Students head back to class

By Jeremy Appel on September 5, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

Kids of all ages from across Medicine Hat were up bright and early Tuesday for the first day of the 2018-19 school year.

The day at Medicine Hat High School began with an assembly before students were sent on a scavenger hunt looking for specific staff members.

“It’s an annual thing we’ve been doing for quite a while,” said Ayad Mohammed, a student council representative entering Grade 12. “It just gets the new students to get to know the place a little better, to get to know the teachers a bit better, so that they’re not as scared and can go into (class) confident.”

“It’s a huge change,” her student council colleague Autumn McFetridge added. “You’re going from probably a small middle school and now you’re with the big kids.

“It’s just a way to ease them in, so they’re not quaking in their boots or anything.”

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Both Mohammed and McFetridge described the experience of entering their final year of high school as somewhat nerve wracking.

Mohammed said the supports offered — whether teachers or councillors — eases the stress of deciding what path they want to take into adulthood.

McFetridge said she wants to study dentistry, law or psychiatry — which she acknowledges is a wide range of subjects. She knows she wants to study somewhere in Vancouver.

Mohammed is torn between law and medical school, but says she’s leaning toward the latter.

“I’m hoping to one day maybe become a surgeon,” she said. “It’s really hard, but we’ll see.”

“You’ve got it, girl,” replied McFetrdige.

Grade 10 student Taylor Place transferred from Eagle Butte High School in Dunmore to Hat High, so this is her first year attending high school in the city.

She said she wants to continue her successful track-and-field activity at her new school.

“I ran with the (Eagle Butte) Talons last year,” said Place. “We won the banner in zones and ended up third in provincials.”

Although she had only been at Hat High for a couple hours, Place found the atmosphere very warm and welcoming.

“The staff is so great,” she said. “I enjoy it already.”

Bailee McNaughton, a Grade 11 student, said she’s excited, but “not nervous” to attend school where two of her brothers did.

“I just feel so welcomed here, not at all awkward,” she said. “It’s so open … It doesn’t feel like prison.”

Avylynn Hein, two of whose children attend St. Francis Xavier School, says her kids seem quite excited about the year ahead.

Big changes came to St. Francis this year, with new teachers, a new principal and receptionist.

“It’s going to be a little different this year,” Hein said, adding that the changes aren’t really on her kids’ radar.

“They’ll be fine. Their friends are still here and everything.”

Micah Kozachenko, who began Grade 1 on Tuesday says he’s most looking forward to gym class, which will be every day, as opposed to just once a week in kindergarten.

“We get more outside (time),” he said.

Kozachenko’s mother, Melissa, sang the praises of her son’s school.

“We have great teachers at St. Francis, great parents and great students,” she said. “It’s a wonderful circle of friends.”

Rhonda Gregus, a Grade 1 teacher at St. Francis, was similarly excited for the new year.

“It’s so exciting to get a fresh batch of students and then you get to mold them, teach them, and get to see their growth,” said Gregus.

“Our school’s so small, so that you know all the kids and they know you, and it’s just like a family.”

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