​In Our Schools Archive

​ Congratulations to Gurleen Dhillon and Kyana Wonnacott of the varsity girls basketball team at Kildonan-East Collegiate!  Both earned special recognition at an awards banquet held at the Victoria Inn, where they each received the Donovan Gayle Scholarship in the amount of $1,000. Well done!  After the banquet, Gurleen, Kyana, and...

​ Recently, students at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate got to visit a portable planetarium in their school gym and were guided through the experience by Wilfred Buck— Manitoba's "Star Guy."  Mr. Buck, who is from Opaskwayak Cree Nation, is a science facilitator at the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre, and he incorporates...

​ Congratulations to Nazariy Demkowicz, a graduate of Kildonan-East Collegiate, on receiving a Young Entertainer Award on April 7 at the Warner Brothers Studio in Hollywood, Calif.  Nazariy was nominated for two awards— "Best Guest Starring Young Actor in a Television Series" for the show Channel Zero and "Best Supporting Young...

​ O ur most recent Science for Kids! Program—Manitoba Safari—was  t aught by WISE Kid-Netic Energy instructor s and held at Miles Macdonell Collegiate.  A highlight was the owl pellet dissection. The kids were excited while pulling apart the matted furry lumps, because they were able to discover and identify teeth,...

Congratulations to Grade 9 River East Collegiate student Jordyn Crerar who competed at the Manitoba Opens in gymnastics recently and finished first on vault, bars, and floor, second on beam, and first all-around! 
As a result, she was chosen to represent Manitoba at the Western Canadian Championships in Saskatoon in April...

​ Omar Alkassab, a Grade 12 student at Miles Macdonell Collegiate, was one of only six Winnipeg students selected to speak at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on April 10, as part of a citywide student exhibit called, "The 180: Turning Injustice Toward Justice." He spoke about his experiences in...

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River East Transcona has no shortage of talented students in its vocational programs, and that was clear when 25 of them were awarded medals at the Skills Manitoba Competition, held April 11 at Red River College. The eight gold-medal winners will attend the national Skills Canada competition, May 28–29 in Halifax,...

​ Teacher Paulette LaFleur challenged all students at École Regent Park School to provide a positive message to another student on pencils. These pencils were later shared within each class to celebrate peace-building with “Random Acts of Kindness.” 
Photo: Teacher Russell Kraychuk’s Grade 5 class waving their pencils in the air...

​ Vanda Fleury-Green and Jesse Green from STRONGFRONT.tv facilitated a "Youth Story Medicine Bundle Project" with some Grade 5–8 students at Bernie Wolfe Community School. Along with teacher Kristy Sharpe and Indigenous community networker Lisa Aymont Hunter, the students defined their personal stories of who they are and where they come from through object...

Congratulations to Grade 12 River East Collegiate student Miona Milovanovic who was selected as an Outstanding Soloist for the 24th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. Miona is a violinist. Well done! River East Collegiate itself has an impressive relationship with Essentially Ellington, which takes place at...

​ Congratulations to Nina Thach, a Grade 12 student from Kildonan-East Collegiate, on being one of 12 students selected from across Canada as a semi-finalist for the 2019 National Poetry In Voice (PIV) Competition.
First, Nina joined two other KEC students, Kishaun Haffenden and Nhi Nguyen, in placing first in the...

​ Our schools often find great ways for students from different programs to collaborate on projects. Here are some photography students at Kildonan-East Collegiate capturing images of dance students showcasing styles like break dancing, tango, and musical theatre.

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Murdoch MacKay Collegiate was well-represented at the recent annual Student Night for the Canadian Welding Bureau Association.  Students from the Metal Fabrication Program competed against students from other metals/welding programs from across the province… and they fared well!
Congratulations to Josef Weiss, who was awarded 1st Place ($1,500)...

​ On March 21, at Emerson Elementary School, students participated in "Rock Your Socks" in honour of World Down Syndrome Day—being different is awesome!



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​ Congratulations to trustee Rod Giesbrecht on receiving a 16-year Long Service Award for trusteeship at the 55th annual Manitoba School Boards Association convention. And congratulations, as well, to trustee John Toews and former trustee Eva Prysizney on both receiving a 12-year Long Service Award for trusteeship. Our division is very...

​ Recently, Manitoba Moose players Kristian Reichel and Luke Green stopped in to visit with a Grade 1/2 class at Wayoata Elementary School.  They read to the excited students, chatted with them, and signed autographs. 

