Bladworth

Conference helps students lead the way

Nine kids from Davidson School recently spread out across the country to try and become better leaders for their school and community.

Matthias McCreary and Sarah Nykiforuk headed to Montague, Prince Edward Island, Sept. 15 to 23 as part of a Sun West School Division team for the annual Canadian Student Leadership Conference. The objective of the conference is to help young people develop leadership skills, build confidence and discover new ideas to make a difference in their school and community.

Davidson SCC (School Community Council) representatives Liana Farrell, Bradley Brazeau, Kim Baldwin and Paige Hodgins joined Matthias and Sarah later on at the conference.

“It was to promote leadership,” said Matthias. “All the people that were there were either leaders or striving to be leaders. While there you attend different workshops and some of them would be about leadership or some of them would be promoting different things you could lead kids to do (like) causes, charities and that kind of thing. It’s just a way of promoting leadership.”

Liana said there were around 800 students from across Canada gathered in PEI to learn leadership skills. She said the students also got to participate in fun activities such as a laser tag and working through a corn maze during the week along with listening to keynote speakers and participating in the leadership workshops.

“This was a way to get ideas from all across Canada to see how different provinces and different schools try and get people involved,” she said.

At the Saskatchewan Student Leadership Conference held Sept. 18 to 20 in Lloydminster, Davidson School students Quin Johnson, Elise McJannet and Kaitlyn Baldwin led the charge for a more inclusive school community.

Elise said the provincial leadership conference had the same agenda as the national, but with 800 kids just from Saskatchewan. She said listening to the keynote speakers was one of the best moments at the conference for her.

“It was really cool,” said Elise. “An Olympian spoke and really funny people spoke. It was all how they showed leadership and how they overcame adversity to get where they are.”

To read more please see the October 7 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Bladworth

Hunters flock to Living Sky Outfitters

Jeff Doyle hasn’t shaved for days.
It’s a look he could be sporting for five weeks as he and his partner in Living Sky Outfitters, Trevor Bessey, enter the second week of hunting season.
They are on the go day and night guiding groups of American hunters who have flocked to the area to take in the fall bird hunt.
At this rate, Doyle’s thick stubble could grow into a full-fledged beard.
It’s facial hair he’s proud to wear because those whiskers mean that he and Bessey have done their job by making sure their customers have lots of waterfowl to shoot at.
“I’m getting horribly scruffy, but I don’t shave till we get skunked,” he says, explaining skunked for Living Sky Outfitters means none of their hunting guests encounter any waterfowl to shoot at.
“As a guide we know we’ve done our job with decoys when in the morning the birds are there. If they can’t hit them, that’s not our problem.”
He and Bessey scout fields and set up hundreds of decoys to convince geese and ducks southward bound on the fall migration to make a pit stop in the farm fields around Bladworth and Davidson.
The chance to hunt Canada geese, snow geese, specklebelly geese, and a variety of ducks on the “flyway highway” attracted a group of five hunters from Maryland to Bladworth last week.
They arrived last Sunday night and by noon Monday had already bagged 12 specklebellies and seven Canada geese.
They started planning the trip last year.
Jim Scott, who is from Bowleys Quarters, Maryland, said a guy they know back home recommended Living Sky Outfitters.
“We used to go to Birch Hills, but the outfitter there pumpkin patched us too many times,” Jim said.
“It’s beautiful here, a lot of birds. We made the right decision,”
His son Todd Scott said the weather is warmer than they expected and the geography is much different from back home.
“It’s a whole different experience up here. It’s so expansive, you can see for miles,” Todd said.
Coming to Saskatchewan to hunt waterfowl is the only hunting-type of holiday they take.
They do the rest of their sportsman activities close to home. Bowleys Quarters is on the Chesapeake Bay.
Donald Price, also a Maryland resident, said one reason they hunt in Saskatchewan is the hunting limits are more liberal than in the States.
Jim Scott said they also have a chance to hunt more species.
Doyle said most of Living Sky’s hunters are American, from states such as Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. Some of the 55 to 60 hunters coming this year are also from Ohio and Illinois.
“We’re pretty much all return customers,” Doyle said.
They started the business six years ago and had 23 hunters that first season.
Doyle said support from local landowners, who allow them to hunt on their land, is crucial to their success.
To read more please see the October 7 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson, featured

Town cooks up ideas to solve kitchen dilemma

Elected officials and staff with the Town of Davidson are trying to find a solution to an unhappy volunteer core and dissatisfied customer base at the Communiplex kitchen and lounge.

In an attempt to solve this problem the town has been trying to hire a kitchen/lounge manager for the rink, but as yet no one has come forward and applied for the position. A posting for the full-time job ended Sept. 20, but town officials still hold out hope that it will be filled before the rink opens for the skating season around the middle of October.

