Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Category: Character Development

St. Charles Cards on Annual Mission to Fill Sudbury Food Bank Shelves

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This week, students at St. Charles began visits to feeder schools to get students amped up and motivated about this year’s food drive.

The goal is to raise 60, 000 cans for the Sudbury Food Bank, along with support from its feeder schools – St. David’s, Holy Trinity, Pius XII, St. John and St. Paul schools. 

The food drive began almost thirty years ago with the student council at the time initiating the drive.  Founder, Jim Szilva continues to help the school each year with the annual mission.  The school is also supported by Kiss 105.3 and Q host Melanie Dahl on the airways.

In the past, donations from St.Charles College each fall have made for the largest single donation in Sudbury Food Bank history.

The drive wraps up on October 27th when final results will be tabulated and unveiled at the assembly.

Seven Year Partnership Continues in their Support of the Community

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St. David Catholic School welcomed community partners into their school to support the planning of a local conference on Cultural Safety and how First Nation culture is shared and promoted. The Best Start Aboriginal Hub’s Agency Advisory Committee, which includes the Child and Family Centre, the Metis Nation of Ontario, Aboriginal People’s Alliance of Northern Ontario, N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre and the Jubilee Aboriginal Daycare were all at the table to plan the November 20th interagency conference on Cultural Standards in Our Community. According to Jim Eshkawkogan, program manager, “We all have a responsibility to share the culture in the inclusive way it was intended.”
St. David Catholic School and the Aboriginal Best Start Hub have had a 7 year partnership supporting the needs of the community. It is through positive partnerships, with an emphasis on relationship building, that continues to be the foundation of student success and well-being both within the school and the community.

Grades 7 to 12 Cardinals Celebrate Mass All Together as One

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The St. Charles College student body grew by more than two hundred this fall when grades 7 and 8 students were introduced into the campus mix. 

On Thursday, September 17, 2015, students celebrated their first mass together in the gymnasium with Father Jim Ketzler of St. John the Evangelist in Garson presiding.   

Under the direction of teacher Shannon Coyle, the new 7-12 choir helped to beautify the mass with their voices.

Students from the senior boys’ football team helped with the procession and the Prayers of the Faithful.

“Why Yes, it’s HAT DAY at St. David School!”

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September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This is a great time for schools and families to create awareness about pediatric cancers.

St. David Catholic Elementary School started its year off right with a fun-filled HAT DAY at the end of the first week of school. The students and staff wore crazy hats and ball caps during the school day to emotionally and financially support a former student battling synovial sarcoma cancer. Students donated funds for the privilege of wearing their hats during the school day. The school raised almost $400.00 to help provide support for the family. The school would like to publicly thank everyone who participated in this event!

Dylan Fay, a former St. David student, now a St. Charles College grade 8 student, was diagnosed this summer with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. His family spent most of the summer at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. This fall, Dylan will be going back and forth from Sick Kids to the Sudbury Cancer Center for treatment. During the month of September, St. David School will continue to support the Fay family through pray and fundraising efforts. “It is important that we support our school families in every way possible. We are asking for donations to support Dylan’s family during this time, but more importantly we are praying for his full recovery. We know every little bit counts and want to provide as much support as possible — in any form they need.” stated Lindsay Michel, kindergarten teacher at St. David School.

