Champion Project Recipients Spring 2018

23 Grants

$37,000 Awarded

​9356 Students/Community Impacted
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As one of the six Project Funds supported by the Foundation, it is our hope that our Champion Projects help the children and youth at ECS to: nurture their moral and spiritual development; develop their leadership and team-building skills; and to practice their Catholic social justice responsibilities.

St. Alphonsus | Drama Festival

The goal of this project is to help students find their creativity and contribute to a product that hey may not always have the opportunity to do: produce a play. Students will be selecting a one-act play to produce, and through this, it is a goal that students develop the following: leadership skills, confidence, creativity, working-relationships, community, an interest in the arts, and an understanding of different ways to communicate ideas. 

St. Charles | GLOW: Empowering Girls to be Leaders 

The purpose of GLOW is to unite girls and provide them with the opportunity to grow both physically and emotionally. The process begins with providing them with a safe environment to ​share their thoughts and opinions. Within this safe environment, girls are encouraged to express themselves authentically, and think critically about their behaviour and choices.

St. Dominic | Connecting with our Faith 

Students noticed that many other saints such as Saint Teresa of Calcutta have many art pieces, sculptures and books to represent her. They were quite disappointed to find that this availability was not the same for their school saint. The kids realized that the lack of resources available for their specific saint impedes the students becoming familiar with him. From this conversation, the students decided that if they were not able to find any engaging picture books about St. Dominic Savio, then they would write and illustrate one themselves. 

St. Edmund | Building Inter-generational Communities 

After several meetings with representatives from the Calder Seniors Centre, Shepherd's Care and Calder Library, it was concluded there is a great deal of opportunity to build relationships between the residents at these centres and the school community. The focus is on Intergenerational programming and fostering meaningful relationships between all individuals. In carrying out this project, the goal and philosophy of this program is truly representative of our Christian Identity within Edmonton Catholic Schools.

St. Francis of Assisi | Learning Commons 

The goal is to make our library space a hub of collaborative learning. The school will create a space that will be a jumping off point to begin projects using the Learning Common and the materials found there. Although many of the materials to be used will be re-used and recycled, we will require some basic disposable supplies that need to be purchased. 

St. John Bosco | Grade Three's Busy Bees 

The grade three students will create an outdoor learning and prayer space for all St. John Bosco students to learn in. It will be in the shape of a rosary. This space will be used every year in May to honour Mother Mary and to teach the rosary. 

St. Justin | G.O.D. Squad and P.A.L. Project 

Our existing G.O.D. Squad leadership team would like to draw awareness to Autism Spectrum Disorder as a way to celebrate some of the unique differences within our student population. We would like to empower this leadership team and provide additional opportunities for them to meet together to further develop their social justice initiative and leadership abilities within our community. Donations will be collected from our school population for Autism awareness, with half the money going to support the P.A.L. program. 

St. Maria Goretti | Creative Minds

Stations will be set up around the room allowing for students to use their creative minds to plan, explore and create things that interest them. All grade levels in our school will have an opportunity to use the space to inspire and build on their skills. There will be several low tech items such as recycled materials, medium tech items such as lego and high tech items such as Makey Makey. 

St. Paul | 100 Lunches

Through the production and distribution of lunches to Edmonton's homeless community we hope to spark and awareness of, and responsibility for those who are less fortunate than us. We feel that this initiative stands out as our children actively participate in the distribution of food to those individuals who need it the most. In doing this we hope our children can participate in this 'sacred mystery' and draw closer to God in their own lives. 

St. Peter | BEST 2018 Conference

The goal is to encourage students in grades 4-6 to embrace and explore their world through the lens of science (along with engineering, the environment, technology and math) in order to grow as engaged learners, and ethical citizens with an entrepreneurial spirit in a Christ-centered manner that embraces differing world views. 

St. Richard | Rosary Garden

The main goal of our Rosary Garden project is to create an atmosphere of peace, love, and serenity in our busy world and to promote prayer as a means of achieving true joy and tranquility. The Rosary Garden will be a unique learning space for school celebrations and for praying the living rosary. Students, staff and parents will be invited to rest and pray in our rosary garden. A retirement home is being built across the street from our school and we hope the seniors will share our rosary garden with us as well. Our rosary garden is intended lo develop a deeper understanding of God's creation.

