Paige Siegel receives Big Country Ag Society Scholarship
larship Committee that includes Sharon Dahl and Diana Walker, congratulates Paige Siegel on being one of the two recipients.
BY DIANA WALKER
Last fall Paige Siegel registered in Medicine Hat College’s Speech Language Therapy two-year program. Upon completion, she will transfer and complete her degree in Community Rehabilitation at the University of Calgary.
“After completing my degree, I will apply for my masters to become a certified Speech Language Pathologist, completing 6 to 7 years of school,” says Paige.”
This course will allow Paige to provide treatment and help children and adults gain confidence and skills in their speaking and communication.
“I plan to pursue my career in a rural setting,” says Paige. “Speech pathologists are needed in communities everywhere, and often, people from rural areas need to travel to larger centres for treatment.”
Paige, the daughter of Jarvis and
Michelle Siegel, grew up on their farm near Oyen.
“I will always appreciate the sense of community and involvement rural life has given me,” says Paige. Paige was involved in various extracurricular activities volunteering with the students’ union, scorekeeping, organizing events, tutoring students, participating in the drama plays and book club. She volunteered as a Princess at the community Princess Ball helping make the day magical for young girls, at a kids' summer camp spending a week entertaining and organizing groups of kids, helping FCSS during their community Santa Hut and delivering Meals on Wheels to seniors
“I have a true love of figure skating, my primary extracurricular activity since I was 3, volunteering as a program assistant since I was 12,” adds Paige.
In her last year at school, she obtained her Canskate Coach certifica-
tion, allowing her to play a larger role in the development of skaters, ensuring that kids enjoyed their time on the ice.
A diligent student who worked hard to achieve her best in every subject, Paige’s grade 12 average was 95%. She graduated from South Central High School in Oyen in June of 2023.
In a recent email, Paige shared: After the fall semester, I had a GPA of 4.0 which placed me on the President's Honour Roll for the college.
“My winter semester has started and it is going super well! I am enjoying all of my classes and my program. Throughout the first semester and the beginning of the winter semester, I have had many awesome learning opportunities, such as job shadowing at long-term care facilities, physical therapy clinics, and daycares. Living in student residence and meeting new people has also been a great experience! “
Making legal aid accessible to more Albertans
Legal Aid Alberta plays an integral role in the administration of justice by supporting some of Alberta’s most vulnerable citizens. It provides affordable legal services in family law, family violence matters, child welfare, immigration, as well as youth and adult criminal defence for lower-income Albertans.
To ensure more Albertans have access to legal aid services, Alberta’s government is in-
creasing the qualifying income threshold, also known as the financial eligibility guidelines from $24,456 (gross) per year to $30,000 (gross) per year. This means anyone making up to $30,000 (gross) per year could become eligible to receive representation through legal aid, thereby opening doors for more Albertans to access legal aid services. The new eligibility guidelines take effect April 1.
“For 50 years, Legal Aid Alberta has helped resolve legal problems for Albertans. Increasing access to our services means more Albertans will be able to get the help they need to deal with the complexities of the legal system. It is an important step for improving access to justice for Albertans living paycheque to paycheque.”
Oyen and District Seniors Report
SUBMITTED BY BETH SYMES
Ten members of the Seniors group attended the potluck supper on February 7. It was delicious and varied as usual: casseroles, salad, homemade buns, cheese biscuits, pickles and two desserts. Two more members joined us for the meeting, which Lynda called to order at 6:45 P.M. Rolly Willick won the 50/50 draw of $17.50.
Jessie presented the minutes from the meeting of January 10 in Beth's absence and moved them adopted. Lynda presented the financial statement for Jan-
uary in Sherry's absence. The meeting then moved on to discuss old business items. There was a discussion of grants, including possible uses for the monies remaining from the Media Grant. No decision was made at this time. A new mike has been ordered with a small portion of the money. Other possible grants were discussed, as well as a general discussion about the Prairie Rose Foundation.
It was decided to draw up a rental agreement, which will be signed by renters when they pick up the key. Lynda, Jessie, and Shirley Foot will draw up
the agreement from current guidelines and will add appropriate items to it. It was also determined in situations when the hall is rented for consecutive 2 or 3 days, the rental for the second and third days would be half of the rental for the first day. For example, the rental for the second and third days for the Assembly, games and kitchen area would be $210, which is half of the first day's $420 rate.
Two other decisions arising from old business were made. Ascend will do the year-end report for the Seniors group. Exploration of the organizations sponsoring Bingo as a fundraising activ-
Alberta’s government remains committed to ensuring Albertans have access to an effective and affordable justice system and will continue to support Legal Aid Alberta to ensure these important services are accessible to those who need them.
ity has ended with the decision not to sponsor Bingos.
The meeting moved to New Business with a discussion of a Fun Night for February being scheduled on Friday, February 23 at 7:00 P.M.
