The Weekly Update #4

As we close out the 2024-2025 school year, I wanted to thank everyone in our school community for their tremendous support this school year. Students spent the year learning and growing, and we are thankful to all parents for the support they show to our teachers each day.

Our community has shown their generosity multiple times this year, and in particular with our fundraisers for our Breakfast program and our Hope Mission Walk - No Child Hungry Walk. Both of those programs help provide food to students within our building, and this year our community fundraised and donated almost $8000 to these two programs. Thank you so much for your generosity.

This year, we say good bye to several staff members who will not be rejoining us next year.

After over 30 years in education, almost all of them at Hay Lakes School, Mr. Scott Peterson is retiring. His impact on Hay Lakes School as a teacher, as well as a coach and Athletic Director is likely impossible to measure. While we are pretty certain we will still see lots of him next year if he chooses to substitute teach, we are going to miss him.

Also retiring this year is Mrs. Sandi Paukstat, who has been at Hay Lakes School for the past 8 years. Students who had the pleasure of being in one of Mrs. Paukstat's classes know the passion that she has for education, and the desire to see students succeed. Her support of students will be missed in our building, but we wish her a happy retirement!

Also leaving us this year are two educational assistants, Miss Jemma Lauder and Miss Lainey Smith. Both joined us at the beginning of the year, and created great bonds with our students and provided them with tremendous support. We will miss them both!

As we head into summer, I want to wish you all a restful few months, with time for relaxation and connection with your families. It is a pleasure to be the principal of such a great school, and I am thankful for all that our families do to support our school.

The school will be closed until August 27th, when teachers return to the building.

Have a great summer. We look forward to welcoming you back in the fall!

Lloyd MacKenzie - Principal

We would like to take some time to introduce our three new staff members for next year.

Welcome to Melisa Marusak! Miss Marusak has been a teacher with BRSD for the past seven years at Bawlf school. She will be joining our staff to teacher Senior and Junior High English, Social Studies and Phys. Ed. Miss Marusak is originally from Hay Lakes, and graduated from our school, so we are happy that she is returning as a staff member! Miss Marusak will be teaching ELA 9, 10, and 11, as well as Social 9, and Phys. Ed for students from 9-12.

Welcome to Emily Mahon. Miss Mahon graduated this spring from the University of Alberta with a degree in Secondary Education. She also has a Bachelor of Science, Majoring in Biology from the U of A: Augustana Campus. She has also worked the past two summers at Miquelon Lake, so she knows our area well. We are excited to have her join our teaching staff to work with our Junior High students, where she will be teaching Grade 7 and 8 Science, 7/8 Phys. Ed, and Outdoor Education!

Welcome as well to Rebecca Nielsen. Miss Nielsen will be replacing Ms. Zuk when she goes on maternity leave in the fall. Miss Nielsen is also a graduate of the University of Alberta Secondary Education program this past spring, and she also spent time at the U of A: Augustana Campus. She has a major of Chemistry and a minor in Physics. She will be teaching Science 10, Physics 20 and 30, and Biology 20-30.

As we head into next year, we wanted to let you know about some of the other changes that will be taking place for next year's class configurations. Part of the changes that are happening are due to the reduction in staffing we received this year.

Grade 1, 2 and 3 will continue to be individual classes. Grade 1 will be taught by Mrs. Zietarsky, Grade 2 by Mrs. Erickson, and Grade 3 by Mrs. Willis, as they were this year.

We will then have two split classes, one that is Grade 4-5, with Mrs. Helgeland as their homeroom teacher, and the other is Grade 5-6, with Mr. Lewsaw as their homeroom teacher. Students will be combined for their English Language Arts class, and some options.

At different times throughout the day, the groups will go to individual classes for Social Studies, Science and Math. So for example, all Grade 4s may have Math in period 4, while the Grade 5s have Science, and the Grade 6s have Social studies.

These classes will have the following teachers for their courses:

- Math - Grade 4 - Mrs. Helgeland, Grade 5 - Mrs. Helgeland, Grade 6 - Mr. Lewsaw

- Science - Grade 4 - Mr. Pollok, Grade 5 - Mr. Pollok, Grade 6 - Mr. Lewsaw

- Social Studies - Mr. Pollok will teach Grade 4, 5, and 6

We will reach out to Grade 5 families in the fall to let them know which class their child will be placed in for the combined portion of their day.

Students in Grade 7 will have the following teachers next year:

- English - Ms. Koleba

- Math - Mrs. Horlacher

- Phys Ed - Miss Mahon/Mr. MacKenzie

- Science - Miss Mahon

- Social Studies - Mr. Pollok

Students in Grade 8 will have the following teachers next year:

- English - Ms. Koleba

- Math - Mr. MacKenzie

- Phys Ed - Miss Mahon/Mr. MacKenzie

- Science - Miss Mahon

- Social Studies - Mr. Hoglund

Students in Grade 9 will have the following teachers next year:

- English - Miss Marusak

- Math - Mr. MacKenzie

- Phys Ed - Miss Marusak

- Science - Mrs. Horlacher

- Social Studies - Miss Marusak

- English 30 - Mr. Hoglund

- High School Sciences - Miss Nielsen

- Math 10-30 - Mrs. Horlacher, Miss Nielsen

- Phys. Ed - Miss Marusak

- Social Studies 10-30 - Mr. Hoglund

As was communicated to students earlier, next year our Grade 7-9 students will have three different sets of options.

- All students will travel to Camrose Composite to take part in CTS courses at the school. Grade 9 students go on Wednesday mornings, and Grade 7 and 8 students go on Thursday mornings.

- Students in Grade 7-9 will rotate through three different options next year: French as a Second Language, Art and Outdoor Education. Students will partake in these options for approximately three months each, and then rotate on to the next.

- Students will have a choice to continue with Band with Mr. Lewsaw, or to take other options with Mr. Hoglund. Students in Grade 9 will earn credits either towards Band or other options to be determined in the fall.

All grade 7 to 9 students are asked to fill out the following Google Form, indicating whether they plan to take band next year.

Our school supply lists for each grade can be found on our website by heading to this link.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the No Child Hungry Walk. Together, Hay Lakes School raised almost $3400 for the Hope Mission Lunch Program.

Our school community garden is starting to grow as staff and students work together to plant and care for it. This is a hands-on learning space that is a great way for everyone to learn about nature and teamwork. The vegetables that are planted will be available for our community to access during the summer months!

The Hay Lakes Society for Youth Development supports our school in many ways, including purchasing chrome books, band instruments, sports equipment, school cameras, a new projector, and much more. They are hosting a Casino on Thursday, October 30th and Friday, October 31st, 2025 and are looking for volunteers. If you are interested in helping out and supporting HLSYD by donating your time, please send an email to hlsociety.youth@gmail.com.