It was a celebratory Monday at St. Charles College recently. The girls’ junior and senior volleyball teams competed at NOSSA and brought home not one BUT TWO championship banners.
The junior team beat the Sault’s Superior Heights Steelhawks to take the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA junior girls title.
Head coach Julie Dion told her team to remain positive as they are always a team that works well at coming from behind and they did.
The senior team also took the AAA senior girls volleyball title after beating out the Korah Colts with their strong offense and defence.
Both teams advanced to the Ontario Federation of School Athletics Associations (OFSAA) AAA championships held in Windsor March 3rd to the 6th.
Category: Community
The Science of Flight Takes Off at St. Anne Catholic School
On February 14th 2013, Mrs. Troscinski’s Grade 6 class at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School took part in a Science North e-Workshop: UP! Discovering Flight in the comfort of their own classroom.
The e-Workshop was delivered to the classroom from Science North via Skype where students had an opportunity to interact, design, and build the basic structure of an airfoil (airplane wing) and make use of it during a live e-workshop.
Students had two pre-workshops prior to the lesson and will be having a post workshop where they will extend their experience by designing and building hot-air balloons.
It was a great experience for the class to gain a greater understanding of the science of flight!
Second Annual “Dragon’s Den” a Hit at St. Anne Catholic School
Recently, students in grade 8 at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Hanmer participated in their annual “Dragon’s Den” science fair and became inventors for the day. Grade 8 students displayed their inventions for the entire school community to view and ten groups were selected to present their inventions to the panel of Dragons in the afternoon. The dragons consisted of Guy Mathieu, Principal of St. Anne Catholic Elementary School, Jennifer Connelly, Curriculum Coordinator at Sudbury Catholic Schools, Kirk McKee, teacher at Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School, and Ms. McNicoll, registered nurse and community member.
Students worked extremely hard over the past 3 weeks planning, constructing, interviewing, testing, and marketing their new inventions. Their final products demonstrated the development and evaluation of innovative devices, models, techniques and approaches in technology and engineering. With the help of their teachers Julie Caissie, Jody O’Daiskey, and Jules Guenette, students integrated several technologies, inventions, or designs and constructed technological systems that could have human and commercial benefits.
St. Anne Angels created highly original products that demonstrated resourcefulness and creativity in design. Some of the top products were the “Purf”, created by Robyn Gagne and Coral Brabant, which transforms a scarf to a purse, as well as the “Kibble Katcher”, created by Alexander Gardner, which helps keep pet food from being scattered across the floor. The Sudbury Catholic District School Board will be holding a board wide science fair on March 6th, and seven projects from St. Anne Catholic School in Hanmer will be among those featured.
ST. BENEDICT ALUMNI CHALLENGE SENIOR BASKETBALL TEAMS IN THRILLING DISPLAY OF SCHOOL HISTORY
On February 20th, St. Benedict C.S.S. hosted an ‘Alumni vs. Student’ Basketball Game in conjunction with the St. Benedict Alumni Association to raise awareness and funds for an upcoming Reunion event in 2015. The basketball event was also a way to celebrate the success of past graduates and the rich 20 year history of the school. The school’s very first reunion will commemorate the first 20 years of graduates from its initial graduating class of 1999/2000, to those graduating in 2010.
The proceeds of this buyout event for the students went to the St. Benedict Alumni Association, who is working with the school and various individuals throughout the community, to organize a number of fundraising events over the next few years in anticipation of the upcoming reunion. With a final score of 58 to 36, fans were on the edge of their seats from start to finish. After the game, the alumni took time to speak with the current generation of students and staff about their experiences at St. Benedict C.S.S., their ambitions after graduating, and their chosen career paths and goals.
The mission of the St. Benedict Alumni Association is to promote a strong relationship between alumni and the school, to promote a sense of pride among alumni and current students, as well as establish and nurture mutually beneficial relationships with other alumni, students, and the community.
They are working diligently on many upcoming events and are looking for volunteers, donations, and sponsors. If you wish to participate, “Like” them on Facebook at Facebook.com/stbenedictcssalumni or e-mail st.benedict.reunion@hotmail.com.
Provincial Funding for St. Charles College Will Make the School an Even Safer Campus of Excellence
Provincial Member of Parliament Rick Bartolucci announced 3.3 million dollars in funding today for the St. Charles College campus.
Bartolucci made the announcement at the school citing the improvements will help create an even safer environment.
Sudbury Catholic Board Chair, Jody Cameron says the money will be used to build an administration area on the main floor of the school. Currently the office is situated upstairs on the second level, which is not ideal.
St. Charles College is expected to be a busy hub of activity with a new JK-grade 6 Catholic elementary school also being built in the vicinity.
St. Charles College is widely known for its academics and athletics. This year, the school won NOSSA girls’ and boys’ hockey titles, as well as volleyball and curling titles. The school also won the city Mock Trial Championships this year.
Principal Patty Mardero says “great things are happening at St. Charles College and now beautiful things are to come.”
Board Chair Jody Cameron says construction is expected to begin in May of this year.
