A group of Grade 9 students from Ukraine amongst the 60 new students at the "First Christmas in Canada" lunch at Red Deer's St. Patrick's Community School on Thursday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

Ukraine, Philippines and more

St. Patrick’s Community School hosts “First Christmas in Canada” lunch for 60 new students

Dec 15, 2022 | 5:26 PM

A total of 60 new students from around the world celebrated their First Christmas in Canada on Thursday at Red Deer’s St. Patrick’s Community School.

Hosting the event for the past 15 years, Principal Mandy Reed said this year was particularly unique as normally, the lunch is served to roughly 20 students.

The Red Deer Catholic Regional School welcomed, from all levels, 33 students from the Ukraine, 22 from the Philippines, two from the Dominican Republic, one from Eritrea and one from El Salvador.

“We are so excited to provide this opportunity to new Canadians. The families have sacrificed so much to come here and have been through a lot,” she said.

Students from St. Joseph High School, in attendance at the lunch, made presents for each student, consisting of a variety of gifts like miniature hockey sticks, stuffed toys, candy, slime and other objects. As well, a student from St. Patrick’s designed a maple leaf Christmas ornament for each student to take home, made using the school’s laser cutter.

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Each table had the opportunity to take a picture with Santa, eat pizza and listen to Christmas carols sung by the Wild Rose Harmonizers, a group where one of the school teachers is a member.

The event was spearheaded by Inclusive Learning teacher Connie Coe and English as a Second Language teacher Angela Skene. Reed said she was thankful for the staff, partnerships with the various schools and organizations like Care for Newcomers to help welcome the students and their families into the community in a special way.

“Being away from home can be hard and, especially when you look at our displaced people from Ukraine, it can be a very difficult time of year especially when there’s family back home. So this is our way of bringing a bit of joy and light into sometimes a holiday that can be a sad time for some children,” she said.

Reed stated that before the Russian-Ukrainian war, there were just nine Ukrainian students in the school whereas today, there is upwards of 40.

“It’s good to feel cared for. They care; that’s why they did this event,” said Grade 9 student Sofiia Obolenceva from Ukraine, translated by Gulya Aynetdinova, interpreter for the Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program to help students integrate into Canadian life.

Obolenceva also said she was happy to see snow on the ground in Red Deer for Christmas this year.

Reed said she is also grateful that siblings could remain together in the K-9 school as she pointed to a brother and sister who hugged upon seeing each other from across the room. She said she could feel the excitement and energy from the students, chatting and jumping around.

“It’s kind of surprising because I’ve never had these kinds of events in my school”, said Grade 9 student John Achiles B. Gabriel from the Philippines, who says he has particularly enjoyed his time at the school learning new sports like volleyball. “I like the people; they’re really nice.”