such a great role model to us all year long.
Oct. 4 was the grand opening of the Junior ATB bank program at Theresetta. There were 11 employees from the Grade 3-4 class to welcome the clientele. After their four training sessions, they were able to provide a smooth process for those who came to deposit their funds. On every deposit day, each client who makes a deposit is entered into a draw and this month Harlyn Bunbury won a gift card and Kolby Renschler won ATB sunglasses.
On Oct. 4, the Grade 3-4 class ran the Thanksgiving assembly for the Theresetta student body. The young students did a great job presenting the things that they are thankful for and each class contributed to making a slideshow of all the wonderful things the Theresetta community is lucky enough to be thankful for. It was a lovely send off into the long weekend.
In volleyball news, the junior high girls’ teams hosted their home tournament on Sept. 18. There were eight teams invited to join in the fun day of hard hits and impressive blocks. The Grade 8-9 Theresetta team played on one side of the tournament draw, while the Grade 5-7 team played on the other. Both teams faced some fierce teams throughout the day. The younger Knights team played against three other teams in their pool and tried their best to develop their skills. The older Knights team made it to the finals in their pool, to face a competitive Forestburg team that had them working hard to earn their two - three-set victory and the trophy. Well done to all the Knights players.
In league action, both the girls and boys hosted and played against Brownfield on Oct. 3. There were lineups with students from Grade 5-9 for both teams and everyone worked hard together, to take the win for the boys and the girls. On Oct. 10, the girls and boys travelled to Stettler to play against W. E. Hay. Both the girls Grade 5-7 team and the girls’ Grade 8-9 team got to play a match against one of the two Stettler girls teams. Both the girls and boys travelled home victorious.
One sport has already come and gone in the 2018-19 school year. Cross country is the first sport completed within the school year and just last week was the completion of the cross country season. The seasons first run, the Central Alberta Regional Alberta cross country race, which was hosted by Gus Wetter, at Theresetta’s school grounds had runners from schools all over the area vying for a chance to make to the big championship race later on in the month.
The Theresetta runners put in a great effort and came out with the following results in each of the students age groups: Jillian Heidecker finished first, Cara Penner finished second and Kyla Beaumont finished seventh in the Grade 6 girls event. Drew Bagshaw finished second for Grade 6 boys.
Ray Musgrove finished second in Grade 7 boys. Parker Slemp finished sixth in Grade 8 girls. Abbigale Fuller finished third, and Ashley Renschler finished fifth in the Grade 9 girls event. Anyone that finished in the top ten at the CARA race, moved on to CWAJHAA in Panoka on Oct. 9 in less than ideal weather of freezing temps and snowy track conditions. The Theresetta runners finished with the following results: Ray Musgrove finished ninth in Grade 7 boys, Jillian finished seventeenth for Grade 6 girls, and Drew Bagshaw finished twenty-second for Grade 6 boys. The races included anywhere from 80-90 participants, so great job to all the Theresette runners. What a great way to end the cross country season.
