Kristopher Snarby, president of the Queens County Track Society, says Liverpool’s new all-weather soccer field and rubberized track are almost set to open. (Rick Conrad)
The finish line is in sight for the South Shore’s only year-round soccer field and rubberized track, with only one hurdle left to clear.
“The track is done now. Lights are getting done, so we’re just getting them connected. And now we just have to finalize insurance,” Kristopher Snarby, president of the Queens County Track Society, said in a recent interview.
“And once we have insurance in place, then we can start renting it out and start using it.”
The $3.5-million facility at Liverpool Regional High School features an artificial turf soccer field and a four-lane, 400-metre rubberized track. It also has an additional two lanes on the straightaways for 100-metre sprints and 110-metre hurdles races. The society also plans to install bleachers, but that will have to wait until they raise more money.
“I just think it’s amazing that we have this facility in Liverpool,” Snarby says.
“Being the only one on the South Shore is kind of cool. And knowing that people from Bridgewater, Shelburne and all parts in between will want to be here to train and to play games and to run the track, it’s great. I see people out exercising who are runners, and I’m hoping that we’ll see them running to train here. The big game-changer is that we’ll have year-round use now, or close to year-round.”
The federal government contributed $1.8 million, with the province chipping in $1.2 million and the Region of Queens $250,000. The society is making up the difference, with about $150,000 still left to fundraise.
The high school’s old field didn’t drain properly and was sometimes unusable after a heavy rain. The new facility has a modern drainage system built right into the field.
“So, the water actually drains into the perimeter of where the green is for the field, and then there’s a drainage system underneath. It’s been great. We’ve had some pretty heavy rains, and there’s been no issue with drainage.”
The track society is responsible for maintaining the facility and looking after rentals and scheduling, in co-operation with the South Shore Regional Centre for Education and the municipality.
The facility will also be available for anyone in the community to use. Snarby says they’re still working out scheduling details and the logistics for community use.
The closest all-weather tracks are in Halifax, Clare or at Acadia University in Wolfville, all at least a 90-minute drive away.
“Our kids have been at a disadvantage forever for the track,” Snarby says.
“They literally train around the bus loop here. They run around the school, and that’s how they train for runs. So our kids have had to run through the streets of Liverpool, run in the parking lot, run in the bus loop. So it’s nice that we’re going to have the best facility on the South Shore to train at.
“And if I were a kid, I’d be pretty excited about coming here every day and seeing that compared to what they had before. And the soccer field’s beautiful. It’s going to be great for the community.”
Snarby says he had hoped the field and track would have been open by now, but he’s looking forward to having the insurance ironed out in the next few weeks. He’s happy with the almost-finished product.
“I just want to get the gate open so people can start using it. That’s the priority now.”
Students and staff at Liverpool Regional High School were under a hold and secure order for a short time on Wednesday morning. (Rick Conrad)
An incident at Liverpool Regional High School on Wednesday forced officials to secure the school and students.
Parents got an email at 10:50 a.m. telling them the school was in a “precautionary hold and secure”.
“Everyone is safe and this measure has been taken out of an abundance of caution, due to a potential safety concern in the community,” the email said.
“During the hold and secure classes will continue as normal, access to the building will be limited, and students will remain inside the school for breaks.”
The email told parents that the hold and secure would remain in place until “police confirm normal activities can resume”.
The hold and secure order was lifted around lunchtime, according to a spokeswoman with the South Shore Regional Centre for Education, who also provided QCCR with a copy of the email.
She told QCCR to contact the RCMP for further details.
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Carlie McCann said police are still investigating and would likely provide an update in the next few days.
“I can’t provide any further information at this time,” she said Thursday.
Students heard on Wednesday that another student brought a pellet pistol to school.
“I think some guy flashed a pellet gun at someone,” Logan Sarty, a Grade 12 student at LRHS, said outside the school on Thursday. “That’s the main thing I’ve been hearing around.”
Sarty said everybody appeared OK afterward, but there was speculation in the halls about the alleged incident.
“A lot of people thought that it shouldn’t be hold and secure because there was a lot of talk of it being a rumour.”
Another, unrelated incident occurred at South Queens Middle School on Wednesday. A school board spokeswoman said that was “more common”, as staff dealt with a disruptive student.
Julie Babin crochets one of the items that will be up for auction at the LRHS Japanese exchange art auction on Friday night at ADJA Studio and Gallery on Main Street in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
It will be the first foreign exchange trip for Liverpool high school students since before the pandemic.
And they and their parents are holding a fundraiser on Friday night to help get them there.
Ten students from Liverpool Regional High School are planning a cultural exchange next year with kids from a high school in Yokohama, Japan through the Nova Scotia International Student Program.
Julie Babin is one of the parents organizing a silent auction and fundraiser at ADJA Studio and Gallery on Main Street in Liverpool, from 7 to 9 p.m. It will feature local visual art, crafts and baked goods donated by people from the community.
“There will be anything from knit items, photographs, stained glass, paintings, jewelry, all kinds of cool stuff to help these kids get their goal met and get to Japan.”
People will be able to bid on items at the gallery on Friday night. And the auction will continue on Facebook next week.
Babin says the students are working hard to reach their fundraising goal for the two-week trip.
“They’ve been working their little fingers to the bone to try to fundraise for the past six months. They’ve been doing beef jerky fundraisers, we have a fudge fundraiser going on, 50/50 tickets, bottle drives.”
She says the Queen’s Enviro Centre in Brooklyn is accepting donations of bottles for the trip. People just have to tell them it’s for “the Japan trip”.
The group has to raise $5,000, with each student expected to pay another $3,500.
Babin says they’re pretty close to their group goal. But any money raised above $5,000 will help lower the students’ expenses.
“If we can get that, the kids feel pretty good. … It’s exciting for them to see it slowly go up. We have a couple of more things on the horizon but we’re really hoping that this fundraiser gets us to that goal.”
Her 16-year-old son, Desmond Danylewich, is one of the 10 students going on the trip next July.
She said he’s excited to experience Japanese food and culture first-hand.
“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to go and get to just immerse yourself in the culture of Japan. He’s looking so forward to trying real sushi and real tempura. It’s going to be exciting for him.”
Babin said it will also be interesting for students and parents to host 20 Japanese students in Liverpool for 10 days in April.
“So every one of our students will have two Japanese students come stay with them. See what eating Canadian food is like, going to school in a Canadian school. And then they’ll also get to go on excursions.”
Babin says they’ll be accepting art and craft donations for the auction right up until Friday evening.
“If you made it, we will appreciate it.”
And she says most of the kids going on the trip will also be at the fundraiser on Friday.
“7 to 9, come by, see the art, maybe lay a couple of bids, meet the kids. They’re pretty stoked to talk about their hopes for it and they’re really excited for the Japanese kids to come here.”
The LRHS Japanese exchange art auction begins at 7 p.m. on Friday at ADJA Studio and Gallery at 177 Main St. in Liverpool. You can leave donations for the fundraiser at the gallery. And you can also follow the event on Facebook.
