St. Mary’s takes home $10,000 from Kidoodle.TV

By Heather Cameron
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

St. Mary’s School in Taber was recently the recipient of $10,000 through the Kidoodle.TV Million Dollar School Giveaway.

“We are incredibly happy to have received this gift,” Mark DeJong, Principal of St. Mary’s School in Taber, said. 

DeJong says that the information from Kidoodle.TV had been shared with all schools in the division on May 10, 2023.  

“This was a contest set up by Kidoodle.TV, which is part of APMC (A Parent Media Co. Inc.),” said DeJong. “The contest awarded $10,000 to 100 deserving public elementary schools for submitting a video outlining what they would do with the $10,000. The company also promised that the five most popular videos would receive $20,000. The winners were determined by voting that took place between June 1 and June 15 and all schools who won were notified on June 16, 2023.”

DeJong says that St. Mary’s School asked the Taber Police Service School Resource Officer, Cst. Chris Nguyen, to assist the school by gathering students’ thoughts and helping them pull together the material for the video submission.  

“While St. Mary School’s video submission didn’t place them in the top five, they were among the 100 deserving public elementary schools, along with eight other schools within the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division,” DeJong said. 

The $10,000, DeJong says, will allow St. Mary’s to improve their technology lab, specifically with the renovation of it and purchasing materials.

“By updating our technology lab, we will be able to enhance our programming for robotics, 3D printing, digital design, etc,” DeJong said. “This just gives our students a wider exposure to a variety of opportunities that could truly impact their futures.”