The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
J.H. Kerr School's March monthly assembly was an announcement and award filled affair. The March 24th gathering saw all the K-12 students as well as a number of community members congregate in the gym at a around 11:00 a.m.Ê Also in attendance were Bev Desjarlais, the Member of Parliament for the Churchill riding and her Executive Assistant Leah Passler. The school's principal welcomed those in attendance, prior to calling upon grade 8 teacher Clarence Fisher to present awards to the winners in the school's science fair, which was held late in January.Ê Once these awards were handed out, science and art teacher Steve Deighton was asked to make several presentations. Deighton announced and acknowledged a number of awards that were earned at the 2005 Frontier Juried Art Show.Ê He noted that this is the third year that J.H. Kerr's students have competed in the show and they have bought home awards each of those years.Ê This year the school has eight winners.Ê The winners were: In painting, 1st place Jordon Fisher; In digital photography, 1st place, Kayla Ryan; In pottery, 1st Jenna Wiwcharuk, 2nd Toni-Lynn Smith, and 3rd ÊShelia Holmgren; In drawing, 2nd Rianna Randall, and 3rd Jesse Drews; In crafts, 3rd place went to Jenine Dupont. Deighton stayed at the podium and with the help of chemistry teacher, Wendy Hoeksma, announced Snow Lake's heavy contingent of Frontier Games Divisional winners. These were: 1st place, the Girls Indoor Soccer Team; In Boys Cross Country Skiing, 1st place, Boe Oleksuk, and 6th place Danny Roberts; In Girls Cross Country Skiing, 2nd place Kim Beilman; In Boys Doubles Badminton, 2nd place, Boe Oleksuk and Brady Wiwcharuk; In Girls Singles Badminton, 3rd place Jesse Drews. Once the athletic and arts awards were out of the way, the school's Librarian, Tammy Walker, was asked to acknowledge a goal that the student population reached during Reading Month (February). Walker explained that students were attempting to reach the target of 4,000 points (points awarded corresponding to the size of the book and age of the reader) during the month. If they did, they were to receive a school-wide pizza party for their efforts.Ê Amazingly, students reached a total of 5,513 points and as a result received their party. At this point, principal Elliott recognized the local MP and asked Ms. Desjarlais to come forward to make a presentation. Desjarlais stated that she was at the school on behalf of the Prime Minister and that it was her honour to present a Prime Ministerial Award for Teaching Excellence to Clarence Fisher. This is one of 30 such awards that are presented in the country each year and along with the honour goes a cheque for $1,000 (to be spent in the teacher's school). Fisher accepted the award, thanking Desjarlais, his peers, and the community of Snow Lake. "This goes to prove that we are not at a disability living in a small town," he said. In a conversation previous to receiving this impressive award, Fisher stated that he appreciated the fact that Frontier School Division's Science Consultant, Loraine Gowanlock, nominated him for the prize. "It's a pretty big thing, and I am very honoured," he said.