Crews are working on the $3-million Liverpool Community Sports Field at Liverpool Regional High School. (Rick Conrad)
There may be a little short-term pain this fall for some big long-term gain for Liverpool’s high school soccer teams as they wait for a new multimillion-dollar field and track to be completed.
Crews are working now on building the $3-million-plus Liverpool Community Sports Field at Liverpool Regional High School. It will feature the South Shore’s only all-weather, year-round track and a new artificial turf soccer field.
Kristopher Snarby, president of the Queens County Track Society which is leading the effort, said the field likely won’t be finished until November. And depending on the weather, the new rubberized track probably won’t be ready until early spring.
“They’re working hard, they have a camper on site and the crew’s actually living in the camper and working pretty long days,” Snarby said Tuesday.
“We’re hoping that the field will be done late October, early November and the track itself, it depends on weather in terms of when they can lay the track. So the track will either be done in November as well or it will have to wait till spring when things are little warmer. So things are coming together fairly well. We kind of had a pipe dream that the soccer field would be ready for this fall, but that’s not going to happen unfortunately.”
In the meantime, he said the high school’s boys and girls soccer teams are working with the middle school in Liverpool to use that field for practices. He said they’ll likely have to find another field outside Liverpool for their games.
Despite having to wait a little longer than they’d hoped, Snarby says it’s gratifying to see the project coming together.
“There have been so many people pushing for this for so long, it’s nice to finally see the end result coming together. The contractors that are doing the work are doing a great job there. They’re working really hard to move along as fast as possible.
“It’s just really exciting to know that the community is going to have this facility in a few months. And it’ll be great to see people start to use it. I’ve had inquiries already from other areas who are interested in renting the field to have some higher level soccer taking place there. So that’s really positive. It’s just really exciting for sure.”
The track and field project got a $1.8-million funding commitment from the federal government, $1.2 million from the province and $250,000 from the Region of Queens municipality.
Snarby said his group will be launching a private fundraising campaign in the next couple of weeks to cover other costs, such as a shot put and discus throwing area.
He said doing those separately from the main project is cheaper.
“The costs to do it as a whole project were extremely expensive. So we had to pull them out of the project and we’re still going to get them done, but they’re going to be quite a lot more cost-effective.”
Snarby said that as long as construction continues to go as planned, everything should be ready for use by March or April next year.
Ava Smith and Koen Shand are Grade 12 students at Liverpool Regional High School. They’re helping out with the LRHS Scholarship Auction 2024. (Rick Conrad)
The graduating class at Liverpool Regional High School may be relatively small, but they’ve had a mighty significant impact over the years on students going on to higher learning.
Since 1998, the Liverpool Regional High School Scholarship Auction has awarded more than 400 Queens County students over $500,000 in bursaries to help them pay for their post-secondary education.
The 26th annual auction kicked off on Facebook on April 18. And this year, for the first time since before the pandemic, the fundraiser wraps up with an in-person silent and live auction event on Thurs., May 30 at the high school.
Koen Shand and Ava Smith are two Grade 12 students who are part of the 40-person-strong organizing committee. About 25 of those volunteers are students themselves, which is about half of the graduating class. Parents, teachers and other community members make up the rest of the organizing committee.
“It’s pretty impactful,” Koen says of the auction. “It’s just nice to know that we are such a small town and we do have that support that you might not get from coming from a big city. It’s just nice to know that we have these organizaitons backing us up.”
“I think it’s nice to feel you have a lot of people in your corner,” Ava says, “you have a lot of people rooting for you. It’s nice to know that you have a big community, a big family here that’s wanting you do well and is going to be there when you need help.”
Koen will be going to Dalhousie University next year to study engineering, while Ava plans to attend Saint Mary’s University and then on to Mount Saint Vincent University for an education degree.
They said they were eager to help out with the auction because pursuing an education is so expensive. They’re both involved with various extra-curricular activities at the school — Koen with the Key Club and various sports teams, and Ava as Nova Scotia International Student Program ambassador and as co-president of the student council.
“This is up my alley, I love helping out with this stuff,” Ava says. “I just think it’s good to get involved and help give back to the community that’s always helped, especially here since it’s such a small community, it’s such a supportive one.”
“My school has given me lots of opportunities, lot of memories, playing sports, doing multiple things,” Koen says, “and I just think whatever I can do to give back and help our grads succeed.”
Organizers expect to get more than 200 items, in addition to monetary contributions, donated from local businesses and residents for the online and in-person auctions. They’ve already auctioned off dozens of items.
The last time an in-person auction was held, it raised about $20,000. Since it went online, it has raised between $25,000 and $40,000 each year.
Students are awarded bursaries based on need and their contribution to school life. In previous years, about a third of the class received the awards, which ranged from $500 to $2,000.
“It’s not based on your academics,” Ava says. “It’s based on what you’ve done to contribute to the school and in the community. Which I think is really good because there are lots of kids in our school who might not have honour rolls but are still an active member in our community and an active member in our school. Which I think is great that they are getting money they deserve.
“I think receiving money like this helps to kind of take the weight off a little bit. It’s still going to cover some of your classes, your books, maybe it’s going to cover your meal card, and even though it is obviously not $25,000 to cover your year, anything that contributes helps a lot. It also lessens the amount of student loan you’re going to have to take out.”
Ava and Koen are excited to participate in Thursday’s in-person event. Students will be helping to display the items up for auction, with Al Steele as the auctioneer.
When asked how much people should bid at the event, Koen has some simple advice.
“As much as they want. It’s going to a good cause, so feel free.”
More than 100 people attended a meeting at Liverpool Regional High School on Monday evening to address community concerns about the Astor Theatre. (Rick Conrad)
Updated April 10, 9:05 a.m.
Community members finally got some answers on Monday night about the recent conflict that has engulfed the Astor Theatre in Liverpool.
More than 100 showed up at a meeting at Liverpool Regional High School called by supporters of former Astor employee Ashley-Rose Goodwin.
The two-and-a-half-hour-long meeting was at times raucous, revealing the rifts that have rocked the Astor over the past month since Goodwin resigned as associate artistic director.
The meeting was originally called to dissolve the current board and elect an interim one until the annual general meeting in May.
The first 45 minutes of the meeting were consumed with arguments between the organizers, who claimed it was a legitimate meeting of the Astor Theatre Society, and board members, who said it wasn’t. The meeting went ahead anyway.
Goodwin has led many popular youth-focused theatre camps, workshops and productions at the theatre over the past few years.
She resigned from the Astor in March. That was shortly after the large-scale adult musical Follies wrapped. Goodwin directed that production.
Her resignation upset many parents whose kids participated in her workshops and productions. It quickly erupted into a sometimes very personal and public fight.
They alleged that the Astor board and recently hired executive director Jerri Southcott made it impossible for Goodwin to stay.
