Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

The South Central Zone Boys Soccer Championship took place on June 2, in Strathmore. The games started at 9 a.m. and the finals were held at 4:30 p.m. Strathmore High School, SHS, field, and Parkwood soccer field were tied up for the day to host the games. For their first game of the day the Spartans played against Three Hills, beating them 3–0. The boys had a chance to rest up for their next game which took place against the Canmore Crusaders at 12:30 p.m. It was a close game, staying at a tie until Canmore managed to score the winning point, beating Strathmore 2–1. 

Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

The sixth annual Relay for Life will be taking place at the curling rink and agricultural grounds on June 11. The Relay is a 12-hour event, which takes place over night, and participants either walk, run, jog, or wheel to show their support and to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society.

This year Angela Boyd is the event chair. She has been involved in different ways with the Relay for a number of years.

“When I first got involved I was a team captain and then moved on into the committee. This year I advanced my role by taking on the event chair role,” said Boyd.  The survivor reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and is followed by the Celebrate ceremony.

There are three major ceremonies held throughout the relay. The first is the Celebrate Ceremony, where the lives of those who have battled cancer are celebrated, and the survivors join together for a victory lap. The second ceremony, the Remember Ceremony, is where loved ones who lost their battle are remembered. There are luminaries, which are lit at dusk and stay lit to provide motivation and inspiration to the participants. The third ceremony is the Fight Back Ceremony.

Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

Since May 14 Walmart has been selling paper balloons for a minimum of $1 to raise money for the Alberta Children’s Hospital.  The store will continue fundraising until the end of the week, and the Walmart head corporation will match dollar for dollar the amount raised. The store had a goal of $64,000 and have already surpassed that and brought in $67,000.

“It’s pretty amazing the community support we get. We’re always number one in our district because of the community,” said store manager Gerry Montgomery. The money raised has come from donations made by the community and some of the suppliers. Montgomery said this is probably the store’s number one charity, because the money goes back into the community. He can’t think of one person who hasn’t needed the Children’s Hospital at one time or another. The annual Walmart Walk for Miracles is also coming up on June 13, and will be taking place at Pumphouse Park in Calgary.

Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

The community of Standard held their first big antique sale and auction on June 5.  The viewing for the auction was on the fourth for people to get an idea of what they would like to bid on. The auction started at 10 a.m., and all the proceeds raised are going to the Standard Community Hall Association, to build their new hall.

“We got a lot of good stuff,” said Brett Gates, who was in charge of organizing the auction.

It was held in the Standard/Rosebud arena, in Standard. Donations were accepted for the two months leading up to it. Companies and individuals from in and around Standard donated a wide variety of items.

“We received lovely things for the auction, things such as lawn mowers, trucks, collectibles, treasures, antiques, china, art, furniture, I could go on forever listing it all off,” said Donna Sanden Nelson whose team was gathering up the collectibles.

Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

The Expressions of Dance Studio has 15 dancers competing in 14 routines in the Great Canadian Dance Challenge in Kelowna B.C.
The challenge will be taking place from July 8 to 11, and it is similar to going to nationals. The qualifying round was held in Lethbridge from April 21 to 25. There were 24 routines which qualified from Strathmore.

“The Lethbridge qualifying round had very high standards, the adjudicators are from L.A.,” said Anne Leeper, whose daughter will be competing in two routines. 

Due to extra costs and summer vacations, some of the competitors won’t be able to make it.

Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

After three years of persistence Curtis Reid finally got his wish. Reid, a Strathmore High School drama student, had bugged his drama instructor Paula Richardson about putting on a production of the popular ‘80s movie The Breakfast Club’.

“I said no cause I though it was just a little too edgy. He asked me again last year, in Grade 11, I said no again. In Grade 12 he bugged me again, he never relented and I said ok I will talk to my principal, and my principal said ‘yeah ok if you soften it a little here and there, go for it’,” said Richardson.

There have been changes made to the script to make it more appropriate. Richardson said the kids were full of suggestions and input as to how things could be changed a little, but still keep it close to the original script. Things like the case of beer were changed to Gatorade and a lot of the heavy swearing was taken out.

Even though it’s a hit from the ‘80s there is still something the kids can relate to in the characters.

Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

Testicular cancer is not something many, if any, teenage boys like to think about. For Chad Munroe it is something he has had to deal with twice in the past seven years. When he was 20-years-old he was first diagnosed with testicular cancer, and in August 2009 it came back with a vengeance.

“It just happened so fast that it was almost like it hadn’t happened. I did two years of remission and all the results were good. I had a one in a million chance of getting that same cancer again and then seven years later it came back,” said Munroe.

“You think of cancer and you think it’s an old persons thing, and its not.

Shannon LeClair - Times Reporter

Students Against Drunk Driving, SADD, had a variety of things going on at Strathmore High School, SHS, over the week of May 31 to June 4.

SADD members and their coordinator Amy Dzus wanted to raise awareness about the risks of drinking and driving, especially with grad coming up.

“This year we decided to do a whole week of grad activities instead of just one thing,” said Dzus.

SADD has been run at the school for a number of years, and Dzus has been in charge for three of them. There is a SADD Alberta website where members can bounce ideas off of each other, but it is up to each school to decide what they will do.