The St. Mary graduating Class of 2024. (Rémi Joncas/St. Mary High School staff)

By Logan Lehmann

End of the year

St. Mary Principal reflects on unique school year

Jun 20, 2024 | 1:00 PM

Between the school’s historic run on the volleyball court and the Saskatchewan teachers strike hindering classrooms across the province, St. Mary High School’s Principal said it was a year to remember for the Class of 2024.

Principal Dwayne Gareau joined Grade 12 students who lined the steps in front of Sacred Heart Cathedral on Wednesday to snap one last group photo as a class. While they reflected on their journey throughout elementary and high school, he reflected on the year that was.

“This school year was obviously exciting as it always is,” he explained. “Obviously there was some uniqueness with the teacher negotiations, but we had a very supportive student body that, just like our staff, went through everything this year as best we can, and we had a wonderful year.”

Gareau, added that a notable highlight of the year was watching both Marauder volleyball teams make provincial history.

“[Our teams] won both the 5A Girls Volleyball Provincial gold medal and the 5A Boys on the same weekend – in the same city actually,” he said. “We hosted the girls and Carlton hosted the boys and we had both teams win Provincial gold at the same time. It’s only happened once in the history of that championship and it’s hard to win one, let alone to have both teams win in the same year.”

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In addition to the new banners in the gym, the school also ‘rebranded’ the way they taught physical education.

“We relooked at how we did phys. ed. classes and [added] some high performance phys. ed. classes, which were extremely popular,” Gareau said. “It’s high performance sport specific, meaning we make it more sport specific so that you can take a lot more of that phys. ed. course in the area that you’re more interested in. So we do a basketball one, a volleyball one, wrestling, football, and then next year, we’re adding hockey as well.”

As for the graduating class, he shared a final message for them.

“The message is simple: to go forth and enjoy whatever it is they decide to pursue, to remember to be a proud P.A. resident, and to be a proud St. Mary alumni.”

The St. Mary Class of 2024 is set to graduate on Tuesday.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com