Other people claimed that the Astor was “changing direction” under Southcott and alleged she was trying to engineer a merger with her Mahone Bay-based South Shore Summer Theatre.
At a town hall meeting on Sunday, Astor board members and Southcott refuted those allegations. They said the direction of the Astor has not changed and that they are still committed to involving the local community. The board also said that talks with South Shore Summer Theatre predated Southcott’s hiring, but that they are now off the table.
On Monday evening, it was obvious that many parents and others want Goodwin back at the theatre. Parents spoke about how their kids have benefited from being involved in Goodwin’s productions, how great she is with youth and how she ensures all kids feel respected and included.
Also on Monday evening, it became obvious that many of the issues around Goodwin’s employment and eventual departure were festering long before Southcott even applied for the job.
Goodwin has been silent publicly since her resignation. But she broke that public silence on Monday, explaining why she left the Astor.
Long before Southcott was hired, Goodwin was asking the board for more money. She said her productions were generating a lot of revenue for the Astor and her salary did not reflect that extra benefit to the theatre.
She was also holding private voice and music lessons at the Astor as part of her Mersey Rose Theatre Company
She told the crowd Monday she was being paid $1,200 every two weeks, and that as a single mother, that wasn’t enough to support herself and her four sons.
“Money was being brought in and all that was from my students that I made relationships with, that I brought in, and they wouldn’t put it on top of my salary, even though I was begging for them to give me more money because it wasn’t enough to live off of.”
Late last year, Goodwin mounted a winter solstice show at the Astor, which she created with her youth theatre group.
“I didn’t see any of those donations at the door. Nothing. And I was the one that wrote the show, I wrote the show with the kids. It was all me, I did it by myself. And I don’t see any of that. And I don’t think it’s fair that an entrepreneur who agrees to work at the Astor doesn’t see any of the money that comes in to boost her salary. How is that OK? It’s not OK.”
After Southcott was hired, Goodwin claims she was told she could no longer give private lessons at the Astor.
It appears the breaking point finally came near the end of the Follies run. Goodwin and the Astor planned another youth production, Oliver, Jr. Goodwin says the Astor wanted a quick turnaround. To have the show ready in three months, they wanted auditions to begin before Follies wrapped.
The Astor disputes this, and says their staff were working with Goodwin on her schedule to make sure she wasn’t overwhelmed during Follies.
Goodwin said she told them that was a short timeframe to get kids ready for a show. But she agreed to do it. Unfortunately, she got sick. She says she asked Southcott to hold off on auditions until she was feeling better.
“I begged her not to do the callbacks because I wanted to be there for the kids. She did them without me, and she cast the show without me. And then she told me what the rehearsal schedule would be. Monday to Thursday, 3 o’clock to 5:30 every day for a full cast of kids, that is crazy and that is not how you direct children. And that is why I quit.”
Liverpool parent Crystal Doggett speaks at a public meeting on Monday evening about recent controversy surrounding the Astor Theatre in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
John Simmonds, chairman of the Astor board, was also at the meeting on Monday and responded to Goodwin’s claims.
He said he and Goodwin had been talking about her role at the Astor in January and February.
“And the salary that you are receiving, we have it from every possible source that is very competitive in this field, in this area. So to say that we need to give you more money because you need it, unfortunately, as a businessman, as an employer, that shouldn’t enter into the equation. We did talk about down the road finding some way of bonusing you, profit-sharing, whatever. But that was still in discussion.”
Simmonds said Goodwin was also worried about a clause in her contract that she interpreted to be a non-compete clause. He said it was actually permission to work outside the theatre.
“You and a couple of your colleagues that you had spoken to said that’s a hard and fast non-compete. That’s not how we saw it. Those same people asked you to contact me or Jerri to discuss that clause. You failed to do that. I called you twice on that Friday afternoon when this whole thing blew up. You didn’t call me back. We’ve been asking to have a meeting with you since then.”
Simmonds said that most of the furor around the Astor happened when Goodwin resigned.
“The whole community rallied behind her and became totally outraged. We received 100 (Facebook) posts, emails, letters, at the Astor. We were totally overwhelmed and we couldn’t understand why. We’ve come to realize it’s support for Ashley and what she’s done. We appreciate all of that. We want her back. All of this rhetoric is not conducive to making that happen. If you want Ashley back and Ashley wants to come back, let’s talk sensibly about what the future holds and not what the past is.”
Others who attended the meeting said they just want both groups to come to terms and stop all the public bickering. Some criticized the group that called the meeting, saying that threatening to dissolve the board only inflamed tensions further.
The board and Goodwin’s supporters agreed to meet as a smaller group to hash out the concerns raised over the past month. The board pledged to hold a special meeting before the annual general meeting, which is scheduled for May 9.
“We’re looking forward to getting seven or eight from the different viewpoints in a room, talk about the issues and most importantly, moving forward, what do we do?”
Rebecca Smart was one of the organizers of Monday’s meeting. She said in an interview after the meeting that it was unfortunate it took a threat to dissolve the board to have her and others’ concerns heard.
“So I feel it was productive overall. Even though it was rough, but it was cleansing in a way because so much that’s been unaddressed and unspoken finally got out there.”
But it may take some time for the rifts around the Astor to heal. Southcott left the meeting early because she was upset by some of the accusations being hurled by one of the parents, who claimed they were threatened with legal action.
Simmonds said in an interview after the meeting that as somebody new to the community and as a new employee at the Astor, she has been unfairly targeted.
“She’s been under tremendous pressure because she recognizes from the get go that as much about Ashley it’s about her. People were out to trash her career.
“Give the lady a chance. We all make mistakes when we’re in a new job. I’m sure you have. I know I have. Let’s figure out what needs to be done to make things better in the future so everybody’s more comfortable.”
The soccer field at Liverpool Regional High School will be getting a makeover this year, with artificial turf and a new all-weather track. (Rick Conrad)
South Shore track and field athletes will be getting a year-round, all-weather track at Liverpool Regional High School.
The Queens County Track Society has decided to upgrade its original plan. Instead of an eight-lane gravel track, the school will now be getting a rubberized four- to six-lane surface.
It’s part of a $3-million upgrade to the school’s outdoor facilities, which also includes a new artificial turf soccer field.
Kristopher Snarby is president of the Queens County Track Society. He said Liverpool will have the only rubberized track and turf soccer field on the South Shore.
“That means it’ll be able to be used year-round. You don’t have to worry about thawing and bad weather and it’s a lot more accessible for people. So it’s definitely a nice change to the original plan.”
He said the change will add between $250,000 and $300,000 to the cost of the project. The original price tag was pegged at $2.75 million, with funding from the federal, provincial and municipal governments.
Snarby said the group decided the extra cost was worth it to have a year-round facility.
“One of the challenges with gravel, is that when you have the type of weather that we have, it means there’s a lot of upkeep to keep the track surface safe for people to train on. With the rubberized synthetic version, it’s going to be an attraction for athletes all over the South Shore to train on who are doing running events in track and field.”
