Canada’s first Indigenous saint could be smiling down on Morinville students in just over a year, predicts a Catholic school trustee.
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen, Morinville Mayor Barry Turner, and Greater St. Albert Catholic School dignitaries met in the snowy field just west of Morinville’s new McDonald’s Tuesday afternoon shortly after this issue went to press to break ground on the new St. Kateri Tekakwitha Academy.
Announced in 2014, this 350-student K-to-5 school is one of two new schools now under construction in Morinville (the other is Sturgeon Public’s Four Winds School). It’s also the first new Catholic school in town since Morinville Community High opened in 1994.
Tuesday’s ceremony featured songs by the Notre Dame Elementary choir and blessings of the land by Bishop Paul Terrio and Alexander First Nation drummers and elders – the latter a reference to St. Kateri’s status as Canada’s first Indigenous saint.
Greater St. Albert Catholic board chair Joe Becigneul was scheduled to take part in the ceremonial sod-turning, but said he wasn’t sure if he would actually try to dig into the frozen ground or if he’d push around some loose dirt instead.
“We might be shovelling a little bit of snow!”
Becigneul noted the school would bring two playgrounds to the new Westwinds neighbourhood and could accelerate its development.
“We’ve waited a long time for this school,” he said, which is sorely needed in fast-growing Morinville.
Assistant superintendent Rhonda Nixon said students at this school will get to practice dance, cheer, hockey and gymnastics as part of a sports academy and explore coding, sewing and other pursuits through option classes.
Nixon said the school has a strong focus on environmental stewardship, as St. Kateri is the patron saint of ecology. Students will get to experiment with mobile solar panels, for example, and check out what will likely be Morinville’s largest rooftop solar array. Parents can also get up close with the sun in a solar-powered heated shelter while they wait for their kids.
The school’s design also reflects the life of St. Kateri. Four sections of it are coloured yellow, blue, green and brown to reference her nickname (“Lily of the Mohawks”), the blue blanket she wore, her connection to the Turtle Clan and her skill at basket weaving. The central corridor looks like one of the longhouses her people lived in.
Becigneul said Morinville residents should expect to see a lot of earthwork on this site in the coming months, with the school’s foundations likely to go in by the end of summer.
The school is scheduled to open in September 2020. Visit bit.ly/2zw3mkX for details.
