ABJ Scots Week at a Glance (SWAG)
February 26 - March 1, 2024
The second Sunday in Lent we learn through the first reading that Abraham was called to sacrifice the son he had longed for into old age. As we listen to this reading, we might get the impression that he was on board with God’s request. Closer reading suggests Abraham was nervous and hesitant, but he trusted God was up to something he didn’t quite understand. (Child sacrifice was common in Abraham’s day, and the God of Love is making a dramatic point about giving life rather than taking it. These horrid sacrifices were to stop.)
Like Abraham, the disciples who witnessed the transfiguration were puzzled by what was taking place, but they knew Jesus hadn’t led them wrong yet. The word transfiguration refers to the event upon which Jesus Christ took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus was transfigured, his face and clothes becoming dazzlingly bright.
We read that the disciples “kept the matter to themselves, questioning …”. Upon reflection of these readings we can take away the idea that we don’t have to have all the answers, but we need to trust and keep faith in what we do know. Paul’s letter to the Romans says that if we’re sticking with God, ultimately, we can handle anything. Saint Mother Theodore sums it up this way: “The way is not yet clear; stumble along slowly”. May these readings be a reminder to us all that we can all be a light to one another, even when things appear challenging. And when things are tough, know that there are many staff and students willing to support you.
Source: Sisters of Providence.org
Important Dates
February 26
- Ukrainian Day. Wear Ukrainian Blue-and-Yellow colours or your embroidered Ukrainian Vyshyvanky as a sign of support for Ukraine and Ukrainian people around the world.
- Mandatory YFast meeting at lunch time in room 137
- Senior Girls BBall Playoffs at Ross Sheppard beginning at 5:00 pm
- Senior Boys BBall Playoffs at Lillian Osborne beginning at 6:30 pm
February 27
- If you need help in Math and Science, please email Mrs McGhan to save your place for Tuesday lunch time Math and Science tutoring. karrym@eics.ab.ca
- Grade 9 Girls and Boys BBall vs. Rudolph Hennig at ABJ. Games at 4:00 and 5:15 pm respectively.
- Junior Girls BBall Playoffs vs. Archbishop MacDonald at ABJ. Game starts at 5:00 pm.
- Junior Boys BBall Playoffs vs. St. Peter the Apostle at ABJ. Game starts at 6:30 pm.
February 28
- PEP Day. Choose your session at pepfeb282024.sched.com
- Pink Shirt Day for Anti-Bullying
- NEW MEETING DAY for Youth Connect Club. Meetings have been moved to during PEP in room 144 (Student Lounge)
- Grade 9 Girls and Boys BBall at Sherwood Heights. Games at 4:00 and 5:15 pm respectively.
February 29
- NEW LOCATION for Dance Club - now meeting in the Dance Studio at lunch time
- Grade 9 Girls BBall at EIAA Tournament at Haythorne
- Grade 9 Boys BBall at EIAA Tournament at Sherwood Heights
March 1
- Cheer Team True North competition March 1st and 2nd at the Edmonton Expo Centre!
-- ABJ Hosting Metro Junior Playoffs
- Grade 9 Girls BBall at EIAA Tournament at Haythorne
- Grade 9 Boys BBall at EIAA Tournament at Sherwood Heights
Upcoming...
March 2
- Cheer Team True North competition March 1st and 2nd at the Edmonton Expo Centre!
March 6
- Early Dismissal
March 7
- Open House 6:00 - 8:30 pm
March 11
- Guest Speaker Joe Melendrez
March 13
- Mandatory Grade 12 Indigenous Students meeting at lunch time in room 226
March 18
- Grade-level assemblies
Organization of the SWAG
The newsletter is organized based on our four school assurance priorities for this year.
- Faith Integration
- Learners and Learning
- Systemic Wellness
- Community Engagement
FAITH INTEGRATION
YFast 2024
Mandatory YFast meeting at lunch time in room 137. Any students interested in attending our yearly Lenten fast should attend this meeting for more information. This can be used to fulfill Christian Action Hours!
OLPH Weekly Bulletin and UpLIFT Prayer Requests
February Chaplains' Corner
LEARNERS AND LEARNING
Ukrainian Day at ABJ
This week marks the 2nd anniversary of the War in Ukraine. To commemorate this gruesome event, our school community will be hosting a "Prayer Vigil for Ukraine" on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 in the Large GYM 10:55-11:15 AM. Consul General of Ukraine O. Danyleiko and Fr. Slavko Dumec will be joining us for this commemoration. We will build a huge national symbol of Ukraine "Tryzub or Trident" out of 50 glowing candles.
Also, we ask that on Monday, February 26 our ABJ students and staff wear Ukrainian Blue-and-Yellow colours or their embroidered Ukrainian Vyshyvanky. This will be done as a sign of support for Ukraine and Ukrainian people around the world.
