Hope Is Something We Build
This past month, close to 1000 Grade 5 students and over 100 high school volunteer mentors gathered at the GH Dawe Community Centre for Grow Kids Red Deer 2026, an event I have had the privilege of helping facilitate mid-May every spring for the past 16 years. On the surface, it was a day of movement, activity, new faces, new spaces, and new experiences. Students travelled through the facility in groups, worked with presenters, connected with high school mentors, and spent the day alongside kids from other schools. For many of them, it probably felt like a fun day away from the regular routine of school. But underneath that, something much more intentional was happening. Opening the day in a good way — surrounded by students, mentors, volunteers, and community members committed to helping kids step confidently into what comes next. Grow Kids Red Deer is designed as a transition experience. In a few short months, these Grade 5 students will move into middle school, where the world will ...
