For thousands of Olds and area students, the summer holidays will be reduced to mere memories when they return to school on Sept. 2.
However, there will still be plenty to look forward to, according to school officials.
Kurt Sacher, the superintendent of schools at Chinook's Edge School Division said about 2,000 students will be returning to school in Olds.
Division-wide, he expects Chinook's Edge to sustain its student population of 10,800 with the possibility of slight growth.
Hundreds of them are expected to flood into Olds when the high school in town hosts the Alberta Student Leadership Conference in May, 2015.
“It's a pretty major event and I think leadership helps these young people prepare for life,” Sacher said. “We really believe that and so as a school division, we felt it was important to get behind the Olds High initiative to host that conference.”
“We know they'll just put on a tremendous program.”
Some new programming for high school students will be in effect this year, with Chinook's Edge finalizing a number of partnerships with colleges and industry.
Under a deal with Red Deer College, students can complete a dual-credit course with work counting toward an automotive technician certificate.
Another dual-credit course offered in collaboration with Red Deer College involves Sky Wings Aviation, where students can take a management certificate course and get ground training for their pilot's licence.
Chinook's Edge also has a partnership with Lakeland College for a dual-credit course in oilfield technology.
With Olds College, the school division has yet another dual-credit course where students can work toward a meat-processing certificate.
All of these programs allow students to get a head start on their futures, Sacher said.
“So when they go to Olds College, they can get their meat-processing certificate that much quicker and it's highly motivating for a student in high school wondering, ‘when am I ever going to use what I'm learning in life,'” he said. “Well, it's highly relevant, because then they can make that seamless transition to Olds College and set themselves up for a pretty good future.”
The school division also has an agreement with Cam Clark Ford to give students training as automotive service technicians.
While the program is not operating in Olds, Sacher is hopeful it will expand there once the new dealership is completed.
“We're optimistic we'll be able to expand it there and other locations along the Highway 2 corridor that are within our division,” he said.
Over at Holy Trinity Catholic School, principal Michael Cellini is also looking forward to resuming classes.
“We're excited to see everyone and to see our community grow and to work with our parish, St. Stephen's, and we accept students of all denominations who are just looking for a great Catholic education,” Cellini said.
The principal said he is looking forward to a few special events this school year. One is the 32nd annual Dawe Run, to be held on Sept. 16 in Red Deer.
The run is meant to encourage fitness and health, he said “It's meant for fun and fitness and community building.”
This year the school will not be offering Grade 9, a decision made so that students could transition into high school along with everybody else in the community.
Despite the change, Cellini said enrolment is expected to increase to about 250 students. Last year, Holy Trinity ended the year with about 210.
“Even with letting our Grade 9 population go, and now only going (pre-kindergarten) to Grade 8, we're still seeing a significant increase in enrolment,” he said.
“We're coming back to bigger classes and … more classes. It's great to see how vibrant the community is growing.”
