Kids and parents flooded the halls at Joseph M. Demko School Wednesday to get their first glimpse of St. Albert’s newest school.
Some 400 parents and students were at Joseph M. Demko School Wednesday for an open house. It was the first time the general public was allowed in the school, which is still under construction.
“We’re hoping to get the keys next week,” principal Les Kirchner told the cheering crowd.
The K-to-9 public school will eventually host up to 900 students, and features a climbing wall, two gymnasiums, two playgrounds, CTS lab, Foods, arts rooms, and a preschool. It also has its namesake, retired St. Albert Public School trustee Joe Demko, who posed for many selfies with future students.
“We’re very happy to have this beautiful place named after him,” Kirchner said.
Taking the tour
The Gazette joined Demko and other parents as they explored the school’s many features.
The front lobby is mostly glass and polished concrete, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking into the large gym, front office, and learning commons.
When asked what would keep errant balls and students from smashing into those big windows by the gym, Kirchner said that the bottom halves of them would be frosted for visibility and protected by large crash mats.
Demko said he loved how the school’s halls were extra wide to prevent traffic jams and how the stairs and classrooms had big windows for natural light.
“The rooms are so bright and cheery.”
Demko said that the school’s two gyms should prove invaluable to teachers, as it would let them break up classes to teach different sports. You could even set up different stations for fitness training in the small gym and not have to take them down between classes.
Many future students at the open house had fun hopping down what appeared to be a set of stairs for giants next to the main stairwell in the front lobby.
Kirchner and Demko explained that these “stairs” were actually a sort of presentation area and would be outfitted with wooden slats later this summer to act as theatre seating. Students could hang out here over lunch or sit down as guest speakers made presentations in the lobby.
Up those stairs is a wide-open well-lit balcony over the learning commons that will serve as the school’s makerspace.
Kirchner said students will rotate through six stations in the makerspace throughout the year, using crafts, blocks, and high-tech robots to build skills in science, technology, entrepreneurship, the arts, and math, as part of the school’s focus on STEAM learning.
While the “e” in “STEAM” usually means “engineering,” Kirchner said he changed it to “entrepreneurship” to boost financial literacy. As part of it, students will make cookies, salsas, and other products throughout the year and market them at school events.
Kirchner said about half of the 400 students expected to enrol this fall will be in the Logos Christian Education program, which is being centralized here from Leo Nickerson and Elmer S. Gish.
Parent Kim Miller said her four kids were in Logos and would be coming here this fall.
“The younger kids are loving the climbing wall,” she said, while her older ones appreciated the new CTS lab. She personally liked how she’d now only have to drop the kids off at one school instead of two.
Kirchner said crews would finish putting in the intercoms, solar panels, video wall, drama room lighting, and furniture this summer, and have the two playgrounds open Aug. 1. The school itself is scheduled to open in September.
Call Kirchner at 780-218-2497 for details or to register.
