Hinton honours John Paul II Grads

By HOPE BRUCE
Special to the WCR
Hinton

Twenty-one students received diplomas during a ceremony held at Our Lady of the Foothills Catholic Church. Nearly 150 guests were in attendance.

"We had a great year and a great group of students," said Wendy Hoven, the Bible school's associate director.

"Our students had the opportunity to get involved in parish ministries such as Eucharistic ministry, music ministry and lectoring.

"The Bible school students were also very closely involved with the students at the Catholic school," Hoven said. "We held our Christmas concert this year right in the school and our students presented four different grade levels with their class retreats this year, held at the John Paul II campus.

"The Bible school also had the opportunity on three different occasions to take part in a prison ministry run by members of the parish. As many as eight of our students joined a team that visited the Grande Cache Institution."

Roni Iwanciwski, pastoral associate for the parish, said, "The parish is enlivened by these young people who come to the Bible school. We have them join in our ministries after they've had a bit of formation and it's wonderful to see their witness."

Many parishioners joined the staff and students, along with other guests, in the events both on the day of the graduation, as well as on the preceding night when the students presented a coffeehouse-style talent show.

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