The 400-metre track will now have four lanes, with an additional two on the straightaways for 100-metre and 110-metre hurdles races.
There are rubberized tracks at Acadia University in Wolfville, King’s-Edgehill School in Windsor, one in Clare and some in Halifax. The closest track to Queens County is a gravel facility at Park View Education Centre in Bridgewater.
Snarby says he’s confident the group can find the money to cover the extra expense.
“We’ve been really fortunate with the funding from the different levels of government. It is a bit more expensive but not crazy expensive like some other versions could have been, I guess.”
He said athletes from around the South Shore will benefit from the upgraded track. He said that because it will be fully accessible, a wider range of people, including para athletes and Special Olympics athletes, will be able to use it.
“It’s going to be a big game changer. It’ll be the only turf filed on the South Shore and also the only rubberized track on the south shore. We’re envisioning soccer teams coming here to use it. When younger athletes from the South Shore that go on to regionals and provincials, they’re always playing on turf fields now. And they’re also running on rubberized tracks. So it will give the South Shore region an advantage being able to train on the same type of track and field that they would be playing higher level games at.”
It will also give people in the community a safe, accessible surface to use.
“It’s going to be a great surface for people to get out in the fresh air and walk or run on a surface where they don’t have to worry about rolling their ankles and tripping. So it’s truly going to be a fully inclusive community space for people to use.”
Snarby said the group plans to launch some fundraising efforts in the next few weeks.
And he said they hope to have the track and soccer field completed by late fall, but he said it depends on contractor availability.
Abigail Smith, 16, of Brooklyn, stands with her coach Jason Scott, displaying one of the two bronze medals she won at the Elite National Championships in Edmonton on Jan. 13 and 14. (Photo via Abigail Smith)
By Rick Conrad
Abigail Smith credits a lot of people for her success so far and so young in national and international judo meets.
Her parents, her coaches, her teammates, her teachers.
But what really gets her into a competitive frame of mind is some good ol’ country music.
“A lot of people like to listen to pump-up music before a fight, but I like to listen to my country music to keep my calm and not thinking about judo before I do judo. That helps me to not think about what I have to do and then do it.”
So far, listening to the likes of Sam Barber and Luke Combs has helped keep the 16-year-old Brooklyn resident on the straight and narrow.
She won two bronze medals at a national judo meet in Edmonton last weekend, just before her 16th birthday. And in November, she captured silver and bronze at the Pan American Cup in Montreal, her first international competition.
The medals at the Elite National Judo Championships in Edmonton were especially sweet, she says, because it featured the top judo athletes from across the country.
“This is the biggest event in Canada. It’s a lot of work to get selected. So this year this was my favourite medal. Of course, I’m never happy with a bronze medal but this medal meant something to me so I was very happy with that. It means a lot.”
In Edmonton, she had her sights set on beating a rival judoka she hadn’t defeated yet. When they met in the U-18 division on Saturday, Smith lost to her. But on Sunday, in the senior division, Smith came back with a vengeance.
“She was my first fight and I had a very hard fight but I beat her, so winning that bronze medal meant a lot to me because I had been training specifically to beat that one person. So it was a big moment, we’d been working a while for that, me and my coach.”
Smith has been working at judo for 11 years. Based at Nova United Martial Arts in Halifax, she trains three to four days a week for up to two hours each session. That’s in addition to regular cardio and strength workouts.
She said her father Troy Smith first got her interested in the sport.
“My first coach worked with my dad and my dad was like, ‘I have a crazy daughter at home that needs to get some energy out,’ and he brought me to judo with his co-workers.”
Smith, who is in Grade 10 at Liverpool Regional High School, hasn’t looked back. She is ranked in the Judo Canada Top 10 in the U-18 division. Sport Nova Scotia has chosen her to be one of 12 Nova Scotia True Sport Athlete Ambassadors for 2024. True Sport emphasizes fair, inclusive and safe play.
She’ll be travelling to Denmark in early February to compete in the Danish Open.
And she just found out that she was selected to be part of Team Canada at the International Thuringia Cup Judo in Germany on March 23.
Competing nationally and internationally does cut into her school work, Smith says, but her teachers have been very supportive.
“I’m able to do what I’m doing, missing a lot of school because the teachers are very understanding and help me with my work to help me catch back up. So it’s nice to have teachers supporting me.”
She also credits the community support she’s received from the Region of Queens, Folk Law, Main and Mersey, Best Western Plus Liverpool and Sport Nova Scotia, as well as her coach Jason Scott and her teammates.
“People think judo is an individual sport and it is an individual sport, but it’s a huge team sport because you can’t get anywhere without your team, your training partners,” she says. “And having a good team you can rely on in sport and outside of sport is really important and that’s what’s helped me get so far in judo.”
She says she’s learned a lot of valuable lessons from the sport.
“That what you put in comes out. Whatever you want, it can happen. But you just have to put in that work and that extra effort and if you don’t, you’re not going to see the results you want, but if you do, then you’ll see results. And to be patient.”
With that frame of mind, she says she’s on track for her next big goal.
“I always say that I will be competing at Olympics and representing Canada at worlds one day so what I want to happen, I always say is going to happen. So hopefully, it will happen one day, Team Canada and the Olympics hopefully. We’re on track for that now.”
Minister Kim Masland announces funding for new athletic facilities at Liverpool Regional High. Photo Ed Halverson
New athletic facilities and a walking trail are coming to Liverpool Regional High School.
Public Works Minister and MLA for Queens Kim Masland announced a combined $2.75 million from three levels of government to replace the school’s existing soccer field with artificial turf and build a 400-metre-long gravel running track.
The new artificial turf field will resolve long-standing issues with drainage.
At Friday’s announcement Masland said Queens has a history of producing world-class athletes and construction of the new field will support future athletes by allowing them to train closer to home.
“The big thing for us is we want to make sure that we’re providing a facility that people can use in our community. We have amazing athletes. We talked a little bit today about Sarah Mitton and [in] the announcement we talk about our special Olympians,” said Masland. “Many of our athletes have to travel to Bridgewater to be able to adequately train, so this will be able to keep people home and also bring people here for events.”
LRHS Principal Todd Symes says the effort to replace the school field began about six or seven years ago.
“Students always went to other schools and were kind of jealous or envious of facilities in other schools had and then logistically, a lot of our students had to travel to participate, to have the same advantages that a lot of other areas already had,” said Symes. “So, the students themselves came up with an idea. They came up with the design to come up with a plan and they were adamant that they wanted something done. So, we had students that were with us for 3-4 years. They worked the whole time they were here to engage community members, to draw designs, to work with staff members, to initiate development of a non-profit society and they were the ones who started the dream.”
Symes says the current funding will build the track and field and students will be approaching the community to help raise another $200,000 to realize the entire vision, including a Mi’kmaw learning trail.
Masland says the tender to replace the track and field will be released later this fall and the new field is expected to be completed in 2024.
