St. Mary’s students prepare for life past high school

Principal Mark Phaneuf said that it’s difficult to lose these talented leaders.

“It’s always difficult but whether it’s our athletes, whether it’s our academics or even our fine arts kids, the one thing we do is provide leadership opportunities so they can make sure the next wave of kids coming through know how to be leaders as well,” said Phaneuf.

“Our theme this year is ‘Carrying the Flame of Justice’ and really justice means that there is no us and them only us, and so we really work hard on the kids to make sure that we’re in this together, and that’s where the leadership stems from.”

One of these leaders is Katelyn Lehner, a student well-known in the community for her outstanding athletic performances.

Lehner has won gold and silver medals in the Canadian Youth Championships in 2012, broke four records at districts this year and received the 2012 Youth Athlete of the Year award in Saskatchewan.

She has also won countless other medals in various track and field competitions in and around the province. Lehner credits a lot of her success to her time at St. Mary’s.

“St. Mary’s is a great school, it has great academics, great sports and everything,” said Lehner. “I came into St. Mary’s when I was in Grade 11 and I was big into sports there and I’ve done sports all through my school career. I wanted to get involved and meet some new kids here so I got into the track team and I was on the senior volleyball team as well, so that was a good experience and I’m glad I was able to do that.”

She added that St. Mary’s offers something for everyone no matter what you might be interested in.

“If you’re someone who wants to get involved you’ll be able to find your place somewhere, whether it be drama or sports or one of the academic clubs,” said Lehner. “There’s lots to get involved with.”

So now the rising star is moving on to the next level of her athletic career.

“I’m going to be heading down to the University of Calgary and I’ll be with the High Performance Athletic Canada development program there for track and field,” said Lehner. “I’ll be under Coach Les Gramantik, he’s the Olympic coach for the multi athletes here in Canada.”

She added she has already started working with the training group for the program over the past few months and it has been an amazing experience so far.

Track Coach Kelly Prins said it’s difficult to lose athletes like Lehner, but he’s hopeful for the new batch of students coming in.

“Some of the girls and guys we’re losing you definitely can’t replace them they’re pretty special people,” said Prins. “With any sports program there’s always rebuilding years and that’s kind of what we’ll focus on next year, is to start rebuild.”

He added these athletes are excellent role models on and off the track.

“They’re excellent role models not just on the track but also in their personal lives, just excellent people and hard workers,” said Prins. “Some of the younger kids look up to that and it motivates them and pushes them to try harder in their own track careers.”

Phaneuf said he’s very proud of all his students graduating this year.

“I wish our graduating class well, they’ve been great leaders, and I’m indebted to them for what they’ve done for our student body,” said Phaneuf. “They provided that opportunity so that the future students who will be graduating know what to do as well.”

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim

by James Bowler

St. Mary’s students prepare for life past high school

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