The Grade 4 French Immersion students from St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School have completed a Knowledge Building Inquiry-based project in which they investigated and asked and answered questions about endangered African elephants. The students built on their knowledge base by visiting Science North, watching a National Geographic documentary and exploring various foundations established to help save the elephants. This inquiry inspired the students to work as a group to help save the African elephants. Some students created a pledge which their classmates and family members took to not use anything made from ivory, others created a petition asking their peers to join in the fight againstt poaching, while others decided to create poems and posters to help spread awareness. One group of students initiated a campaign to raise money to donate in order to adopt an elephant. Soon, this idea spread and the entire class became involved. They created a collection form and went about asking for donations from family and friends. The students were able to raise a total of $301.15! “Watching first hand how the students demonstrated such an intense compassion for these far away animals and how they came up with their own ideas to do their part to help them was amazing! I am very proud of the empathy and determination of the students.” said teacher, Jenny Aubin.
Category: Faith
Writing Our Chalice Children
Students in St. Charles College teacher Elizabeth Szilva’s Grade 11 English class have been writing letters to children in far off places. The students have been contacting the Chalice children that are sponsored by the school community during the Lenten collection.
Chalice is a Catholic sponsorship program that helps impoverished children with educational support, nutrition, medical care and other needs. Many of the children sponsored by St. Charles College live in places like India, Guatemala and the Philippines.
Students in the Grade 11 English class also learned about the Chalice organization and the success it has in helping students who are living in deplorable conditions.
St. John Runs for Diabetes
On May 11th, 11 dedicated St. John Catholic Elementary School students participated in the Sudbury Rocks 5K run for diabetes. The cross-country running team has been participating in races throughout the school year in order to train for this event. Top runners from St. John were Ethan Lavallee, Chris Benoit, and Eran Lamarche. Coach Mrs. Vaillancourt is extremely proud of all the runners.
St. Andrew Celebrates Catholic Education Week
The staff and students of St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School Celebrated Catholic Education with much gusto once again this year. There were activities planned for each day of the week. They celebrated Music Monday outside in the school yard, families came daily for picnics in the park and they went to their home parish of St. Andrew for a Eucharistic celebration. They also had a faith based playday, Jamie Allison a former NHL hockey player came in to share his message of anti bulling, and we all celebrated our heritage in various ways on Friday. Individual classrooms also celebrated with special activities throughout the week.
Sudbury Catholic Students Serving in the Love of Christ
On Wednesday, May 7th, students and staff at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School joined with Catholic Schools across the province to celebrate the Eucharist. What made this celebration even more vibrant was that students from St. Charles College, Marymount Academy and Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School were also part of the celebration. The theme of Catholic Education Week this year is “Serving in the love of Christ” and in his homily, Fr. Jim Hutton, pastor of St. Patrick Parish, reminded the students and staff of the importance of serving as Jesus did, to not count the cost and to not look for notoriety as we serve our brothers and sisters in Christ. A special message from Pope Francis was also ready to the students as he had sent a letter to be read to all of the Catholic students in Ontario during Catholic Education Week.
St. Charles Elementary School Volunteers Recognized as Champions for Children
On Wednesday, April 24, a special group of people from St. Charles Catholic Elementary were recognized for their dedication to the school. The 2014 Volunteer awards for the Champions for Children were handed out by Our Children Our Future at an awards celebration and the volunteers for the school’s snack program won the group award for this event.
Vice Principal, Laura Stirrett explained that several days a week, the group of volunteers come in to wash, prepare the snacks, serve them to the students and wash up afterwards. They know that having a nutritious start to the day will help the students succeed. While most students do come to school with some form of snack, their eyes light up when the volunteers arrive with trays of fruit, vegetables and crackers arranged with the loving touch of a mom. Thanks to their unwavering support students are moved from a potential disadvantage to an advantage. “At St. Charles School, we are very lucky to have a core group of volunteers who run our Healthy Snack Program! Running a program like this takes a real dedication to the well-being of our students” says David Soehner, Principal. “We are very fortunate to have this group of ladies volunteer at our school, which is why we nominated them for this award”.
One of the award recipients, Kristine Belanger explained,” It is all about the children, and making sure they are happy and fed. Not everyone is as fortunate to have enough to eat every day so it is wonderful to see how excited the kids get when they get to experience different foods and are happy because they have had something nutritious to eat!”
St. James Supports Daffodil Week
During the month of April, St. James Catholic Elementary School held a “Daffodil Week” to raise money for cancer research. Students and staff brought in over $700! Pictured are members of the student council (C3) with teacher and campaign organizer Tammy Lanci, as they present the cheque to Cathy Burns, a representative from the Canadian Cancer Society.
St. Raphael Students Soar at Kiwanis
St. Raphael Catholic Elementary Life Skills students competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival this year. Living Rhythm, the name of the group, won a gold medal for their performance of the percussion ensemble piece “Earth Happiness” written by their musical director Jeff Stewart. They were notified recently that the group was also recommended for a second award. On Monday, April 14,2014, at the final concert of the Kiwanis Festival, they were given the Muriel E. Holford Memorial Award, a $75 award in the memory of Muriel E. Holford.
Muriel was a piano teacher near Ottawa in her younger years and staunch supporter of music festivals throughout her life. In the 1960s she played a huge role in the coordination of the Onaping-Levack Music Festival. She was always a strong supporter of the Kiwanis Music Festival in Sudbury. Her children all participated in the festival and, when she passed away she left a large sum of money to be given as yearly awards to the Kiwanis Festival. Mrs. Holford’s daughter assured the group that her mother would be very pleased to know that Living Rhythm won this award.
St. Raphael Presented with $5000 Cheque and One Surprise to Support Lifeskills Students
International members from the United Commercial Travellers (UCT) were on hand at St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School on April 9 to present the Lifeskills class with a cheque for $5000. Several months earlier, teacher Elissa Zuliani decided to enter her Lifeskills class in a contest she had read about in one of the UCT catalogues. The contest was open to all North American schools who support students with intellectual disabilities. Zuliani put together a two minute video that showcased the exceptional qualities and values that her students possess. The final winner was to be decided by votes so, after a heated battle for first place with Eldon High School in Eldon, Missouri, the students at St. Raphael placed second.
Visibly moved during the presentation, Zuliani thanked the representatives from UCT International including the CEO of UCT –Joe Hoffman from Ohio as well as the International President of UCT – Bob Kellog from Michigan. Also on hand for the presentation were several members of the local UCT branch. Zuliani also thanked her fellow teachers, parent council members and all of the parents of her students. “We are so proud of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the Greater City of Sudbury for their votes of support,” Zuliani stated. “This was truly Sudbury at its best! I thank UCT for this incredible funding which will enhance their learning. I am overwhelmed both professionally and personally – it is not about the money, it is about the message –that people with disabilities are valuable members of society and it is our obligation to support them and to nurture them – mind, body and spirit”. The members of the local UCT decided to surprise the staff and students with an additional cheque for $2500 as they felt the students should have won first place. As well, the students were promised a pizza lunch in the upcoming days as part of the celebration. The money will go towards the purchase of technology to support the Lifeskills students in their ongoing learning.