Damaged retaining wall on Shore Rd in Western Head. Photo Ed Halverson
Also announced Friday was $1 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments to protect two stretches of Shore Rd in Western Head which are dealing with erosion and flooding.
Work will include reinforcing an existing retaining wall and excavating existing rock and gravel to provide more protection against the effects of climate change.
Masland says work on that project will be performed by local Public Works staff beginning this fall and finishing in spring of 2024.
To hear the broadcast of this story click play below.
Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson
The annual Liverpool Regional High School scholarship fundraiser is marking 25 years of providing money for graduates to attend post-secondary school.
What started as a dinner and auction moved online during the pandemic and has been breaking donation records ever since.
Last year, organizers raised over $33,000, smashing through their $22,000 goal.
This year they’re challenging themselves and the community to come up with $35,000.
Fundraising committee member Pierre Losier says organizers considered returning to an in-person format but decided staying online offered benefits that couldn’t be ignored.
“What we found is with the online auction format it provides more than just a one-day event. It provides more opportunities for folks to participate in the auction,” said Losier. “We start in the first of May and go through the month into June until we’ve gone through the different lots of auction. So, it’s a different format but it increases our participation and as a result also increases the funding.”
The committee is composed of parents, teachers and most importantly, students.
“They are broken down in smaller groups with a mentor committee parent and they will go and canvas the community for donations of either items to be sold at auction or some financial donations to the committee,” said Losier.
Items up for auction are displayed as posts and bids can be made in the comments.
Losier says given the generosity of the community they could surpass the set goal of $35,000.
“Our community, year after year, just shows amazing support for this program and we’re confident that will continue on.”
Each year, about a third of the graduating class receive $1,000 awards from the scholarship fund to support their post-secondary schooling.
In the 25 years the auction has been running, over 400 students have received around $500,000 towards their continuing education from the LRHS Foundation.
Cleaning up after flooding at LRHS. Photo Bradley Judge, South Shore Regional Centre of Education
A teacher is being credited with preventing extensive damage to Liverpool Regional High School when they discovered flooding over March Break.
Around 6:30 Saturday night the teacher returned to school and noticed water on the floor.
They notified the custodian who traced the leak to a defective filter under the sink in the second-floor cooking lab.
Water had soaked the floor and flowed through the first-floor ceiling.
The custodian contacted the operations department at South Shore regional centre for education and it wasn’t long before custodians and staff from several other schools across Liverpool arrived to help clean up.
Within three hours the custodians had dried all the water and a restoration contractor was brought in to assess the extent of the damage.
In addition to many ceiling tiles coming down, ceilings in the change rooms and in the wood shop had to be taken down and will be replaced.
Flooding damaged tech ed shop and locker rooms at LRHS. Photo Bradley Judge South Shore Regional Centre of Education
Coordinator of Operations Bradley Judge says that work is underway and will continue into next week.
But any students or staff hoping for an extended break will be disappointed.
“No worries at all about reopening. It’ll be reopened safely after March Break. We still may have a few areas left to touch up. But talking to the admin people at the school we can work around it,” said Judge. “For example, if the tech ed shop isn’t 100 percent good to go they can use another area. So very slight inconvenience, luckily.”
Judge expects the school should be back to normal within a couple of weeks thanks to the quick actions of everyone involved.
“It’s very lucky. There was a lot of water and if that teacher hadn’t have walked in it would’ve been far worse than what it was,” said Judge. “And if our staff wouldn’t have cleaned it up as quickly and as efficiently as they did we would’ve been facing something different.”
Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson
Students and teachers returning to school at Liverpool Regional High School will be leaving their phones at the door.
To reduce classroom disruption and improve learning outcomes students and staff are no longer permitted to use cell phones during class time.
Beth Woodford-Collins, coordinator of programs for grades 7-12 at South Shore Regional Centre for Education says putting phones away allows students to be more engaged with their education and each other.
“Problem solving is one of our competencies that we are working on to ensure that students have when they graduate,” said Woodford-Collins. “Communication, problem solving, critical thinking, technological fluency, all of these competencies are competencies that actually do involve direct communication and interaction and engagement in a more dynamic, in-person way.”
She says taking the cell phone off the table for an hour allows the students to get to know each other in a different way.
That’s not to say technology won’t be used as every student has access to their own Chromebook.
Woodford-Collins says providing students with same access to technology while in class produces another desired outcome, equity.
“It really does remove that A) distraction and B) that disparity between student A and student B when everybody’s got the same device, Chromebook,” said Woodford-Collins.
SSRCE Director of Programs and Student Service Denise Dodge-Baker says the strategy will be monitored and evaluated at regular intervals.
“The school is going to continue to kind of look at it and get feedback and response in a survey, kind of a check in as time progresses to kinda say, how’s it working? Is there an aspect of the strategy that we need to tighten or is there a part of this that’s working well for people?” said Dodge-Baker.
According to a statement released by LRHS on its social media, 80 percent of office referrals come from conflict from using cell phones and misuse of social media.
Dodge-Baker says the strategy was developed after discussions with other school districts around how they deal with mobile devices in class.
If things pan out, she hopes the model being used at LRHS can be used in schools across the province.
Region of Queens Administration Building. Photo Ed Halverson
The sale of municipal properties to create affordable housing highlighted the recent Region of Queens council meeting.
Following a public hearing ahead of the meeting, council agreed to sell four parcels of land off Lawrence and Amherst Streets in Liverpool to the Queens Neighbourhood Cooperative Housing Ltd for one dollar.
Fair market value of the properties is estimated around $15,000 but council is permitted to dispose of properties to non-profit organizations for less if there is a community benefit.
Given the lack of affordable housing across the county, Mayor Darlene Norman says council was unanimous in their support of the sale.
“When they’ll break ground, that is uncertain. They’ll have to determine what exactly they want to build and then make a request to council because there may need to be some water/sewer work done in to site that land,” said Norman. “Council is excited about this.”
Council also voted to support the Queens County Track Society up to a quarter million dollars for the construction of new track facilities on the sports field adjacent to Liverpool Regional High School.
The project is eligible for 25 percent of the cost from the Region’s Community Investment Fund.
The final tally on the build is expected to be north of a million dollars and it’s expected the track will pursue funding from the provincial and federal governments.
Norman says the municipal funds won’t be released from the reserve until the society can show they have raised all the money needed to complete construction.
Council then moved into the discussion phase of the meeting.
After a couple of attempts, the committee working to realize the construction of a new pool in Queens now has terms of reference agreed upon by the majority of councillors.
The latest revision puts the committee members’ skills to work but doesn’t require municipal staff time.
The pool committee will also provide updates on their progress to council at regular intervals.
Several policy items were also up for discussion.
First, they reviewed a new policy to establish parameters around the selection, purchase, maintenance, and official removal of public art.
Second, council confirmed their meeting schedule would remain the same as the past year.
Lastly, an updated social media policy was presented and discussed.
