‘LIVING MEMORIAL’
Public school opening in fall to be named after Capt. Nichola Goddard
Names have been chosen for four new schools set to open in Calgary next fall, including one that will bear the name of the first female Canadian combat soldier to be killed in action.
Capt. Nichola Goddard was killed in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan in 2006, but Thursday her mother called the Panorama Hills grade school that will carry her name “a living memorial.”
“The great thing is that kids will grow up knowing her name, knowing who she was and what she did,” said Sally Goddard, reached at home in Prince Edward Island by phone Thursday, “and for us, that means something.”
Doors to the Capt. Nichola Goddard School will open in September to Panorama Hills students in grades 4-9.
Goddard’s father, a professor of education, is on a teacher training mission in Kabul, and Sally hopes to give him the news over Skype on Sunday.
Education has always been important to Nichola and her family, said Sally.
“And it’s kind of neat that (Tim) is in Afghanistan while this honour is being bestowed on Nichola,” she said.
Names for three other schools have also been determined. Nose Creek School will accept students in grades 4-9 and will serve the residents of Coventry Hills. In September, Tuscany students will have the option to attend Twelve Mile Coulee School for grades 4-9. Ted Harrison School, named for the famed artist and illustrator of several children’s books, will open in the community of Taradale and will accept students in grades 5-9.
The schools were named based on the recommendations made by committees comprising trustees, parents and community representatives.