By Doris Rufli
The Forest Grove Elementary School is going from strength to strength. Not only do the students, and the community in general, keep the recycling program running, but the pupils are also excelling in sports and the arts in particular.
According to Community and Parent Advisory Council (CPAC) treasurer Kelly Kelsey, the total of the collected cans and bottles between July 2016 and February 2017 amounted to $9,144. This garnered the school second place in British Columbia by the Encorp Pacific Certified Return-It program for schools with less than 150 students.
The school also organises two bottle drives a year. The first one will take place on May 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Door to door pick-up is available around the Forest Grove area. If people are away from home, they simply leave their recyclables on their porch. All proceeds go to the school.
As always, there will be Hot Dogs and other goodies for sale at the drop off point, which is at the Forest Grove Public Storage facility, opposite 4540 Canim-Hendrix Lake Rd. along the access road to the post office and hardware supply store.
For more information or to arrange a pick-up, please contact Kelly Kelsey at 250-397-2050 or Richard Bergen at 250-397-2876, alternatively email Corrie Benard at dcbenard@hotmail.ca.
Basketball
On Feb. 23, the girls’ basketball crew won second place in their first ‘big school’ tournament. “This is an especially great feat,” said team coach and principal Mikel Brogan, “as our school is at least five times smaller in population than some of the bigger schools.
“I am extremely proud of our girls’ efforts. They had not played on a big sized court before and had to adjust to a variety of factors. They exemplified some of our school’s core values by demonstrating persistence, hard work and determination. They also displayed good sportsmanship by being courteous to other teams and supported their own teammates throughout the tournament.”
Cross Country Meet
In addition, at the South End Cross Country Meet in 108 Mile Ranch recently, the Forest Grove students finished first in the small school category within the district. Three students won in their age group – Janielle Dick for Grade 2, Khali Angus for Grade 4 and Cora Selle for Grade 6.
Brogan message
Mikel Brogan is very impressed with his students’ accomplishments and exceptional achievements. He explains that they would go out and train on their new track on the school grounds daily, which was created only last year, courtesy of school staff, the CPAC and volunteers from the community.
Principal Brogan started his duties at the Forest Grove Elementary School in September 2016.
His first task was to create a website - www.forestgroveelementa ry.weebly.com – which contains information about the school and staff, events, students’ achievements as well as contact information and the monthly newsletter. The school is also represented on Facebook via CPAC - www.facebook.com/fgcpac/.
Mikel Brogan’s parents, artists and teachers themselves, visited the Forest Grove Elementary School in early March, to help the students get started on a school-wide mosaic project. Every pupil created their own piece of art to be added to the whole and then displayed.
Festival of the Arts
At this year’s Festival of the Arts, the students of the Forest Grove Elementary School excelled, especially in the Speech Arts. While Grades 2, 3 and 4 won in Choral Speaking, Grades 5, 6 and 7 garnered platinum in the Readers Theatre category.
Two kindergarteners received individual awards, Lane Miller in solo speeches and Willoe Deneef in Humorous Poetry, while Faith Barber (Grade 2) was included in the Adjudicator’s Award.
Principal Mikel Brogan is not only tremendously proud of the students for winning top honours but also their teachers, Ms. Reed, Ms. Dahl and Ms. Tunnacliffe. He feels that everybody did exceptionally well, particularly for a smaller school.