If you would like to financially support Ukrainian newcomers to Canada, please make your donations to Ukrainian Canadian Social Services by using this QR Code on the attached poster designed by grade 11 student Ava Jenkins.
PEP: Supporting Students' Academic, Spiritual, Physical, and Emotional Wellbeing
ABJ Robotics at Provincials
High School Parent Information Night
Thank you to Mrs. Glass and Mrs. St. Amand for developing and presenting information for our incoming grade 9s and current grade 10s and their families that attended our High School Parent information meeting last Tuesday evening. Part of the registration process for next year will include one-on-one meetings with a counsellor, administrator, or a member of our learning support team. More details will be shared in March.
You can access a link to the presentation here or by clicking on the photo below: Planning for Grade 10 and Beyond
Thank you also to M. St. Jean and M. Kent for speaking about the French Immersion program at ABJ! Highlights include a broad array of French courses at the high school level, the addition of Sante 9 and Education Physiques 9 last year, the ability to take -1 and -2 streams in Etudes Sociales and French Language Arts at the grade 11 and 12 levels, and a number of cultural experiences coordinated by. M. St. Jean. Just last Friday, students of French Immersion attended the French for the Future Local Forum at Campus St. Jean where students had the opportunity to experience what it is like to be a post-secondary student. Thank you to M. St. Jean for facilitating this opportunity for our students!
ABJ Open House
Creative Writing Class Fundraiser
Learning Spotlight
French Immersion Students at Forum Local
Last Friday, students of French Immersion attended the French for the Future Local Forum at Campus St. Jean where students had the opportunity to experience what it is like to be a post-secondary student. Thank you to M. St. Jean for facilitating this opportunity for our students!
Creative Writing
Mrs. Boake's Creative Writing class had ABJ grad Gina Schnepper join us as a guest speaker to talk about her process of publishing a book of poetry. This was to kick start our unit on poetry and help students to think about the writing process and learn a bit about publishing and putting together a book, as this will be something they do to celebrate their writing at the end of the semester. Students also did some writing inspired by one of Gina's poems.
Creative writing students are working on writing poems, and used the picture book Mrs. Boake found at Teachers' Convention to inspire their first pieces of poetry.
Young Authors' Conference
Each year over 400 selected students in grades 4 to 9 from both Elk Island Public Schools and Elk Island Catholic Schools are invited to spend the day with a variety of well-known children and young adult authors, illustrators and graphic artists—working with them and learning the tricks of the trade.
Students who show special interest or aptitude in the areas of writing and illustration are invited by their teacher to attend the conference. Attendance is teacher selected and there is no open registration, however, every attempt is made to give opportunities to those students who would value most from this experience. Any interested grade 9s are invited to see Mrs. Boake in room 189 for more information.
EICS Summer School
Grade 12 Post-Secondary and Diploma Supports
Concordia University Spring Info Night 2024
Discover CUE at Info Night
Think Open House but on a smaller scale.
Thursday, March 7 | 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
See the opportunities that await you! We look forward to welcoming you and showing you how your big future starts with CUE’s small campus experience.
PLUS! Sign up to receive an application code by email to apply for FREE that night!
Can’t make it to campus? We don’t want you to miss out. Register to receive the application code to apply for free as well as link to the virtual event, including a welcome from President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Tim Loreman and a live stream of our faculty presentations!
(Application fee waived for domestic students only)
NAIT Upcoming Program Previews
School of Health and Life Sciences
Saturday, March 9
Starts at 8:30 am
NAIT Main Campus, Feltham Centre
Saturday, March 16
9 am - 2 pm
NAIT Main Campus
King's University Upcoming Events
SYSTEMIC WELLNESS
Digital Wellbeing - For Parents and Caregivers of Children Ages 9 to 14 years
Learn how to help your child with the social and technological pressures they face in the world today. Together we will go through research-based ways we can support children when they are feeling the pressure of their digital lives. Issues addressed include interacting with strangers online, understanding their digital identity, and healthy relationships. The content of this workshop is geared for parents and caregivers with children between 9-14 years of age.
The presentation is on March 11 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm, with an opportunity for Q & A from 7:30 to 8:00 pm.
Location
St Luke School
22139 S Cooking Rd,
Sherwood Park, AB T8E 1G9
Cost
Free, Registration Required. Click here to register: Digital Wellbeing - For Parents and Caregivers of children ages 9 to 14 years., Monday, March 11, 2024, 6 - 8pm - Family and parenting supports | Strathcona County
For more Information email: FamilyResourceNetwork@strathcona.ca
Black History Month Resources
Grade 12 Indigenous Students Meeting
Student Supports
PEPY
PEPY Empowerment Health is an innovative approach to wellness where an investment and focus in building resilience and well-being is proactive and not just reactive.
It’s a system built on a belief that wellness is the state of the best possible physical, social and spiritual health. If you can keep these integrated and balanced, your mental health will take care of itself naturally. Learn more about it at our next assembly in March.
