The Kenaston School Travel Club
is hosting a Community BBQ Lunch at the Kenaston CO-OP on Friday, October 4 over the lunch hour. They will be offering Burgers and a Pop for $5.00. Everyone is welcome to attend the BBQ and support the Travel Club.

Chamber officially welcomes new residents and businesses
with a gift basket.  Be sure to let us know if you get a new neighbor or if you know of a business being started.

Business Insurance: Kenaston and area businesses should become familiar with the Chamber Of Commerce group insurance plan available for members.  The policy info can be found on kenaston.ca chamber tab.

Don’t just hang a poster.

If you have an event be sure to contact Glen or Susan to have your event posted on the Kenaston website, newsletter, and community calendar.  Our website is used by a wide sector of the community who also use kenaston.ca as their default browser page.  Therefore this, and the Kenaston FB page, are main communication tools and we invite you to take advantage of them. See the contact page tab at www.kenaston.ca
PLEASE BE SURE YOUR EVENT GETS SUBMITTED TO GLEN OR SUSAN

Send in the items you want  posted on the Kenaston Face Book  Page to Susan, Theresa or Glen.

 

Kenaston Korner
Village Updates by ML Whittles

Autumn always brings a sense of urgency to me.  The lackadaisical days of summer are gone.  Farmers are busy in the field racing against the weather to bring in the crop.  Many of us are fully engaged in putting up produce from the garden and orchards to be enjoyed in the dark days fast approaching.  Another summer gone.  Such is the life.

We heard from some of you this summer about our public property.  Bouquets go to our summer student, Bryce Mills, for the awesome job done.  Next year the summer student will start in May/June  (weather permitting) in order to get a head start on the season.
'If you look good, you feel good ' is a saying I've heard throughout my life.  Council asks that the community adheres to the Kenaston Nuisance Bylaw No.  311.  Shrubs, bushes, trees are to be pruned to give ease of access to sidewalks for residents.  Working as a team and looking after our own will make us look good and then feel good.  If we look good and feel good, that communicates itself to any visitor looking for a new community to call home.

This Council is planning for growth.  We hope to hear from the Ministry of Highways in the next couple of weeks regarding the Highway 15 intersection.  Knowing what is happening with the intersection will be the impetus we need.  Change is not going happen over night and we have a lot of work in front of us but if we don't start now, when will we.  The Village Council will hold an Open Village Meeting either this Fall or early Spring to discuss the challenges and the opportunities ahead of use. 

The Village Office is a request that anyone wishing to take a load to the dump, they bring the load with them when they come for the key.

We are here to work with you and for you.
Your Humble Servant  -  M.L. Whittles—Mayor

Village Council:  The next council meeting will be held on the regular second Tuesday of the month—October 8th.

Flu Shots: will be available on Wednesday October 30th
at Kenaston Place from 9:30 to 2:pm.

Painting Job: The canopy over the picnic table at Snowman Park needs painting.  Because it’s metal and rusted it will likely require sandblasting as well.  If anyone is willing to do this please contact Susan Anholt with a quote.

Arena Scrap Book Project: Susan has been given some hockey team photographs and has decided to create a scrapbook for display in the Skating Arena.  If you have recent or old skating or hockey pictures that  you would like to donate to this project (including the names of participants/players would be greatly appreciated!)  please contact Susan Anholt  306-252-2001. 

School News: The total raised in Kenaston's recent Terry Run was $4806.00.  Affinity Credit Union provided the lunch.

Distance Learning Centre News:

Students from across the province access programming offered out of the Sun West Distance Learning Centre in Kenaston. Projected enrolments for the 2013-2014 year are 340 full time students (completing all of their courses online) and 3000 part-time students (students taking one course that are based in another school). We'd also like to welcome several new staff members who have joined the DLC for this year: Ashley Crampton (Art, Graphic Design), Jenna Fisher (PE, Law, Media St), Allison deHoop (Gr 1 Development), Miles Bennett (Wellness, Ex Sci), Nathan Ruten (Sr Math/Science), Dean Palmer (Green Certificate) and Maigan Hominick (Sciences).

The DLC is continuing development of materials to support home based families across the province, so this year includes a focus on grades K to 3, which will then give us a complete K-12 coverage. In addition to these areas we are also adding new Science courses such as Physical Science, Environmental Science, Health Science and Earth Science. We are also adding electives that were identified in student surveys of interest in the form of Graphic Design, Art, Computer Drafting 30, Wellness 10, Financial Literacy, Communication Media, Computer Science 30 and our ELA's.
An additional area of focus for us this year is on the traditional trades. With the changes that we are seeing in the economy and the opportunities that are available for our students, one area we haven't previously focused on are courses such as welding, construction, electrical, mechanics and cosmetology. While these courses are traditionally 'hands-on' we are looking for alternative ways we can provide that programming to every student across the division, and possibly the province. The theory side of these courses can be delivered online, and working with industry placements through our Career and Work Experience program we can provide the practical activities to go along with them.

The other remaining area of development revolves around 'dual-credit' programs that we are developing with our post-secondary partners. These are courses that are traditionally available to students once they leave high school and enter university, trade school or other post-secondary schools. We currently have a 1st year U of S Commerce class available to grade 12 students - in partnership with the Edwards School of Business, students can obtain a credit in Introduction to Business 30 at the high school level and it is also recognized as a credit at the University level. Professors from the U of S provide the content through guest lectures, while our DLC teacher handles the marking and communication with students. This is a great way for students to experience what a university class is like while still in high school and for the student to understand that an 80 in high school is not necessarily an 80 at university. In addition to this course, we also are establishing partnerships with the College of Agriculture and the College of Arts & Science at the U of S. Discussions with Great Plains College and SIAST may also provide additional opportunities for students. These partnerships work well for students to make good decisions about their future before committing to the full costs of a year of post-secondary, and our partners should benefit from increased promotion of their programs and for less students dropping out of programs after their first year if they decide its not the right fit for them.

While the wide range of programming will bring our total online course listing close to 100, we will be able to provide the specific programming for students in almost any career field they may wish to pursue. By making these available to students across Saskatchewan, we are able to maintain good enrolment numbers in each course and help meet our goal to prepare students for their future career - whatever that choice may be!

Darren Gasper - Superintendent of Education, Sun West School Division

Sponsoring the Crossroads:

We are currently in need of sponsors. To sponsor ($80) or co-sponsor ($40) an issue contact Susan Anholt: 252-2769. Also: as space allows and content deemed appropriate, community members are welcomed and encouraged to contribute information or suggestions for articles to the Crossroads.  Send your suggestion and contributions to Glen: 252-2711. Issue are published every 2 months.  

Crossroads Distribution:

Our growing list of email addresses helps us reach more of the rural and village residents who do not receive the newsletter.  We are hoping to continue with this expanded email list so the Crossroads and other important notices can be sent to more homes over the internet. Those not on our list can send their email address to Glen at gene.glen@sasktel.net

Contributing to the Crossroads:

As space allows and content deemed appropriate, community members are welcomed and encouraged to contribute information or suggestions for articles to the Crossroads. Send your suggestion and contributions to Glen: 252-2711.