CCSTA’s Communication Consultant, Cathy James, shares her thoughts about having to drop her son off at school later this week, and what has helped to make the process easier.

This coming Friday, I may or may not be a blubbering mess.

My son, who turns four this December, will be walking into his kindergarten class and beginning his journey at school.

Like any first-time-school parent, I am filled with so many fears: what if he cries? What if he doesn’t adjust? What if he doesn’t make friends? What if, what if, what if…

Read more: Why I am putting my son in a Catholic School

Unique. Spectacular. Renewal.

These are just some of the words used to describe the 2016 CCSTA AGM in Yellowknife. The three-day conference took place in June, and its location popularity was evident as it sold out months before the event date.

Newly elected CCSTA President, Marino Gazzola, called it the experience of a lifetime.

“I believe the attendance numbers demonstrated that many trustees valued the opportunity to go somewhere that they had never been before,” he says. “The organizing committee and the host board did an outstanding job from start to finish, and the trustees and guests could not have been treated any better. The sightseeing was magnificent, and the history and beauty of the city itself was very educational. Everywhere that we went, we were welcomed with open arms by the locals.”

Beyond the geographic experience, Gazzola can’t pinpoint just one conference highlight.

Read more: Yellowknife AGM: ‘An experience of a lifetime’

Fun Fact: The Prince Albert Catholic School Division was the sole Catholic school board in Canada that donated more than $2 per student to the Toonies for Tuition campaign in 2015-16. Raising an average of $2.47 per student, the Saskatchewan-based school board donated more than $7,000 to the campaign.

With that, the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario earned top donation marks, as they raised just over $10,500 for the Toonies initiative.

When you look at the per pupil rate, Prince Albert comes out on top, earning them the coveted Toonies for Tuition trophy for another year running.

Why is this important?

Read more: Put a Toonies for Tuition Fundraiser in your Social Calendar