St. Francis of Assisi Middle School – Health and Wellness Project

St. Francis of Assisi Middle School plans on continuing with their GRR (Growing in Respect and Responsibility) program to engage students throughout the year to make good choices, such as healthy eating, active living, showing leadership, having school pride and being kind to others. This program has been allocated $2,500.

Testimonial 

Thank you for supporting our health champions as they provide morning snacks, bring in fitness experts and grow in their knowledge of health and wellness.

Through this support, we have been able to bring positive and healthy living into our school community! This money is also used to support our GRR (Growing in Respect and Responsibility) program which recognizes students for all their positive actions.

RDCRS READS 2018 Summer Reading Program

The RDCRS READS Summer Reading Program is an exciting way to encourage our students to read throughout the summer months. The goal is to foster a love of reading through continued access to books. Seventeen of our schools have chosen to participate in this program with approximately 4,000 students involved. $5,000 has been allotted towards this program.

Testimonial

In order for our students to have a chance for higher academic achievement, we need to continue to support them by building strong literacy environments to develop a culture of
readers in our students. The funds were used for book bags for students participating in RDCRS READS. Students who took books from the school library received a bag and brought them back in September. Over 5400 students and over 16,000 books were given out.

The data is telling us that we are doing well. Students and parent want the program!
(Highlight Data: 311 parents responded, 434 elementary students responded, 105 middle school students responded.)

  • 46% of elementary students said they read more because of this Reading Program
  • 72% of elementary students said they would like books again next summer
  • 87% said they would like the Learning Commons open next summer
  • 77% of parents said they would like books from the school next summer
  • 40% of parents said their child’s reading improved because of the Reading Program
  • 4 Schools had libraries open

 

Faith Leadership Team and Youth Ministry

In conjunction with youth ministry, Grade 8 and 9 students will get the opportunity to partake in a middle school faith day. This event allows students to grow in the Catholic faith and become leaders in their schools. This program has been allocated $4,000.

Testimonial 

We are grateful to the Red Deer Catholic Education Foundation for funding our second annual Grade 8 and 9 Faith Day. This event was held on Tuesday, April 16, 2019. The event was held at the Prairie Pavillion at Westerner Park.  We needed to move to this venue as St. Joseph’s was holding a tournament in their school that week.

Our students will be inspired by two remarkable speakers – APeX Ministry. APeX is two Catholic men (Brad Farmer and Gene Monterastelli) who have made it their lives’ work since 1996 to criss-cross North America sharing the Truth and Joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have crafted a unique style (they call it “Christian Vaudeville”) that engages an audience and creates rapport through death-defying juggling, sketch comedy, and personal testimony. In other words, they are evangelists, they throw things at each other, and they are funny.

Here are some feedback gathered by the teachers who attended with the students.

  • “The Apex guys were really good. The event was fun. It was good that they added in some fun with the juggling but with a good faith message as well. Much better than a boring talk.” Josh K
  • “Apex was really funny and the audience involvement made it fun.” Camille
  • “Thank you for bringing us to Faith day. They were really fun, and it was also fun being there! It was nice seeing other schools there.” Christine
  • “It was entertaining to watch.” Alyanna
  • “I enjoyed being able to see my friends from other schools.” Eden
  • “It was very fun and I enjoyed how they taught us in a fun way.” Simon
  • “I really loved the comedy that came with the religious message. Really awesome!” Ashlee
  • “I really enjoyed my time there and a lot of hard work was put in.” Lily
  • “Something that I liked was being able to interact with other students from other schools. Also, it was nice being in a different environment and learning in a more interactive way.” Molly
  • “They were very funny and entertaining.” Cora
  • “I enjoyed meeting up with other schools.” Tommy
  • “I liked that the guys from APEX were funny while giving a good faith message at the same time.” David
  • “It was fun to be out of school in a different environment with our friends.” Madi
  • “I liked seeing all my friends from different schools. Also, the presenters were funny.” Jayden
  • “I enjoyed the messages hidden behind the awesome, funny acting stories and scenes.” Jordana
  • “I really appreciated the effort put into the faith day and I liked the interactiveness!” Ty

St. Francis of Assisi Middle School – NET Ministries Retreats

Grade 7 and 8 students will get the opportunity to participate in a three day retreat with NET Ministries. This event will expose students the love of Christ through activities, sessions and prayer. This project was given $2,150.

St. Patrick’s Community School – Faith Retreats

The school will offer four grade-specific retreats throughout the year. The Grade 6 -9 retreats will be with NET Ministries to engage students in a meaningful dialogue about their faith. The other retreats will be at Camp Kuriakos to give students the opportunity to explore God’s gift of nature and their own faith journey through games, skits, music and prayer. This initiative has been allocated $5,600.

Testimonial

  • This funding served students from Kindergarten to Grade 9 by enhancing Catholic education by igniting the faith in each of our students regardless of where they are in their personal faith journey.
  • School retreats bring the Catholic faith to life through music, keynote talks, activities, and prayer.
  • Elementary and Middle School students each had their own day of with Face2Face Ministries with the yearly theme of, “Purpose.”
  • Elementary students learned about how God has a purpose and a plan for each of us that far surpasses anything we could ever imagine for ourselves.
  • Leaders explored how students can stay close to God and live the awesome plan He has for them using their “GPS.”
  • Middle school students learned how to use the time God has given us “on purpose.”
  • Students considered how they use their time and were challenged to find a healthy balance by offering the truth that the joys in life are a gift from God, but are only a “free sample” of the actual joy and purpose that can be found in Him.
  • All students and staff were engaged in times of reflection, prayer, and community.

École Camille J. Lerouge School – Pure Witness Ministry Team

Grade 6 – 9 students will get the opportunity to partake in a Pure Witness Ministry Team retreat. These retreats challenge students to love a life with Christ as the centre. This initiative has been allocated $4,000.

 

Testimonial

During the week of April 8-11 2019, the Pure Witness Ministry Team visited our school and led full-day retreats for our middle school students.  Thank you for allowing this great opportunity to happen. One student remarked, “It made me think about others, how everything I do can affect so much about other people, all I want is to make others happy, laugh… I don’t want people to be left behind…” Thank you again for the funding! 

 

 

Middle School Faith Day

In conjunction with youth ministry, middle school students will get the opportunity to participate in a Faith Day at St. Joseph High School. This event will allow students to grow in the Catholic faith and become leaders in their schools. $4000 has been allocated towards this event.

RDCRS READS 2017 Summer Reading Program

The RDCRS READS Summer Reading Program is an exciting way to encourage our students to read throughout the summer months. Sixteen of our schools have chosen to participate in this program with approximately 2,600 students involved in the summer of 2016. $9978 has been allotted towards this program.

Testimonial

École Camille J. Lerouge School – Ambassadors Group

Grade 8 and 9 students will have the opportunity to participate in an Ambassadors Group, who are responsible for representing the school at masses, celebrations and special events. This group will inspire students to model the actions of Jesus as a school leader. This initiative has been allocated $500.

Testimonial

The Camille Ambassador Leadership Disciple (CALD) Team is a group of Grade 8 and 9 students who help to improve the school climate by participating in social justice projects. The group used the funding to purchase t-shirts to help identify CALD members around the school. Students involved in this program are empowered to make a difference in our school and have learned excellent leadership skills that will be useful in their future endeavours.

École Mother Teresa Catholic School – Hands of Mother Teresa

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