Practice Pays Off at Pius XII
Nicholas Groulx is a student who is currently in the Care and Development classroom at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School. He has multiple disabilities and one of them affects the way he walks. Everyday Nicholas comes to school on a wheelchair, and at school, he practices his walking skills by walking the halls with the assistance of a walker. Just this month, Nicholas has proved that the age old saying that “practice pays off” is indeed true. Pius XII staff and students awarded Nicholas for his huge accomplishment — he has progressed so well with his walking that he no longer needs the use of his wheelchair or his walker! Nicholas’ wheelchair has been donated to Motion Specialties, a home health care equipment supplier. The wheelchair will come in handy for another individual who will require the chair.
On Your Mark, Get Set… Let the Winter Outdoor Adventure Race Begin!
The scene was set for a perfect Winter Outdoor Adventure Race on Tuesday, February 26, 2013. The sky was clear, the temperature was above zero – and most importantly, there was a lot of snow in Killarney. Compared to past years, this year’s event had more than enough snow for organizer and outdoor education teacher for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, Brad Blackwell, to really focus the adventure race activities on true Northern Ontario winter activities.
“This was our third year running the Winter Outdoor adventure race – and, as compared to year’s past, the abundance of snow allowed us to set up some true northern outdoor programming as part of the race,” Blackwell said. “We wanted to ensure that all of the students taking part got a real feel for adventures in the snow, and how to not only survive it, but excel and have fun in it!”
This year’s race participants included secondary students from St. Charles College, St. Benedict and Marymount Academy. There were fifteen teams of three and each team had to take part in every leg of the race. Upon arrival in Killarney, the students were given race packets and instructions, and were quickly directed to the outdoor start location. Once the rules were established and all safety aspects reviewed, the students lined up to begin the first part of a seven-part challenge. The entire race included a strategic stick toss, a snow-pile build (a scaled-down version of a quinzee), a 1.13 km sprint, a 750 run in snowshoes, a Frisbee target toss, a strategic orienteering challenge and a fire-lighting trial.
The snowshoe run, the orienteering challenge and the fire-lighting components proved to be the most difficult part of the race for the participants. The orienteering section was tricky as any wrong answers on their check sheet resulted in penalties of an additional five minutes added on to their final time at the finish line. Once the snowshoes were on, they had to stay on throughout the orienteering section of the race and the students were only able to remove them once they began their fire challenge. With the fire challenge, the students were given minimal materials to start their fire, and the ultimate goal was to get a metal can of water to come to a complete boil before sprinting to the finish line. In order to get additional materials for the fire, the students had to do a different number of laps around a section of the forest depending on what materials were needed – whether it be more kindling, extra matches, etc.
In the end, one of the teams from St. Benedict was the first to cross the finish line and, despite some errors during the orienteering challenge, they beat the next team by a mere 25 seconds. This team consisted of Kyle Herbert (grade 10), Doug Pitfield (grade 12) and Kayla Huchenski (grade 12). Not only did the first place team take home the banner for their school, but were also each awarded a brand new set of Tubbs snowshoes that were generously donated to the race by the Tubbs Snowshoe Company. What happened after the team was presented with their prize, speaks volumes about the outstanding character of the Sudbury Catholic students. Both Kyle Herbert and Doug Pitfield thanked the organizers for their prize, but as their families are fortunate to already own several pairs, decided to donate the snowshoes back to their school to support the outdoor education program at St. Benedict. “This most generous gesture by these two students really capped off what was already a truly exceptional day,” Blackwell stated. “These students poured their heart and soul into this competition, and in the end they proudly represented their school both during and after the race! All of the students that competed today truly represent the positive Sudbury Catholic spirit and I congratulate each and every one of them for an outstanding job! As well, I thank all of the teachers and volunteers who helped made today such a success!”
After a hearty lunch provided by the organizers, students began to get ready for departure, but were overheard by the teachers and volunteers already strategizing for the next outdoor adventure race in the spring.
Practice Pays Off at Pius XII
Nicholas Groulx is a student who is currently in the Care and Development classroom at Pius XII. He has multiple disabilities and one of them affects the way he walks. Everyday Nicholas comes to school on a wheelchair, and at school, he practices his walking skills by walking the halls with the assistance of a walker. Just this month, Nicholas has proved that the age old saying that “practice pays off” is indeed true. Pius XII staff and students awarded Nicholas for his huge accomplishment — he has progressed so well with his walking that he no longer needs the use of his wheelchair or his walker! Nicholas’ wheelchair has been donated to Motion Specialties, a home health care equipment supplier. The wheelchair will come in handy for another individual who will require the chair.
Photo:
Pius XII Care and Development student, Nicholas Groulx, stands proudly next to his wheelchair as he donates his wheelchair to Mindy Grant from Motion Specialties, a home health care equipment supporter.
Practice Pays Off at Pius XII
Nicholas Groulx is a student who is currently in the Care and Development classroom at Pius XII. He has multiple disabilities and one of them affects the way he walks. Everyday Nicholas comes to school on a wheelchair, and at school, he practices his walking skills by walking the halls with the assistance of a walker. Just this month, Nicholas has proved that the age old saying that “practice pays off” is indeed true. Pius XII staff and students awarded Nicholas for his huge accomplishment — he has progressed so well with his walking that he no longer needs the use of his wheelchair or his walker! Nicholas’ wheelchair has been donated to Motion Specialties, a home health care equipment supplier. The wheelchair will come in handy for another individual who will require the chair.