Friends Talia (right) and Danika took part in the Shine Christian Academy’s fall fest fundraiser by helping out at the petting zoo, which featured bunnies, kittens, miniature ponies and a litter of Blue Healer puppies.
A Lloydminster area private school held a fun family fundraiser just outside of the city, with something for everyone—from pickleball to puppies.
Shine Christian Academy is a privately run school located North of Lloydminster at the Streamstown Community Hall.
“This is our first fall festival. We did another big fundraiser last fall and it was a comedy night,” said Shine president Deanna Franklin.
The fall festival, held on Sept. 30 at an acreage just west of the City, offered something for all ages. There were a ton of fun activities going on including pie bingo, kids’ games, a petting zoo, chili cook-off, and a silent auction to name a few.
Approximately 200 people attended the event, with funds raised going toward field trips, extra supplies, and helping pay the teachers—since the school is almost completely privately funded.
“Because we’re a homeschool co-op we don’t get government funding, we only receive the minimum that a homeschool child would get. So we charge a small tuition fee per student and then everything else is fundraising,” explained Franklin.
“So, families work really hard to keep the school going.”
The school opened its doors in 2022 with 14 students. This year, enrolment has nearly doubled with 26 students between grades 1 and 10 now attending.
“Student-to-teacher ratio is different than a public system, but everybody is working toward their own grade level, so there’s potentially six or seven different grades within those 26 kids. A lot of it is very independent work,” said Shine fundraising coordinator, Chelsa Noble, adding it teaches children to take ownership and responsibility for their education.
“We really try to bring more activities, more hands-on learning, lots of life skills involved. We had a guy out teaching survival skills last year. We taught them canning—how to can some pears. They made ice cream, pies, and candles. There’s always something new,” said Franklin.
“We’re looking at teaching them gardening again this spring. We’re just trying to do things a little bit differently. There’s always some new ideas—of course, we ask the kids what their interests are too.”
One common interest that Shine students have is agriculture.
“We have an upcoming trip to the Farm Fair in Edmonton. We were chosen as one of the schools to come visit, and so the students will be very excited about that,” said Franklin.
“We have lots of students that are into ranching and agriculture—every student that we have has an interest at some level, so I think that’ll be a really good field trip for them.”
Beyond that, Franklin and Noble said many of the children are looking forward to getting back on the ice at their arena.
“There’s lots of outdoor activities. We have an arena that was donated by L&L Oilfield and Mike’s Oilfield last year, and so we’ll have the outdoor arena up and running again,” said Franklin.
“We’ll have some hockey and skating for gym class and lunch hours, and we can never make the kids leave after school because they all want to stay,” laughed Franklin.
Franklin and Noble say the interest in Shine Christian Academy has been growing steadily, and they welcome the inquiries.
“It is a ton of work, just getting something new like this going. Just the interest, like there’s so many people always texting and emailing and calling,” said Franklin.
They plan to open a second location in Lloydminster in 2024.
