Welcome to March, and hopefully to the start of Spring! We are looking forward to warm weather and spring flowers, along with more light in the day and the chance to learn both indoors and outside! Hillcrest is continuing to open our doors and welcome new Grade 6 students to explore the wonders of junior high school, and we have planned a variety of activities to transition elementary students to Hillcrest, including our Shadow Day on March 6 th. This school wide event involves students from our feeder schools spending a day with us in assembly, classrooms, and regular activities. They can see what it is like to live a day in the life of a junior high student, including lunchtime, intramurals, Crest Group, locker use, and hallway transitions. It is not the first time that future students have visited a junior high, but our intent is to give them an experience that alleviates any apprehensions they may have and make them excited to enter this next phase of their school adventure!

We know that the transition to junior high can cause some anxiety for parents, and we want to reduce their trepidation about this change. We have created a Coffee & Conversation series for parents to attend during the school day so that they can see our school in action. We tour parents in and out of classrooms, answer questions in small groups, and address any concerns they may have about their child entering this phase of schooling. Our next Coffee & Conversation is on March 6 th at 9:15 am as part of our Shadow Day, and we look forward to seeing our current and potential parents during this exciting day! We also welcome parents to our Open House evening on March 15 th ; to our Parent-Teacher Interviewsand High School Honours & Scholarship evening on March 22 nd ; and to our Junior Achievement sessions about financial literacy offered on April 10 th.

We recently implemented a student and teacher initiated project, and hosted our very first Crest for Culture week. This included more than fifteen cultures being recognized and celebrated in our school. Students incorporated food, dancing, language teaching, arts, athletics, and many more aspects that commemorated the diversity of ethnicity in our school. It was an amazing event that took place during the week of February 21-24, especially with the festivities planned and coordinated almost exclusively through our student leaders! We are building community in all of our ventures, and our students will continue to accomplish great things both in and beyond our school walls.

We have many events coming up in the next while…a post secondary excursion to U of A and NAIT for our Grade 9 students, along with high school orientation and honours sessions; a trip to Drumheller and overnight at the museum for our Grade 7 students; Grade 8 students in the Science Olympics; diverse math contests and the Week of Pi; a school-wide Speech Extravaganza; and Jer’s Vision (anti-bullying speaker). Our students continue to have numerous ways to get involved in school life over the next few months…our newly formed Hillcrest Glee Club, the Young Life Drama Improvisation Group, the Movie Club, our weekly ski ventures to Rabbit Hill and ski trip to Marmot Basin, the Library Club (hosting a cartooning club), rugby/track/badminton/soccer/curling, our Fitness Centre users, the Student Activities club, Girl’s Group, Salvaging Sisterhood Conflict Resolution, Boy’s Group, Alateen, Art Club, Jazz Band, C02 Car Club, intramurals, Dodgeball Mania, and other ideas our students may have in their interest area.

Hillcrest is a school where things happen for students, and the staff, parents, and community make things happen. Thank you for all that you do for Hillcrest, and we look forward to the coming months!

We look forward to your comments or suggestions, and we welcome you at Hillcrest anytime. Thank you for your continued support in making sure your child is at school every day and ready for the variety of learning experiences we have in store. We are glad to have you as part of our community, and we appreciate your ideas and comments.

Kim Backs