For Orange Shirt Day this year, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Support Team hosted a button design contest that was open to all students.
In this contest, students were required to come up with a design for Orange Shirt Day that honoured the legacy of residential schools.
Ava LaGrange, a Grade 5 student from St. Elizabeth Seton School artwork is the winning button. On Orange Shirt Day, her artwork will be distributed to her school in the form of buttons. In addition, St. Francis of Assisi Middle School students and staff created the buttons.
“I was thrilled to hear that she had won! Ava is such a talented artist and she took the contest very seriously. She got to work right away and spent every minute on it. When she handed it to me, she a beaming smile on her face. Then I received the email she had won my heart jumped because this is going to someone with an extraordinary talent for drawing. I am ecstatic for her,” said Haley Khatib, teacher at St. Elizabeth Seton School.
“This was an opportunity to work with the students and build knowledge and awareness prior to Orange Shirt Day. This will serve as a reminder to remember the past but to move forward for a positive future,” said Selena Frizzley, coordinator of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Support Team.