The students at St. James school brought in Christmas ornaments and decorations and were thrilled to use them to dress up their teachers as Christmas trees. The event was organized by Mrs. Rocca and the St. James Student Council members. There was much Christmas spirit as staff and students assembled in the gym to view the final results.

The students and staff of St. Mary Catholic Elementary School in Capreol recently celebrated Advent Mass with Father Pat Woods and the parishioners of Our Lady of Peace Church. Later in the day, the Capreol Knights of Columbus held their annual Children’s Christmas Party at the school. St. Mary students, the children of Learning Hearts Day Care (which is housed at St. Mary) and children of the Parish were treated to a special pizza lunch at the school. Several special guests were in attendance, including Barry MacDonald, School Board Chair and Catherine McCullough, Director of Education at Sudbury Catholic Schools. Santa and Mrs. Claus made a surprise appearance and were able visit with the children as well. Each child had the chance to sit on Santa’s knee, talk with him and receive a bag of treats. The staff of St. Mary would like to thank the Capreol Knights of Columbus for their support of Catholic Education. Thanks to Santa and Mrs. Claus for finding the time in their extremely busy schedule to visit Capreol and St. Mary School.

Students, parents and other community members recently gathered for an author’s breakfast at St. Mark School. Students were given an opportunity to share some of their most recent pieces of writing created during class.

The group was given an opportunity to hear Mrs. Reimer, local author of children’s books. Mrs. Reimer is one of our student’s grandmothers, who wrote a children’s book about a story her husband shared with her. The story is about his childhood and the book is called, “Paul’s Toothy Earache.”

Mrs. Reimer shared her writing experience with the children and discussed how she came up with the idea for a book, how she designed the illustrations, and she also gave advice on the writing process for young authors.

She also encouraged the children to pursue their dreams if they want to become writers. While listening to Mrs. Reimer the whole community shared in a nutritious breakfast.

The school staff remarked, “We really want to encourage the children to become confident writers, so we felt Mrs. Reimer would motivate our students with her enthusiasm for writing children’s books.” Madison Reimer said, “ I’m proud of my grandmother’s book.” She also looks forward to producing her own book one day.
Why not carry on the family tradition?

On December 13, 2010, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board issued the Greater City of Sudbury a challenge – give the gift of life. In partnership with the Trillium Gift of Life Network, Sudbury Catholic launched a Board-wide initiative to have Sudbury be the first city in the province of Ontario to have 50% or more of its residents be registered organ and tissue donors. Currently sitting at 40%, Dr. Frank Markel, President and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network felt that Sudbury was the perfect place to issue this challenge. “I am proud to be working with Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the residents of Sudbury on this historical initiative. Tonight, we are challenging the Greater Sudbury Region to do something that hasn’t been done in Ontario before, register over 50 per cent of their community to consent to organ and tissue donation,” Markel said. “Sudbury is an inspiring community. My hope is that other Ontario communities follow their example and get their communities registered. Together, no one has to die waiting for an organ transplant.”
Catherine McCullough SCDSB Director of Education echoed Dr. Markel’s comments and expressed to the crowd her pride in the Board for embracing this initiative. “I am very proud of our Board for partnering with the Trillium Gift of Life Network for this very important initiative and I encourage the entire community to join us in this challenge to not only have Sudbury reach or even surpass the 50% registration for city-wide donation in Ontario, but more importantly, to recognize that there is no greater gift than the gift of life.”
The evening was dedicated to St. Benedict (and formerly St. James) student Ian Smyth who passed away in November and was the recipient of double lung transplants. Both of Ian’s parents, Susan and Phillip were on hand at the event and spoke about their belief in organ donation as well as their gift of more years with Ian as a result of his transplants.
Also on hand for the event were speakers Bishop Noel Simard, M.P.P. Rick Bartolucci, Mayor Marianne Matichuk, Community Advocate and Businessman Gerry Lougheed Jr, as well as several people who spoke of their life experiences as donors and recipients. SCDSB Trustee Paula Peroni shared with the crowd the anguish of losing her son in an accident as well as the joy of finding out a year later that he lives on in both a 23 year old female and 79 year old man who were given the gift of vision through the donation of her son’s corneas.
Other community partners on hand included the Irish Heritage Society, Sudbury Regional Hospital staff, several city councillors, any many more key city players who were asked to help spread the gift of life message.
An important part of this initiative included the next day in-servicing of several Civics and Religious Education teachers at all four of the Board’s secondary schools as organ and tissue donation will now be a part of the curriculum at Sudbury Catholic -making it one of the first Boards in Ontario to do so.