During the month of April, St. James Catholic Elementary School held a “Daffodil Week” to raise money for cancer research. Students and staff brought in over $700! Pictured are members of the student council (C3) with teacher and campaign organizer Tammy Lanci, as they present the cheque to Cathy Burns, a representative from the Canadian Cancer Society.
Category: Character Development
St. Raphael Students Soar at Kiwanis
St. Raphael Catholic Elementary Life Skills students competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival this year. Living Rhythm, the name of the group, won a gold medal for their performance of the percussion ensemble piece “Earth Happiness” written by their musical director Jeff Stewart. They were notified recently that the group was also recommended for a second award. On Monday, April 14,2014, at the final concert of the Kiwanis Festival, they were given the Muriel E. Holford Memorial Award, a $75 award in the memory of Muriel E. Holford.
Muriel was a piano teacher near Ottawa in her younger years and staunch supporter of music festivals throughout her life. In the 1960s she played a huge role in the coordination of the Onaping-Levack Music Festival. She was always a strong supporter of the Kiwanis Music Festival in Sudbury. Her children all participated in the festival and, when she passed away she left a large sum of money to be given as yearly awards to the Kiwanis Festival. Mrs. Holford’s daughter assured the group that her mother would be very pleased to know that Living Rhythm won this award.
SCC Gets Movin’
Halle Berry, Salma Hayek, Nick Jonas of Jonas Brothers fame are just some celebrities living with diabetes.
On April 15, 2014, students at St. Charles College were educated by representatives of the Canadian Diabetes Association in preparation for the Sudbury Rocks!!! Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes on May 11th.
Afterwards, a $2500 cheque was presented to the Association on behalf of the students who are participating in the Mother’s Day run. In addition to training weekly, the students have also been collecting door-to-door pledges to support Diabetes research.
More than sixty Cardinal students and forty staff members will lace up their running shoes for the big race.
Teacher Chantal.Dagostino who is heading up the large pack of runners says “Many of our students are impacted by diabetes either individually or because a family member close to them suffers with the disease or has died from complications because of it. It just makes sense to educate this generation.”
St. Raphael Presented with $5000 Cheque and One Surprise to Support Lifeskills Students
International members from the United Commercial Travellers (UCT) were on hand at St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School on April 9 to present the Lifeskills class with a cheque for $5000. Several months earlier, teacher Elissa Zuliani decided to enter her Lifeskills class in a contest she had read about in one of the UCT catalogues. The contest was open to all North American schools who support students with intellectual disabilities. Zuliani put together a two minute video that showcased the exceptional qualities and values that her students possess. The final winner was to be decided by votes so, after a heated battle for first place with Eldon High School in Eldon, Missouri, the students at St. Raphael placed second.
Visibly moved during the presentation, Zuliani thanked the representatives from UCT International including the CEO of UCT –Joe Hoffman from Ohio as well as the International President of UCT – Bob Kellog from Michigan. Also on hand for the presentation were several members of the local UCT branch. Zuliani also thanked her fellow teachers, parent council members and all of the parents of her students. “We are so proud of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the Greater City of Sudbury for their votes of support,” Zuliani stated. “This was truly Sudbury at its best! I thank UCT for this incredible funding which will enhance their learning. I am overwhelmed both professionally and personally – it is not about the money, it is about the message –that people with disabilities are valuable members of society and it is our obligation to support them and to nurture them – mind, body and spirit”. The members of the local UCT decided to surprise the staff and students with an additional cheque for $2500 as they felt the students should have won first place. As well, the students were promised a pizza lunch in the upcoming days as part of the celebration. The money will go towards the purchase of technology to support the Lifeskills students in their ongoing learning.
St. Raphael Celebrates their “Hero”
St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School Students, staff and community partners were on hand to celebrate one of their own on Wednesday, April 9. Primary Lifeskills student Wii’um Morin was the honoured guest as he has been selected to be one of the Canadian Down syndrome heroes for 2014. The school wanted to show Wii’um how proud they were of him, and spoke of his outstanding character, creativity and loving spirit. Wii’um took it all in stride while sitting on the stage, and quietly listened as teacher Kelly Beaton spoke of his exceptional personality, and unique outlook on life.
“Spreading the Net” at St. Benedict
“Every minute a child dies from malaria – a preventable disease transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. Malaria kills more children than any other disease in Africa.”
As a Catholic community at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School, the students and staff wanted to work together to help find a solution to this problem. The students’ administrative council at St. Benedict CSS implemented a school-wide initiative and the school took on the challenge of “Spread the Net.” they joined Canadian icon Rick Mercer and thousands of other students across Canada to raise money for mosquito nets to fight malaria in Africa. Their goal was to raise $7500 to purchase 750 nets; enough to save as many as 1500 individuals (as each bed net may be used to protect 2 people for up to 3 years). This year, funds raised through the student challenge will help provide bed nets to families in Zimbabwe. The fundraiser was organized through the charity Plan Canada.
Students were involved in various activities, such as asking for pledges at home, canvassing neighbourhoods for community involvement, and holding in-school events to raise money. They were excited to get involved and work together to raise money to help others in need. Students especially enjoyed the in-school activities such as the dress down days and a teacher versus student volley ball game. By the end of the campaign, the school raised $8,844.75 and were ranked highly in the contest nationwide. The 63 participating schools across Canada raised over $170 000.
The students and staff wanted to say a special thanks to the team of students who volunteered countless hours into planning and organizing the campaign: Brendan Sullivan, Sara Lehman, Carlee Christie, Kathryn Kettle, Allie Stankiewicz, Elisa Bacik, and Matt Ierino. Finally, to teacher Meghan MacMillan who organized the students and encouraged them to do their best the students send a very special thank you for her time and effort in helping make this more successful than anyone had imagined. They all look forward to surpassing theirr goal next year!”
St. Andrew Receives Thanks
On Friday March 28th representatives from Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child visited the staff and students of St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School. The students were given first hand descriptions of “shoe boxes” reaching children in the third world. St. Andrew School has participated in this social justice endeavour for the past two years and intend on participating once again next December. Students and their families gather small gift itemsfor either a boy or girl and place them in a shoe box. PIctured is a proud Mrs. Henry (principal) and the two Samaritan Purse representatives as they give her a thank you plague to place in the school foyer.
BACCSS Celebrates World Wildlife Day
Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School students participated in a Global Project through the Hivees organization. In order to recognize the importance of March 3, the official World Wildlife Day, students created informational posters to spread awareness in the school about the issues surrounding the world’s flora and fauna. They then braved the cold to form the letters WWD, while holding up their posters. These photos were sent to Hivees who then compiled all pictures and videos globally into one compilation for the students to view.
St. James Community, Care and Culture Club Supports Fellow Student
The students at St. James Catholic Elementary School demonstrated the Catholic virtue of compassion recently. Logan Lariviere, a low vision student, travelled to Ottawa to be fitted for his new technological glasses. The “Community, Care and Culture” club choose to sell candy grams for Valentine’s Day and have a coin collection to help Logan and his parents purchase his much needed and expensive glasses. The whole school gave generously and, during our Olympic spirit day, Logan was presented with a cheque by teacher Tammy Lanci.