Trevor Ouellette, recreation director for the town, said he wants a kitchen/lounge manager hired as soon as possible, with the first hockey game to be played at the rink on Oct. 26 as the drop point. He said the recreation board met last Wednesday with a group of kitchen and lounge volunteers to try and come up with ideas on how to run the restaurant differently this winter in case no one does come forward by this time.

“As a town we know that the system in place would probably need to change, not that it was broken, it’s just ‘is this the best way to operate’,” said Ouellette. We’re “listening to volunteer feedback (about) what we can do.”

Several volunteers have raised numerous concerns with how the rink kitchen and lounge is run and also what is expected of them. They cite a lack of organization, an unrealistic expectation on the volunteers, an unfair system where many volunteers on the call list refuse to work their shifts and having the volunteers responsible for the cooking of food as ongoing problems at the rink.

Another concern for some volunteers is the town has begun to rent the rink out to teams from Saskatoon and Regina for their tournaments, but Davidson volunteers are still asked to run the kitchen and lounge on these days even though their kids aren’t involved in the play. They say helping out the rink is a priority for them, so they come out and work those shifts as well, but feel they shouldn’t have to on those days and it might be a good idea to just lease out the kitchen and lounge to a business and let them take it over if these events are going to become more commonplace.

Jason Shaw, a Davidson councillor and recreation board member, said the town can’t find anyone who wants to lease or rent the kitchen and lounge or a kitchen/lounge manager because of the unstable rink schedule and the big commitment involved with being tied to the restaurant from October to April. He said another problem is they would have to raise fees if they were to lease it out, which could stop some kids from playing hockey.

Fees “are going up for everybody and we’re going to try and keep them moving up a little bit, but that’s the dilemma,” said Shaw. “You don’t want to have them too high. That is the trade off with keeping fees low, (it’s) people volunteering in the kitchen. If you go to Regina or Saskatoon you pay quite a bit more, but they’re not doing any volunteer hours.

“The fees for the rink are only part of what it cost you to have a kid play hockey now. With the younger age group they play in a Moose Jaw league (and) people are driving in there, so you don’t want to price it too high that kids aren’t playing hockey.”

To read more please see the Sept. 30 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Davidson School extends welcome to seven new interns

The teacher population at Davidson School is up by half this fall after an unusually high number of interns took postings in classrooms throughout the school.

Interns Caitlin McCarthy, Alicia Hicks, Jennifer Gelleta, Randi Bender, Erin Toner, Kelsey Pragnell and Erin Palmier are presently immersing themselves in school life as they learn the ins and outs of teaching their various classes. The University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan education students are posted in one of the classes of Kindergarten, grades 2, 3 and 5 and the senior subjects of science and history, math and English.

“It’s been great so far,” said Pragnell, 22, who is working with teacher Laura Willner in the Grade 2 class. “I’ve been doing music for a while now with the Grade 2s. We’ve been doing rhythm and pitch. (Last Wednesday we started) to do rhythm sticks and then we’re doing some drums coming up right away. Then I have a little mini health unit and I’m going to be doing a few more health and science units coming up really quick.”

Like the other six interns, Pragnell is taking the first few weeks of her posting to watch, learn, ask questions and get to know the kids. The education students would then start to take over some classes before eventually moving into teaching the kids full-time for three weeks starting Nov. 10.

During this full-time teaching duty the interns’ cooperating teachers will complete an evaluation on them to help them improve their methods. The internship ends in December when the university students head back to their respective schools to complete their final year of their education degrees.

Toner, a 20-year-old University of Regina Faculty of Education student, said she is picking up a subject a week from Grade 3 teacher Chantal Walker Morey, but has been mainly teaching science so far. She said it’s been really easy to get to know the staff and students at Davidson School due to the small school atmosphere and welcoming spirit.

“Especially in the elementary school you know almost all of the kids already,” said Toner. “You’re seeing them when you’re out on supervision, you’re seeing them when you’re doing buses (and) you’re seeing them in the hallways. Then the staff, we had a week where we were just doing staff stuff where we had meetings, so you really got to know the staff then.”

Davidson School vice principal Cathy Rettger said the school usually gets a maximum of three interns each fall, so having seven new faces come into the school this year has been a bit different. She said the school is centrally located between Regina and Saskatoon and has a good reputation among previous interns, so that is why the school seems to be a popular destination for education students.

To read more please see the Sept. 30 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Sabers pounce on tired Raiders in the Jungle

The Hanley Sabers and Gull Lake Lions continued their dominance of the 1A Conference Three high school senior football league in week two, with the remaining teams looking to build on early season gains to solidify a final playoff spot.

Raiders vs. Sabers

The Davidson Raiders senior boys football team controlled possession of the ball during the first quarter of their 68-19 loss to the Hanley Sabers at the Jungle Sept. 20, but an inability to reach the end zone and an inexperienced defence proved their downfall.

