Breaking ground at ABJ
News
New high school will open in September ’12
Posted By Michael Di Massa News Staff
Posted 2 months ago
A sod-turning and site-blessing ceremony was held at the site of the new Archbishop Jordan Catholic high school on Friday.
Situated just south of Highway 16 between Sherwood Drive and the Emerald Hills subdivision, the brand new school is slated to open in September 2012, with a projected capacity of 1,400 students.
"It warms my heart to see a fundamental need in the community being addressed," said Strathcona County Mayor Cathy Olesen at the ceremony, which included officials from the province, Strathcona County, the Catholic community, and current and future ABJ students.
Chris Diachuk, superintendent of Elk Island Catholic Schools, said the effort to build the school began in earnest about three and a half years ago.
"It really is about the relationships we form in our lives," he said with a nod to cooperation between EICS, Alberta's infrastructure and education departments, and Strathcona County.
"This whole project is just an amazing step forward for our school district."
He said the school district worked with Strathcona County to identify a place in Sherwood Park that would be perfect for the new ABJ.
The current ABJ has a 900-student population, which is the maximum the school was built to hold.
Diachuk said about 1,100 students are expected to attend ABJ when the new building opens in just over two years.
Groundwork for the new facility began earlier in the spring, with the foundation of at least one section of the building – one of two gymnasiums – having been poured. Crews are working from the back of the facility to the front, which will face north.
"Hardly seems real, doesn't it?" said Strathcona MLA Dave Quest, as construction equipment rumbled nearby. "It's great to watch all the equipment. The place is going to be absolutely fabulous."
He also noted the new school is one of 14 the province has dedicated to funding.
Logistically speaking, ABJ principal Lorne Monaghan said the second gym and extra classrooms will provide much-needed relief.
With the future site of the Sherwood Park hospital nearby, as well as a man-made lake and the ability to share a fitness facility and fields with the general public, Monaghan said the new school is setting a precedent for future schools.
The EICS board of trustees decided to keep the school name after 89 per cent of staff, students and parents polled in a 600-person survey by the district said they wanted to keep it.
The school is named after the man who was archbishop of the Edmonton Catholic dioceses at the time.
Bishop David Motiuk from the Ukrainian Catholic Edmonton Eparchy blessed the school's grounds as members of EICS and future ABJ students dug their shovels into the ground during the ceremony's sod-turning near the site of one of the school's gyms.
Father Wilf Murchland and Right Reverend Jack Hamilton from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, and Father Rendall Yackimec from St. Sophia Ukrainian Catholic Parish also participated in the blessing ceremony.
Members of the ABJ choir sung throughout the blessing ceremony, as well.
mdimassa@
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