With the cutting of a ribbon and a kickflip, the Drumheller Skatepark was officially opened Saturday morning.

The project, more than five years in the making, was unveiled to the community by the Drumheller Areas Skateboard Enthusiasts (DASE) who made the park a reality.
“I remember how badly I wanted one of these when I was a kid,” said Brook Christianson, president of DASE. “It makes me super happy today to officially give this to my kids and all the kids in the community.”
He said that five years ago he, and Nick and Crystal Sereda began talking about making a high quality highly accessible skateboard park for the community, centrally located for local youth and visitors.
“We saw the gaping void in Drumheller by not having a modern skatepark, a facility so highly utilized in every community, and we understood the value of having a place where kids can have the opportunity to engage in self directed physical activity for free,” he said.

Mayor Terry Yemen brought greetings from the town and Drumheller-Stettler MLA Rick Strankman brought well wishes.

MLA Brand Payne, on behalf of Minister of Culture and Tourism David Eggen brought greetings. The skatepark was the recipient of a Community Facilities Enhancement Program grant of $125,000.
“It is always nice to see a community come together and support a joint venture like this, especially one that is going to be so much fun for so many people. I know DASE has work very hard to make this park a reality,” said Payne.

“I know that Minister Eggen and his department are really happy to support this through the Community Facility Enhancement Program. Places like this are where community comes together and can start to build a bond that lasts a lifetime.

Community support was evident as members of DASE thanked the many donors who have supported this project. The community support was also evident in the Drumheller Mail/ inside Drumheller’s Chair-ity Auction. In all over $7,500 was raised by the sale of 10 chairs decorated by local artists and sponsored by local businesses.
Also supportive Sublime Food and Wine, which hosted a barbecue with $620 raised going to the skatepark.
The auction was followed by an incredible demo the Shredz Skateboard Team from Cochrane and 1664 BMX.

    It’s that time of year again. It’s time to pack school lunches and send the children back for another year of learning.
    St. Anthony’s school will begin classes on Monday August 31 and Principal JoAnne Akerboom expects a similar student population of about 420.
    The school will welcome two new teachers for the 2015/2016 school year.
    Sarah Boyne, originally from Brampton, Ontario will be teaching Grade 6 Language Arts, Grade 7/8 Drama and Grades 9-12 Drama.
    David Easter will be joining the St. Anthony’s staff from London, Ontario and will be teaching Religion, English and Social Studies for grades 6 to 12.
    Akerboom said the school will be offering a media course this year for grades 7 to 12.
    “We are going to be doing a media course as an option so that students actually get to practice more with technology and apply it to the work they are doing in school. The course will expose them to more technology and at the same time they can do the assignments they need to do for their classes,” she said.
    Akerboom said the school is also excited about their high school redesign program mentioning that the staff want to, “make sure this really helps our students be more engaged with school which is the primary motivation behind the high school re-design, but we also hope that this is a tool that is really going to help them improve in terms of achieving their high school outcomes.”
    Akerboom also said the school started a program this spring called Face of Learning where students get a profile based on questions that they have answered of how they learn and where their strengths are.
    “The teachers are excited and hope this will engage kids more in school,” she said.
    She also mentioned the Track and Field is progressing saying that right now plans are being finalized to make the field an official sized field.