Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Category: Community

St. Ben’s Robotics Team Mentor Rookie BAC Team

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On November 14th, 2013, seven St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School students along with the teacher lead, Julianne Falconi, conducted grade level presentations to Bishop Alexander Carter students.

St. Benedict was the first school in the Catholic Board to participate in FIRST Robotics, an innovative competition that combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources, and time limits, teams are challenged to raise funds, hone teamwork skills, design, manufacture, and program robots to perform prescribed tasks againstt a field of competitors (www.usfirst.org). Last year, team ‘RoBenedicts’ attended a regional competition in Toronto as well as the World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri.

St. Benedict is excited to announce that there will be two new schools joining in on the robotics program: Bishop Alexander Carter and St. Charles College. St. Benedict will be mentoring and guiding these two teams throughout the off-season, robot build-season, and competitions. “We are happy to be mentoring other schools that are participating in FIRST Robotics. The experience is incredible and it’s exciting to see more people getting involved,” said Team Captain, Mark Abantao.

The goal of the presentation was to spark student interest and recruit members for the newly formed BAC team. Overall, it was very successful, and the St. Benedict students will be attending St. Charles on Monday November 25th.

In attendance from St. Benedict were Mark Abantao (Team Captain), Max Bennett and Brendan Sullivan (Engineering Leads), Elisa Basik and Francesco Modesto (Business Leads), Carter Bourette (Programming Lead), Owen Sarmatiuk (Strategy Lead), and Ms. Falconi (Teacher Lead).

St. James Students Winners in Community Writing Contest

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Local newspaper Walden Today held a writing contest for their students about helping the environment. St. James Catholic Elementary School was recently notified that four of their students were winners in the contest. In Gr. 2 Lucas Mullaly took First Prize, Gr. 4 Jackson Drigo took Third Prize, Gr. 6 Claire Niemelainen took Second Prize and Patricia Deschenes took Third Prize. The students will attend a formal celebration at Tom Davies Arena to receive their prizes. Congratulations Bears!

Students Teaching Students About Bullying

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Talking to or at students doesn’t always get an important message across to kids or teenagers.  That’s why students in the senior Leadership class at St. Charles College were in charge of this year’s grade 9 anti-bullying retreat.

 Grade 11 student Owen Krystia created a 40 minute highlight video featuring popular You Tube videos including Amanda Todd and Emily Osment who experienced cyber bullying.

 The students then reported to their second class of the day and discussed a series of value statements with the leadership students to generate discussion and debate relating to issues such as social media and bullying. 

 Teacher Beverley Belanger who teaches the Leadership class says “the students teaching students approach works because kids can relate better to each other and feel more comfortable when opening up especially with such a sensitive topic like bullying.  Just allowing the kids to watch this video is eye opening – there was not a dry eye in the house and no one needed reminders to be quiet.”

 Grade 9 students were also encouraged to sign an anti-bullying banner and to think twice the next time they find themselves in a situation where they have the choice to “stamp out bullying”. 

A Needle in a Haystack

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On Wednesday, November 20, 2013, St Paul witnessed a true expression of joy and family togetherness! Charli, a grade 2 student, came into the school after recess with a flood of tears…she had just lost a tooth somewhere in the school yard that had come out earlier in the day. However, this was not just any tooth, it was her First lost tooth!! Despite the incredible odds againstt finding the little tooth – like finding a needle in a haystack – teacher Tammy O’Shaughnessy’s Grade 7/8 French Immersion class set out with Charli back to the school yard in search of the prize. Sure enough, the tooth was found, and a great big smile back on Charli’s face….less one tooth of course!! Great job Panthers!!!

Shadow Day at Pius XII

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Brodie Dionne, a student at Pius XII from the Care and Development class was thrilled to have Isaac Oliveira, Grade 9 Bishop Alexander Carter Secondary School in his class on Nov. 6th for Shadow Day. Isaac shadowed his mom, Nancy Oliviera (Educational Assistant) for the day. Nancy states ‘I really do appreciate the opportunity to allow my son to shadow me at work. This allows me to share how interesting and exciting my day is working with these unique and special children”. During Shadow Day, Isaac was learning from Brodie how he communicates with his teacher, educational assistants and friends using his communication board. Isaac states “I loved working with the students and really enjoyed their great sense of humour. I had a great day at Pius XII and I hope to come back soon”.

St. David School Welcomes Bully Prevention Week in Partnership with a Message from Greater Sudbury Police Services

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On Monday November 18, all schools throughout Ontario are celebrating the start of Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week. This is a week to help promote safe schools and positive learning environments. During Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week, students, school staff and parents are all encouraged to learn more about bullying and its effect on student learning and well-being.

St. David Catholic School and the Greater Sudbury Police Services used the launch of this week to introduce students to the “THINK” bracelet. Special Constable Denise Fraser visits the students of St. David School on a weekly basis. Together with Greater Sudbury Police Services, St. David Catholic School has implemented a crime prevention and safety program to better support its students and their families. This program helps develop positive relationships between children and police, as well as provides access for students to reliable, accurate information about the law and how it protects them.

Through this program, Mrs. Fraser provides guidance and direction to students, parents and teachers as well as provides opportunities for students to form a better understanding of the role of a police officer in the community. The police liaison program’s topics include: bullying awareness and prevention, street safety, drug and alcohol education, internet safety, cyber crime and law awareness.

This week, the THINK program was introduced. The THINK program is a program sponsored by the Greater Sudbury Police Service. Each student was give a bracelet with the word “THINK” on it.

According to Mrs. Fraser, “we want children to THINK when they are addressing someone or talking to someone about someone. The first letter is T which stands for true. Truth is very important. If what a student is saying is not true and based on gossip it is not worth saying in the first place.
The next letter is H. H stands for hurtful. We are stressing to all students that they need to ensure their words are not hurtful to others. Calling someone names or gossiping about them hurts their feelings. I stands for illegal. Be aware of your actions. Words can be spoken verbally or electronically. On Facebook, twitter or in a text it is it illegal to threaten someone. Ask yourself, is what I am saying illegal? Is it defamation?
The N stands for is it really necessary. Life is too short. We should spend our precious seconds during the day doing things that bring joy and happiness to ourselves and others. Finally, K stands for kindness. Let’s start being kind to each other so that we can erase the bullying that exists in our schools.”

The students of St. David Catholic Elementary School embraced Mrs. Fraser’s message and proudly wore their THINK bracelets throughout the day. They hope all schools embrace Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week and start to live by the THINK bracelet motto.

St. Benedict Remembers

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On Monday, November 11th, the staff and students at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School paused to remember the thousands of men and women who fought and who fought and died, defending Canada. Using the monthly virtue of Justice as a theme, the students were invited to consider the connection between Justice and Peace. Without Justice there can be no Peace. There were poignant songs to remind the school community that even though the brave have fallen, we will see them again one day and we will have the opportunity to say “Thank You”. The school’s librarian, MaryBeth. Miller, read “In Flanders Fields”, which has a special significance for her as she is related to the author, Col. John McCrae. Through prayer and song, the entire school community offered thanks for the bravery of our Canadian Forces for the gift of freedom won for us on distant battlefields. To conclude the service, as students departed they were invited to place their poppy on the “Justice” banner between the crosses, as in the poem “In Flanders Fields”.”

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