A routine staff meeting for the High Prairie School Division turned into a cause for celebration in early March. Moments before the meeting was to take place Donna Sawchyn received a phone call to tell her that the HPSD staff won $74,000. She says it was very difficult to keep it secret, before she had to give her lottery fund report during the meeting, because she was just bursting with excitement. After 15 years of purchasing the $1,500 lottery subscription the staff’s patience finally paid off. The staff say they were playing the same numbers steadily for the last five years as a strategy and obviously it worked. When asked if they will continue to use the numbers HPSD say they will decide in the fall when they renew their subscription. Each of the 22 contributors will be recieving $3389.38. When asked what they plan to do with the money the group says there is a variety of ideas, like saving it for a vacation, buying computer equipment, furniture, a down payment on a boat. Others say it just has to be something memorable so that they will remember it was purchased with their winnings. Mostly, they say it is just a great feeling because it shows that it can happen in High Prairie. And the winners are, back row, left-right, Diane Elliot, Paul Burrows, Barry Stangeland, Margaret Hartman, Ken Riegel, Scott Clarke, Christie Zelman and Brenda Stafford. Middle row, left-right, are Raymonde Lussier, Mark Jones, Gayle Dlugosz, Treva Emter, Donna Sawchyn, Denise Drefs and Brenda Perry. Front row, left-right, are Nelson Luniza, Laura Poloz, Darla Smith, Lillian Bliss and Sancha Reddick. Missing from the photo is Jamie Babcock, and Leah Andrews.