Jenner School focused on community this year

Jenner School has been focusing on Commitment to Community this year, which will be the theme of their Exhibition of Learning in June.

“The exhibition has turned into a year-long focus project for our entire school. June is the revealing of the new Welcome to Jenner sign that everyone will see when they drive into town,” stated Principal Kirby Stensrud. “The junior high students created prototypes and we took those ideas to our local Hutterite colony, who have an amazing fabrication shop, and they offered to make the sign and install it.”

The ribbon cutting for the new sign will happen once the exhibition in the school gymnasium is done. “The exhibition has turned into a community-centered recognition day that the teachers have now taken part in. We did some Christmas and Easter baskets and delivered those to care homes in Medicine Hat and things have spurred off from there that have been fun,” said Stensrud.

The young students, K-3, have been interviewing community champions who’ve come into the school to speak with them. The students have a list of questions they ask each presenter(s): What motivates you? If you had one word to describe Jenner, what would it be? Why did you pick your job or career? Along with telling the students a story about their life or career. Grade 2 student Huntley Stensrud said her one word for Jenner is amazing and she is motivated by friends, family and all animals.

Grade 4-6 students created two large mural art projects, with the post offices in Jenner and Buffalo each receiving one. “Each student chose a symbol that meant something to them about their community. Some chose a silhouette of a farmer, some chose cattle, others 4-H symbols,” explained Stensrud.

“It was fun (making the murals), it was relaxing to rip the pieces of paper up and glue them onto the page. I ended up doing the Alberta Sweet Potatoes logo because my mom runs that,” said Grade 5 student Madison Lessner, whose one word for Jenner is loving.

This is a year of transition for Grade 9 students, who will enroll in either Duchess School or South Central High School for Grade 10 in September. Evangeline Johnson has attended Jenner School since Kindergarten and said, “I love Jenner School so much, I don’t want to leave. I’m close with everyone I know at school. I like helping out the little kids, it makes me feel better. There are only six kids in our class, so we get a lot of attention from teachers, particularly with something we are struggling with.”

Johnson has difficulty with math while her friend Lily McLaughlin says math is her area of strength. The two girls have known each other since they started school and are grateful they will be together at Duchess next year, which has about 200 students, a large jump coming from Jenner that averages around 30 students each year.

In addition to creating a sign for Jenner, the junior high students each wrote a report on the area where they live. Johnson lives in Iddesleigh and learned much has been lost in the last generation.

“Jenner used to be bigger, and we used to have a grain elevator here, our hotel was two stories with a restaurant. We had tons of stuff and I learned that it wasn’t that long ago we had these things because my dad talks about it,” said Johnson.  

“I live south of Jenner, in Denhart and the Tide Lake area,” said McLaughlin. “I did a mix of both with Jenner. There is not much there, in Tide Lake. I’ve lived there my whole life, so I kind of know it all and there was nothing that was really new.”

McLaughlin’s family lives next door to the 100-year-old Osborne School along with a 100-year-old church that her family still attends occasionally. “It’s a good community to grow up in, you know everybody so it’s awesome and you are close to a lot of people,” McLaughlin added.

Both girls said their one word for Jenner School is either family or community and are excited at having helped create a new sign for the town and seeing something they worked on come to life. Each of the students created different diagrams for the sign and three prototypes were made, with the final design a mixture of everyone’s ideas. “It was fun trying to get to that point and figuring it all out and knowing it will actually come true now,” said McLaughlin.

By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer