St. Anthony’s School is being honoured by the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) for its work to create a healthy atmosphere in the school.

The school is the recipient of the Creating Supportive Environments Award by the Association. Two of their teacher-leaders will be receiving the award at the ChooseWell Awards Reception/ ARPA Conference in Lake Louise come October.

Connie Duggan is the team leader. She stresses the importance of promoting a healthy lifestyle to students.

“The healthier our society, the better we are,” she said. “It is good for students wellbeing and they actually learn better when they are fed well and have the right nutrients in their body. They grow properly. The initiative itself makes students feel like they are cared for.”

To that end, her team and staff have implemented a number of initiatives, some dealing with food choices, others with physical activity.

One initiative is the growing tower. This teaches students about the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables, by growing them year round indoors with a hydroponic tower using grow lights.

The school has also partnered with Extra Foods to bring in fresh fruits and vegetables for students. 

“They have been providing our school, free of charge, every week with fresh fruits and veggies. Our foods classes prepare them and they distribute them to all the classes,” said Duggan. “Once a week we are ensuring that students are getting a healthy snack or for some, a healthy breakfast.”

Another food-based initiative is cooking club. Last spring Division 2 students in elementary could join an afternoon school club where they learned to prepare snacks and meals.

The have also created a running club to promote physical activity, something that is lacking in many students’ lives.

“The obesity rate is getting worse, especially with all the technology now, kids aren’t moving as much,” she said.  “Just for their well being, socially, physiologically and psychologically, it is a win–win situation for everybody.”

Duggan stresses that it is a holistic school effort. Teachers Kayla Angeltvedt and Gail Smith have been working with the elementary school students, while Duggan and Paula Schuck have been facilitating in the junior high and high school. 

The Creating Supportive Environments Award recognizes efforts that have made Alberta communities more conducive to healthy living through enhancing the physical and/or social, environment.

People are building or renovating in Drumheller. 

The second quarter statistics are in for Town of Drumheller building permits for this year. 

In April, two permits were given out for commercial building. These were a total value of $1,600. In April of 2014, two permits were also given out and they valued a total of $287,000. There were also 13 residential permits taken out this year with a total value of $1,206,000 whereas last year, only nine permits were taken out in April for a total of only $209,500. In 2014 there was also a multi-family permit issued for $500,000.

The month of May saw commercial permits double to four with a value of $404,000 compared to last year at eight permits at a value of $382,900. In terms of residential, there were nine permits issued with a total value of $485,130 compared to last year’s boom of 17 permits with a value of $1,292,385. 

In June, there were three commercial permits issued for a value of $120,900, two institutional permits issued for $142,000 and five residential permits issued for $30,356. Last year, three commercial permits were issued for $10,000, two multi-family permits were issued for $1,050,890 and seven residential permits valued at $631,865.

The total value of permits issued over the three-month period in 2014 was $2,973,540 and for 2015 was $2,389,986.

“People are really taking a look at Drumheller. It is a lot more affordable than some places like Calgary and Edmonton,” Cody Glydon, Economic Development and Communications officer for the Town of Drumheller said. 

“We have so many great attractions here, the brand new waterslide put in at the Drumheller Aquaplex, but the most impressive is the brand new Badlands Community Facility. We have a number of conferences coming in, the gym, the public library. Everything is brand new there and it is a really, really exciting place to be,” he continued by mentioning that Drumheller will soon have the completion of the $7.5 million Telus Fibre Optics upgrade. 

Glydon also mentioned that people have been fixing up and renovating on the commercial side as well. 

“We have noticed a lot of people really starting to fix up certain businesses. Some people are doing some renovations; others are building new businesses, that type of stuff. We are very happy with the progress this summer,” he said. 

Glydon told inSide Drumheller that the residential permits are for several different reasons. 

“Some is building obviously, others are just doing some renovations or fixing up, maybe putting a new garage in, maybe putting in a new deck. It can be various circumstances regarding that,” he said.