All discussion items will return to council at future meetings to be voted upon before being adopted.
The next Region of Queens Council meeting will be in Chambers December 13 beginning at 9:00am.
Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson
Parents and the community have come forward to give graduates of Liverpool Regional High School a proper send off.
Heather Stevens, one of the organizers behind the LRHS Scholarship Fundraiser Auction says once she and other parents became aware there would not be a prom they leapt into action.
“It’s been absolutely amazing. This prom, I may have organized it, but the community is basically putting it on,” said Stevens.
A call out on social media saw parents and volunteers step up and give their time, the Milton Hall donated their space for the night, the Queens florist, now called the Atlantic Grow Shop, will provide plants, the Decoration Depot in Hebbville donated trellises and lattice backdrops, even the DJ is offering a night of free music.
Stevens says the students will start the evening with a sit-down, full turkey dinner.
“Because they’re not having a traditional graduation this year, they’re going to have their valedictorian speech while they’re eating. They’re going to have a couple of speeches and stuff and then they’ll have the music once they’re done eating.”
The prom will take place at the Milton Hall on June 24.
As COVID restrictions began lifting, the South Shore Regional Centre for Education told schools to decide for themselves what graduation activities they would provide students at the end of the year.
LRHS will be honoring students with individual in-person ceremonies where each graduate will be assigned a time for close family members to watch them cross the stage and receive their diploma.
Following that, Stevens and her team have coordinated with Queens Place Emera Centre to host a drive-by graduation on June 29.
“And all the students will be in their caps and gowns. They all would have graduated by then,” said Stevens. “We will line them up in chairs and we’ll have music playing and then all of the family and supporters, they decorate their cars and drive by and honk. The kids love it.”
Stevens says after that all 67 graduates will board a bus and head back to school to attend the safe grad being organized by the teachers.
She says after taking on the work to organize events for students during COVID, the community now has a better understanding of the amount of time and effort it takes to host prom and graduation events.
She’s hopeful if the school once again decides to take on the job of organizing graduation events next year community members will continue to offer their time and support.
“Instead of the teachers trying to take it all on themselves, have more individuals volunteer and help with it.,” said Stevens. “But as long as something gets done for the kids, I think that’s the most important thing.”
Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson
An online fundraiser for graduates at Liverpool Regional High School collected 50 percent more than organizers had hoped.
The LRHS Scholarship fundraiser volunteers received $33,627 in donations, blowing through the goal of $22,000 set for the class of 2022.
Scholarship fundraising committee chairperson Heather Stevens says although the annual fundraiser has been held online since the pandemic hit in 2020, they really seemed to find their stride this year.
Stevens says she and the seven parent volunteers worked together to mentor the 44 participating students.
“They were in charge of delivering letters to businesses or craftspeople or whoever they may know that may have items to donate to the auction. So it was all up to the kids to go out, introduce themselves, explain what they were there for and receive donations,” said Stevens.
Students collected 221 items that were then divided over a series of 12 online mini auctions to raise $22,742.
Stevens says organizers tried to incorporate some of the fun aspects of the annual live auction fundraiser into the online effort.
‘The one thing that the kids missed is, the kids that are on the auction would go that night and they would dress up and they would sort of be the Vanna Whites for the night and they would display the items,” said Stevens. “How we did it this year is we took photos of the grads with their items and would say a little blurb. For example, my son, this is Noah Stevens, he’s holding this donation from so and so and he’ll be going off to Dalhousie next year. We wanted the people to see where the money was going.”
In addition to the online auction the community stepped up to donate $5,925 in cash.
A challenge for LRHS alumni to donate and vote on which LRHS school they felt was better, the old one or the new one, raised $905 (the old school won).
And a pair of diamond earrings worth $1,150 donated by Reynolds Pharmasave and Pirates Cove was raffled off to raise another $4,055.
The money raised will now be turned over to the Liverpool Regional High School Scholarship Foundation.
A committee will review how many eligible students have applied for scholarships and determine how much each student will receive.
Even though the last of her three children is graduating this year, Stevens says she will likely stay on to help with the fundraiser again next year.
She says her team built on the success of last year’s volunteers and she hopes to see the legacy continue.
Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson
Supporters of Liverpool Regional High School graduates will continue to do so online this year.
For close to 25 years, organizers have held a dinner and auction to raise money for the LRHS scholarship fund.
Each year, the fund distributes around 20 $1,000 awards to roughly a third of the graduating class in support of their post-secondary schooling.
Fundraising efforts moved to an online auction when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, cancelling the in-person dinner.
Fundraising committee member Kim McPhail says uncertainty surrounding how lifting COVID restrictions would impact the live event made staying online the most viable option this year.
“We just kind of had to say, okay, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. We’re going to have to do the online one to make sure that we can provide the kids with the best option we can,” said McPhail.
Instead of serving patrons dinner as they normally would, 40 student volunteers are headed into the community to ask residents and businesses to donate items to be auctioned off.
So far, those items include donations of everything from gift certificates to a load of gravel ranging in value from $25 up to $500.
McPhail doesn’t know how many items will be up for auction as donations are still pouring in but says bidding opens for each item in a block at 8:00am and closes at 8:00pm three days later.
She says the auction will end May 31 so the money raised can be turned over to the LRHS Scholarship Foundation by June 1.
McPhail says the group has set a goal of raising $22,000 this year.
“It’s a big goal but we do have a lot of community support.”
Since the auction began 24 years ago, the LRHS Foundation has awarded almost half a million dollars to over 400 students.
New Tech Ed building under construction behind Liverpool Regional High School. Photo Ed Halverson
Construction of the new Technology Education building at Liverpool Regional High School is underway.
Regional Executive Director of South Shore Regional Centre for Education Paul Ash says the new facility will open up more options for students.
“Unfortunately, sometimes people who don’t have those early experiences, in terms of exposure, the hands-on aspect of it, don’t really have a clear direction,” said Ash. “We’re hoping with the skill trades facility being there, students can focus on the areas they want to go to.”
Ash says the trades programs are so popular LRHS will be expanding to two classes of the Construction 11 program and a class for Skilled Trades 10 this fall.
Students in those programs gain valuable experience that show what options are open to them in their post-secondary education.
“Essentially they’re carpentry skills, plumbing skills, electrical skills; they’re exposed to a wide variety of the different skills so that they’re better able to make the decision about where they’d like to specialize when they go into NSCC,” said Ash.
Workers build frame of new Tech Ed facility. Photo Ed Halverson
LRHS is working to secure a Tech Ed teacher who is already a skilled tradesperson to provide students another leg up in their careers.
“If we have a skilled tradesperson who’s teaching the class, the students are actually building hours towards their apprenticeship while they’re at the high school level,” said Ash.
The $975,000 project funded through the Department of Education and awarded to Rikjak Construction is set to be complete by September.
A jubilant mood outside Queens Place as proud parents, grandparents and members of the community gathered to celebrate the 2021 Liverpool Regional High School graduates.
