Saturday, May 8th St. Francis hosted the Sudbury Catholic District School Board Girls’ Handball Tournament and was an excellent way to celebrate community during Catholic Education Week.
The following at the results to the tournament
First Place – St. Christopher
Second Place – St. John
Third Place – St. Theresa
Fourth Place – Corpus Christi
Many thanks to the parents, students, coaches and teachers who made this day possible.
The drizzly weather did not dampen the spirits of our Native Studies and Native Language students from St. Charles College and Marymount Academy, on their outing to Manitoulin Island. The students saw the play “The Indian Affairs” by Debajemujig Theatre, which has central themes of understanding Aboriginal People’s worldview and place in the social fabric of Canada. The students toured a few of the historical sites of Wikwemikong and had a lunch celebration at Zaawmiknaang Outdoor Eatery- owned and operated by Martina Osawamick, the grandmother and auntie of a few of our Native Studies & Language students. It was a wonderful learning experience and the students are hoping to return next year.
The St. Benedict Band’s went on tour recently and some of their excursions included performances at Southridge Mall, St. Christopher School, St. James School and Corpus Christi. Joanne Comisso, teacher at St. Benedict and Band Director felt that the students were ready to showcase their talents so was thrilled at the many opportunities they have had to perform. “The students have been working very hard so it is great that they have had several invitations in and around the community.” said Comisso.
St. Francis hosted the tournament on Saturday, May 2 and it was a great day of sportsmanship and competition. Eleven schools participated and the following are the results of the day:
First Place – St. Francis
Second Place – St. Christopher
Third Place – St. Raphael
Fourth Place – Pius XII
Next Saturday, May 8th is the Girls’ Handball tournament at St. Francis school starting at 8:00 a.m.
On Monday, May 3, 2010 grade 7 and 8 students at Marymount Academy kicked off Catholic Education Week with a Trillium “Try Day” program. The day-long Floorball Tournament has been funded through a campaign from OFSAA called the Trillium “Try Day” School Program, supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Through this program, OFSAA grants up to $800 for schools to implement new or non-traditional sporting events or physical activities into the physical education program at the school. The grant money allows schools to purchase equipment, resource materials, clinics, facility rental and transportation for programs that are new to the school and students. This is a great opportunity to help motivate students toward incorporating physical activity into their lifestyle, in the hopes of producing healtheir, more active young people and adults.
Marymount Academy was selected to be a part of this “Try Day” school program for the 2009/2010 school year. The new sporting event that will be conducted is Floorball, which is a combination of hockey and soccer, the 2 most popular sports in Canada. Floorball is a fun,quick, and active sport that provides a great workout in a friendly environment. Cassandra MacGregor, Vice Principal of the school said that it was a great opportunity for the students to develop team spirit. “As well, it is a great way for the students to try out a new sport while getting their daily physical activity.” said MacGregor.
The press room was filled to capacity at Laurentian University as the Right Honourable Paul Martin announced the Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Dual Credit Program on April 27, 2010. In partnership with Laurentian and the Rainbow District School Board, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board made the announcement about this initiative that is the first of its kind in Ontario and is a program that enables Aboriginal youth to earn high school and university credits at the same time.
Throughout his business and political careers, the Right Honourable Paul Martin has been devoted to the cause of Canada’s Inuit peoples, First Nations and the Metis Nation. After retiring from politics, the former Prime Minister Paul Martin and his family established the Martin Aboriginal Initiative (MAI). MAI’s overall goal is to work with Canada’s Aboriginal peoples to enable them to enjoy greater economic self-reliance and an ever-increasing quality of life. The new dual credit program announce at Laurentian evolved as part of this initiative.
Domenic Giroux, President of Laurentian University talked excitedly about this new initiative. “Today’s announcement builds on the successful work completed in the Ontario college sector and the secondary school boards. This pilot program will extend the dual credit concept to the university environment for the first time ever in Ontario.”
Jody Cameron, Sudbury Catholic District Board Chair also felt that it was an important and necessary step to support aboriginal youth. “The SCDSB is proud to support Aboriginal secondary students in such an exciting and innovative initiative. We continue to build pathways that engage, challenge and provide new and varied learning opportunities for Aboriginal students. It is through these real world opportunities that our youth can achieve success in the future.”
Vanessa Lewis, a Grade 11 student from St. Charles College had the opportunity to be one of the few students chosen to be a part of the pilot dual credit program in Native Human Services with Laurentian this past year. According to Lewis, this program allowed her expand her plans for the future and the experience has been excellent. Lewis has, in fact, decided that she will be signing up for the new Entrepreneurship Dual Credit program for the fall.
St. Mary Catholic School students celebrated Earth Day by cleaning debris and picking up garbage along Lakeshore Street in Capreol..They filled 39 bags, some pieces of wood, collected several discarded large items and even found a bicycle! The Vermillion River area by the beach looks so much cleaner. Even the Canada geese came for a visit and honked their appreciation. Upon their return to school students created chalk Earth Day messages in the school yard.
On Wednesday April 7, students from our Sudbury Catholic Elementary School Band took first place in the Elementary School Band category at the Kiwanis Music Festival with a high Gold award and a score of 91. The adjudicator was so impressed with the students that he would like to recommend them to the Provincial level of the Kiwanis Music Festival ) The band consists of grade 7 and 8 students from three different schools, St. Francis, St. Raphael, and Pius XII and is under the direction of teacher Leanne Urso. (And formerly teacher Joanne Comisso). The students are being presented with a special award at the Final Concert and Awards Ceremony for the Kiwanis Music Festival on May 10. Urso said that she is very proud of the hard work the students have put into this band and it is because of these efforts, the band has been so successful!
Sudbury Catholic District School Board Trustee Estelle Scappatura stopped by St. Francis Catholic Elementary School recently. She was invited to join teacher Lyanne Marion’s Grade 5/6 French Immersion class as they worked with Tina Timpano, a Sudbury Catholic Teacher Integration Mentor teacher. The class was learning how to use different programs like Comic Life on the macbook as well as incorporating different technology like the ipod and digital video cameras into the classroom. Trustee Scappatura was amazed at how well the students could utilize the technology and was quite proud of their accomplishments!
