Alumni

Curtis Ogrodiuk

Mr.Ogrodiuk...

....grew up in Bonnyville Alberta where he played both school sports and club sports. He was the Junior High Athlete of the year at H.E. Bourgoin in 1994 where he played on the basketball, volleyball, badminton and track teams. Out of school he played minor hockey in the winters and baseball during the summers. In high school he began to notice a drop in his grades and quickly the extra curricular activities took a back seat to his schooling. Mr. Ogrodiuk’s hockey career came to a halt when his Grade 10 Math and Science Grade dropped below 60% and Mom and Dad presented the ultimatum. To his dismay, he was pulled from hockey and encouraged to concentrate on school and school sports. In the summer of his high school graduation in 1997, Mr.O’s baseball team in Bonnyville failed to qualify for provincials and at 17 years old Mr.Ogrodiuk was picked up by the St.Albert Cardinals as a Catcher. The St.Albert Cardinals won provincials that summer and Mr.Ogrodiuk was the only Catcher at the tournament to be picked up.

Mr.Ogrodiuk never stopped wanting to play hockey and took every opportunity to get on the ice which wasn’t a small task in a town with one rink. He hadn’t played on a team now for 3 years but while pursuing his Education Degree he found a couple teams to play with. He played Junior B in Red Deer where they won the League Championship in his rookie year and then Senior AAA in the Chinook Hockey League where he was the team leader in points and made the All-Star team in 2002. With a very limited Hockey Resume, and with another year away from the ice following his return from teaching in Taiwan, Mr.Ogrodiuk decided he’d tryout for the Grant MacEwan Griffins. Knowing the caliber of players at camp, Mr.O decided it would be best to have a physical presence at the tryouts and he did. He made the team that year and went on to win the School’s first Provincial ACAC title with them that season and was later given the honors as the Assistant Captain in his second year and then Team Captain in his third.

Mr. Ogrodiuk has a B.Ed from the University of Alberta with a double major in Phys-Ed and Art and Design. He also has a diploma in Graphic Design with a Digital Media Major from MacEwan. He spent 3 years playing Hockey in the ACAC with the Griffins and was recipient of many awards including the coaches’ award two years in a row for leadership, the Edmonton Oilers Scholarship for Grade Point Average and in his final year he was recognized out of 250 athletes as the College’s Male Athlete of the Year.

Mr. Ogrodiuk is in his 5th year of teaching and in his second year at Vimy Ridge Academy. Mr.O has traveled all over the world seeking the perfect teaching assignment that could utilize a combination of his talents and he definitely fell into it last year. He has taught in New York, Taiwan, and England and has found his calling here at Vimy Ridge. Mr.Ogrodiuk spent 7 years in University and College and knows what it takes to prioritize and balance school and sports. He learned that at a very young age and thanks his parents for encouraging him to look at the big picture. When asked if Mr.O enjoys teaching at Vimy Ridge he said, “For a Teacher with a hockey background, it doesn’t get any better than this!”

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