Have you ever dreamt of traveling abroad? Of exploring and learning more about other cultures? Well, you can if you are a cute stuffed animal. Grade 12 Religion students at Bishop Alexander Carter CSS are exchanging stuffed animals with classroom in Japan, Taiwan and Costa Rica. These stuffed animals will report back to their home school to tell the students about their many experiences. This picture shows Horton the black bear that was sent to Japan. A stuffed beaver was sent to Taiwan and moose to Costa Rica. Let’s wait and see what these cute stuffed animals have to say about their cultural experiences in the other countries.
Category: Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School
Bishop Alexander Carter students win honours in Royal Canadian Legion contest
Bishop Alexander students participated in the Royal Canadian Legion Remembrance Day Literacy contest in November 2014. Students in grades 9, 10 and 11 submitted poems and essays on the topic of Remembrance Day. Congratulations to Shanleigh Brosseau, a Grade 11 student who placed 1st in the Senior Essay category. Grade 9 student Kaylee Cadieux placed 1st in the Intermediate Essay category. Victoria Chellew, a Grade 9 student, received a certificate of recognition and appreciation at the Intermediate division for her poem.
Bishop Alexander Carter participates in 2014 Santa Claus parade
Bishop Alexander Carter staff and students participated in this year’s Sudbury Santa Claus Parade. The theme of the parade was Christmas past and future. The Bishop float depicted Christmas of the future with students dressed as robots delivering Christmas gifts. There was a large rocket on the float made from equipment used in the Manufacturing Specialist High Skills Major program. The float was constructed by students in the Welding class who prepared a special mount for a projector which showed an animated robot delivering Christmas gifts. This animation was created using programs in our Communication and Technology Specialist High Skills Major program. To go along with the theme of the float, students handed out candy rockets to the children along the parade route. Bishop Alexander Carter staff and students want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Secondary Student Leaders Participate in Equity Workshops
From October 21 to October 24, guest speakers from the Harmony Movement group held workshops for student leaders from all of our secondary schools to talk about diversity and equity in the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.
Biju Pappachan and Caitlin Wood led the 40 students through many activities and discussions about such topics as bullying, racism and sexism. The students were engaged as they examined issues surrounding stereotypes and prejudice and to hear about how many biased images bombard us regularly in the media.
“It’s changed my perspective on how to look at different people of different genders and races,” said St. Benedict student Laura Rinaldi.
The students gained a much deeper appreciation for the privileges that they enjoy in our society, whether it’s gender, socioeconomic status, culture or in other ways. It made them more empathetic toward those who don’t necessarily wake up with the same abilities. They were taught that with privilege comes the responsibility to make our world more equitable through examples of student leadership like the pink shirt day anti-bullying movement.
The students who attended the workshops now feel empowered to go back to their schools and work to make their peers more aware of some of the issues that were discussed.
St. Benedict student Breana Mastroianni said, “I really learned how to stand up and take a stand againstt discrimination.”
Superintendent of School Effectiveness, Rossella Bagnato, explained the importance of initiatives like this one. “We can’t predict the future but we can help shape it and a good place to start is with the students. The Harmony Movement and the equity workshop have provided us with a great starting point.”
Congratulations to these future leaders and we look forward to being a part of what you bring back to our schools.
Giving ‘BAC’ to the Community
The staff and students held their annual Memorial Walk in September. Part of the mandate is to give ‘BAC’ to the community. This year the school chose to donate parts of the proceeds from the walk to KICX for Kids charity.
Start your engines!
Start your engines! Students participated in the annual Remote Control car races on October 22nd at Bishop Alexander Carter. Students, staff and special guests raced the 1/10th scale racing machines on the student built track at the Bishop Carter R/C Speedway. As an added twist to this year’s Bishop Cup event, the Gators invited the R/C club from Franco Cité, located in Sturgeon Falls, to take part in the festivities.
It was an afternoon of high speed and high flying action as over 20 cars raced in 4 exciting classes. At stake were trophies and school pride. To keep track of the action, Bishop Carter set up a state-of-the-art electronic timing system. The system not only tells drivers when to go and stop, but it also keeps track of the number of laps, lap times, and fastest lap all while giving verbal cues to the drivers about their performance during the race.
