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Kicking off construction at Highlands School

Thu, 26 Sep, 2019

Nearly 500 students from Highlands, Montrose and Mount Royal schools gathered with anticipation to kick off construction of their future modernized K-9 school.

Terris Mah, Knowledge Keeper and Assistant Principal at amiskwaciy Academy, along with several Elders and students, started the event with an Indigenous blessing and drum circle. 

Board Chair Trisha Estabrooks thanked the community for sharing their vision and wishes for the “new old school.” 

“This symbolizes more than tearing down an older building and modernizing the school; it also means three schools will come together as one new community when it’s completed,” Board Chair Estabrooks said.

Superintendent Darrel Robertson and Education Minister Adriana LaGrange also attended the event.

Students helped count down the construction by cheering on the giant excavator that crawled towards the breezeway connecting the original school building and addition. Students chanted, “Take it down! Take it down! Take it down!” and cheered as the excavator ripped through the bricks and mortar to officially begin the project.

Students from all three schools shared their wishes for their new school on paper bricks, with requests for things like a big new gym, a Harry Potter Club and a hockey team. 

The modernization is expected to be done by September 2021. Photos of the kick-off are available on the Edmonton Public Schools’ Flickr account.