​ Congratulations to Grace Minsky of Murdoch MacKay Collegiate, who was one of seven Manitoba students presented with a Student Citizenship Award at the 55th annual Manitoba School Boards Association convention today. She was nominated for the award by the RETSD board of trustees.
Grace is on the student council at...

​ Congratulations to the Murdoch MacKay Girls Hockey Team! They won the WWHSHL Hire Marketing Division championship against Springfield Collegiate yesterday, taking the final series in two games. And it's an especially impressive achievement, as this is the team's inaugural season! Stay tuned for a Herald article about their win. Also,...

​ The 2019 Canada Games concluded in Red Deer on March 3, and we're proud to say that we not only had several students compete, we also had some who brought home medals!
Congratulations to Samantha Ulrich (silver for judo) and Graham Loewen (bronze for Team MB curling) from Miles Macdonell...

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Students from Joseph Teres School were invited to the grand opening of the beautiful new Transcona Library at 1 Transcona Blvd., which is just a few blocks from their school. They even got to perform the ribbon cutting and meet Mayor Brian Bowman!


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​ Congratulations to the RETSD students and employees honoured by the Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children (MCEC) at their annual Yes I Can! awards ceremony last week.
The awards acknowledge the achievements of children and youth with disabilities and encourage them to seek their highest potential. They were presented to: Luke...

​ Chief Peguis Junior High has developed a "Take Care & Talk" campaign to teach students the skills and strategies to deal with some specific peer situations. Each homeroom worked with a resource teacher or counsellor, along with classroom teachers, to learn how to respond to: - Peers disclosing harm to...

​ Recently, Joseph Teres School held a Boscars (Oscars for books) ceremony, and many of the students and staff dressed up for the occasion. There was great music, cheering from students for the nominees and winning books, jokes from the host, acceptance speeches from students, and drum rolls for suspense before announcing...

​ On February 27, the RETSD board of trustees held their annual get-together with local MLAs in the Allen Rouse Room at the Administration Offices. The board presented highlights from the division followed by valued conversation from all those in attendance. 

RETSD schools are always looking for intriguing new ways to educate students and capture their imagination. One such practice that's becoming popular in libraries and schools is a "human library," where people are on loan instead of books, and they share their stories.
Bird's Hill School students got to experience a...

It's the last week of one of our favourite times of the school year: I Love to Read Month! Our schools have been very busy find new and interesting ways to encourage students in their love of reading, and welcoming many guests to read to them, including our very own trustees....

​ Prince Edward School hosted a curling bonspiel on February 15, inviting students from nearby Neil Campbell and Hampstead schools. The students bundled up and threw some rocks on a rink made for the event by Prince Edward phys-ed teacher Nigel Wilcox. They were soon using curling terminology like old pros. 
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​ "Go Police Go!" and "Go Bombers Go!" were all you could hear in the gym at Donwood Elementary School on Friday. 
Donwood fans cheered loud and proud for their favourites in an entertaining basketball match-up between members of the Winnipeg Police Service and some football pros.
Constables Whitney, Klassen, Speer,...

​ One day, nothing but play! On February 6, students and staff at Angus McKay School celebrated Global Play Day—a movement gaining momentum around the world to bring back play.
Ted Gray, psychology professor, says that over the years, "we've gradually taken more and more play away from kids, replacing it with...

​ The weather has been pretty challenging the past week or two. CBC meteorologist John Sauder may sometimes take the blame for it, but he's only the messenger! And that messenger paid a visit to a class at Bernie Wolfe Community School on February 5. 
It was perfect timing for the...

​ Bird's Hill School was very lucky to get a visit from Mason Appleton of the Winnipeg Jets to kick off I Love to Read Month. He read Holly Preston's book, Whiteout: A Winnipeg Jets Story, to the Grade 4/5 class. He also took some time to answer questions and to...

​ Some Murdoch MacKay Collegiate students visited Harold Hatcher Elementary School recently to engage the younger children as part of a literacy project for their Grade 12 English class.
The Murdoch students were paired up with the younger students and read stories to them they had written. They had to plot...

​ The River East Collegiate wind and percussion ensembles, led by teacher Jeff Kula, performed at the airport on February 2 as part of the Winnipeg New Music Festival. They were the only high school ensemble in Manitoba to participate in the festival. 

