Team Alberta celebrated by winning seven medals at the Special Olympics Winter Games.   The Olympics were held March 1-5 in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.
On March 10, Drumheller resident and Alpine Skiing Coach, Martin McSween, spoke with The Mail, “I just returned from coaching, at the Special Olympics Canada National Games. It was quite an event with lots of fun, personal bests, disappointments and great surprises.”
McSween has coached for the Alpine Ski Team since 1993 and then to the Race Program in 1997. He has been to the National’s five times.
Team Alberta consisted of 65 athletes  20 coaches and 11 mission staff. The athletes competed in alpine skiing, cross country skiing, curling, floor hockey, figure skating, snow shoeing and speed skating.
McSween said, “Marble Mountain was a wonderful venue and the hill was groomed well in advance, especially the race runs, and it was minimally impacted by weather. However, we were rained out one day, which turned out for the best, as the team was able to watch Team Alberta compete in speed skating, figure skating and floor hockey.”
McSween continued “Catriona LeMay Doan, double Olympian for speed skating, presented medals for speed skating and she hung around with the athletes for our last race day and met with our group.  Jamie Sale, former Olympian, medal presenter for figure skating, was also there and she autographed one of our athletes jacket. The athletes were able to take lots of pictures of the Olympians.
McSween expressed, “Altogether, Team Alberta  earned 7 medals, 2 silver and 5 bronze, which was great, for Team Alberta to stand on the podium seven times. On the last day, there was an epic snow storm and the flights were bumped up earlier.  We really had to scramble to get all our athletes, luggage and equipment to the airport.” said McSween.  
To learn more, go to http://www.specialolympics.ab.ca/team-alberta-2016

World of Choices Career Forum had  over 250 students in attendance from Youngstown, Delia, Hanna, Morrin, Three Hills and Drumheller, that  gathered to have candid conversations with local career mentors from different career backgrounds.
The forum was held on Wednesday, March 9, at the Badlands Community Facility (BCF) Keynote speakers were John Shoff from Reality Bytes and  Royal Bank Manager Trevor Young. There were 29 career sector mentors from different professions attending this forum. With so many choices out there, sometimes the best way to decide on a career path is to hear from the experts.
World of Choices gives students the opportunity to engage in candid conversation with local Career Mentors as they share exciting aspects of their work. Students were exposed to a variety of career possibilities and had the opportunity to learn about the education and qualifications necessary to achieve their goals. Junior Achievement Alberta has been educating the East Central Region’s youth about financial literacy, entrepreneurship and financial literacy for over 50 years. This was Junior Achievements second annual World of Choices career forum and they  were excited to present new careers this year such as tattoo artist, funeral director, interior design and solar energy.
Getting out of the classroom and having the opportunity to participate in candid conversations in a more relaxed, real world setting empowered the students to take a vested interest in their own futures. Participants left the event feeling better prepared to face the challenges of the modern working world.
The benefits of the World of Choices career forum will directly extend to the community at large and will help to develop our future business leaders.
This Word of Choices event gave students a unique opportunity to begin the sometimes-daunting task of choosing a career path.