Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Month: May 2011

Sudbury Catholic Second Annual Turning Points Essay Contest Awards

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Students, parents, teachers and invited guests gathered at the Sudbury Catholic District Board office on May 4, 2011 to take part in the SCDSB’s second annual Turning Points Essay Contest Awards ceremony. This essay contest is an initiative which stems from the Learning Partnership which is an organization that champions a strong public education system to deliver innovative programs, credible research, policy initiatives, executive leadership and public engagement across Canada. Turning Points is a character development and literacy program that allows students to reflect on their fundamental values and, through a process of self-reflection and dialogue, write a narrative essay about a significant event, or turning point in their lives. Many of the Board’s secondary 
students took part in this contest and the authors of the winning essays were awarded plaques, a copy of the publication, as well as monetary awards at Thursday night’s celebration.
 At the awards ceremony, the students were honoured for their efforts and several students had the opportunity to read their essays allowed. The audience was visibly moved by these emotional accounts and several of the teachers involved spoke of the courage and strength of their students to be able to write such heart-felt accounts of their experiences. Barry MacDonald, SCDSB Board Chair congratulated the students for their outstanding efforts and encouraged them to continue on their journey of self-discovery and emotional and spiritual growth. 
Allison Simpson, a Marymount English teacher whose class participated in the contest, spoke to the group about her own involvement and connection to the project. “No one can truly train or prepare us for what emerges as these essays take shape and the results are often very personal,” Simpson stated. “Some talk about great tragedies, some revelations. They are vessels into which our students pour their emotions, their questions, their dreams.” Simpson went on to explain the depth of the impact on these students. “More importantly than the writing itself, is the impact that the process has upon relationships in the lives of the authors. Parents have expressed that it has been a true “turning point” in their lives as it opened the doors to sharing with each other the effects of a very difficult time in both of their lives.”
Catherine McCullough, Director of Education expressed her delight at the expansion of the program in its second year. “I am thrilled that the this program once again met with such success, and am so proud and inspired by our students for having the courage to write and speak about their most personal and meaningful life experiences.”

Winning Essays included:
Grade 9/10 Awards:

Honourable Mentions:
• McKenna Urso, Breaking Promises
• Santeria Mulcahey, Unforeseeable
• Kaylee LeBreton, Kristin Rose
• Vanessa Bulfon, My Home Away From Home
• Keitlin Okell, The Trip that Saved My Life

• 4th place: Kayla McDonald, My One Birthday Wish
• 3rd place: Cassandra Durand, When I Became Me
• 2nd place: Jenny Daoust, My Flesh Eating Monster
• 1st place: Melissa Circelli, The One and Only

Grade 11/12 Awards:

Honourable Mentions:
• Bailey Zeman, Truth of Dreams
• Sarah Hunt, Hold Onto Your Heart
• Madison Burton, It’s Just the Way I Am
• Emily Cortolezzis, Calm After the Storm
• Sarah Tkachuk, The Key is Independence
• Taylor Hanson, Family Day

• 4th place: Deanna Falvo, Growing Old Gracefully
• 3rd place: Celine Charbonneau, The Open Armed Angel
• 2nd place: Alyssa Jylha, Thin Red Lines
• 1st place: Crystal Sahadat, A Second Chance in Life




Celebrating Moms at St. Raphael

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Students in the Early Learning Kindergarten Program at St. Raphael School professed their love of their mothers with a show stopping performance on May 3rd. The students sang songs and recited poems in honour of their dear mommies. Afterwards they sipped on tea and munched on snacks together. Some students were fortunate enough to have generations of moms together in the room – with grandmothers, and even great grandmothers in attendance.

The presentations left many moms with tears of joy. No one left empty-handed as there were many special crafts and tokens of appreciation.

Trillium Gift of Life at St. Albert

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As part of Catholic Education Week, students at St. Albert’s Learning Centre were called on to help with the promotion of Sudbury Catholic Schools “Gift of Life” community challenge. Initially launched last December, St. Albert teacher Daniel Levecque reiterated this message to students on May 3rd, 2011 during a school presentation. “It’s great to see so many secondary students across the board become involved with our board’s challenge, and I truly believe our adult students can play an equally important role in the promotion of organ and tissue donation”.

A Journey Through Time at Immaculate

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As part of their Catholic Education Week activities, students at Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School have been working tirelessly for the past few months to prepare for their Journey Through Time event on May 4, 2011. The school’s gym was filled to capacity with students, staff, parents and a variety of family members who wanted to experience a “journey through time” and visit various different eras in our history. The grade 3/4 class focused on pioneer times and First Nation culture, the grade 4 class focused on medieval times and the grade 5 class concentrated on ancient times. Each of the students had on display intricate models representing their time period. Along with the models, the students created other crafts and researched various games and activities that were representative of their era. Almost all of the students were dressed from head to toe in costumes from their time period, and they enthusiastically showcased for inquiring visitors the games and activities that were typical to the time they studied. “It is a real highlight of our year,” stated Tammy Rychlo, Grade 3/4 teacher at the school. “ We have done it for several years now and our Journey Through Time really embodies the spirit of Catholic Education week in showing our appreciation for our historical roots.”

Cleaning up in Capreol

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Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 students of St. Mary Catholic Elementary School in Capreol joined with the Capreol Lions Club to complete a one-time Road Clean-Up of the roads in and around the School. The Roadsides that were cleaned included Meehan Avenue, Regional Road 84, Field Street and Coulson Street as well as the areas bordering Centennial and Mohns Parks.
 Under the watchful eye of Principal Waszczylo, Teachers Mr. Merigioli and Miss Bruneau, Lions Members: Rick Cloutheir, Ken Gustafson, Dorothy Payette, Linda Wotton, Jim Wotton, Earl Kent and Laurie Tagliabracci – the kids worked for over two hours helping to clean-up the community in which they live.
 
The Lions Club of Capreol offers their appreciation to the students and staff of St. Mary for their annual assistance with this worthy initiative and to our partners the City of Greater Sudbury and Tim Horton’s for supplying the clean-up equipment and the thank you Tee Shirts.
 

“Eggs-travagant” Breakfast At St. Anne School

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Want a great way to start your day? How about a hot and nutritious breakfast? That’s what the Gr. 5/6 French Immersion students at St. Anne School recently provided for the entire student body of their school.
St. Anne School is already part of the Breakfast Clubs of Canada group, a group that provides nutritious foods to students at school. Usually, teachers and parent volunteers within the school arrange food baskets and breakfasts. Miss Shonwise’s junior class had to come up with a culminating task to their health unit that would encourage the eating of a healthy meal. They chose to prepare and cook a school breakfast. Under their teacher’s watchful eye, the students planned, prepared, and served fruit, cooked eggs, toasted bread, yogurt and milk.
Pupils from every division took the opportunity to come in and eat. From the lack of leftovers, we’d say that the meal was a huge success! The entire student body would like to thank their “chefs” of the day and say, “C’etait magnifique!”

Celebrating the Spirit Through Spoken Word

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Students in Miss O’Reilly’s grade two class at St. Raphael School had a Poetry Café to celebrate their writing achievements this year.
 
Every student had an opportunity to stand up and be heard at the microphone.
 
Here is a sample of one student’s work on “How to Heal a Broken Heart”:
 
If you want to heal a broken heart,
First you need to give it some love to heal the first crack.
Next you need a hug to make the person happy.
That’s another way to heal a crack.
Then you can make a card to cheer them up.
It also heals a crack.
Of course, you need to be polite to the person or they will not like you.
That definitely heals a crack.
 
By:  Sabrina Folz

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