$1 including gst
Fusion between ‘Don’t Hibernate Fair’ & ‘Culture Days’ a success PAGE 16
Your LOCAL Media since 1918! Volume 106 Issue 03
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Wednesday, September 13, 2023 s
Bright future for Holden Rural Academy as enrollments nearly double Jana Semeniuk Staff Reporter
Students step off a school bus at Holden Rural Academy on Sept. 11, some carrying work boots to start their day. HRA's program includes place-based education where students pair up with participating organizations and businesses to gain first-hand experience with several different career possibilities. JANA SEMENIUK PHOTO
Holden Rural Academy, a public charter school in Holden, opened their doors last week for the first day of their second year in operation. Principal Brian Dewar said enrollment for the school, whose mandate is place-based-education, increased significantly this year and continues to draw more students. “We’ve (nearly) doubled in size. Last year we had 60 kids and (we were expecting) 23 new kids (this year) and we ended up with 46 new kids,” he said. “We’ve added teaching staff, we’ve added aides and it’s a great problem to have. It’s fantastic. You can’t describe a better feeling in the world than watching all these guys get off that bus in the morning.” Dewar said HRA is a grade 7-12 publicly funded charter school that follows the Alberta curriculum. They have no tuition fees, no bus fees and operate on a four-day week. Dewar said the largest class increase so far this year is in grades 9-11, and that students are attending HRA from communities such as Daysland, Lindbrook, Vegreville and Mundare. “We’ve got six students from Mundare and 15 from Vegreville (so
far this year),” he said, adding that he attributes this year’s increase to their place-based-education program in addition to simple word of mouth. “My students from last year (are) going out and telling everybody how good it was for them (and) they're bringing their friends here. It's word of mouth.” Dewar said that although the absence of any school fees is a welcome aspect for some families, others want to pay anyway and give back however they can. “We can make it work without any bus fees and we bring kids in from Vegreville. People are coming here because there are no fees (and) we've got people coming down and trying to pay fees because they want to give back,” he said. “So instead of bus fees and school fees and locker fees and everything else that (used to) get charged, (we have) parents now coming in (such as one) parent from Mundare came down and (said), we have an art studio. Here's a bunch of art supplies for your art room. They're not paying fees so they came and brought stuff for us to help out. That’s the kind of parents we have.” Meanwhile, as the enrollment increases so does the list of businesses Continued on Page 9
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