Movies of War

News FacebookTwitterLinkedinCopy URL Daily Herald File Photo = Ecole St. Mary High School Principal Dwayne Gareau led a tour during the school’s Open House in 2025 Students wondering about what Ecole St. Mary High School has to offer will have a chance to find out on March 6 and 7. The school will be hosting their annual Open House and Principal Dwayne Gareau said the format will be very typical compared to those in the past. “We’re going to do the same thing where we gather (and) give some pertinent information (about) philosophical principles, how the school runs, and then we’re going to be actually showcasing them around the school to look at all the different facilities, the different spaces we use,” Gareau said. The open house is on Wednesday, March 4 and Thursday, March 5 with doors opening at 6:15. The open house starts at 6:30 p.m. with some words from Gareau in the gym before tours start. Gareau said the school has a lot to offer and they want to show it off. “The reason why we do a whole facilities tour is because one interested student might be super excited to see one area,” Gareau said. “We don’t know what they want to see so we just show everything. Also, some might not even know really know what they’re interested in. They say, ‘oh I never really thought of that but that would be a lot of fun.’” Gareau said they tend to get decent crowds over the course of the two days. He said another important aspect of the Open House is to help transition for both parents and students. “I always say there is a transition into a high school, especially if it’s a first child,” he explained. “That’s sometimes a huge transition if you have multiple kids within the family … but even different students have different comfort levels based on how they handle transitions.” The comfort level can differ between students and families. “Some will want to just come see the building and even though they’ve been in the building, they want to see it again,” Gareau explained. “For some it’s the first time seeing the building, so it’s just to help with the transition into the high school.” The City of Prince Albert has plenty of choices for high school and Gareau understands that. “We respect that everyone has choices,” he said. “They’re just making a choice based on what’s best for them as a family and as a student.” He said that the choice can be in the schools as well when it comes to other aspects of education. “I think that’s one of the things that’s important, having a choice, not just at school, but selection of classes within schools and sizes and stuff, because different students have different comfort levels with different things,” Gareau said. The choice in schools also helps students find the correct fit. “For the city, it actually is a great thing to have choice,” Gareau said. “It tends to draw students that want to be in your building and if students want to be in your building you obviously have students that want to be successful. It’s just it’s good for everyone.” Gareau said that the Open House is important because it gives students and families an opportunity to see what Ecole St. Mary has to offer. “It gives that open invitation to come and ask questions, to make connections with school administration because we do it with our administrators running the tours,” he said. The tours are typically done by vice principals Jason Bourdon and Lydia McLeod along with Gareau. He said building those connections is important. “It gives them an opportunity to make connections automatically right away with a principal or a vice principal so that they already have a connection point to the school, so there’s a variety of reasons why it makes a lot of sense for a family or a student to attend an open house,” Gareau said. According to Gareau, most of the tours involve Grade 8 students who are transitioning to Grade 9, but there are some outliers. “Tthere’s also sometimes Grade 10s, 11s, 12s, even (people who are new to the city or potentially looking at just a shift in what they want to do with their school,” he explained. Michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca -Advertisement-