​ On January 24, the RETSD English-Ukrainian Bilingual Program held their annual Koliada celebration at Chief Peguis Junior High.
Students—dressed in their Ukrainian cultural clothing—danced, sang traditional carols, and played the vertep (a portable puppet theatre), piano, guitar, harmonica, and tsymbaly. Then, everyone enjoyed a meal together.
In Ukraine, the tradition...

Despite blizzardy conditions, we had a terrific turnout for our #YellowIsForHello event to discuss mental health, held at Kildonan-East Collegiate on January 23.
Guest speaker Sam Fiorella said he was really impressed by the efforts made by our division and our Mental Health Team to address this important topic and to...

​ Joseph Teres School held its 2nd annual Grandparents Day on January 16 and over 180 grandparents joined them for an afternoon of sharing and learning. They first met as one big group and were read a story by the Grade 1 teachers. Then, students and their grandparents were divided into family groups...

​ École Margaret-Underhill kicked off I Love to Read (or J'aime Lire) Month with the talented Don Amero.
This year, the school's theme for I Love to Read is Indigenous storytelling, and Mr. Amero told stories to the students through his songs. Fun fact: he is not only an award-winning local...

A group of 17 newcomer students from Kildonan-East Collegiate will get to see their dual-language picture books published thanks to their teacher Vanessa Romans.
The Grade 9–12 students are all studying English as an additional language (EAL). They completed a unit on short stories in their first semester this year and are now in the process of...

​ Chief Peguis Junior High girls in Grades 6 –8 joined schools across Canada to participate in the 4th Annual Hackergal Hackathon on December 12.  
This was the first time Chief Peguis students took part, and they used their coding skills to present powerful messages about the environment. Gaylynne Bergen from CIBC,...

​ This year, Grade 11 students taking human ecology at River East Collegiate decided to put their sewing skills to use and make children's pyjamas as a final project. The colourful flannel PJs are going to be donated to United Way Winnipeg, and will help children in Manitoba stay warm this...

​ A crowd gathered on the Bunn's Creek Trail on December 11 to mark the unveiling of an art installation—one that several talented students from John G. Stewart School played an integral part in creating.
Those walking along the trail will now find seven signs at various locations featuring artwork depicting...

​ This week, some of Santa's helpers did some visiting in RETSD! A communications regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces set up a command post next to some of our schools for Operation Radio Santa, a public outreach program that teaches kids about peacekeeping and emergency response situations.
Classes got to go...

​ In the spirit of giving, students in Mme Kelly's class at École Margaret-Underhill decided to help with Koats for Kids this year. In just one week, their community provided over 40 winter coats along with cold weather gear such as boots, gloves, hats, and scarves for those in need. The...

​ We were fortunate to have Lenard Monkman visit us yesterday to speak with 100 senior years students who take part in our Indigenous Academic Achievement mentorship groups. Mr. Monkman is the co-founder of Red Rising Magazine and an associate producer with the CBC Indigenous unit. He spoke to the students...

​ On November 21, the students in High Step at River East Collegiate spent the morning volunteering their time at Siloam Mission in the donation area. They sorted clothing, shoes, and accessories for the drop-in centre. At the end of the morning, the students and staff reflected on their experience, expressing...

​ Students from Sun Valley School were challenged to raise $500 for The Terry Fox Foundation. If they met their goal, some teachers offered to take a pie in the face, while others agreed to have their hair cut off.  Not only did the students meet their goal, they doubled it and...

​ Congratulations to Grade 12 River East Kodiak Sam Hezekiah on being selected as a Nissan All-Canadian TITAN!  He’ll be playing in an exhibition game at next week’s Grey Cup game in Edmonton.

​ Chief Peguis Junior High recently participated in the Bag Up Manitoba initiative through Take Pride Winnipeg. As a school, they collected over 8,536 plastic bags! Instead of ending up in a landfill and polluting the environment, those bags will be recycled into something useful, like Frisbees, birdhouses, planter boxes, bird...

​ On November 1, the gym at Valley Gardens Middle School was filled with over 300 students, staff, and community members attending a fall feast held by the RETSD Indigenous Academic Achievement (IAA) team.
Students performed for the crowd, and then everyone tucked into a delicious meal in celebration of autumn...

​ The Grade 5 students at Princess Margaret School held a Remembrance Day service at the East Kildonan War Memorial on November 7. Two veterans and representatives from the Henderson Highway Legion Branch #215 attended.
One student placed a pair of boots at the memorial—these boots were one of the thousands...

