Skip to content

Good Shepherd watching over students for 25 years

You can go home again. A quarter of a century after starting school at Good Shepherd School, Michael Ford teaches Grade 2 back where his education all started. Well, kind of back where it all started.
Paula Ford, first chairwoman of the Christ The Redeemer Catholic Schools (then Okotoks Catholic School District), with her son Michael at the celebration of the 25-year
Paula Ford, first chairwoman of the Christ The Redeemer Catholic Schools (then Okotoks Catholic School District), with her son Michael at the celebration of the 25-year anniversary of Good Shepherd School on April 22. Michael, who was a kindergarten student when the school opened in 1991, is now a Grade 2 teacher at Good Shepherd.

You can go home again.

A quarter of a century after starting school at Good Shepherd School, Michael Ford teaches Grade 2 back where his education all started.

Well, kind of back where it all started.

Ford was one of the first kindergarten students who attended in the old St. James Church, located at the present Motion Fitness.

“It was really cramped but really exciting,” Ford said about his first days at Good Shepherd. “We knew we were going to be in a new school.

“We just did a couple of months at the church before Good Shepherd opened.”

The school would officially open on Jan. 9, 1991 and last week Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools and the Okotoks community celebrated the now École Good Shepherd School’s 25th anniversary with festivities including a mass with Bishop Frederick Henry and a visit from former teachers on Friday.

For Ford, it’s a celebration every day he checks into work.

“The best memories of my childhood are at that school,” Ford said. “To go back and pass that on to my students is just a great experience.”

He recalled that first day at the new school in the Tower Hill area.

“I was really excited and full of vinegar,” he said. “We were all so excited to be getting into a new school.”

When the school year started in September of 1990, the K-Grade 1 students were at the church, while Grades 2-8 were at Mossleigh School, all under the helm of former principal Don Gerla.

The new school brought everyone under the same roof.

“It was so exciting that January because it was a new building,” Gerla said. “We didn’t have to drive to Mossleigh every day and we were all finally under one building.”

There were approximately 264 students that first day at Good Shepherd School.

However it takes a village to build a school — and a last minute rush to get things ready for students on opening day.

Parents and volunteers were at the school the night before the students would arrive putting on some finishing touches.

“The building was not quite finished when we moved into it that first day in January,” Gerla said. “The classrooms were all done, the halls were done, but the gym wasn’t done. You had all this excitement, but there were still workers around.

“The joy and excitement of finally having a new school made up for it.”

Young students like Ford weren’t the only ones full of vinegar and anticipation.

Gerla was in charge of a young staff of about a dozen excited teachers.

“They were a young staff for sure, I was by far the oldest,” Gerla said with a chuckle. “They were full of energy. There was real excitement because of the youth. It was an exciting time for them to bond as a group.”

Some of the young staff included Michael Kilcommons, current associate superintendent; Mariette Moss, principal at St. John Paul II Collegiate and Tara Epp, Holy Trinity Academy student-services department head.

Michele Wilcox was in her second-year of teaching when she went to Good Shepherd in September 1990. She’s still a Grade 2 teacher at the school some 25 years later.

“Some of my most precious memories of being at École Good Shepherd School are the Christmas concerts and masses we have had in the gym,” Wilcox said. “The students brave enough to get up and read in front of everyone and the sound of children’s voices singing together always brings a tear to my eye. The dedication and hard work of all of the teachers at the school over the last 25 years to help students read and excel in all areas really shines through during moments like these.”

Good Shepherd School opened two years after the formation of the then Okotoks Catholic School District in 1988.

The division’s first chairperson was Paula Ford — Mike’s mom.

“The Okotoks Catholic School District was formed with the sole intention of starting a school in Okotoks,” Paula said. “A group of about 35 parents were integral in getting that division started.”

CTR Catholic now has 16 schools in Okotoks, High River, Brooks, Drumheller, Strathmore, Oyen and one in Calgary.

The division has more than 3,300 students. As well, it has an additional 3,071 students being homed schooled through its Centre For Learning, of whom 120 are from the Okotoks area.

Paula’s son Mike learned to keep a close eye on his students thanks to his adventures as a kindergarten student at a brand new school

“When the students first moved into the building the gym was not yet complete,” he explained.

“That meant the library was the designated physical education space. My kindergarten teacher would constantly have to close the classroom door because if it was open, I would sneak out to go and check out the library. I would watch from an elevated view checking up on what grade was playing which sport in the now quietest space in the school.

“It makes me so proud to see how far we have grown from those humble beginnings.”

Gerla can’t believe how far the school has come in 25 years.

“That first day we were envisioning a computer system for maybe 1,000 students — not for Good Shepherd but for the whole division,” Gerla said. “All these years later, we never would have imagined Good Shepherd would be as big as it is.”

However, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Good Shepherd School had an enrolment of 950 students in September and due to its big numbers, the kindergarten students are at Holy Trinity Academy.

Once again, thanks to the building of a new school the Good Shepherd School students will all be under one roof with the opening of the K-7 St. Francis of Assisi Academy in Davisburg in September.

[email protected]

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks