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The 2022 reunion committee, left to right, Robin Lumsdon, Cindy Stark, Cheryl Mitchell, Bob Coates (co-chair), Betty Speed, Shelley Wandler, Shelly Coates (co-chair), and David Dekker, announce a new scholarship. (submitted photo/2022 Reunion Committee)
Scholarship awarded over three years

NBCHS 2022 reunion event committee announces over $5,000 in new scholarship

Oct 17, 2022 | 12:21 PM

North Battleford Comprehensive High School (NBCHS) students who show a lot of school spirit will have an opportunity to be considered for a new award.

The organizing committee for the NBCHS 2022 reunion announced a total value of over $5,000 from the “Come Together Reunion” event will be given out over three years for a new School Spirit Scholarship.

The School Spirit Scholarship award is to be presented to a graduating student who represents enthusiastic school spirit that brings students, teachers, and the school together as a whole.

The graduating student chosen for each year will be awarded an approximate total value of $1,700 per student per year in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The scholarships will be presented at graduation time.

Among the criteria for the student to be considered for the award, the individual must have attended NBCHS for Grades 10, 11, and 12. The student winner will have been accepted, following graduation, to a post-secondary or technical/trades program. The winner will be chosen by the NBCHS Senior Ring and Senior Pin, along with selected teachers and/or those appointed by the principal.

The scholarship funds were raised from the Come Together NBCHS Reunion event, for graduating classes from 1971 to 1982, that was held from July 29 to 30, 2022 in North Battleford.

Contributing dollars from the reunion event were received from NBCHS alumni who were unable to attend the reunion and chose to donate their registration fees. Also included in the total scholarship dollar amount were door prize donations and bar sales for a total scholarship value of $5,129.

Reunion committee co-chairperson Shelly Coates thanked everyone for their support.

“When we first started the reunion [plans], we were hoping to have a little bit of money that we could donate to the school scholarship fund,” she said. “However, once COVID hit, then we had to postpone and postpone. We gave people the opportunity, the registrants, to either refund their money should they decide not to attend or to donate it to the scholarship fund. Much to our amazement, I believe we [received] around just over $2,000 from that. So congratulations to the alumni,” she said.

Coates also said the committee appreciated all the local donations, and everyone who helped with the effort.

The organizers also tried to keep costs down wherever possible for the event, knowing that prices have increased a great deal since 2020 when the gathering was originally expected to take place.

Coates is glad everything worked out well in the end.

“It was a wonderful weekend,” she said. “I’m sad that some people couldn’t attend because they had other commitments. But we were happy to put it on… We had a wonderful time, and we had a wonderful committee. We certainly enjoyed it. I’m proud to be an alumna of the North Battleford Comprehensive High School.”

NBCHS principal Jay Nichol​ is thrilled with the new scholarship announcement.

“We’re very grateful for our alumni members that came together for our Come Together Reunion here,” he said. “We can’t be more thankful. We are looking forward to presenting those [scholarships] at graduation over the next few years.”

Nichol added it was a nice idea to recognize school spirit with the award.

“It’s great to recognize those students that have great spirit and are enthusiastic, are always at school and are great cheerleaders for all students,” he said. “We’re looking forward to [honouring] those students.”

angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW