Horseshoe Crossing High School hosts official grand opening

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Horseshoe Crossing High School hosted their grand opening ceremony, March 7, officially welcoming students and staff into the facility, which has been operational since September 2024. 

“Even though we have been in the school now for several months, it is always great to see it from other people’s eyes who are seeing it for the first time, and it reminds us back to the time when we saw it for the first time, and the excitement that comes with it,” said Jordan Fenton, principal of Horseshoe Crossing High School.

“It is a first-class facility that is state of the art and we are excited about where this school will go in the future. It is not without its growing pains, it is just like moving into a new house, sometimes you find a few things that are not quite working the way you would wish they would, but we are very fortunate that the companies that built this school, they are very good at rectifying those problems as soon as they come up.”

Fenton added the experience of establishing a school culture in its first year is exceptionally unique. Currently, the facility only supports students in Grades 9-11 and will see its first graduating class in 2026. 

Overall, the build of the school took over three years to complete from the groundbreaking to staff beginning occupation in June 2024. 

Madison Young (16), a Grade 11 student at Horseshoe Crossing High School, said as she lives in Langdon, the commute to a local school has become tremendously easier than being required to travel to and from Chestermere on a daily basis. 

“It is definitely so much nicer not having to get up as early and being able to walk to the school. I used to be able to walk to my elementary school and I really liked that,” she said. 

This is similarly the case for many Horseshoe Crossing students, who now have the option to walk or ride a bicycle to school. 

From a learning and personability perspective, Young added the smaller class sizes have been of noticeable benefit to her grades, as she has been able to more easily and regularly receive personalized help from her instructors. 

Among the desires from the student population is to see an expanded offering of elective courses in future years as the school develops. 

“The programming in a school is based on student population. This school was built with the future growth in mind. It was built for 1,000 students and next year we will be just under 500 with the full Grades 9-12,” said Fenton. “We will be able to offer as many electives as we possibly can, and we also personalize it by asking students what they would like, and then as long as there are enough students wanting an area, as well as enough staff members that have the ability to teach them, that is how we establish what electives we can.”