Picture this, a school with every classroom, hallway and storage space full of students ready to learn but too crowded; staff and students dreaming of what school could be if only it was bigger. This was the task given to Lloydminster Catholic Grade 6 and Grade 7 students in 2019. The students, led by Holy Rosary High School administrators, listened and reviewed plans for an expansion to Holy Rosary High School where they would soon be attending for grade 8 and already dreaming of graduation. What spaces could they dream of? A slide? Water features? A Faith Garden? The answer is yes to all three. Lloydminster Catholic School Division could not deliver on the first two dreams but the third, a Faith Garden, took root and grew into a beautiful place for all to gather.
The Faith Garden at Holy Rosary High School opened as part of the September 22, 2023 grand opening of a long anticipated expansion project. The Faith Garden has some unique features. It is designed around the rosary. The placement of each stone, configurations and design details were supported by past and present LCSD FIT members. There are marble beads for each prayer in the rosary inlayed into the gray stones that mark the path. The space also has prayer benches that face inwardly and outwardly for individuals to sit and pray or classrooms to come in groups to pray. The benches are on opposing sides of an area that, for now, has plants, but someday soon will hold the work of HRHS Catholic Studies students’ ideas and initiatives. There is a beautifully raised honed cross at the entrance, made by our welding teacher and blessed by our parish priest. Buried below are past school statues blessed and broken but not forgotten. The garden is presided over by Our Lady of the Rosary. She is a beautiful statue made in Italy, placed and secured by local trades. Our Lady of the Rosary is perfectly placed to have her heart at the echo epicenter of the faith garden. The circle of the garden was designed to correspond with other circular spaces in HRHS including the HRHS Chapel at the school entrance and Kākīsimokamik, the Indigenous Centre for Learning, in the expansion area. The expansion area of the library has a wall of windows allowing the presence of Our Lady of the Rosary to fill the indoor space as well. The entrance to the garden is marked by brick pillars and defined by an iron fence. The Faith Garden, once a dream in our Grade 6 and 7 classrooms, is already a space for students to stop, reflect, and pray and we dream that one day it will be a place where our LCSD families join together in prayer to celebrate, honour, and request the help of Jesus in our lives. It is a space where we can see our dreams.
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
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