On Sunday, May 12 2013, members of the St. Paul Running Club competed in the Sudbury ROCKS 5km Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes. Vice-Principal Tammy Lavalle, Educational Assistant Jennifer Palladino and Teachers Lucie Gautheir and Stacey Vendramin competed along with nine dedicated and energetic students who braved the snow and rain to take part in the race. To raise money for the event, St. Paul held a Spirit Day where students were asked to wear their favourite sports gear to school for the day. The school raised a total of $200.00 to donate to the Canadian Diabetes Association. The Running Club would like to thank the Knights of Columbus Council 6074, Evans Home Hardware and Coniston Guardian Pharmacy for sponsoring and supporting their race efforts. Way to go Panthers!
Category: Schools
Welcome to Kindergarten at St. Andrew
On Wednesday May 15th at 6pm St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School welcomed 11 young children and their parents to their Welcome to Kindergarten evening. The school partnered with the Learning Partnership and our community partners Angela an OT from the Children’s Treatment Center and Cheryl the teacher from the New Sudbury Cooperative Nursery School to give the students and their parents some tools to help them be prepared for school in the fall. There was a read-aloud, a letters and numbers activity, craft and a delicious nutrious snack of fruit, meat and cheese. Thanks goes out to Mrs. Waugh and Mrs. Sawkiw from the school who made this such a fun evening.
Trip of a Lifetime for St. Charles College Students
Last month 15 students from St. Charles College went on the vacation of a lifetime. From April 12 – 20, 2013, as part of the school’s Specialist High Skills Major (S.H.S.M.) in Health and Wellness, these students, accompanied by two teachers, had the opportunity to visit the country of Guatemala to work with a restoration group in local communities. Based on the belief that “if you can keep a community environmentally healthy, you can keep the community physically healthy” teacher Tim Kingshott led the students to support the Chico Mendez Project which is a non-profit organization based out of Guatemala which works towards reforestation of the forests, the provision of environmental education, and the generation of oxygen for the world. The students helped collect soil and loam to mix and prep for the next round of trees that were scheduled to be planted in the areas they visited.
As well as the community service, another aspect of their trip was a homestay with a family from Guatemala. Each student had the opportunity to live with a Guatemalan family and experience their traditional culture.
In order to prepare for this trip, the students were required to learn the basics of First Aid, as well as travel and health/safety. The group even learned a little Spanish in order to support their communication skills during their adventure.
Kingshott, who is also an outdoor education teacher, organized many hikes, and other outdoor activities including ziplining. “This is the fourth year I have brought St. Charles College students to another country for the S.H.S.M. in Health and Wellness,” Kingshott stated. “Four years ago I took students to Ecuador, then Costa Rica, then Belize and this year Guatemala. It is such a life changing opportunity for these grade 11 and 12 students as they take part in real hands on learning. At the end of these trips, they take away skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. These experiences are history and learning based, curriculum based, and most importantly adventure based – all the while pushing the students beyond their comfort zone – there is no better way to learn!”
St. John “Fights Back” Against Cancer
Despite the rain that poured down on May 10th, the students and staff of St. John Catholic Elementary School remained committed to their walk for their 5th annual relay for life with just one tweak – instead of walking outside, they decided to walk inside the school’s gym. Event organizer and teacher Irene Raymond didn’t miss a beat when the weather decided to be uncooperative and quickly made arrangements for each of the classes to rotate their walks in the school gym.
The day’s event was kicked off with a presentation of a banner from the Sudbury chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cathy Burns who wanted to publically acknowledge the school’s outstanding efforts in supporting their organization. Raymond received the banner on the school’s behalf and spoke to the students before the relay began. “Every single person in this room has been or will be affected by cancer,” Raymond explained. “Today we are honoured to have a group of survivors who will be joining us on our walk and we celebrate their strength and courage to fight back!” The students echoed Raymond’s message “Fight back” and it was the phrase that was shouted throughout the event. The students walked with the survivors as well as family and community members.
The school was visited by the Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario Division) – Martin Kabat a few weeks earlier to kick of the school’s fundraising efforts for their event and he encouraged the students to continue in their support for such an important cause. As well, he thanked them for their fundraising efforts from previous years as they have contributed well over $15,000 to the Sudbury branch.
