To prepare for this year’s Catholic Education Week theme, “Exploring Paths of Joy”, St. Charles Catholic Elementary School students created their own unique footprint to symbolize their personal journey within our school community. The footprints were put together by Mme Bouzane’s class to make a giant quilt!
Students in all grades enjoy walking past the mural to admire the many patterns and designs and to find their own!
From April 21-23, the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario held their annual conference in Toronto and celebrated the 2015 Principal of the Year Awards. Patty Mardero, Principal of St. Charles College was one of the five chosen in the province to be honoured this year.
Principal of S.C.C. for the past 11 years, Mardero began her teaching career 28 years earlier in Renfrew County. The next several years saw her teaching, as a vice principal, and as a principal at several Sudbury Catholic elementary schools including St. Francis, Sacred Heart, St. Theresa, St. Charles Elementary and Marymount Academy. In 2004 she became the first female principal of the former all-boys’ secondary school – St. Charles College. According to the CPCO release. “Patty believes in the power of service and strives to promote this with her students. In her first year at St. Charles College, the school collected 25,000 cans for the Sudbury Food Bank. Now it collects more than 100,000 cans – the largest, single donation to the Sudbury Food Bank. The school also raises over $10,000 yearly for missions, and sponsors 8 children from third world countries.”
According to Mardero, she is “very humbled to be recognized by Catholic Principals’ Ontario for this award. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so many dedicated principals and vice principals committed to making a difference in the lives of the students we serve. I thank the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for allowing me the opportunity to teach, lead and grow. I appreciate their support and faith in me over the past 26 years.”
“On behalf of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, I would like to say how proud we are of Patty Mardero,” Jody Cameron, Chair of the Board for the SCDSB stated. “She truly exemplifies a strong Catholic leader and we are so fortunate to have her in our schools supporting and mentoring our staff, as well as nurturing our students to be future leaders.”
Life Skills Primary/Junior students at St. Francis Catholic Elementary School were very excited to work on their ‘Path of Joy’ Project. When the students were asked ‘What are some of God’s creations that you will find when you go for a walk on the path?’, the students shouted out answers such as ants, ladybugs, flowers, and birds. ‘The students had a fantastic time creating the artwork for their display; listening and singing to music and a few even took a break between crafts and started dancing. It is a joy to see the children engaged and having fun while learning – that’s what it’s all about’ says Tina Timpano, Vice-Principal. The students, staff and parents love the beautiful artwork display that ‘brightens up the stairwell with joy’ during Catholic Education Week.
From April 21-23, the Catholic Principals Council of Ontario held their annual conference in Toronto and celebrated the 2015 Principal of the Year Awards. Patty Mardero, Principal of St. Charles College was one of the five chosen in the province to be honoured this year.
Principal of S.C.C. for the past 11 years, Mardero began her teaching career 28 years earlier in Renfrew County. The next several years saw her teaching, as a vice principal, and as a principal at several Sudbury Catholic elementary schools including St. Francis, Sacred Heart, St. Theresa, St. Charles Elementary and Marymount Academy. In 2004 she became the first female principal of the former all-boys’ secondary school – St. Charles College. According to the CPCO release. “Patty believes in the power of service and strives to promote this with her students. In her first year at St. Charles College, the school collected 25,000 cans for the Sudbury Food Bank. Now it collects more than 100,000 cans – the largest, single donation to the Sudbury Food Bank. The school also raises over $10,000 yearly for missions, and sponsors 8 children from third world countries.”
According to Mardero, she is “very humbled to be recognized by Catholic Principals’ Ontario for this award. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so many dedicated principals and vice principals committed to making a difference in the lives of the students we serve. I thank the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for allowing me the opportunity to teach, lead and grow. I appreciate their support and faith in me over the past 26 years.”
“On behalf of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, I would like to say how proud we are of Patty Mardero,” Jody Cameron, Chair of the Board for the SCDSB stated. “She truly exemplifies a strong Catholic leader and we are so fortunate to have her in our schools supporting and mentoring our staff, as well as nurturing our students to be future leaders.”
During Catholic Education Week, St. John Catholic Elementary School students in Mrs. Vendramin’s grade 1 social studies class enjoyed a visit from Constable Coluzzi. The police officer was asked to answer some questions that the students developed together before having an opportunity to sit in the Greater Sudbury Police’s brand new dodge charger. Students learned the value of having police officers as one of our community partners.
