An emergency meeting was called by St. Charles College Native Studies Student President Natasha Cooper Lewis when she heard about the housing crisis in Attawapiskat. “I really wanted to help the Cree people in their time of need and I turned to the students for help,” said Natasha. The students decided to have wristband bracelets made that say “Gada Gawek’seg” and “Quay Ska Tiss See” which is Ojibway and Cree for “Be the Change”. The wristbands are being sold for $2 each at the school and by students in the community with all proceeds going to the Red Cross, earmarked for Attawapiskat. Grade 9 student, Beth Baxter from Moose Factory, ON, was grateful her classmates were willing to help be the change in a community her family is connected to on the James Bay coast. “I’m happy that my school wants to help out the people of Attawapiskat and that they liked our Cree translation so much that they put it on a bracelet. It’s a very powerful statement to make,” believes Beth.
Category: St. Charles College
St. Bernadette and St. Charles College Partner for Very Special Project
St. Charles College student, Jamie Rieux and Grade 1 student Mia Woodbury at St. Bernadette Catholic School are working together to complete a very special project: a reproduction of the manager where Baby Jesus was born. This is a yearly tradition between the two schools in which older student is paired off with a younger partner to create a beautiful replica manger which students are so proud to bring home and share with their families.
SCC Mock Trial Team Learning from the Best
Students from the St. Charles College mock trial team had the opportunity on December 14 to work with Honourable Patirica C. Hennessy, a judge of the Superior Court of Justice. SCC teacher Jaime Sauve was contacted by Hennessy’s office to see if her students wanted the chance to work with Hennessy. Sauve immediately said yes as she knew that this was an amazing opportunity for her students to build on their law experience. Honourable Hennessy then visited the students to help facilitate a discussion on careers in law, as well as coach the students on how to conduct themselves professionally and courteously in court. These students were the City’s Mock Trial Champions at last year’s competition.
Victory for the St. Charles Boys’ Hockey Team
The boy’s Senior Hockey team won the Nippissing District Association tournament in North Bay on the weekend of December 2-4th.
The boys had a round robin record of 2-0-1 which gave them a birth in the quarter finals versus the Scollard Hall Bears. The boys won the game 6-4 which lead to a semi-final game versus the Franco Cite Patriotes. S.C.C. won the game 4-1 which gave the team a feeling of retribution over a finals loss to the Patriotes in the recent Lively tournament. The win gave the team a birth in the finals versus St. Mary’s Eagles from Kitchener. This was the team that the Cards had tied in round robin play.
The Cards were tied 1-1 after one period and 2-2 after two periods. Zach Belanger scored with just over 5 minutes to play to win the game and bring home the championship!
Belanger lead the team with 13 points in the tournament, earning MVP honours. Trevor Bedard also had twelve points to help seal the victory.
Welcome to the North Pole
The Student Council at St. Charles College hosted a North Pole day December 8th. The students were invited to get into the holiday spirit with a North Pole inspired dress down day. The student body was a sea of red, green and white.
Cardinal Takes on Lead Role in Popular Production
Dante Falcioni, a grade 9 student at St. Charles College will be taking centre stage next week. Dante is the lead role in Cambrian Theatre’s Kid’s Curtain production of Footloose which gets underway December 8th.
Dante will play main character Ren. The high school student must move from Chicago to a small farming town and re-adjust to life at a new school. Dante says he can relate in some ways to the character as he is just entering his first year of high school and had to transition to a new school himself.
Dante has been involved in Cambrian Theatre productions for a number of years. His good friend and school mate Jenna Daypuk will also be joining him on stage as Rusty. Jenna says the two get involved in local theatre because “they learn a lot and have fun while doing it.”
The Footloose production goes until December 17th.
Choosing Post Secondary Schools from an Aboriginal Lens
November 10th, 2011 – Aboriginal students at St. Charles College took part in a university and college fair on November 10 in the school gymnasium. The information sessions allowed students to choose their post secondary options with the help of each school’s Aboriginal Recruitment Officer. There were twenty-two post secondary institutions from across the province taking part.
The event was arranged by the school’s Native Studies department. Native Studies teacher Jennifer Petahtegoose has been organizing the event for the last three years. She says students from grades 10 to 12 are being included.
Melvin Peltier, a Native Student Recruitment Officer with Sault College says, “Aboriginal students don’t always go to the big university and college information nights. These students much prefer a small setting and more of a one-on-one experience.”
St. Charles College Student Hoping his Music Goes Viral
Two years ago, Brandon Langella found his niche. He started high school and when he wasn’t doing school work, he began making music on his home computer. Brandon discovered he had a knack for drumming up beats and writing the lyrics to go along with them. Next week (Nov. 7), the grade 11 student at St. Charles College is unveiling his latest song, “Video Star” in video format on YouTube. The audio file is already available on ITunes, along with two of his previous releases. He collaborated with Toronto artist Dreams Brown for the video and song. Brandon is known as DJ Gella in music circles. He’s also recently joined forces with another Toronto artist named Rebecca Nazz – to form a group called The Futuristics. DJ Gella says his parents have been very supportive of his musical aspirations and for that he plans on giving back to his community. “I want to open a local recording studio in collaboration with my parents to make it easier for people my age to produce music.” His musical prospects have also forced Langella to explore music as a career option after high school. For now, he is focused on AAA hockey and looks forward to hearing himself on one of the local radio stations.
Representing and Honouring Culture
On Friday, October 28th, Maclean’s 2011 Universtiy Rankings hit newstands. On that same day, Kelly Nootchtai, St Benedict’s Class of 2009, visited a Native Studies class at St. Charles College to talk about the importance of making good choices and Aboriginal Education. This is significant because Kelly is on the cover of this issue. She is a third year Native Studies and Philosophy student at Laurentian University and understands the value of a good education. She talks fondly of her years in elementary school taking Ojibwe classes at St James. Kelly looked forward to continuing the language program at the secondary level but, it wasn’t until her graduating year that St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School was able to offer any Native Studies programming. Kelly talked about how lucky the students are to have Native Studies as an option and having great teachers like St. Charles College teacher Jennifer Petahtegoose. Both Kelly and Ms. Petahtegoose are members of Atikameksheng Anishinawbek (formerly Whitefish Lake First Nation near Naughton). Students listening to Kelly’s message were inspired and felt a sense of cultural pride. Ms. Petahtegoose stated “As a community member we are very proud of Kelly’s accomplishments and as an Anishinaabe educator I am always looking for positive First Nation, Metis and Inuit role models. Kelly has overcome obstacles to get where she is today and we are proud that she is one of our graduates and can share her story to inspire those coming up behind her.” After the talk, Kelly signed covers of the magazine and Ms Petahtegoose served homemade cookies and cedar tea.