The official name has been announced for the expansion at the Lloydminster Comprehensive High School. Deputy Director Scott Wouters says the LPSD board made the decision ahead of Thursday’s official groundbreaking at the school where preparation for the 28.8 million-dollar build is already underway.
“We are very proud to partner with Synergy in this. The facility, the gymnasium. We are going to have a commons area. We are going to have a fitness centre. From this point forward it will be known as “Synergy Place Home of the Barons.”
Wouters detailed the use of the 5293 square metre space which they are positioning to cater to an additional 300-plus students with planned opening in 2023. He says the new facility will be of benefit to the community and the city as well as a hub for the school, particularly in three areas, truth and reconciliation, the arts including media arts, drama, music and sports. He envisions the new space as hosting numerous events with the school being able to hoist provincial banners.
Grade 12 student Jennifer Wald who will be speaking to graduating class of 2022 in a few weeks was happy to see the caring shown by the community as school embarks on the state of the art expansion. She noted the challenges they have faced as students with the COVID-19 restrictions and welcomed the legacy of the new facility for their peers.
“It will definitely be fitting in with the sports and all the programs. It will be a big part of the community for sure. Definitely with the sports. Its a great addition to the community.”
Wald starts at the University of Saskatchewan in the fall to pursue civil engineering.
Last June Synergy Credit Union gave their support to the project of $500,000 along with the city and input from the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan for the multi-million dollar expansion.
“Unless the design plans have changed, once completed this school will have a new two-storey expansion with 12 additional classrooms, two science rooms and two multi-purpose rooms. I hope everyone here is looking forward to seeing the progression of this project as much as I am.”
School principal Dwayne Marciniw in reflecting on his days as a student and the period before the school completed the second storey is looking forward to what this new expansion will bring. He says at the moment the gym is full as they run double classes each day. Going forward they want to have more dedicated curriculum spaces.
“More of a STEM – science, technology, engineering, math program. Some cultural programing that we already offer, but don’t have a dedicated space for such as Cree. And then we have an Indigenous mentorship program that we run within the school right now. It was important for us that we start to build some dedicated space for those curricular offerings.”
Marciniw welcomes the opportunities that the school expansion will bring. He notes the graduating class of 2022 is about 300 students. He sees the ongoing development in the community and ties that to the continued growth in the student population which has necessitated the increased student accommodation.