Written by FRANK PEEBLES
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 01 October 2008 |
An artist’s rendering depicts the planned expansion of Cedars Christian School. (Submitted graphic)
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CEDARS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
The school's community will be lining North Nechako Road on Friday to illustrate just how many of them there are now at the little private school and they will be picking up roadside garbage as they do it.
"It is going to be probably more than 500 people: we have 450 students, 45 staff, then parent volunteers and they will all walk together," said CCS development director Annie Weinard. "We are hoping to see a wonderful line of blue walking up North Nechako, blue is our athletic colours and we are encouraging everyone to wear blue for the walk."
The kindergarten students will walk a two-kilometre distance on school property the day before, but all others will do five kilometres on Friday. The event starts with an elementary assembly in the gym then a staggered start for each elementary grade. The first walkers will take to the road at 12:45 p.m.
Once the elementary kids are away, a short rally will be held in the gym for the secondary students and they will begin their part of the walk at 1:15 p.m.
All the students will be picking up trash along the roadside and making their way from the school (located between Howie's Marine and Pacific Western Brewery) up to the Nechako baseball diamonds where they will cross the road and walk back. Crossing guards, RCMP and adults in high-visibility vests will be utilized to maintain safety, and vehicles are at the ready to ferry anyone who can't complete the five kilometres on foot.
Each student was encouraged to seek out pledges for the walk-a-thon.
"I would be thrilled to bring in $20,000 this first year," Weinard said. "I don't know if they will make that goal, this is the first time we've done this, but it is a way to engage the students so that it is not just about the parents or the larger community but the students themselves getting involved."
The expansion project has two phases. The first phase is an extra 13,000 square feet, which includes a full secondary-sized gymnasium, better administration area, better foyer, and specialty classrooms. The expected cost is about $4.5 million, of which there has already been about $390,000 already raised, Weinard said.
The second phase is another 15,000 square foot addition including more classrooms and an improved library.
The school's population has seen a large increase in the past few years, necessitating the expansion.
"It usually goes up by about 10 families per year, but in the last few years it has gone up much more," Weinard said. "Since May we have 70 new kids making a total population of 450, and we have 30 more preschool kids off-site."
The current facility is 33,000 square feet plus three portables and five semi-permanent portable cabins built by Winton Global for a total of 45,000 square feet now in use by CCS.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 01 October 2008 )
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