St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School Students, staff and community partners were on hand to celebrate one of their own on Wednesday, April 9. Primary Lifeskills student Wii’um Morin was the honoured guest as he has been selected to be one of the Canadian Down syndrome heroes for 2014. The school wanted to show Wii’um how proud they were of him, and spoke of his outstanding character, creativity and loving spirit. Wii’um took it all in stride while sitting on the stage, and quietly listened as teacher Kelly Beaton spoke of his exceptional personality, and unique outlook on life.
Category: Programs
“Spreading the Net” at St. Benedict
“Every minute a child dies from malaria – a preventable disease transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. Malaria kills more children than any other disease in Africa.”
As a Catholic community at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School, the students and staff wanted to work together to help find a solution to this problem. The students’ administrative council at St. Benedict CSS implemented a school-wide initiative and the school took on the challenge of “Spread the Net.” they joined Canadian icon Rick Mercer and thousands of other students across Canada to raise money for mosquito nets to fight malaria in Africa. Their goal was to raise $7500 to purchase 750 nets; enough to save as many as 1500 individuals (as each bed net may be used to protect 2 people for up to 3 years). This year, funds raised through the student challenge will help provide bed nets to families in Zimbabwe. The fundraiser was organized through the charity Plan Canada.
Students were involved in various activities, such as asking for pledges at home, canvassing neighbourhoods for community involvement, and holding in-school events to raise money. They were excited to get involved and work together to raise money to help others in need. Students especially enjoyed the in-school activities such as the dress down days and a teacher versus student volley ball game. By the end of the campaign, the school raised $8,844.75 and were ranked highly in the contest nationwide. The 63 participating schools across Canada raised over $170 000.
The students and staff wanted to say a special thanks to the team of students who volunteered countless hours into planning and organizing the campaign: Brendan Sullivan, Sara Lehman, Carlee Christie, Kathryn Kettle, Allie Stankiewicz, Elisa Bacik, and Matt Ierino. Finally, to teacher Meghan MacMillan who organized the students and encouraged them to do their best the students send a very special thank you for her time and effort in helping make this more successful than anyone had imagined. They all look forward to surpassing theirr goal next year!”
Volleyball for All at St. Ben’s
On Thursday, March 6th, the Staff and Senior Girl’s Volleyball at St. Benedict squared off to see who would have bragging rights going into the March Break. Both teams were cheered on by the students who gathered in the gym for this great spectacle. After a hard fought battle that went to a tie-breaking game, the Teachers prevailed with a 16-14 final set. Looks like the Girls will have to wait for next year to try and defeat the Teachers and claim the title themselves!
Celebrating Franco-Fun at St. Andrew
The staff and students of St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School enjoyed an afternoon of fun on March 20 as part of the the board Franco-Fun Day. The day began with singing Oh Canada in french and then a short description of the Franco-Ontario flag. The Core French teacher Mme. Price arranged an afternoon of fun activities including Salut (bingo), Musical chairs, fait moi un design (drawing out a given french word from the word list), mon beau drapeau (design core french flags) escargot (hopscotch) and a short french cartoon. Mme. Price and her Mother-in-law made homemade petes de soeurs as a treat for everyone. This was a great day of community building as the older Core French students helped the younger primary aged students with all the activities. Pictured is Noah and his team as they played escargot.
St. Andrew Receives Thanks
On Friday March 28th representatives from Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child visited the staff and students of St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School. The students were given first hand descriptions of “shoe boxes” reaching children in the third world. St. Andrew School has participated in this social justice endeavour for the past two years and intend on participating once again next December. Students and their families gather small gift itemsfor either a boy or girl and place them in a shoe box. PIctured is a proud Mrs. Henry (principal) and the two Samaritan Purse representatives as they give her a thank you plague to place in the school foyer.
St. John School Wins Gold in Nesbitt Challenge!
With an intense effort from grade 7 & 8 students, the St. John Catholic Elementary School’s very first ice-hockey team took home the cup in the 2nd Annual Nesbitt Challenge. The team competed againstt 9 other teams across the Greater City of Sudbury and won 1st in the finals againstt the Lively Hawks with a score of 5-3. Coaches, Mr. Stargratt, Mrs. Vaillancourt, Mr. Gobbo, and Mr. Benoit were honoured to coach such a remarkable group of students and are immensely proud of the dedication and sportsmanship demonstrated by all of their players. (Players shown include: Tommy Vlahos, Evan Lamarche, Sarah Cloutheir, Chris Benoit, Brandon Labre, Carter Gosselin, Shaylene Peltier-Restoule, Griffin Simpson, Braedan Gobbo, Shane Poitras, Kasey Faught, Austin Hallett, Ethan Lavallee, and Drew Patrick)
Celebrating Franco-Fun Day at St. Bernadette
March 20th, 2014 was Franco-Ontario Day at St. Bernadette Catholic School! Maxx, Tyler and Carter were busy making green and white cookies to help celebrate ” the love of our rich French heritage.” YUM!
Franco-Fun at St. Ben’s
Students at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School participated actively in an afternoon of Franco Fun Day activities on Friday March 21st 2014. The students were submerged in the French culture, music, language, and food in a series of challenges which involved some friendly competition againstt each other for a chance to participate in the grand finale. There were many laughs shared as the day was a huge success and enjoyed by all!
SCDSB Band Enjoying a Successful Season
The Sudbury Catholic Elementary Band, directed by Vice Principal JoAnne Comisso and teaher Leanne Urso, has just finished a very successful Festival season. On February 27 the students performed at the Northern Ontario Music Festival, held at Sudbury Secondary School, where the students received a Silver award. To follow up that achievement, they competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival on March 24 at St. Benedict School. The band was very excited to receive a Gold award! All their hard work is definitely paying off, and we wish them continued success as they head into their spring concert season. This band is comprised of students from St. Anne, St. Benedict, St. Raphael and Pius XII Catholic Elementary Schools.