Around the School: Activities & Clubs

Around the School

activities & Clubs

Cross Country

Alec Compton '22

Crusader Cross Country had a fantastic season. The weekly Cross-Country schedule consisted of a morning run one day, a meet in the afternoon another day, and a conditioning session at Garbage Hill on Saturdays. We participated in four meets, placing excellently in all of them. The meets were dominated by St. Paul’s runners, with Junior Varsity taking home first place by points in all four race and Varsity winning the two most recent meets. This success is thanks to the dedication of the coaches, Mr. McMillan, Mr. Chipman, and Mr. Capko. The coaching staff showed an unparalleled dedication to bettering the team. The final race planned, the Crusader Cup, served as a replacement to provincials and was a race exclusively between Crusader Cross-Country Runners. The Crusader Cup was a hard-fought race and ended in a win for team orange, captained by Ryan Kulbacki. Following the race were awards, where many cross country runners received trophies and plaques for their accomplishments. Although provincials being cancelled is disappointing, it opened the possibility of a continuation of the season in the spring, something I’m sure all of the runners are hopeful for.

Maroon & White

Khepron gould '22

With the 2021-22 school year well underway, the Maroon and White Society has completed numerous initiatives with great success and are working diligently on new ones. The most significant endeavor has been organizing a week-long educational campaign for the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Walking down the main hallway of St. Paul’s, students stopped and reflected on the Truth and Reconciliation display which included over 600 orange hearts portraying prayers and petitions of students and staff under the theme “Our Hearts Go Out to Our Indigenous Brothers and Sisters”. In addition, on display was a wampum belt given to St. Paul’s High School from Mrs. Melanie Richard Martin who led our first Truth & Reconciliation workshop. During the week-long campaign, students were invited to take home orange ribbons or display their ribbons on the fence in the northwest corner of our school campus.

Other projects the Maroon and White Society are involved in include a Blood Donation Initiative in which we set a goal of 65 blood donations before the end of the calendar year. We are already at 52 donations and welcome members of our community to join the St. Paul’s High School Partners for Life team.

The Society also partnered with Drop the Gloves, an organization that collects used hockey equipment for children in need. We plan to create many more partnerships like this in the months to come. Finally, the Maroon and White hosted our first mission week in support of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Haiti. All funds raised were directed to support the victims of a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti on August 14, 2021. Stay tuned for further Maroon and White initiatives.

PHOTO BY SAWYER RAMSAY '24

Photography club

Severyn Shved ’22

From its founding by Mr. Joel Adair in 2017, St. Paul’s High School’s photography club has been a small group of students and staff who are interested in photography, willing to share their knowledge, and grow as photographers. Initially, the photography club was mainly focused on capturing the moments of school life and extra-curricular activities for the yearbook. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020 and students moved into remote learning, the photography club slightly changed its vector to include projects and activities that are outside the yearbook. Those activities include photo challenges, field trips, and educational sessions. In the past year, the members of the photography club have been challenged to take pictures on different themes to develop their creativity, and visited the Assiniboine Park Zoo to practice taking pictures and to become better acquainted. This school year, the group is expanding; welcoming many freshmen that are expected to take over from the students from the class of 2022.

St. Paul’s held a Truth & Reconciliation Week during September. Throughout the week, students participated in educational opportunities of remembrance and reconciliation.They kicked off the week with “Project of Heart,” a reflection-based practice where students shared their knowledge, experience, and promise of pursuing truth and reconciliation on orange hearts displayed throughout the school.

Later, we held an assembly where Mr. Stacy Dainard ’88 led us through a “Water and Indigenous Communities” presentation on how students can become #WarriorsofChange. The Maroon & White Society also hosted a workshop with Mrs. Melanie Richard-Martin to educate us on the meaning behind The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The week allowed our community to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, develop a shared understanding of our past and the path to reconciliation, and allowed us to walk alongside our Indigenous brothers and sisters.

Volleyball

Harris gompf ’22

Although experiencing an upset early on in provincials, the varsity boys volleyball team proved to have a great season. We were able to finish as WWAC champions and ranked second heading into provincials. We won a few tournaments and had many top three finishes. The team easily bonded and everyone had a great relationship with each other. Which made playing on the court even more fun. With four graduating all stars the team held lots of talent. However, we weren’t able to get the finish we were hoping for. Thanks to the coaching staff for making this year one to remember!

Coaches: Dustin Spiring, Evan Alexander, Lloyd Voth, Denis Tsaidrink.

Football

Evan Hirst ’22

Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Crusader Football took a one-year hiatus before returning the fall of 2021. Due to Covid-19, the Winnipeg High School Football League and each respective team had to make adaptations for the changing restrictions. For St. Paul’s that meant no formal tryouts, no training camp, and no maroon and white game. St Paul’s played a condensed five-week season before a two round playoff bracket. In week zero St. Paul’s faced the Oak Park Raiders in an exhibition match at Oak Park in which St. Paul’s lost 16-17. By week zero, both teams had not installed their full playbooks and played without special teams except punt and punt return.

The remainder of the season was highly defensive and the offense took its time to get rolling. The St. Paul’s Crusaders improved every week. The Crusaders clinched playoffs against Oak Park in week 5, with a win leading them to the semi-finals.

This harrowing season ended in defeat as the Crusaders lost in the semi-finals against Grant Park.

Earlier in the season, the St. Paul’s community was saddened to hear the passing of Scott Naujoks ‘09, a former Crusader, offensive coordinator, and University of Manitoba Bison’s receiver coach. Scott was widely respected as a coach for his dedication to the development of his players. In his 29 years with the community, Scott changed the lives of several athletes through his work. THE CRUSADER | WINTER 2022 5