Not only were students and teachers racing, but a special group of “All Stars” came out to try their hand at R/C racing. This group of star racers included, Bishop Carter’s Principal Mrs. Cassandra MacGregor, Joanne Benard Director of Education, Michael Bellmore Trustee, GRant and Skerri from Hot 93.5, Brad and Leanne from KICX, and Mr. Dan Turnbull from the Greater Sudbury Fire Service. Not only did the All Stars have fun, but they also gained a whole new respect for how difficult these little racers are to control.
Bishop Carter’s R/C club practices every Wednesday at the school. Many students have joined the club. Some students are racers. Some students are part of a tech crew, while others are part of the track crew. Some students serve as race marshals. There is a part for everyone who is interested in participating in this club.
Staff “En Pointe” for BACCSS’s Rooney and Dechaine Memorial Walk
As a result of Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School’s successful Memorial Walk fundraiser in memory of former student Mackenzie Rooney (a student who died tragically in an ATV accident) and Dennis Dechaine, (a former teacher who lost his battle with cancer), both the principal and vice principal of the school had to honour their part of the challenge. Cassandra MacGregor and James Michaud, the school’s admin team showed up in their best ballerina wear as a result of the students fundraising exceeding their goal of $8000. To date, the school has raised over $9000 so far to go towards several different scholarship funds in both Rooney’s and Dechaine’s names, as well as to support several activities within the school that both Mackenzie’s parents and Dennis’s wife are involved with. To raise the money, the students canvassed the valley area over the past few weeks and the day of the walk involved a live broadcast from KICX radio, a prayer service, a Zumba warm up for the whole school, and an 8 km walk to celebrate the togetherness of the entire Bishop Carter school community. Joining them on the walk were members of both Mackenzie’s and Dennis’s families, as well as members of the Greater Sudbury Police Services. Principal Cassandra MacGregor was thrilled with the efforts of her students and staff. “We are a small school community with an enormous heart,” explained MacGregor. “We set our expectations really high when it comes to our students and staff, and they continually exceed these expectations! We are extremely proud of our students for surpassing our fundraising goal and it is wonderful that we can honour Mackenzie and Dennis, and their families with our outstanding efforts!”
Memorial Walk Held at Bishop Alexander Catholic Secondary School
Prayer, celebration and remembrance was the theme of the day on September 25th at Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School. The school held their Memorial Walk in memory of Mackenzie Rooney, a student who died tragically in a ATV accident and Dennis Dechaine, a former teacher who lost his battle with cancer last year. The day started off with a live broadcast from KICX radio, a prayer service and zumba warm up by Zumbavibe. The 8 km memorial walk was an opportunity for students to celebrate the “togetherness” of the Bishop Carter community. The family members of both Mackenzie and Dennis participated in the event. The afternoon students enjoyed karaoke and a flag football team with the girls team competing againstt the teachers. It was an amazing day! Thank you to all the sponsor who helped in this event including the Sudbury Police, Tim Hortons (Val Caron and Hanmer), Neil Independent Grocer and Kings Sportswear. Proceeds from the walk go towards scholarships in Mackenzie and Dennis’ honour, KICX for kids campaign and other activities that support the interests of Mackenie and Dennis.
Link Crew is Back at BAC!
Bishop Carter Catholic Secondary School is the only school in the Sudbury area that participates in the North American Link Crew Program, a program whose purpose is to help grade nines feel more comfortable as well as help them achieve success in their high school years.
The Link Crew grade nine orientation and transition program is designed to both welcome and support grade nines by assigning them a senior Link Leader as a mentor. The Link Crew leaders attended mandatory training days in August where the students were trained by teacher coordinators. This preparation was put to use on orientation day, Thursday, September 4 as the now-trained leaders were confident in facilitating their small group instruction with the energetic grade nine students.
The Link Crew leaders and teacher coordinators are now focussed on planning some exciting events and academic activities for the grade nines to keep this momentum moving throughout the 2014-2015 academic school year.