Shovels hit the ground on a new Catholic school in Airdrie a mere 14 months ago and now students are enjoying their first week at St. Veronica.

As of Wednesday, 368 kindergarten to Grade 6 students were enrolled for the inaugural school year. Next year, the school will serve Grade 7 as well. St. Veronica has a capacity for up to 750 students, which Principal Pat Quinn anticipates will be reached in just a few years time.

Quinn has worked in the Calgary Catholic School Division for 20 years, though this is his first position in Airdrie. He says he is excited about the opportunity to work in the community.

Construction on the school on Coopers Drive started in June 2018 and it was finished an entire year ahead of schedule.

“To build an entire school of this size in 14 months is almost unheard of,” says Quinn, who credits the construction team who he says worked seven days a week since early July to ensure the school could open this week.

Some finishing touches still need to be made, including the installation of the basketball and tarmac games, which Quinn says will happen over time.

Grade 6 friends Brooklynn Chadwick and Peyton Faubart are thrilled with their new school.

“It feels really awesome to be at a brand new school and be the oldest here,” says Chadwick.

“We’re sad that we can’t go here for high school,” says Faubart.

Linda Wellman, Calgary Catholic School District Trustee for Wards 3, 5, and Airdrie, was on hand for a tour of St. Veronica on Thursday morning. She says the school was very much needed in Airdrie.

“The City of Airdrie is one of the fastest growing communities I think in all of North America so we have been busting at the seams for quite some time. We’re absolutely delighted that we were able to open this school a year ahead of time. But it does add more pressure as well,” says Wellman. “It’s going to put more pressure on us to ensure that our number one capital priority, which is the addition and modernization to St. Martin de Porres, actually comes to fruition. It’s been on our capital plan for quite some time and we need that high school space. It’s critical because we’re way beyond capacity.”

Minister of Infrastructure Prasad Panda attended the tour of St. Veronica and says he is working closely with the Minister of Education during the budgeting process.

“The United Conservative Party committed to continue to deliver high quality infrastructure for Albertans and we stand by that commitment. There are so many schools and health care facilities in different stages of planning, construction, and commissioning, and that work will go on,” says Panda. “We also realize Airdrie is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada and we are aware of that so our education department is considering all those things and will build infrastructure as per the growth in various communities.”

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange says continuing to authorize the building of schools is a priority for her.

“We are in the process of building 70 schools, they’re in various stages of construction and we will be continuing,” says LaGrange. “We will be looking to address the hot spots and really deal with issues as they come up. But we are committed to education first and foremost, to ensuring that we have the absolute best education possible for each and every one of our children and that we continue to build schools so they have great schools like this to come to.”

St. Veronica will serve Airdrie families living in Luxstone, as well as the communities south of Yankee Valley Blvd. and west of the QEII Highway.

Ryan Torris has a child in Grade 3 at St. Veronica and a three year old who will also eventually attend. Their family lives in Luxstone so Torris says the new school is conveniently located.

“We were at a smaller school on the northwest side of Airdrie so it was about a 10 minute drive. Now it’s about a four minute drive,” says Torris. “It would be worth the drive either way but it’s nice to have a convenient, brand new school that offers the ideals we have in our family and it’s nice to be close.”

Principal Quinn says one of his favourite parts of the school are the large windows in the foyer area, which he calls the Vortex. The blue and yellow windows were designed to capture the morning sun.

The sports teams will be known as the St. Veronica Valour. Quinn says they met with students in the spring and gave them a choice between five or six sports team names.

“They really liked Valour for whatever reason,” says Quinn. “I think they liked the connection to courage and how it was connected to St. Veronica. The valour aspect comes from a lot of bravery that St. Veronica showed, so we want our kids to share those same attributes that St. Veronica had.”

 

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