Pumped up by the cheers of his friends and teachers, St. James Bear Scott Chandler gives it his all at the finish line of the 4th Annual Laurentian University Cross-Country Challenge. Held on a beautiful sunny day in September, St. James was thrilled to send more than 95 students from Grades 3 – 8 to this exciting event. The enthusiasm of students to participate in the Junior 1.8 km race and the Senior 3.1 km race inspired St. James Staff to continue their promotion of life-long fitness and healthy living.
Category: Programs
St. James – Bears Who Care!
Dressed in their best jammies, brothers Jackson and Carter Drigo proudly show off their coin donation in a specially decorated can. St. James held a PJ Day and coin drive on Friday, October 5th. Students brought in loose change in support of a local family whose young son has been diagnosed with cancer. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, students were reminded that even though the young boy attends a different school, we are all part of a larger community and we are thankful for the chance to show our support . The single day event raised more than $1700 for the family of 5 yr-old Carson Widdifield.
Celebrating First Nation Culture at St. Andrew
The littlest members of the St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School Community are fortunate to have Aboriginal Support Worker Joel Agowissa visit their classroom every Wednesday afternoon to share some of his First Nation Culture with them. The students in grades JK/SK, SK/1 and grade 2 are all very engaged and are thoroughly enjoying the stories being shared.
Learning about Aboriginal Culture at St. Bernadette
Students in grade 1 at St. Bernadette Catholic School gathered in a circle around Aboriginal Educator, Joel Agowissa recently. Joel is sharing his knowledge of aboriginal teachings and traditions with the students.
Generous Donation is Music to Sudbury Catholic’s Ears
Students at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board are on the receiving end of a wonderful gift from Newcap Radio once again. For the fourth year in a row, Director of Programming, Rick Tompkins paid a visit to the Sudbury Catholic Board office to present Nicole Snow, Superintendent of School Effectiveness with a cheque for over $7500 to put towards music programming for the board. The cheque is a result Newcap’s commitment to supporting music programs and education in Sudbury as part of an agreement between Newcap Radio and the CRTC. Through this agreement, the radio station promised to help foster musicianship among area youth, particularly through providing support of local school board music programming – including the purchase of instruments. Nicole Snow was thrilled to be accepting this donation on behalf of the board. “We are absolutely thrilled to have such a great relationship with Newcap Radio,” Snow stated. “Their generosity year after year has had such a positive impact on our students as it has allowed us to enhance our music programming at the board. We are very grateful to Newcap for their ongoing support and generous commitment to Sudbury Catholic.” Over the past four years, the radio station has donated close to $30,00 to the Sudbury Catholic Board’s music programs.
University Information Night – October 15, 2012
There will be a University Information Night on Monday, October 16, 2012 for all students interested in finding out more information about Ontario universities. Representatives from all 21 of the provinces universities will be on hand to answer any questions from prospective students including admission requirements, residence, scholarships, application processes and much more. Students and their parents or guardians will be able to attend three different presentations from universities that will be thirty minutes in length. After each presentation, a question and answer period will follow. This university information night was created to help students in their decision making process before they apply to universities beginning January 2013. This event will be taking place at Lockerby Composite School from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
PIus XII Students Celebrate National Tree Day
Pius XII Catholic School, Grade 5 class celebrate National Tree Day on September 26th. The students in the Gr.5 class lead the school in ‘Dearness Conservation’ initiatives that support, promote and foster stewardship fo the earth and the wise use of resources; such as recycling, reusing and reducing. Classroom teacher, Amanda Schiafone says that “National Tree Day is a day when everybody can appreciate the great benefits that trees provide us – clean air, wildlife habitat, reducing energy demand and connecting with all of nature around us.”
Hair Cut for Cancer Event at Immaculate Conception
On Monday, September 24th, 2012 Louisa Bianchin, principal of Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School kicked off the Student of the Month assembly with something special. Grade four student, Dennica Hallett, had her hair cut in front of the whole school in order to donate it to make wigs for people who have lost their hair as a result of cancer treatments. Brenda Morrow, Dennica’s aunt was the hair stylist on hand who prepared and cut her hair for donation.
“It takes approximately 12 donations of unprocessed hair and costs about $1,200.00 to craft a single hand-sewn wig for a child” (http://www.cancer.ca-Cuts for Cancer Fundraiser).
Bianchin expressed her gratitude to Dennica in front of the school community. “We are so proud of Dennica’s kindness and compassion for others; the staff and students at Immaculate Conception School would like to support Dennica and have raised additional revenue for the Canadian Cancer Society. As of today, we have raised $700 to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society”
Patricia Clizia from Canadian Cancer Society was on hand to accept the donation from the school. Clizia echoed Bianchin’s comments, and thanked both Dennica as well as the other students for their generosity. “We are so pleased that our young students at Immaculate Conception School are reaching out to others and “Joining together in the fight againstt cancer”.
French Immersion students are Proud to be Francophone
On September 25th, students from the French immersion program at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School took to the streets of Chelmsford to share in their Franco-Ontarian pride. September 25th is celebrated across Ontario by many Francophones to show pride and support for their language and to honour the contributions of French speaking Ontarians to society. It is known as ‘La journée du drapeau Franco-Ontarien’ because on this date in 1975, the official Franco-Ontarian flag was raised for the first time to show that the French language is still very alive in this province. The students from grade 2-8 walked throughout their neighbourhood and visited local businesses along the way. They had previously contacted these businesses to inquire as to how many Francophone employees each one employed so that they could present them with necklaces with the words “’Je parle Français” on them – allowing them to let their customers be aware that they speak French. As well as the necklaces, the students also gifted flags to the different businesses. The students plan to also deliver the necklaces and flags to businesses in the neighbouring communities of Azilda, Dowling, Onaping and Levack. Along their route, the students could be heard singing and cheering French songs. According to the Grade 7 and 8 French Immersion teacher, Francois Viau, the goal of this campaign is to help French language learners feel comfortable speaking French in their community. “As the classroom teacher, I am extremely proud of the way the students embraced the opportunity to spread their message,” Viau stated. “Each one of my students has been learning French for 9 or 10 years. They are by all accounts bilingual. I thought it was important for them to spread the word that they too are part of the Franco-Ontarien community. This title is not only reserved for students in French-only schools. Most of my students have at least one parent with French-Canadian roots. This campaign allows them to express themselves and have fun with their second language.”