Dear St. Gabes students and families,

Wow! And just like that . . . it's June! The year just flew by again. On behalf of the staff of St. Gabes, I just want to say what a fabulous year this has been and how honoured we feel to work with you and/or your children each day. We have amazing students at St. Gabes. We will miss those of you who are moving on to post-secondary or the world of work and we wish you all the best in your future endeavours. Please feel free to come by and visit us any time!

June is also when we recognize both Indigenous People's month and Pride month. To that end, we at St. Gabes want to reaffirm that we are honoured to serve students of every race, culture, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. No exceptions . . . just outstanding education offered with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Any discrimination will not be tolerated and we avow to continue to create safe, welcoming and inclusive environments for all students, parents, and staff at St. Gabriel Education Centre.

As always, June is a very busy month filled with really important dates and information so please take a few minutes to read through our newsletter. Please make sure you let our staff know if you have any questions or need any assistance with anything.

Many Blessings to you all,

Renee Trottier,

Principal

Thank you for taking the time to read about what's happening at St. Gabes each month. Our newsletter is a really important way for you to keep up with what's happening at school.

Congratulations to Rachel LaGrange for winning the draw this month! Please stop by the school to pick up your gift card!

Don't forget to enter our draw for a gift card! I reset the draw each month so you can win more than once! This is our last draw for the year.

I would like to take this time to thank our School Council for their dedication and attendance this year. A school with parent involvement is always stronger for it.

Thank you to our Council:

Yvonne Dutton - Chair

Sharon Brown - Vice-Chair

Christina Doehring - Secretary

Sherry Gural - member

Robin Shields - member

Board Chair, Joe Becigneul - St. Gabe's Trustee representative

Thank you as well to those of you who joined our meetings when you could and to those who couldn't attend but provided feedback either by email, phone or surveys. Your involvement, in whatever way that looks for you, is welcome and appreciated.

Our first School Council meeting for next year is September 12 at 6:30 pm. Our meetings are online and short. All parents and legal guardians are welcome to attend. We also need one high school student to represent the students' perspective. Please consider joining us next year.

You can find the agenda and meeting link on our website under "About Us/School Council". https://www.stgabe.gsacrd.ab.ca/about-st-gabriel/school-council-parent-council

We look forward to seeing you!

On, or before, June 28 all textbooks and Chromebooks must be returned to St. Gabriel Education Centre. Your best practice is to bring your textbook when you come to write your final exam. Please note, not returning school resources will result in a fee to pay for the replacement of the item. Damage will be assessed a fee to either rebind the book or replace it, depending on the damage. Thank you for your attention to this!

From 12:00-1:00, we will have our year-end BBQ to celebrate our year. Students and parents are welcome to join us. Please fill out this quick form so we know how many people to expect for food. Only fill it out if you plan to join us.

BBQ RSVP Form

If you are interested in registering for next year, please click on the link HERE. You can find out more about St. Gabes by checking out our website or calling one of the staff.

Please contact Val Franklin or Renee Trottier if you have questions about this process.

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day. This is a day for all Canadians to recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

The Canadian Constitution recognizes these three groups as Aboriginal peoples, also known as Indigenous peoples.

Although these groups share many similarities, they each have their own distinct heritage, language, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs.

In cooperation with Indigenous organizations, the Government of Canada chose June 21, the summer solstice, for National Aboriginal Day, now known as National Indigenous Peoples Day.

For generations, many Indigenous peoples and communities have celebrated their culture and heritage on or near this day due to the significance of the summer solstice as the longest day of the year.

National Aboriginal Day (now National Indigenous Peoples Day) was announced in 1996 by then Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc, through the Proclamation Declaring June 21 of Each Year as National Aboriginal Day. This was the result of consultations and statements of support for such a day made by various Indigenous groups:

• in 1982, the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) called for the creation of National Aboriginal Solidarity Day

• in 1995, the Sacred Assembly, a national conference of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people chaired by Elijah Harper, called for a national holiday to celebrate the contributions of Indigenous Peoples

• also in 1995, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommended the designation of a National First Peoples Day

On June 21, 2017, the Prime Minister issued a statement announcing the intention to rename this day National Indigenous Peoples Day.

National Indigenous Peoples' Day 2022

St. Gabe's will honour this day with prayers and learning during the day. Please feel free to join us.

On May 28th, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday, one of the most important feast days of the year. Pentecost Sunday concludes the Easter season and celebrates the beginning of the Church. Pentecost Sunday always occurs 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and ten days after his ascension into heaven.

Happy Birthday, Church

It was right after Pentecost that Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, preached his first homily to Jews and other non-believers.

He told the people that the Jesus they crucified is the Lord and was raised from the dead, which "cut them to the heart." When they asked what they should do, Peter exhorted them to repent of their sins and to be baptised. According to the account in Acts, about 3,000 people were baptised following Peter's sermon.

Don't forget to check out our "Mental Health and Wellness" section on our website for wellness ideas, tips, resources and sessions that are being offered. Click on "community supports" for information about services in St. Albert and area to support you or your family.

A husband notices his wife hasn’t been answering him when he talks, so decides to take her to the family doctor to see what’s wrong.

“Doc, I think my wife is going deaf,” he explains when they arrive.

It’s something the doctor has seen many times before and he comes up with a simple routine to test the wife’s hearing.

“Stand some distance away from her and ask her a question,” he tells the man. “If she doesn’t answer, move a little closer and ask again. Keep doing this until she answers. Only then will we be able to tell how hard of hearing she really is.”

The man walks across the room and follows the doctor’s instructions.

“Sweetie, what’s for dinner?” he asks.

No answer.

He walks closer and asks again.

“Honey, what’s for dinner?”

Still nothing.

The man repeats this several times until he is standing right in front of his wife.

Finally, she answers him,

“For the 20th time, I said we are having chicken for dinner,” she yells.

Please follow and share with your friends. We want everyone to know what a great place St. Gabes is!

https://www.facebook.com/StGabeHS

https://www.instagram.com/st.gabes/

https://twitter.com/stgabes

Please do not park in the following areas:

• our handicapped spot (unless you are handicapped and are coming into the school)
• in the spots at the front of the building or in the upper lot on top of seven hills
• in front of our garbage bin (the truck has left our garbage a few times because the bin was blocked).

Monday to Wednesday
8:30 am to 3:30 pm

Thursday
8:30 am to 5:30 pm

Friday
8:30 am to Noon
All teachers are available