Dr. JH Gillis Regional High School in Antigonish and 2020 graduate Emma Smith have
Flag of the Gaels (Strait Regional Centre for Education photo)
received some international recognition. The Regional is the first school in the world to offer a Gaelic school-supported self-taught literature course in the International Baccalaureate Program. Smith is the first student in the world to complete the course.
The Strait Regional Centre for Education’s IB Coordinator Lindsay MacInnis says it’s an exciting accomplishment.
MacInnis says the largest hurdle for the program was creating a book list. MacInnis says she reached out to several experts to locate texts including Mairi Parr, who teaches Gaelic at the regional.
Smith who began studying Gaelic in Grade 5 says being the first student to complete the course is taking some time getting used to.
Smith says among the texts she read during the program was Shakespeare’s classic play MacBeth in Gaelic and she wrote a paper on it.
Smith is now a first year student at St. FX University.