Raiders coach Blair Frederickson said the Davidson offence had possession of the ball for around 10 to 11 minutes of the first quarter at their game in Hanley due to a strong short run and pass game. He said the problem was whenever the Sabers got the ball a quick score would result.

“We had the lead at the end of the first quarter, the start of the second quarter, and I bet we had the ball…10 or 11 minutes (in the first quarter) and they had the ball for one play,” said Frederickson, noting Hanley scored on that one play. Then “we kicked off to them, they got out to the 30, ran one play and put it in the end zone.”

Frederickson said at this point in early moments of the second quarter his offence started to get tired because they were on the field for most of the first 12 minutes, so when they stalled on their next play at the Hanley 40-yard-line and the Sabers ran one play on offence resulting in another touchdown the game was done. He said their Grade 12s on offence played a “great first quarter” and kept to the game plan of holding onto the ball and eating away at the clock, but their young defence couldn’t match up to Hanley’s strong passing game.

“The kids understood what we wanted them to do,” he said, adding Raiders safeties Cole Murfitt and Addison Ouellette played well in the second half. “Get to the outside (and) force Hanley to come back into the middle of the field where we have a shot at them. We just couldn’t make tackles. When we brought it back to the inside of the field the kids were just a little too small to make a big tackle, but they understood the overall concept of what we’re trying to get across.

“Take away the outside because in six-man football it’s such a wide field and it’s only six players, so you have to funnel everything into the middle if you can. We’re working on it.”

Mark Anderson, coach of the Sabers, said the Hanley coaching staff is concerned with their defence after the first quarter they suffered through against Davidson. He said they didn’t come out to play and the Raiders offence drove the ball down the field in the early going, but they were able to come back strong in the second quarter to combat the challenge.

“We just tightened up and (got) a little more aggressive,” said Anderson. “They’re a young team with guys playing both ways and they just wore down (and) got tired.

Anderson said they were able to get a lot of their younger players in during the second half and they have a “ton” of Grade 9 and 10 players on the team this year looking for starting positions, so giving them a chance to see game action provides hope for the future.

Frederickson said there were a lot of positives for his young players and his senior offence during the game, so if they can work on that they should be ready to put up a strong second half of the season and make a run for a playoff spot.

“There are a series of games now where whatever lessons we’ve learned the last few weeks playing, hopefully we’ll be able to use these to compete,” he said. “I’m hoping for success, but I’m confident we’ll compete at a higher level.”

To read more please see the Sept. 30 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Prpick has high hopes for Vikings hockey

University of Alberta Augustana Vikings men’s hockey team captain Dean Prpick wants to end his final season with the club and his first as captain on a winning note.

Prpick, a 25-year-old utility player who sees shifts on both offence and defence, said the Vikings have the ability to win the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championship this year giving him and his team their fourth medal in four years. He said the club has a lot of depth, which should bode well during their long 32-game season and hopeful playoff run.

“We don’t really have any weak spots,” said Prpick, who served as an assistant captain with the team last year. “I guess our weakness is that I wouldn’t say we have that number one line or number one defenceman. Everyone is going to have to show up every night to really give us a chance.”

Prpick said he isn’t a vocal guy in the dressing room, so his plan is to lead the young team through his example on the ice. He said this is the first time that he can remember he has ever been captain before, including his time playing minor hockey with Davidson, but there are many other voices available in the room to contribute if more help is needed.

“We have a lot of leaders in our room,” he said. “It’s nice to have the ‘C’, but there are a lot of guys that could definitely have it.”

Blaine Gusdal, head coach of the Vikings, said Prpick was the right choice to lead the team onto the ice this year because he is a quality person and approaches everything as a consummate professional.

“He works extremely hard in the classroom and he’s basically been successful in any challenge that comes his way, so being a fifth-year guy and one of our top players it was a very easy choice,” said Gusdal. “It was ratified by every single guy on the team where they thought he was the perfect pick as our captain for this year.”

Gusdal said a captain is picked after the coaching staff looks at the “big picture” of what an individual brings to the whole program and not just the on-ice product. He said key players past and present are consulted as to what direction is needed in the dressing room and Prpick stood out as the guy who could best bring the Vikings, which features a few new top-end forwards from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), into contention for their second gold medal in three years this season.

“In Dean’s four years we’ve been in the final four all four years after not being in the playoffs previously,” he said. “It’s definitely been a turnaround and that is a testament to the kinds of players that we have. Dean is one of those guys and at the top of the list, so he’s been fortunate. He’s been here for four very good years and the goal right now is to make this fifth one very special.”

Prpick said it’s a “nice honour” to be named captain by his teammates and coaches, but the squad still needs to get results on the ice if it’s going to be a success. He said the good thing is everyone is fresh and excited to start a new year after their bronze medal finish last season, so the job of leading the team to another medal makes his job a little less worrisome.

“It’s much easier for me,” he said. “We definitely have the squad to win a championship this year.”

The Davidson Leader, Davidson, Saskatchewan