By Curtis Galbraith

Schools

Two high school students from Ukraine now taking classes in Grande Prairie

May 10, 2022 | 6:00 AM

Two high school students from Ukraine are now taking classes at Catholic high schools in Grande Prairie.

Grande Prairie & District Catholic Schools board chair Russ Snoble says one is in Grade 10 at St. Joe’s, the other in Grade 9 at St. John Paul II.

“We’ve heard nothing but good news about them being welcome.”

“(Them) being from Ukraine, being a country with lots of Ukrainian families in our area, the language has been an opportunity to share with people who already know Ukrainian here in our schools.”

Snoble says the district was approached in early April after a family helped with the immigration of the two students. Both started their classes the same month.

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He adds they have been welcomed by other kids who can speak their language.

“There are other students who know Ukrainian who are able to help them. I don’t know how long they intend to stay but we have two more months of school, and we certainly hope they stay at least for that long in the high schools.”

Snoble says some schools have also been fund-raising to help people in Ukraine.

“We had two schools, St. Kateri and Holy Cross, just around the Easter time do two different challenge fund-raising pie-in-the-face contests, and both schools raised over $3000 towards helping families from the Ukraine.”

A district teacher also organized an effort to collect money to buy Easter baskets for families in Ukraine. More on that can be found here.