Students, parents and teachers packed into the Ponoka Secondary Campus (PSC) gym for its annual awards ceremony.
Held Oct. 17, the event was a celebration of the entire student body, from Grade 7 all the way to Grade 12 and included academic, sports, CTS and other achievements such as community involvement and those with perfect attendance.
The format was changed this year to include all the grades, rather than two separate ceremonies for junior and senior high.
Principal Ian Rawlinson said the change was partly to allow the students to share in their successes together. “Also we want to try to show our junior high kids what success at senior high looks like.”
“It just recognizes excellence,” said Rawlinson. “I think it’s crucial that we support and recognize our kids.”
While there are strong supports for students with different needs, there are also strong supports for those with high academic achievement, or CTS studies or even attendance, he explained.
Along with strong teacher and family support comes strong community support, which includes community sponsorship. “I know that they (students) appreciate it.”
For those in Grade 10 to 12, a lot of the awards include a scholarship that helps reduce the costs in post-secondary learning. For some of the younger kids they will receive gifts or sweatshirts.
The scholarships can end up being thousands of dollars in terms of post-secondary funding, which goes a long way for kids in the world of learning. A lot of this wouldn’t be possible without the teachers.
“This year they really challenged themselves to step up and challenge our kids to do better,” said Rawlinson.
PSC does pride itself in trying new things to enhance education for students. “You have to keep trying because kids change. Kids are changing rapidly. Society is changing rapidly.”
“We try a lot of new things but we’re also realizing that maybe some things we used to do are really good and strong,” added Rawlinson. “And maybe a little bit of a return to those things s not going to hurt us.”
jeff.heyden-kaye@ponokanews.com
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