This year’s efforts have surpassed all other years for the school as the grand total to date is well over $7200 with more pledge money still coming in. According to Raymond, the students really outdid themselves this year and were completely focused on raising the most amount of money they have ever raised with one student raising close to $1000 all on her own. “I am so proud and thankful that the students, staff and parent community of St. John Catholic Elementary School are such giving and generous group,” Raymond stated. “We have shown once again that we care about each other and that we are committed to continuing to fight back againstt cancer.”
The event finished with the entire group gathering in the school’s gymnasium for the annual luminary ceremony.
Taking the Pledge at St. Charles College
On Tuesday, May 28, almost one thousand students at Sudbury’s largest secondary school – St Charles College – signed a pledge to end drinking and driving. The pledge banner was sponsored by several local businesses and provided for the school by the Impact 6/21 Foundation.
The Foundation was developed by the parents, family and friends of three Greater Sudbury teens were run over and killed in the wee hours of Father’s Day, 2009.
The parents of Jazmine Houle, Steven Phillippe and Caitlin Jelley also spoke at the presentation.
The Impact 6/21 provided the students with a hard hitting presentation complete with a police presence and a first hand account from the first witness on the scene of that tragic accident four years ago.
The presentation hits close to home because Caitlin Jelley attended St. Charles College when she was killed. She would have graduated last year.
Students and Staff to Return to St. John School in Garson
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is pleased to announce that students and staff of St. John Catholic school on Second Avenue will be returning to their home on 181 William Street in Garson effective March 1, 2004. The move was announced following a “walk through”of the school by the Chairperson of the Catholic School Council, the school’s principal and representatives from the Catholic school council, teaching staff, Stantec, Health and Safety as well as the Facility Services Department of the Board on February 9, 2004.
“Although the official results regarding air and mould testing will not be ready until February 23, 2004, the Board has every reason to believe that the test results will be favourable and that the move will take place as planned on March 1,” stated Rossella Bagatto, Superintendent of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. Bagatto also reaffirmed that some renovations to the school are now complete which include new steel cladding, new windows on the entire older sections of the school and four large air exchangers to supply clean fresh air to all classrooms. Other renovations that may be needed will be completed in the near future. “The Board will be notifying students and parents regarding busing schedules as soon as possible. Now that all areas of concern have been addressed, we are looking forward to having our students and staff return to their home in Garson,”concluded Bagatto in the Board’s News Release.
St. Francis Students Celebrate the Month of Mary
During the month of May, grade 3 and 4 students from St. Francis Catholic Elementary School are celebrating the Month of Mary. Students are learning about Jesus’ mother Mary and the special role she had in His life. Each student was given their own rosary from their teacher, Ms. Graziella Visentin, to keep and use during daily morning prayers on the announcements and prayer after lunch in class. Students are developing an appreciation of the rosary as a special way of praying to God that honours Mary, the Mother of Jesus. As students recite the prayers of the rosary, students will reflect on certain stories in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The class is developing a greater awareness that Jesus will be with them in the joyful times of their lives and in times that are sorrowful. The events from the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries are reminders of this as students learn that the rosary can also be used to pray during Advent, Lent and during Ordinary Time in the liturgical year.
St. Charles College Student Takes Top Writing Prize and Becomes a Published Author
Emily McCarthy has worked tirelessly to take the top prize in The Learning Partnership’s Turning Points Essay Contest this year.
Each year, the essay contest forces students to explore their character development through the use of literacy.
McCarthy’s personal essay of 500-700 words reflects on how individuals deal with conflict in their lives and how that changes them to become different people.
She shared the story of her cousin who died in 2009 and how she went through a dark stage in her life. To overcome the darkness, she turned to her family and found a better relationship with God.
This is a first-time win for Emily and for her school, St. Charles College.
Ms. Lindsay Morris, her English teacher from first semester says “Emily deserves this honour. As a class, we did a lot of legwork to make the students really think about who they are inside. Emily did many drafts, and worked so hard to take each revision of her work seriously. I would give her tips and the next day she would come back with an entire re-write.”
Emily will receive a cheque and a plaque for all her hard work. She will also have her work formally published.
Mental Health – It Can No Longer Be Ignored
Students and staff at St. Charles Catholic School welcomed a great guest speaker: Paul Perry, Mental health nurse with CCAC and the SCDSB. They participated in an interesting session on anxiety and mental health. The information was delivered to students in grades 7 and 8, bringing messages of awareness, hope and where resources can be obtained.