Saskatchewan minister of education, Jeremy Cockrill, was at Holy Rosary High School last Friday morning as the school celebrated the long-awaited grand opening of its new wing. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
“There’s never been a better time to be a high school student in Saskatchewan.”
Those were the words of Saskatchewan Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill last Friday morning as the Lloydminster Catholic School Division (LCSD) celebrated the long-awaited grand opening of Holy Rosary High School’s (HRHS) newly-built expansion.
“This momentous occasion is cause for celebration for the entire Lloydminster community and region, and I’m excited to be here,” said Cockrill.
“Lloydminster is an important community to both Saskatchewan and Alberta economically, so it’s great we can invest back into the community, services and people that use them every day.”
The $10 million project was first announced last July after talks of expansion due to the growing student population.
HRHS was originally built for roughly 750 students, and with over 1,100 enrolled this year, the build was needed.
“The renewed school now features a two-storey addition, boasting 16 state-of-the-art classrooms, a resource centre, and a dedicated and practical applied arts space,” explained Cockrill.
“The additions have expanded the school by approximately 2,100 sq. m., roughly the size of an NHL hockey rink, which will now support 1,200 students.”
A special grand opening ceremony was held in the school’s new faith garden as attendees admired the statue of Mary in the centre of the space, purchased with donations to the project.
LCSD chairperson, Paula Scott, was almost speechless after seeing the scale of the event and all who came to support it.
“It’s a huge day for us; we’ve finally had our grand opening for our expansion,” she said.
“We’ve had kids in the building now for several months, but we officially got to open everything today with our faith garden, our resource centre the new classrooms, our P.A.A space, everything’s going today.”
Scott noted the new wing comes complete with a kinesiology lab, a new arts space, a new common space, a larger welding lab as well and a state-of-the-art cosmetology lab, to name a few.
“It’s a lot of great programming and excitement for our students moving forward. These will be things we can offer students for years to come, along with our innovation lab and Esports program, which is fantastic … there’s so much, I could be here all day telling you all the great things that go on in here every day.”
Scott explained there’s a push to get more students involved in the trades as there will be a need for tradespeople in the near future.
“For me personally, I have two sons and a husband in the trades, so increasing our trades spaces was important to me,” she said.
“Not everybody goes to university, and that’s OK, (but) we need to celebrate the trades and our students who wish to follow that path.”
