Community

For Immediate Release

December 6, 2022 (Calgary and Okotoks) — Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School (STS) and Platform Calgary are joining forces to create unique learning opportunities for students.

A new hybrid program centered around immersing high school students in Calgary’s growing tech scene will give STS students access to a specialized curriculum and mentorship experiences during weekly classes held at the Platform Innovation Centre in downtown Calgary’s East Village. The program will play an integral role in establishing our city as a hub of innovation by inspiring the next generation of innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs.

The future is not what it used to be — but it can be what we make it. As educators, one of the challenges of crafting a truly exceptional education stems from the fact that our students and new graduates are stepping into a very different world than what we may have experienced. The concept of Gig Economies or temporary contracted positions, while not altogether new, has seen a recent surge in popularity, and ensuring that every student of Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School (STS) has the tools and resources they need to thrive in any number of diverse environments is more important than ever before.

Like the bricks and mortar that form our buildings, or the trees and pathways that provide our connection to the natural world, every donation you make not only shapes our campus, but upholds our legacy of creating good humans, thought-leaders, and global citizens.

Having taught visual arts at STS for 16 years, Mike reflected on the wide variety of opportunities that STS offers, and that became the focus of his inspiration. The drawing he submitted provided the seed of an idea that became Romance and Rigour, an eight-foot diameter wooden relief carving featuring an array of independent pieces, all coming together to form a circle.

We started a wonderful Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School (STS) tradition a few years ago of giving every new student their first STS school tie as a welcome gift. The gifts are beautifully wrapped, and hand-delivered by employees and parents to each new student’s home. Not only is this our way of showing our appreciation for new students choosing STS, but also the tie symbolizes STS’s rich history and a common bond that literally ‘ties’ all STS family members – past, present, and future – together.

The STS community came together on Saturday, September 17, 2022, for the Family Fall Fair and Homecoming Celebration which took place outside in our beautiful courtyard. This STS tradition, put on in partnership with the STS Alumni Association and POSTS, brought together alumni, alumni parents, and alumni staff and their families, along with our STS families.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this message in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's head of state and the longest-reigning British monarch, who passed today at the age of 96 years old.

In July, twenty STS students headed off to Geneva to attend Swiss Summer School in the picturesque mountain town of Gstaad. After landing in Geneva, the group wasted no time and headed from the airport to the waterfront to see the Jet d’Eau. Then they strolled over to the old town to visit St. Pierre Cathedral and tour the downtown district.

After the end of a grueling series of IB exams several weeks ago, sixteen Grade 12 students and three teacher supervisors (Mr. Bennett, Mr. Boulianne, and Ms. Grant-Watt) flew off to New York City to cram as much culture into a two-and-a-half-day period as possible. We saw the MET, an off-Broadway comedy called The Play That Goes Wrong, the New York Stock Exchange, the UN headquarters, the 9/11 memorial, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, Time Square, Fifth Avenue, and more. All the while taking breaks to eat at some of the most amazing food I have ever tasted, no matter if it was pasta in Little Italy or Texas-style family barbeque. It was a hectic rollercoaster, but even if our abused feet would say differently, none of us would have traded a single moment.

It was a fun day at Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School on Saturday, May 14 as the STS community gathered for the 50th Anniversary Kite Making and Kite Flying event.  There were 50 STS children, with their parents and grandparents creating and decorating kites in the beautiful gathering stairs space in the Rose Elementary School wing.

Don’s admiration for the School and especially the teaching excellence has grown over the years since Anders joined in Grade 5, and through his giving he supports Head’s Initiatives, Outdoor Learning Projects, and Scholarships and Bursaries. [. . .] Don adds that he also donates because he’s a strong believer in the transformative power of education, “I think that's where society advances. With education, our kids and grandkids can have a better quality of life. And hopefully it can help them think critically, become wiser, and also more tolerant.”

At STS our volunteers play an active and vital role in not only helping make our School a success but also through fostering the strong sense of community and caring felt at the school. With the theme of this year's National Volunteer Week being "Empathy in Action" we are sharing some of the many ways that our volunteers, whose selfless dedication, awareness, caring, and commitment, help foster the incredible feeling of community present at STS.

Creating this art piece was truly eye opening for me. It was a remarkable hands-on experience, with many opportunities to reflect on the beauty of our campus and School buildings. It helped me visualize the School with a new perspective, and I hope it will help the STS community gain a new perspective of the School as well; hence the name “STS in Perspective”. 

Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School hosted its first Innovation Fair on Saturday, March 12, 2022. Roughly 200 people were in attendance to support, celebrate, and learn more about our Design, Technology, and Innovation programming which is truly second to none. Guests were struck by the degree of expertise of our students with design thinking, the design cycle and technological skills; the breadth and depth of the program, and the degree to which we involve and leverage industry partners in our projects.

Everyone loves cartoons, whether it be a cartoon strip like Calvin and Hobbes, a television show like the Simpsons, or even a new Disney/Pixar feature film, but what is the process of making a cartoon, and what goes on in the mind of the cartoonist as they are creating their cartoons? On Thursday, February 17, our Grade 9 students were joined by professional Editorial Cartoonist Fred Curatolo to find out.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek and local female councillors emerged in my sight, and as I gradually acknowledged their difficulties, obstacles, efforts, and excellence in leadership, it  carried over to my determination to become one of the 15 student councillors selected in the “She Governs” event.

On Friday February 11, STS held a virtual craft party, part of STS's 50th Anniversary celebrations. With February being a month of kindness, friendship, and love, students and families had the opportunity to attend this fun and interactive evening hosted by Ms. Forgay, STS teacher, and Mr. Uzick, Community Engagement Coordinator for the 50^th Anniversary of STS.

At Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School (STS), we seek to create an environment that encourages engaging and empowered learning, while prioritizing future-ready skills for our students. Through transformative spaces such as DaVinci Studios, Maker Spaces, and Innovations Studios, we can create programming that achieves this goal across all three divisions at STS.

“In the Enrollment office at STS, I see the profound impact of removing financial barriers for amazing students to attend our school first-hand. Our financial assistance program literally changes the lives of many incredible young people, and they in turn, add to our community in countless positive ways. With a focus on great kids attending STS, not on their ability to pay, we are attracting the brightest, and most innovative, creative and caring students in the region. That sets our school apart.”