For the second year in a row, the LRHS community had to find another way to acknowledge graduates as pandemic restrictions have forced the cancellation of traditional proms, safe grads and public graduation ceremonies.
Deborah Raddall says she and her fellow organizers simply followed the plan parents laid out last year.
Students were permitted to be seated six feet apart in front of Queens Place while their loved ones drove past to acknowledge their accomplishments.
Deborah Raddall looks on as the community rolls by in a drive-thru graduation celebration. Photo Ed Halverson
“It’s a simple concept,” said Raddall. “We didn’t ask for more than they were prepared to give and I think that’s really why we got the okay. It was a reasonable, well, thought-out plan, safety was the primary thing.”
Graduate Jamie Dunn is one of many students who appreciates the efforts so many put in to give them a public celebration.
LRHS Graduate Jamie Dunn. Photo Ed Halverson
“It’s really nice that we have classmates with really caring parents that could organize this for us,” said Dunn. “I’m really grateful that everyone is here tonight, together.”
Parent Todd Wilms was on hand to cheer on his daughter Piper. He was glad to see so many people come out to celebrate the graduates.
“This is the epitome of a small community getting together, despite the circumstances here now with the pandemic. Wonderful,” said Wilms.
The excitement of the evening was tempered for some. Graduate Chris Bowers says he appreciates the effort but is a bit disappointed the pandemic has prevented students celebrating the end of their time together in a more traditional way.
“It’s not as exciting as I thought it would be but it’s better than nothing,” said Bowers.
LRHS Graduate Chris Bowers. Photo Ed Halverson
When asked what he was hoping for, Bowers responded, “More together, more than just an hour with everyone. Safe grad is what I’m going to miss the most, not having that.”
Volunteers from Queens County Search and Rescue directed traffic as car after car, loaded with supporters, circled Queens Place several times, honking horns, waving signs and blowing bubbles.
Raddall’s daughter Ellen is among the 2021 graduating class. She was impressed with the turnout from the community and the resilience shown by her fellow graduates.
LRHS Graduate Ellen Raddall. Photo Ed Halverson
“It’s so incredible to see so many people out here today and seeing people who have driven from Bridgewater, like our teachers, just to come and celebrate us. It kind of makes up for the lack of grad we get because of COVID. It really didn’t crack our spirit at all,” said Raddall.
Ellen’s mom Deborah says the support from the community and the turnout really made all the effort worthwhile.
“It’s more than I envisioned. It’s so exciting. I’m trying to hold myself together from having lots of tears, you know, momma tears but it’s excellent,” said Raddall. “The kids are all excited. We’re across the parking lot and you can see them grinning from ear-to ear.”
Liverpool Regional High School. Photo Ed Halverson
A local group is working to recognize Liverpool Regional High School graduates.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, large gatherings are prohibited across Nova Scotia, including graduation ceremonies.
Deborah Raddall is one of a group of volunteers who are working to find a way to allow graduates to gather together without breaking the public health orders.
“We thought, we have to do this so that, in the end we can say we did whatever we could to try and give our kids something,” said Raddall.
Schools have adjusted to allow students to receive their diplomas and awards at individually scheduled times.
The students can be accompanied by up to four guests for the ten-minute ceremony.
Raddall and her group are proposing to follow in the steps of last year’s graduating class and hold a drive-by graduation celebration.
She says using Queens Place Emera Centre again would allow the students to set up six feet apart while the community drives by and shows their support.
Raddall says a letter submitted to public health through the department’s website outlining their plan was met with a form-letter type rejection.
But Friday morning, Raddall awoke to an e-mail from Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang.
Dr Robert Strang discusses what safe graduation celebrations could look like in the second phase of COVID reopening. Photo Nova Scotia Government
In it, he says under the current restrictions the gathering is not permitted.
But once the province moves into Phase II of the COVID reopening plan, which could be as soon as Wednesday June 16, the ceremony can go ahead.
In fact during Friday’s COVID briefing Dr. Strang pointed to the LRHS drive-by model as one other schools should consider.
“Communities will need to be creative and innovative again in celebrating their graduates. One example I’ve heard is a drive-past celebration. Graduates can be sitting outside, properly distanced, while family and community members in their vehicles drive-by to honour the graduate’s accomplishments. It’s a great idea and I’m sure the people who thought of it would be happy if you stole their idea,” said Strang.
Raddall is excited the drive-by idea has received the blessing of Nova Scotia’s top doctor.
She’s optimistic provincial officials will announce phase II of the recovery will begin Wednesday and their group can go ahead with their plans but regardless, they’re determined to provide some ceremony for the LRHS class of 2021.
“Really where we’re at is, we just have to move on and say, ok, if that doesn’t work, let’s go to plan B,” said Raddall. “There’s 26 letters in the alphabet and we’re not the give-y up kind of people.”
A downed power line briefly trapped students inside a bus Monday afternoon.
Shortly after 3:00pm a bus carrying 23 students on route 122 from Liverpool Regional High School, South Queens Middle School and John C Wickwire Academy, encountered the power line on Barss Street in Liverpool.
Captain John Long of the Liverpool Fire Department explains what led to the downed line.
“Another vehicle had hit the pole, or rubbed the pole and pulled the mast off the house. The bus came along and didn’t notice the low-hanging wire and so it got tangled up in it,”said Long. “As soon as they realized what they were in they stopped the bus and called for help.”
South Shore Regional Centre for Education officials contacted the parents of the 23 students on board to make them aware of the situation.
Nova Scotia Power, Liverpool Fire Department, and RCMP worked together to remove the line from the bus.
The ordeal lasted about an hour but with no air conditioning and temperatures approaching 30 degrees in the mid-afternoon, the only relief students had from the heat was to open the windows.
Liverpool Fire Department provided students with bottled water when they were able to exit the bus.
Some parents arrived to pick up their children from the incident site.
SSRCE Communications Coordinator Ashley Gallant says students were checked out by EHS before being released.
Gallant credits the quick actions of the bus driver for ensuring the safety of everyone on the bus.
“Really have to give some recognition to the bus driver who immediately recognized that something wasn’t right and stopped, according to procedures and contacted Nova Scotia Power, as we should,” said Gallant. “So it’s really the best outcome here. Everybody was safe and no injuries.”
New LRHS Warriors logo designed by student Autumn McDonald
Liverpool Regional High School has a new logo to represent the Warriors.
The winning design features a shield with a small letter W in the top right corner and three swords crossing behind from corner to corner and down the center.
Students were asked to vote last week for one of four final submissions and selected 15-year-old, grade 10 student, Autumn McDonald’s logo.
“It is pretty neat that my design is going to be used for a couple of years to come,” said McDonald.
Principal Souhail Soujah says he hopes the design will be in use for more than a couple of years.
Soujah says the idea of using a shield in the design is a great way of representing what it means to be a warrior.
“It fits right in with the ideology that a warrior is somebody who protects others, who stands up for the weak or for those who need protection,” said Soujah. “It works on many levels.”
