Pictured above: St. Theresa School staff fill up their water bottles using the new water filling station

Students and staff at St. Theresa School in Alberta now have access to clean, filtered drinking water while learning at school – thanks, in part, to a $5,000 grant from the North West Company’s Healthy Horizons Foundation.

Located within the municipal district of Wabasca, AB, St. Theresa School believes it is their professional obligation to not only provide high quality education and life skills for their 300 Kindergarten to Grade 6 students, but also to meet their nutritional needs. As part of that commitment, the school offers healthy options within lunch menus, organizes daily physical activities and provides every student with a water bottle to help them stay hydrated.

Prior to installing the new water filling station, the school faced the problem of providing accessible drinking water,limiting students’ ability to learn and capacity to focus. With the launch of the school’s Stay Hydrated Campaign, the brand new water filling station will encourage students – and staff – to remain hydrated throughout the day. The practice of using reusable water bottles also teaches students the values of making sustainable choices and reducing waste.  

St. Theresa School Literacy Lead Teacher, Jade Ingels, believes that being hydrated positively contributes to students’ learning.

“It’s imperative that we provide clean and accessible drinking water to our students. Proper hydration is important for meeting our students’ needs so that they can participate in learning and activities at school,” said Ingels. “This grant will make a huge difference at St. Theresa School as we are providing our students with the building blocks needed in order to function [at school] and succeed.”