When youth in the Lloydminster Catholic School Division head back to school on January 7th, they will become part of 60 years of learning. Lloydminster Catholic School Division Director of Education Nigel McCarthy will host the 60th-anniversary celebration, which he says will be around late May.
“We’re planning a celebration for more than 3,000 people who worked and studied at our schools. It’s going to be very special but for now, it feels like a gift we’re still carving at this moment where faith and the future and an educational tradition are going to come together. That’s very exciting for me.”
McCarthy says 2018 was an outstanding year and 2019 is off to a great start with the focus being on the division’s milestone.
Last June, Saskatchewan Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Gordon Wyant came to Lloydminster to visit both schools divisions to get a grasp on the growing educational needs of the city. During the visit, Wyant talked with Holy Rosary about future expansions in order to accommodate the growing number of students. McCarthy remembers the visit as an important moment for the division, along with welcoming 242 new Kindergarten students and seeing 178 students graduate.
“I think those are those are the moments where the 13-year journey of education really becomes clear. It allows us to measure where we begin with kids and then celebrate the successes when they leave us and move on.”
Being fairly new to Lloydminster, first arriving as Director of Education 18 months ago, McCarthy credits the big city feel of Lloydminster to the volunteers and the work they put in.
“It’s fascinating to me the spirit of volunteers that’s in the city and what it gives to all of our children,” McCarthy says one of the first things he noticed in the city was all the community coaches volunteering their time to teach kids how to play sports.
“The development of the [Synergy Sports Vault] and the indoor fields wouldn’t have been possible for just a school division to go in alone, but being able to see kids going in at 7 am going to before school practices with their community teams, when it is 20 below outside, really defines for me what community partnership can be.”