From the Desk of the Superintendent- 2015 Year End Message

This past weekend I was in Red Deer with my family, celebrating the marriage of our daughter, Jamieson. It seems like only yesterday when she was a little girl and I was the only man in her life but time does seem to fly by whether we want it to or not. She is now a grown woman, a beautiful bride and very proud to be Mrs. Darren Windle! We rejoice and are so pleased to welcome Darren into our family!

As  we get older, time does seem to fly by and when you are in education, school years are similar in that they act more like sprints than marathons! This year was no different; we began with an outdoor mass and the 100th anniversary of St. Basil in late August and here we are in the last week of school.  On June 17th, I celebrated my sixth year as Superintendent of this outstanding division. With my one year as Deputy Superintendent and five years as principal at St. Patrick School in Taber, Holy Spirit Catholic School Division has been my home for twelve years. It is good to be home and I continue to be blessed to be here!

While I say that often, I don’t want my words to ever be taken as a broken record. I truly am blessed to lead this organization. The more times that I connect with people outside the division, the more I realize what a special place we have here in Holy Spirit. Phone any of our sites and listen to the welcome you receive! Walk through our buildings and notice the cleanliness. Step into our classrooms and see the incredible dedication. Enter our buildings and feel the Holy Spirit! Our school division continues to grow and change and improve because of all of you, the staff of Holy Spirit Catholic School Division. Each of you contributes to this blessed state and to each of you I say thank you!

School years don’t ever go as planned and so we have had some peaks and valleys. However, when I take the time to be very reflective on the year, I’m most impressed with how we’ve been able to walk together and move forward. In completing our school year reviews, countless examples of our faith theme were expressed by our school leaders. Walking Together was not something that was simply placed in a document, it was truly alive in our schools and lived by our staffs and students. Next year’s theme, Horizons of Hope will continue to be central to everything that we do in our division.

We congratulate our graduating students and give special blessings to our St. Mary’s Class of 2015 who will celebrate this coming week. And we celebrate the careers of those staff members who have decided upon retirement or to follow other career aspirations. May all of those leaving Holy Spirit, be blessed as they begin new journeys and walk different paths.

Summer vacation is about to begin and that has different meaning for many. For some, it will mean being able to actually kick back and relax, others will begin planning for new positions and still others will be hitting the books. Regardless of your summer’s activities, I would like to wish you well and thank you for dedicated service to Holy Spirit. Please find some time to relax, to enjoy and to renew. May God bless you during the coming months! Take care and see you at opening mass!