A blessed day for Callander’s St. Theresa Elementary School

Students and staff had quite the day at St. Theresa Elementary School in Callander, with two big announcements on the afternoon agenda. First was the unveiling of a new outdoor classroom, afterwards, principal Micheline Lamarche and vice-principal Rhonda Lindeman announced the students had raised $13,448 from their Terry Fox Run.

The outdoor classroom has been in the works for years, and “the grand opening will represent the school team’s vision of bringing experiential learning opportunities for students in an outdoor space, to reality,” the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board noted in a release.

Kevin Oschefski of The Kevin O Show on CFCF 90.5 was the master of ceremonies for the event, and Father Daniele Muscolino provided a blessing for the new structure. All of the students gathered on the grass to watch, and their enthusiasm for the gazebo was off the charts. When Lamarche and Lindeman announced the amount of money raised, the cheers could probably be heard from Callander Bay.

“We are very excited to see this project come to fruition,” Lamarche said. “St. Theresa is blessed with such a beautiful green space,” she noted, and this will allow the students to connect more with their natural environment.

The student’s excitement reached peak when it was time to pour water over the principal and vice principle. As motivation to the Terry Fox runners on September 23rd, both Lamarche and Lindeman promised that whoever raised the most could dump a bucket of water over their heads.

And of course, the students ensured that water was nice and cool for the big pour. “I think the incentive of dumping water on Mme. Lamarche and I kind of helped,” Lindeman joked. Staff had expected the kids might raise around $5,000, but they easily shattered that estimate. “We had to re-count it a couple of times because we couldn’t believe how they came together to raise that money,” Lindeman remarked.

Both the outdoor classroom and the funds raised for cancer research came about with the help of the community, for which both Lindeman and Lamarche are very grateful. “we’re in awe of the support from the community we have,” Lamarche said.

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.