A scheduled power outage in Oyen for February 21 between 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. was announced. Floor Curling will be held on Tuesday February 20 on that week.
The next Oyen and District Seniors potluck and meeting will be held on March 6, 2024. Once again, we welcome new members to join us.
Cheryl Ball, representing the BCAS Scho
Gianpaolo (John) Panusa, president and CEO, Legal Aid Alberta
OPINION:
Critical thinking changes the way you see the world
BY JOAN JANZEN
It has been said that once you fully understand why pizzas are made round, packed in a square box and eaten as a triangle, you may begin to understand women. It’s an observation that seemed appropriate for the question I’m about to ask.
What does it reveal about our culture when millions of people are fascinated by videos and books about logic, critical thinking and how to engage in a non-threatening conversation? Those should be basic everyday life skills instead of something we love to watch on a video or read about.
A high school teacher’s discussion with a student became one of those rare recorded experiences, which was viewed 42.8 million times. Piers Morgan interviewed Warren Smith, who is the teacher in the video.
“This came out accidentally,” Warren explained. “We have interaction like this on a daily basis; this one happened to be captured on camera.”
Warren, who teaches students how to work with cameras and media, was demonstrating to his student how to do a newscast. He asked the student what he wanted to talk about, and the student asked, “Do you still like J.K. Rowling’s work despite her bigoted opinions?” J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has been accused of being bigoted because she believes men and women are biologically different.
TO THE
Stop all raises and bonuses!
Piers observed, “It was really fascinating to listen to, and credit to the student who was prepared to listen to you. I think it was because of the non-hostile environment you were creating.”
As it turns out, Warren is a huge Harry Potter fan, so it would have been easy for him to become defensive, but he did not. Warren, in his mid-30s, appears to be a sincere, authentic, and calm individual.
“Sometimes it just takes the right questions, just a little bit of prompting,” he advised, and then stressed, “And leading by example is pivotal.”
“In the end, he (the student) realized there was nothing as offensive as he was used to hearing from the toxic atmosphere around J.K. Rowling,” Piers noted.
Warren responded saying, “I think that’s why the video resonated; you see in real time a transformation. This is about more than J.K. Rowling. It’s the realization that his prior assumption was based on ‘so many people have told me this was true.’ When you experience that for yourself, and it crumbles, then you have to question logically what else am I assuming to be true that perhaps may not be. And that changes the way you see the world.”
Piers said, “It really captured a mood of people desperate to see teachers behaving this way. You didn’t take a position. You simply laid everything out and let the student reach his own conclusion.”
EDITOR:
The Canadian national debt is over 1.215 BILLION and is increasing by over 4.5 million dollars every HOUR! Every Canadian Citizen’s portion is $30732 based on today’s debt numbers. But the Canadian Federal government is awarding the MPs another pay raise on April 1st, 2024. The bureaucra-
cy continues to hand out millions of citizen’s money in bonuses to bureaucrats that have not achieved the performance goals that the bureaucrats set. There should be criminal investigations, not bonuses.
STOP ALL raises and bonuses!
Canadian Citizen Duane Keller
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Viva Frei also interviewed Warren. Viva said, “What is amazing is It (the video) does flesh out the thought processes of adults and young people who say ‘I hear’ and ‘they say’ but have never really gone to the source material themselves. But this is the world in which we live.”
The now famous teacher’s response was, “The whole point is to learn how to think, not what to think.” However, he admitted that there are people who are so entrenched on an issue that they won’t change their mind about it.
In both interviews, the conclusion remained the same: if you’re going to accuse someone of something, then you should be able to define whatever it is you’re accusing them of and back it up with evidence.
This is such a breath of fresh air amidst an environment where we see accusations repeatedly thrown out anonymously on social media, and even more unfortunate - seeing other people share those accusations, which could falsely damage a person’s reputation and character.
“All students have the ability to reason their way through these things and to learn new ways to advance through life. Do not be afraid to allow these conversations to occur,” the teacher advised.
However, a recent New York Times
bestseller suggests people need help conducting those conversations. The author Karen Ehman covers the subject of “what to say, how to say it, and when to say nothing at all.”
The advice relayed in the book is simple; here are some of the author’s points. Recognize the impact of your words on others and yourself. Pause and think before responding to criticism. Be OK with silence and allow time for a thoughtful response. Avoid speaking out of anger. Pay close attention to what the other person is saying. Ask clarifying questions so you understand what they’re saying. Speak with respect. Offer suggestions for improvement. Don’t participate in rumours. Challenge gossip and encourage others to consider the impact of their words. Forgive and move on. Be careful what thoughts you are allowing in your mind. You may not always have the answers, so be open to learning and growing.
It’s my sincere hope that people are realizing the value of healthy, respectful, non-threatening conversations. But more importantly, they’re not only fascinated by watching a video about critical thinking but are willing to put it into practice. After all, critical thinking is not only fascinating but, according to Warren Smith, it “changes the way you see the world.”
