The Mother Teresa Middle School now has a location and staff in place ready to open in September. The school held an open house, May 19 to show off its location on the lower floor of St. Michael's Community School in Regina's North Central community.

Curtis Kleisinger is principal, Terri Cote is the school's first teacher, Elishia Stordy is the office manager, Gwen Keith continues as Executive Director and Ron Gonzales is Graduate Support Director, a new position and the first such position in Canada. All have a history with the Regina Roman Catholic School Division.

"Gonzales will follow the kids right from when they first enter our school through until they complete high school and either enter university or find work. It's a unique position and the only one in Canada," said Keith. Gonzales said the key to his position is to build trust with each student. "It means going to the families, building relationships with the students, connecting. Once you connect with the students everything can be easier because it is a trust issue and trust is an opening to everything."

Kleisinger said every teacher dreams of starting their own school and doing things their own way. "There are not a lot of people who have this opportunity to be in on the ground level. I'm tremendously blessed, and honoured and so looking forward to starting this year."

The Mother Teresa Middle School follows the pattern of the Jesuit Nativity Miguel Schools established in the United States. There are 65 such schools and Kleisinger and Keith visited several of them.

It was Paul Hill who decided the Mother Teresa Middle School concept was needed in Regina. He was following a directive from Mother Teresa who, after Hill and several other business people met with her, told them to go back to their community find a need there and fill it.

The Hill family has had a long association with education and the visit with Mother Teresa produced several other education initiatives, one of which was the Mother Teresa school concept. It is designed to reach disadvantaged but strongly motivated children in the middle school years and aid them in developing their academic and life skills.

The school will open in September with 20 students in Grade 6. Grades 7 and 8 will follow in the next 2 years. The school will follow the provincial curriculum but will be faith based and have several unique concepts. It will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., provide breakfast and lunch and will include after school activities. It will operate year round, ending in June for a 2 week holiday, then return for a summer program which will be mostly out of classroom activities. Another 2 week vacation takes place before resuming regular classes in September.