St. Theresa of Calcutta | The Wellness Space

The goal of our project is to improve the overall wellness of the school in physical, spiritual, and mental health domains. There is an underutilized space in the school in a central location. In this space they are creating a reflection and wellness space for the school community (students, teachers, and parents). Each month a class will follow an inquiry into a wellness theme (e.g. Creating Community, Care for Creation) where they use the space to celebrate and share their project surrounding this theme.

St. Thomas Aquinas | Garden Project 

St. Thomas Aquinas has a large outdoor balcony that they would like to turn into a gardening space for students. They hope to also transform it into an outdoor learning environment where classes can come to learn and pray. The harvest of the garden will go back into the school community as it will be used by our foods classes and shared among students.

St. Vladimir | CAAWLS in the Classroom 

Our hope for "CAAWLS in the Classroom" is to have an Animal Assisted Education (AAE) that is goal-oriented, planned and provides a structured intervention delivered by a CAAWLS educator. AAE is conducted by qualified (with degree) general and special education teachers who provide supports such as educational visits that cultivates responsibility and compassion within students. AAE is also considered a therapeutic and goal-oriented intervention. 

Archbishop MacDonald | Books of Colour 

The goal of this project is to expose students to the various cultural backgrounds living within Canada as well as providing reading material that allows children of minority groups to see themselves in literature. In providing these books, we hope to empower students to be proud of their cultural identity. We want them to be able to see themselves within these characters and know that literature is not exclusive to just one racial group.

Blessed Oscar Romero | School Labyrinth 

The labyrinth itself has already been purchased and delivered. What is now required is the funding to help make this project more worthwhile. The rocks, trim, decorations, etc. needed in order to make the labyrinth truly a place of rest and relaxation is the goal of this portion of the project. 

Grandin | A Relaxing Space for All 

This project would provide a safe space to allow students the opportunity to calm down, relax, and have a different environment for learning. 

JH Picard | Grotto of the Blessed Mother  

With the moneys from this grant we would purchase a large outdoor statue of Mary, stones with which to construct a tiered garden bed, and perennial shade loving plants and compost and soil to fill those garden beds. In front of this we would place a kneeler and some wooden benches. This grotto would become a devotional cornerstone from which the rest of our courtyard development would spread, providing students and staff a meditative area for prayer and reflection apart from the rest of the space, which will be developed into an outdoor classroom and garden space. 

Archbishop O'Leary | Peer Support Team Training   

The goal of this project is to have properly trained Peer Supporters that can implement school-wide projects that make positive changes at our school. Student mental health, anti-bullying, and community-building are all broad areas on which peer support is likely to focus. 

Monsignor Fee Otterson | Maker Space Conference 

The Just make It - Makerspace conference will be a one day event hosted at Monsignor Fee Otterson school with numerous Makerspace sessions that students from schools across the District will be able to participate in. 300 students will attend this event. The sessions offered will focus on a "Making" in a variety of areas. Sessions offered will focus on robotics, coding, building with a variety of materials, environmental activities, Minecraft, stop motion, video/ image production, 3D printing, electronics/electricity, cardboard challenge and Design learning challenges.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel | Sacred Spaces   

To provide all students, and staff with the opportunity to be spend quality time with the Lord during the school day or whenever the need arises, and support individual faith walks. Our vision is to have three dedicated sacred prayer spaces inside the school to provide a spot for the students in each of our three divisions (K-3, 4-6, 7-9). 

Our Lady of Peace | Creating a Chapel 

The goal is to create a space to support our students in regaining control over their thoughts, supporting a growth mindset in which students are able to see their gifts and talents shine. Our hope is to provide opportunities for our students to see God's grace and become more mindful and reflective in their daily lives. 

Our Lady of Prairies | Tower Garden: Feeding our Families 

The goal of acquiring Tower Gardens is to engage students of varying grade levels in social justice projects that benefit our own school community while providing leadership opportunities for children in a STEM focused area. The management of the project will be a multi-grade endeavour, with early grades (100 Voices-2) being able to focus on observing plants and participating in daily care, and with older grades (3-6) developing leadership skills through handling of plants, harvesting of produce, as well as delegation of tasks relating to preparing and storing food. 

Our Lady of Victories | Words Change Worlds 

Many of our students struggle to express and share their personal narratives, especially through writing. This project will support student discovery of who they are, inherit of human dignity, help them find their voice and show them that their personal stories matter.