The decision to replace the Warriors image of an Indigenous man wearing full traditional headdress was made by the students themselves late last year.
Many in the community spoke out against replacing an image that has been tied to the school for generations.
But current students felt using the image of someone from another culture in this way was inappropriate and no longer represented who they are.
This is not the first time McDonald’s art has been chosen to represent the school.
The cover of the Liverpool Regional High yearbook will feature another of her designs.
She is happy the students liked what she did enough to vote for her work. She says her friends have been very supportive.
“Some of them said they weren’t really surprised and others said they were very proud of me,” said McDonald.
She designed the image by first drawing a freehand sketch then using an app on her iPad to put together a polished submission.
McDonald has agreed to further refine her design to provide the school with a few options that can be used for a variety of applications.
Soujah says the SAC has set aside some money to get a copy of the new image into students’ hands in the next few weeks. He wouldn’t say how the logo will be delivered, only that it will be a surprise for all students.
Liverpool Regional High School is expanding to accommodate a new program to provide students with hands-on experience in the trades.
Plans are being finalized for a new skills trade centre to be built out from the existing tech education classroom at the back of the school.
The skills trade program currently offered at LRHS exposes grade 10 students to the fundamentals of carpentry, drywall, plumbing and electrical.
Vice principal Todd Symes says it is so popular, it has three sections filled to capacity and a waiting list.
Symes attributes the demand for the program to the instructors.
“In particular our grade 9 tech ed or elective teacher Mr. Ambrocichuk. He really generates a lot of passion and enthusiasm in the lab. Students relate really well to him. They really enjoy their experience in his room and he kinda says, you know if you like this course, another course you might want to try is skills trade 10,” said Symes.
The new skills trade centre will expand the tech ed program to a suite of courses that will help prepare students to enter the trades.
“They would have a career path that would basically allow these students to develop their red seal hours. They would develop over 200 hours towards their red seal,” said Symes. “The ideal is to have a teacher come in who is also red seal qualified, who would be the instructor in a new facility built outside.”
Symes says that head start on getting the apprenticeship hours and the hands-on training is appealing to students.
“I think that’s a big draw point for a lot of the kids. I know we had some initial conversations with students from Park View and Forest Heights back before we were selected and that’s one of the reasons they selected the program and I think that’s one of the reasons it’s popular here,” said Symes.
He says the new program would work well with the existing options and opportunities program. O2 as it is called, guarantees students a spot at NSCC and applies credits earned in high school to their college courses.
LRHS expansion exterior outside Tech Ed shop. Photo Ed Halverson
The department of education and early childhood development announced in November 2019 that Liverpool Regional High would be one of five schools that would be expanded to accommodate a skills trade program.
The funding is part of an $85 million capitol plan to support 12 projects in 11 communities.
Symes says the building site has been selected and a lot of the background preparation has been done to support the new class.
The new skills trade program is already listed in the school course book for the fall and students have begun enrolling.
He expects ground will be broken on the expansion in the next few weeks and the new space will be ready to receive students this coming September.
Vice principal Todd Symes at the site of the new track. Photo Ed Halverson
Volunteers at Liverpool Regional High School are working to build a track worthy of an Olympian.
Plans are in place to replace the schools’ existing soccer field and surround it with an eight-lane 400 metre long track.
Vice Principal Todd Symes identified the need for better training facilities when he arrived at LRHS six years ago.
“Believe it or not, we use our bus loop as a surrogate training ground which is not even safe or something I’d like to admit on radio but something we have to do out of necessity.”
The track team is one of the most popular events in the school and regularly sees 75-100 students participating each year.
Plans for the new track also include rebuilding the soccer pitch to ensure a more level surface and improve water drainage off the field. The soccer nets will be moveable to allow for throwing events and training to take place.
Proposed track plan. Submitted by Liverpool Regional High School
Symes says that’s key to providing a training ground form one of Queens County’s most famous athletes Olympic thrower, Sarah Mitton.
“Even really early on when the students here and the committee were looking at designing the facility, we said regardless of what happens, we want to make sure that Sarah has a place to come home to,” said Symes. “I know she currently comes home and has to drive to Halifax to train because even Park View is not equipped to handle her athletic and her Olympic caliber.”
Mitton has been doing her part in return trying to raise awareness of the group’s efforts to raise the $331,000 necessary to realize their vision.
The organization is making a dent in their fundraising. They already received a $50,000 grant and the student body, SAC and Regional Centre have contributed another $15,000.
Symes is pleased people are getting behind the idea but thinks they could be further along were it not for the events of the last year.
“I keep hating to use COVID as an excuse for everything but it’s kind of put a damper on our community involvement. We can’t have any large-scale group meetings and we can’t do any large-scale fundraising. So we’re just relying on word-of-mouth and community members who have contacted us; numerous community members and businesses that want to be part of this project,” said Symes.
Symes says the project is ready to go, they’re just waiting on the money.
“To be honest, we’ve put a lot of work in the last four or five years in the back end to make sure that this is a pretty smooth transition,” said Symes. “We have everything laid out and if we were to break ground today, we’re pretty confident we could have it completed by September.”
Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson
A new face will be leading the charge for the Liverpool Regional High School Warriors.
Principal Souhail Soujah said some students brought forward concerns about the school using a native chief in full headdress as their mascot.
He said the administration listened to the students and decided to survey the entire school to find out if the rest of the student body felt the same.
“We have a lot of kids who feel very strongly about the logo itself; it not being appropriate, not being sensitive, not being inclusive to our First Nations students and partners,” said Soujah. “So, moving forward, we will be retaining the name Warriors but we will be changing the mascot for something more appropriate.”
While this is Soujah’s first year at LRHS, he knows the conversation about changing the mascot has gone on for years. He said school should be an inclusive place where no one is made to feel uncomfortable.
“We don’t want anyone’s culture to be our mascot, I don’t think that’s appropriate. Consequently, we feel that it’s time for a change and something new that’s more appropriate, more in line with the times that we live in and again, being inclusive and supportive of everybody in our community,” said Soujah.
The current logo being retired by Liverpool Regional High School
The idea to change the logo came from conversations between a group of students, First Nations representatives, and district educational personnel where they discussed the inappropriateness of using the image.
The group decided to move away from the image but keep the name and they are now in search of a new logo.
Soujah said the student body is being asked to submit an sketch or an idea for an image to replace the existing one. He recognizes changing traditions, even with the best intentions, can sometimes be controversial, which is why it’s important the move to change the mascot is being driven from within the school community.
“We know this can be a very polarizing endeavour but we know it’s the right thing to do and the kids are fantastic,” said Soujah. “I mean this is what we want. We want our youth to be leading the way, right? So we want to support them in every way and we’ll deal with the negativity as it comes.”
Soujah said it’s important for everyone to have input on the new logo. He expects if the student body can agree on a new design they could be unveiling the face of the LRHS Warriors before the end of the school year.