ABJ Wellness Hub
The ABJ Wellness Hub is now accessible through the ABJ website. It is a safe, confidential and non-judgmental space to connect with your School Counsellor, Family Wellness Worker & other supports. The Wellness Hub provides...
- A place to connect with resources & services in your area.
- Ways to quickly access services & reduce barriers.
- An opportunity to learn more about your over all mental wellness and well-being.
- A means to raise awareness about Mental Health & Wellness.
- Education on various topics of interest.
- A way for Counsellors and Family Wellness Works to support and connect with students
Thank you to Mrs. Cowen, Mrs. Glass, Mrs. St. Amand, and Mrs. Tames for creating this amazing resource for our school community!
Community Resources
Interested in learning more about Teen Group or to register, check out Connections Psychology linked here.
Interested in learning more about Connected Parenting or to register, check out Connections Psychology linked here.
Strathcona CANTEEN Youth Hub February Calendar
Youth Volunteer Opportunities
Athletics
Check out the new website for all things Athletics.
ABJ Boys Win Provincial Curling Gold!
The ABJ boys curling team competed in the Provincial Curling Championships from Thursday to Saturday in Drayton Valley. The team went 3 and 1 in the round robin, finishing second in their pool, steadily improving and making the playoffs. ABJ defeated Holy Rosary from Lloydminster 7-4 in the crossover semifinal. We faced Paul Rowe from Manning (our only loss in round-robin) in the final, which was an epic 4-3 victory, with ABJ scoring a deuce on the final shot. Congratulations to the team and Mr. Perozak for an amazing season!
Alphabetically, the team is:
Ben Bassendowski-Day
Dax Hrycun
Carson Pollard
Lucas Sawiak
Ryan Stockdale
Cheer Team Showcase and Bring a Friend
Last Friday, the Cheer Team held a showcase for friends and family in the large gym. As part of the event, cheer team members could bring a friend to try their hand at learning some cheer moves and performing these for the audience. It was a wonderful way to learn more about behind the scenes with cheer and to have an up close and personal performance. Check out part of their performance below. Graduating Cheer team members were also honoured. The team also held a bake sale and collected donations for Lurana Shelter. Way to go Cheer team!
Spring Sports! Handball & Badminton Tryouts
High School Handball Tryouts start on Monday, February 26 for the Girls and Boys teams at 6:30 pm. All interested students are encouraged to attend. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer grade 9 handball this year. There was a lack of student interest as well as a shortage of staff representatives to run all of the teams. We hope to provide the Grade 9s a chance to learn to play with afternoon sessions near the end of the season. We are looking forward to growing our program in the future.
High School Badminton Tryouts start on Wednesday, February 28th at the end of the school day in the large gym. Come ready to play and if you haven't already signed up with the QR Code, please do so. Grade 9 Badminton will start up near the end of March.
Please check out the QR Codes for sign ups for handball and badminton tryouts. Signing up is important so we can plan for the number of students and space required to run tryouts.
Rugby
Rugby is also starting up with open practices in the gym. Rugby is a great sport to take up in high school. If you are looking to try it, check out the weekly Athletics Calendar for dates and times. Grade 9s are also welcome to learn the game by participating in practices and tournaments. Despite not being able to participate in league games, this provides a huge advantage for when students join the rugby team next year.
Basketball Updates
The Junior Girls finished their league season in third place and the boys finished in first with an undefeated regular season. Both teams have playoff games at home on Tuesday, February 27th.
Both Senior Basketball teams are continuing their great seasons and are heading to the playoffs on Monday. Playoffs start with the boys at Lillian Osborne and the girls at Ross Sheppard.
Grade 9 Basketball League continues this week with games on Tuesday and Wednesday and playoffs in the following weeks.
Canadian High School Football Showcase
Grad Update
Cafeteria Menu
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Attendance Reminder
Did you know that our school has team meetings every week that review the academic and attendance issues of each grade level? As we are several weeks into the new semester it is very important that families take the time to keep us informed. Please ensure you are informing the school each time your child is absent, ill or late. We do not wish to have the auto callouts emailing and phoning your home, but if there are unverified absences this will continue to occur. Staff will email when absences start to exceed certain thresholds. If you are having trouble with your Parent PowerSchool account please call our front office at 780-467-2121 or email: abj@eics.ab.ca
Parent Reminders and Information
Approved 2024-2025 Calendar
Please see below for the Board of Trustees approved 2024-2025 school year calendar.
BUCPS Fundraiser
EICS Board of Trustees Monthly Highlights
Communications
Newsletter Translation Feature Reminder
SWAG
The Scots Week at a Glance (SWAG) newsletter will be shared weekly on Sunday evenings or Monday evenings on long weekends. This will also be posted on our website and shared via social media. Stay informed on all things ABJ through the website, blog, and on social media.