Submitted by Angel-Muskaan Uppal
February and March have been an eventful six weeks at Stanley Humphries Secondary. There were many things happening at Castlegar’s local high school, including anti-bullying day, the Coldest Night of the Year event, basketball season, an electrical fire, and much more.
Anti-Bullying Day
This year, Pink Shirt Day, or Anti-Bullying Day, took place on Feb. 23. It is a day when people come together by wearing pink shirts to school or work to show they are against bullying. The 2022 theme was “Lift Each Other Up.”
Today, our diversity is more obvious than ever as individuals embrace their cultures, identities, and true selves in more open and direct ways. This emphasises the need of lifting each other up and having more acceptance, respect, and inclusiveness for everyone. At Stanley Humphries, the people are centered around the ideas of diversity, inclusion and acceptance. At SH, Pink Shirt Day is invaluable. Students made sure to raise awareness by dressing in pink and embracing kindness.
Coldest Night of the Year
The Coldest Night of the Year is a family-friendly walk that benefits local charities that help individuals who are hurting, hungry, or homeless. This year, many staff, student council members and grad council members organized a school-wide fundraiser and an awareness walk-out at lunch. Over $700 was raised within the school in support of homelessness and at-risk youth in our community. Remarkably, the Coldest Night of the Year has raised over $43,500,000 in 149 communities across Canada since it began in 2011. SHSS is proud to be part of a movement that makes a direct difference in Castlegar.
Basketball
The return to competitive basketball at Stanley Humphries was a huge success this winter, thanks to the hard work of incredibly dedicated student athletes and coaches. This year, SHSS was able to field Senior Boys, Junior Boys, Grade 8 Boys, Grade 8 Girls, and Senior and Junior Girls mixed teams. Throughout the year, all of the teams displayed outstanding levels of strength, progress, and perseverance, culminating in some impressive outcomes.
The senior/junior girls team lost to Creston in the Kootenay Zone playoffs, strongly finishing as fourth in the Kootenays. Both the Grade 8 Boys’ and Girls’ teams made it to third in the Kootenays. In the West Kootenays playoffs, our Junior Girls’ team defeated Grand Forks, but lost against Crowe by only a few points. Lastly, the Junior Boys team showed their strength and skill throughout the entire season, as they entered the West Kootenay finals with a second place ranking. In their final game against Salmo, the SHSS team dominated and won the West Kootenay Championship. The 2022 basketball season wrapped up with success, boasting moments of sportsmanship, learning opportunities and school spirit galore.
The fire and gym closure
As the weather begins to get warmer and spring break approaches, the people at Stanley Humphries anticipate good times surrounding March Madness and the first in-person assembly in the last two years. Changes in the provincial COVID-19 restrictions are hopeful, and well-missed traditions are returning. Similar to past years, teachers and students made basketball teams to compete in a tournament called March Madness. The championship game was meant to take place during the assembly on Friday, March 18. Sadly, on Thursday, March 17, an electrical fire took place in the gymnasium. Luckily, the building was evacuated and the Castlegar Fire Department appeared at the scene immediately. These flames did a significant amount of damage, causing the gym to be closed for a few weeks for clean up, assessments, and repairs. School was cancelled for March 18, adding an extra day to the spring break vacation. Despite the unfortunate event, SHSS is taking it as an opportunity for growth and renewal as they look forward to an in-person assembly mid April.
newsroom@castlegarnews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