The St. Bernadette Catholic School Choir, led by Mme Begic, practice a song over the morning announcements. They performed for the Catholic Youth Day mass celebrated at St. Andrew the Apostle Church. They sang the theme song for Catholic Education Week, “Exploring Paths of Joy.”
The St. Charles Catholic Elementary school community came together to pray the Living Rosary to kick off Catholic Education Week 2015. Students in grades 6, 7 and 8 made up the individual beads of the rosary, surrounding the remaining students with the peaceful prayer.
The word rosary means “crown of roses”. Our Lady has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary they are giving Her a beautiful rose and that each complete rosary makes Her a crown of roses. The Holy Rosary is considered a perfect prayer because within it lies the awesome story of our salvation. With the rosary, in fact we meditate the mysteries of joy, of sorrow and the glory of Jesus and Mary. It’s a simple prayer, humble so much like Mary. The heavenly Mother has invited us to say the Rosary as a powerful weapon againstt evil, to bring us to true peace.
It started over a series of text messages between students one evening. The question arose “how can we, as young people be instruments of change in the world?” Jordan Bates-Wright used that question to spearhead a World Issues Committee at the school level.
Bates-Wright, a St. Charles College student who is serving as President of the club is starting big with the launch of a website and a charity gala that she hopes will continue year after year. She says “I started this because I was concerned that young people don’t care about events happening in the world and wanted to do something impactful.”
The “Change” charity gala will promote some of Sudbury’s locally run non-profit organizations in an effort to raise awareness and showcase their mission.
The gala will take place on May 29th between 5:30-9:30 p.m. at the Croatian Centre. Tickets are $30 and include a meal. Money raised will be split by the charities in attendance.
Bates-Wright says given the circumstances happening in Nepal right now with the earthquake, they hope to add a Red Cross element to the night.
For tickets or more information, please contact the school at (705)566-9605.
Assistant Deputy Minister Janine Griffore and Nicole McAllister, Education Officer visited St. Albert Learning Centre on April 22, 2015 to look at a unique program happening with students enroled in the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s PEACE program.
The PEACE program, which stands for Personalized, Experiential, Alternative, Catholic Education, is an alternative program for for secondary students who are disengaged, on a long term suspension or expulsion, behind in credit accumulation and have social/emotional issues. 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.
At the end of last year, a proposal was submitted by staff, to bring in a project that would allow these students some hands on learning, and gain business experience. The Peace Pen program was born. The purpose of the Peace Pen program is to help the students to thrive in a non-traditional classroom setting. Through this project, the students earn credits by participating in different aspects of a school run business venture.
The “business” offers promotion materials to our board. The Peace Pen project involves the fabrication of customized, hand-made, one-of-a-kind wooden pens presented in engraved boxes. After purchasing a wood lathe and laser engraver, the class purchased special pen kits. Each pen, when complete, includes a written description of the program, signed by the student who created it. As well, it includes a description of the wood used for that particular pen.
This project has already blossomed into an engraving business as well, with requests coming in from the school board for specific engraving pieces used throughout the schools and buildings. Students are involved in different aspects of the Peace Pen project such as marketing, accounting, promotion and communication, inventory and production. According to Michel Grandmont, the board’s secondary consultant who supports the class, “This contextualized approach to meeting curriculum expectations makes it real for students. They are actually operating a small enterprise, all the while meeting the different curriculum expectations,” explained Grandmont. “Depending on the tasks and activities the student is involved in, he or she will earn credits by meeting overall expectations in several secondary courses such as mathematics, business, entrepreneurship, marketing, and English.”
The students divide up the tasks such as production and the development of promotional materials such as brochures, website and the creation of an instructional video. One of the students involved in the program, Jessica Blais, was given the task of explaining to their Ministry of Education guests, the Peace program, the Peace Pen project, and how much both have changed her life. “Working with Peace Pens has forced me to leave my comfort zone and face my fear of talking to people,” Blais explains. “Once I overcame my fear, I felt like I could do anything I set my mind to. This small classroom business is teaching us valuable life lessons while we work toward achieving our diploma, which I now see in the near future. I am very grateful for this second chance.”
