St. Luke's Outreach in High River is moving to a bigger space.
With an enrollment increase of over 100 per cent (from 20 students to over 40) in the last few years, Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools (CTR) has been looking for a bigger facility for the school for some time now.
They were initially hoping to purchase some property, but they ended up striking a pretty good deal with the Highwood Centre.
Associate Superintendent Michael Kilcommons describes the location as pretty ideal.
"As we were looking for a better, more viable space, we considered the Highwood Centre. It's designed for large groups, and in the end, it's financially advantageous for us. It's set up nicely with some great rooms, a kitchen area, great circulation space. It's downtown, which is a big deal for us. It's just going to accommodate our students better. the Highwood Centre was incredibly accommodating when we inquired."
The open space and kitchen are big pluses. Both were included when designing the newer Okotoks St. Luke's location they moved into in 2021.
They've got a large portion of the Highwood Centre's basement that will be used exclusively by the school.
Kilcommons says CTR isn't yet sure if this will be a long-term solution for St. Luke's, but they're pretty happy with it at the moment.
"We do have to keep our options open. We took a look at this as sort of an emergent need to accommodate and the Highwood Centre was really accommodating, so we're moving in, and we've got a lease. At the same time, we do have to take a look at what our options might be long-term. We didn't see anything immediately that we could purchase but I think we're going to be very happy at the Highwood Centre. I don't want to predict, but maybe that could be a long-term solution."
For now, he's happy to welcome new students in knowing there's plenty of room.
"Now that we have some extra space, we can accommodate a little bit more. So, if there's a high school student in High River who's not thriving in school and finds that their current situation is a bit of a struggle, it might be worth it go give us a call to see if we can meet their needs.
They're set to formally move in at the end of the month.