This past weekend, the St. Francis “A” took home the gold at the annual Bears’ Classic Boys’ Elementary Basketball Tournament.
Congratulations Flames!
Final Standings
Bronze – Pincrest
Silver – St. Denis
Gold – St. Francis
All-Star Selections
St. Denis – #10 Imho Traoré
St. Denis – #23 Matthieu Trottier
St. Francis -#14 Chase Presacco
St. Francis – #4 Nico Presot
St. Francis -#22 Kordell Simmons
Operation Christmas Child is a special Christmas project affiliated with Samaritan’s Purse, a non-denominational Christian organization. At St. Anne’s this year, Mrs. Belanger and Mr. Thomson’s Grade 7 classes partnered together to pack a total of 37 shoe boxes for needy children around the world. Students and their families generously donate their time and money to fill shoe boxes with a variety of special items such as toys, school supplies, hygiene items, etc. Every gift-filled shoe box is given unconditionally, regardless of religion, gender, or race, in a way that practically demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ around the globe. The boxes will be sent to children in countries in Central America, the Caribbean, South America and West Africa. Way to go Angels!!
The spirit of altruism is alive and well at St. Charles Catholic School in Chelmsford. The yearly food drive for the needy was a huge success for the entire community. Students and staff collected 5 092 food items for La Maison d’Amitié/Friendship House. Mme Bouzane’s Gr. 5/6 French Immersion class co-ordinated this yearly endeavour from start to finish. Although they encouraged everyone to bring in canned goods, their class contributed over 1 000 cans to the food drive, making them the winners of this school-wide friendly competition. These champions are the recipients of the “Golden Can” Award. Way to go RAMS!
The students at St. Raphael School have been busy decorating brown bags to warn adults about the dangers of drinking and driving. The one thousand bags will then be distributed to LCBO customers in New Sudbury during the month of December.
Students in grades four to eight are involved in the project which ties into the substance abuse curriculum, as well as art and media literacy. The goal is to remind adults that drinking and driving don’t mix while teaching the adults of tomorrow this important life long lesson.
The week of November 15-19 marked Bullying Awareness Prevention Week. Students at St. Charles Elementary in Chelmsford recognized this important week by participating in a variety of activities including creating skits, songs and posters, all focusing on bullying awareness and prevention. Students in Ms. Harasymowicz’s grade 8 class chose to recognize this important issue by creating and wearing t-shirts displaying a wide variety of anti bullying messages and slogans. This also tied in perfectly with the theme of Justice, which was the virtue of the month for November.
Ten students from Bolivia are in Sudbury until the end of January on an exchange program through an organization called Canada World Youth. Ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-six, the students arrived in Canada on November 1 and Sudbury on November 3 and are taking part in St. Albert’s Adult Learning Centre’s English as a Second Language Program to better adapt their communication skills while in the city. The school was contacted by the organization to see if they would be willing to accept the students into their E.S.L. class and the staff at St. Albert readily agreed.
The students are living with host families and, as well as school, also do volunteer work in the community three times a week. Their volunteer work allows them to learn about themselves and their new community, increases their involvement in local and global issues and give them tools to contribute to the well-being of the city as well as taking them back with them when they return home. Some of the volunteer locations for these students include Habitat for Humanity, Eat Local, the Friendship Centre and the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (SACY).
Mai Hellak, the ESL teacher at St. Albert was thrilled to learn of the students’ arrival in her class. “I have been teaching ESL with the Catholic Board since 1996 and it is always so much fun,” Hellak said. “When you have students learning English as a second language, you are teaching at multiple levels and it makes for a lot of hard work but it is very rewarding. I also have another teacher named Claire Kamber who volunteers in the classroom and helps with the workload tremendously.”
Cassandra MacGregor, Principal of St. Albert was also excited to learn about the Bolivian students taking part in classes at their school. “We are delighted to have these students here as it allows us to learn about their culture while we are supporting their learning – and it also promotes diversity in our community.”
Exchange student, Cecilia Montalvan is the Bolivian co-ordinator and said that the group is really happy with the weather here so far as it is very hot in Bolivia and they can’t wait for snow. As well, even though they have been in Sudbury only a short time, they are thoroughly enjoying themselves, their host families, and are looking forward to exploring the city. “We have planned group activities every Wednesday afternoon,” Montalvan said. “ This is the time that we get together and take part in a more organized events and we are really looking forward to all of the different opportunities open to us.”
Recently, the Senior Brass Ensemble performed a short set at the Knights of Columbus fundraiser for struggling families in Sudbury. Cindy Coleman, Emma Kyle, Jessica Pugliese and Cassie Apolloni did a great job with their performance. It was a great evening with dinner and beautiful music. Hooray for music in the community!
The Angels/Flames Junior Co-ed Volleyball tournament took place November 6th at St. Francis. St. Francis were the champs, with Corpus coming in second, St. Mary’s third and St. Theresa fourth.
Students, parents, teachers and invited guests gathered at the Sudbury Catholic District Board office on October 28, 2010 to take part in the SCDSB’s first 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. The Board was approach last year about piloting the program and SCDSB administration felt that it was a good fit for Sudbury Catholic students as it ties in well with faith-based curriculum and the monthly virtues that each school celebrates.
Students from Marymount Academy and St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School in Grades 9 to 12 took part in this contest and their essays were then submitted to students at York University for the first tier of judging. Second tier judging occurred back at board level and then all names and winning essays were submitted back to Turning Points for publication. Students who wrote 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. Jody Cameron, 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.
English Teachers from all four Sudbury Catholic Secondary Schools participated in the Turning Points inservice on October 29 to prepare for their second semester’s English classes and Catherine McCullough, Director of Education expressed her delight that the program is now expanding. “I am thrilled that the pilot program met with such success at two of our secondary schools and know that expanding to all four will only mean that even more of our students will be able to participate in such a unique and rewarding writing initiative.”
Winning Essays included:
Grade 9/10 Awards
3rd place: Corissa VandeWeghe, Four Kisses
2nd place: Kalya Richardson, Another Person’s Mistakes
1st place: Jorden Barberio, Stripping the Blue Chair
Grade 11/12 Awards
3rd place: Alexandria Tsimiklis, A Final Goodbye
2nd place: Shelby Eyre, A Subtle Charisma
1st place: Jennifer Roy, An Unforgettable Encounter