​ Today, woodworking technology students from John G. Stewart School will present this beautiful piece they created to the Henderson Highway Legion Branch #215 to recognize the sacrifices made by those who have served.  
The students in this course have demonstrated some serious talent over the years, and their work is...

​ On November 5, Grade 6 students from our Transcona-area middle schools—Arthur Day, Bernie Wolfe, John W. Gunn, and École Regent Park—took part in a growing tradition called "No Stone Left Alone."
RETSD partnered with the Transcona Legion to hold the event, which saw students place poppies on the graves of...

Over the weekend, New Media Manitoba and the Winnipeg Game Collective hosted a Game Jam, giving participants the opportunity to work in teams and create video games. 
James Thomson—the Interactive Digital Media teacher at Kildonan-East Collegiate—and one of his students, Shub Dhillon, took part and worked with industry professionals such as...

​ Students in the Flex program at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate have been "sockin' it to poverty" recently with an effort to help The Main Street Project with one of their campaigns.
With the cold weather already setting in, the Main Street Project set a goal to collect 10,000 pairs of donated...

​ Yesterday, Grade 7 students and staff at John W. Gunn Middle School took part in "WE Scare Hunger" (a WE Charity initiative).
They sent out a notification to the community, letting them know they'd be going door to door to collect non-perishable food items the morning of October 31. These...

​ Congratulations to Miona Milovanovic on being selected as the 2018 recipient of the Marlene Stephen Memorial Leadership Award!  Miona, who is a Grade 12 student at River East Collegiate, was presented the award by the Manitoba Band Association.  This award is quite an accomplishment, as it's given to only one...

​ It was a very chilly day on October 10, when RETSD's 15th annual flag football tournament kicked off at the Eastside Eagles Football Club field behind Kildonan-East Collegiate. Grades 4–5 students from across the division bundled up and gamely hit the field for this three-day event organized every fall by...

​ On October 4, staff, students and guests celebrated the 20th anniversary of John G. Stewart School.
In the 20 years it's been open, the school has had just three principals. Current principal Trevor Holroyd welcomed the school's first principal, Richard Gooch, and second principal, Kevin MacKay, to share some of...

​ Kildonan-East Collegiate was fortunate to have the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra visit them on Oct. 2 to perform for students from their school, as well as from Valley Gardens, Salisbury Morse Place, and Munroe. It was part of the WSO "Up Close and Orchestral" education program. (Photos: KEC Photography)

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Congratulations to the Kildonan-East Collegiate boys golf team on becoming provincial champs on September 28 at Hecla Golf Course. After a two-hour delay, the team played in extreme weather conditions—the day started with snow and wind, then sun, followed by hail and a temperature of 0°C.  Despite the conditions,...

S unday, Sept. 30 is Orange Shirt Day, and students at schools across RETSD are marking the occasion today or next week b y wearing orange shirts and learning about the experiences of Indigenous children in residential schools. Some schools have welcomed visitors who s hared their personal experiences as survivors....

​ Congratulations to Gabriel Maynard, Bennett Sidloski, Jacob Markham, Meghan Rempel, Etienne Loney, and Erik Wiebe! This Miles Macdonell team won first prize in a video contest put on by SAFE Work Manitoba.  Click HERE to see their winning entry.

​ Congratulations to Jason Hawkins, football coach for the Kildonan-East Collegiate Reivers.  He was chosen as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers high school coach of the week!  He'll be honoured at the October 13 Bombers game.
(Photo by: KEC Photography)

​ On September 21, Miles Macdonell Collegiate was presented with a commendation by the Consulate General of Japan for contributing to the mutual understanding, friendship, and goodwill between Japan and Canada. Visitors from the Consulate General office are shown presenting the commendation to principal Mark Bruce (second from left) and two...

​ Trustee Peter Kotyk, MLA Cathy Cox, and superintendent Kelly Barkman visited River East Collegiate today to check out the state-of-the-art sound system being installed in the theatre, thanks to many generous donors.
This improvement is music to the ears of the many band and drama students who will make use...

​ Polson School has been engaged in its week of harvest. Teacher Linda Baines and community connector Rachel Galindo helped students harvest a crop from the school's beautiful gardens.  As well, Ms. Galindo sourced some local apples and students spent an afternoon learning how to make apple sauce, dehydrating them to...