It was over three months ago that singer/songwriter Jeffery Straker wrote a song with 21 students from the Central School.

Friday afternoon after months of hard work putting together and practising the song, it was unveiled during Central School's assembly.

Celia Hammerton is the music teacher at the school and brought Jeffery Straker in to write the song with the students back in February.

She said that he was excited to be able to present the song in front of the whole school including parents, and fellow teachers.

"I really like it," she said. "It's really catchy. It's easy to sing along to for the kids, and they like it, which is really important because it doesn't matter, they could have written it, but if they don't like it, they are not going to want to sing it. I've heard kids singing along in the hallways as we've been practising it. They just love it."

Jeffery Straker performed his song 'Beauty in the Grey'.

Straker said that he really like the final product after hearing for the first time complete.

"I really liked it," he said. "There is this neat benefit of writing something, setting it aside for a couple of months and coming back to it. That allows you to get a gauge on do you really like it or not. It's a part of my normal writing process. If I write something, I'll set it aside for a month or two before I come back to it. It helps me understand if I really like it or not. This was one that totally withstood that two-month buffer for me."

The theme of the song is the school's motto 'Cougar Strong,' which Hammerton said the song does a great job of encapturing.

"I think it really reflects it well and I think it gave the students an opportunity to delve a little bit deeper about what it means," she said. "We can all say we're Cougar Strong, but they actually have to think about what does that mean and dissect what the motto is. I think it's really good at reflecting our school."

Straker said he was proud that both him and students were able to encapture that 'Cougar Strong' motto.

"The chorus purposely riffs on that 'Cougar Strong' idea," he said, "The real memorable part of the song it says 'with open minds and open hearts' which I think is a great spot for them to repeat to help them remind them that being Cougar Strong isn't strong like braun, it's about understanding and fellowship, and I think just hearing them say the words that they've been saying over and over, I think it has an impeccable anthem quality because it has a lot of messages."

Hammerton said that the song wasn't just to teach the kids the process of how a song is made, but to show them how a song is written and that there are different kinds of writing for them to explore.

"I think it's great for the students to realize that writing doesn't have to be sitting at a desk and writing a story," she said. "They do lots of writing and learning about grammar and how to write and this is just another form of writing, but it's a form they can all do. I think some of the songwriters that left that day, left thinking we can be songwriters which they didn't think they were."

Hammerton added that the song taught them more about just writing but about how to work together.

"What they learned from it is that you have to be patient," she said. "Sometimes you have to let go of a good idea because they don't fit. They're not bad ideas but they don't fit in that particular place, and so they have to let them go. They have to listen to others, they have to compromise on things, and that was a big part. The whole thing of the lyrics and rhyming and how that fits together until it blends like a milkshake."

Straker said it wasn't only great to write a song with the students and for the school but to teach students songwriting.

"I see them realize things in the writing process that they hadn't before, and that's really great," he said. "If you can take these young people into space and they come out thinking about something they've never done before. To me that's a powerful thing," he said. "I haven't had that experience with all the groups I've worked with. That really makes it really rewarding for me.

"That sort of the hidden message in there for me. If when I was in school, no one came into my school and did this and it was years after school that I sort of discovered that songwriting was a thing I could do. I can see the eyes and minds open to the notion of 'I can write a song' which is really great."

After the writing process was done, the song spent a few months getting some backtracking from SCCHS teacher Ken Friesen.

Hammerton and Straker added that they hope that the song can become an anthem for the school for years to come.

Jeffery Straker, Celia Hammerton, and Ken Friesen.