Summer Camp with a Spin

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This year, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board is running a three week summer camp for students in grades 1-5 until July 24th. As well as offering programming for literacy and numeracy, there is also an Aboriginal Art and Literacy camp, which is designed to include literacy games and activities with culturally relevant curriculum including the Seven Grandfather teachers, Métis history, culture and the Pow Wow experience. All three programs are infused with technology and are geared to meet the students’ individual needs. What gives this summer camp its unique spin is that the board was able to hire some of its own students as youth counsellors. These counsellors are given the opportunity to learn as well, while getting on the job experience working with the younger students. Some of these students are currently enroled in the SCDSB Peace program. The PEACE program, which stands for Personalized, Experiential, Alternative, Catholic Education, is an alternative program for secondary students who are disengaged, on a long term suspension or expulsion, or are behind in credit accumulation. The students learn techniques to overcome obstacles all while earning credits towards their secondary school diploma and are supported with their social and emotional needs, and learn how to give back to the community through community partnerships. “We are so fortunate that the Ministry of Education was able to fund this program allowing for our students to gain on the job experience,” Christina Raso, Special Education consultant for the SCDSB stated. “These elementary students enroled in our programming are having so much fun with all of their hands-on learning, and our students who have been hired as counsellors are really gaining great work experience that they will be able to take with them to their next job opportunity.”
The camp currently has 95 students enroled with 6 teachers, 6 student tutors, 8 youth counsellors. The students also get 45 minutes of physical activity a day with 6 taekwondo instructors teaching the students.

Saying Goodbye at St. Andrew

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St. Andrew School staff and students said good bye to Mrs. Lesia Sawkiw (resource teacher) and Mrs. Melody Henry (principal) on Wednesday June 24th. A beautiful farewell prayer service was led by all the teaching staff. The two retirees were gifted with roses, homemade cards and a beautiful painting that incorporated a thumbprint of each student from the school. Pictured are Rachel Walker, Mrs. Sawkiw, Mrs. Henry and Joe Gouchie.

Bears in Action

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Mr. Geoffrey Lougheed spoke to the Gr.9 Religion classes at St. Benedict during Catholic Education Week. After his visit the grade 9 Religion students became inspired to do one more thing before the end of the school year; and that was to raise some money for the Sudbury Food Bank. One thing that stood out to us during his presentation was that the Food Bank does not get a lot of donations during the summer months because school is out and families are on vacation. So after 7 weeks of bringing in money along with a pizza day fundraiser, the students in Ms. Skelly, Mrs. Adler and Ms. Dowdall’s classes were extremely proud to present a cheque to Mr. Lougheed on Friday, June 19th for $654.05. We hope that this will bring some comfort to the families in need this summer.

Cards Shine at Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Fair

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Students who are part of the Paul Martin Aboriginal Initiative at St. Charles College were given a task first semester – develop a business by finding a niche in the market. Second semester, they massaged the plan by creating a sound business plan.

The teachers of the program, Paola Gutscher and Jason Michelutti mentored the students and provided them with educational outings tailored to their plan.

The outcome was tremendous – fish hatchery business, a T-Comics (Tribal Comics) company, a business that caters to seniors to assist with cooking and lawn care and the list goes on.

The program is geared towards Aboriginal students interested in business and will run again next year.

Two SCDSB Students Named to Minister’s Student Advisory Council

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The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is pleased to announce that two SCDSB secondary students have been selected to be a part of the Minister’s Student Advisory Council- TiCarra Paquet from Marymount Academy and Laura Rinaldi from St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School.

According to the Ministry of Education’s press release, “Students who serve on the Minister’s Advisory Council have many responsibilities. The council meets with (Minister of Education Liz Sandals) twice during the terms and each member is required to participate in at least one regional student forum.

The council also provides:
– ongoing student perspectives, advice, recommendations, and consultations on the Ministry of Education’s policies, programs and practices;
– advice and feedback on the activities more specifically related to the ministry’s student engagement activities; and
– feedback on student-focused communication strategies and products, such as websites, brochures, pamphlets and video clips.
Council members also have many opportunities for leadership and skills development. During their term they learn about strategic planning and the formation of government policy, programs and practices. They also use on-line surveys and other communication strategies to engage their peers and raise awareness about programs and services available for Ontario students.”

Jody Cameron, Chair of the Board states, “On behalf of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, we would like to congratulate both TiCarra and Laura for showing initiative and leadership, and we know that they will make us proud representing the voice of our students and our board provincially.”

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