Congratulations to all of the students, coaches, teams and supporters who participated in the Bears Classic Girls Elementary Basketball Tournament recently.
The results are as follows:
Bronze – Marymount “A”
Silver – St. Raphael
Gold – St. Denis
All-Star Selections
St. Raphael – #6 Taylor Mcnab
St. Raphael – #10 Emily Herljac
St. Raphael – #11 Taylor Portelance
Recently, St. Charles College had a fundraiser for the Breast cancer equipment fund and raised $500 in one day. The students dress in Red and Pink and donated a loonie to support this cause. The ladies of Angels in Pink also made cupcakes which they sold at lunch time and more more money for the cause. Organizer and S.C.C. teacher Paola Gutcher felt that this was a great opportunity to show students how important it is to give back to the community and was proud of the support shown by the school.
St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School invites prospective grade 8 students and their families to attend an Information Evening Tuesday, Feb. 15th beginning at 7:00 pm.
Students exemplify many of the programs offered at St. Benedict. The school is promoting their “Getting Connected” program encouraging academic use of wireless technology, Specialist High Skills Major in Environmental Science, competitive extra-curricular sports, French immersion, and Native Studies, as well as students participating in numerous Dual Credits programs at Cambrian College and Laurentian University. For additional
information visit [ http://www.benedict.c ]www.benedict.ca or contact (705) 523-9235.
St. Benedict football player Erick Lessard will be playing in the GTA all-star football game on Sat April 17th at McMaster University. Lessard, who attended an evaluation camp during the Bears bye week, made the Greater Toronto Area top 100 list. Although he had an early injury in another mini-camp, he was selected as one of the top 45 players.
Locally, Erick was an unanimous selection for SDSSAA all-star, at Offensive Tackle and was one of 4 Bear offensive linemen selected as an all star. Emilio Frometa, Spencer Dailey, and Lineman of the Year, Carter Long, were also selected. Erick helped the Bears return to the playoffs with a 5-3 record, ousting defending champs Notre-Dame, before losing to the eventual city champions, Lasalle.
Known as “Lizard” to his teammates, Erick is blessed with pro size (6’7″, 300 lbs) and has a great work ethic. He impressed coaches at the McMaster “Up Front” Offensive Linemen Camp, and scouts at the All-Pro football camp. Head coach Frank Rocca praises his big lineman, “A physical specimen, and an honour roll student, you don’t find that combo too often. The transformation since his Gr. 9 year has been truly remarkable, just scratching the surface of what he can really do.”
Rocca explains that Lessard has benefited from seeing other Bears going off to play university football both in the CIS, and NCAA. “The path has been set by others over the years, so he knows what he has to do to get there. He has written SAT’s, has a personal trainer and travels to compete againstt the best. For us at St. Benedict, he really stepped up as a leader this year.”
Erick agrees, “It’s nice to be recognized for all the hard work that I am putting in. I owe it to my coaches. I’m pretty lucky to have a head coach who has gone off to play DIV 1 in the NCAA, and also play pro in the CFL. Coaches are surprised to find out that I know zone blocking techniques, and all the calls to go with it. It makes me that more marketable.”
Erick has taken the year off from basketball to focus his off season training at T2 Training Systems at The Gym. “Training all summer gave him such a huge advantage with power and strength, coming into this season. This year he lined up on the ball with great confidence. Combine that with solid fundamentals and great technique, and that makes for a very overwhelming figure for the opposition” said Rocca.
Erick will look to add a few more camps over the summer to further increase his stock. Some coaches have commented that Erick could be one of the top recruits coming out of highschool, period. When asked about the amount of schools contacting the well natured Lizard, Rocca replied with a grin, “This is just the beginning for this kid.”
Today Pius XII students participated in a celebration of the Eucharist with Father Remi from Holy Redeemer Parish. Father Remi highlighted the importance and value of salt and the healing power of light to the students. Both the salt and light are symbolic of Jesus Christ’s presence in our lives as Catholics. We are blessed as a staff and student body to have Father Remi come celebrate the Eucharist with us in our school.”
On Friday, January 28th/11 St. Christopher School highlighted literacy by celebrating Family Literacy Day. The theme for this year’s event was Play for Literacy. Activities included: Primary students working with Junior students in order to share a favourite book; collaborative posters created from the shared reading and displayed in the gym; students engaged in board games and word games that encourage literacy development; and, the entire school completing a giant crossword to wrap-up the day’s activities. Current research points to the importance of play in supporting literacy. ABC Life Literacy Canada suggests that, “Games provide a fun outlet for children of all ages to engage in activities that provide opportunities to improve reading and comprehension skills.”
The day was a great success for students, teachers and parents! A huge thank you to Mrs. Di Gioseffo for co-ordinating and organizing the day.
Arrrrrrrrrrgh! Ahoy Mateys! PIrates landed at St. Mary in Capreol to celebrate Family Literacy Day. The Pirates-in-training listened to stories all about Pirates. They then had a great time lmaking different Pirate crafts. They were able to follow a treasure map to a treasure (which included gold dubloons and gigantic jeweled rings), design a Pirate Flag, use the computers to make a Pirate self-portrait, learn how to talk as a Pirate, and make a Pirate puppet. Pirate snacks were provided. Many thanks to the staff for making Pirate Literacy Day such a success!
Sudbury Wolves Assistant Captain Mike Lomas and defenceman Frank Schumacher surprised the students of Corpus Christi School on January 27th for Family Literacy Day. Each read a book to the student body. “Don’t laugh at me” to reinforce “Peaceful Schools” and “Mother Earth to promote Dearness Conservation. Students were enthusiastic and excited to receive individual autographs from both Sudbury Wolves players. GO WOLVES GO!!!
Family Literacy Day centres around having fun while learning. To celebrate, the Junior Kindergarten students at St. David Catholic School read books and drew pictures of their favorite characters with their families. All families read, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company while talking about literacy and better developing oral language skills.
Pictured is four year old Kadin Demers reading his favorite story with his dad Matt. When asked about the best part of Family Literacy Day, Kadin excitedly responded, “reading the melting story with Daddy, having hot chocolate and wearing my pajama’s to school”!
After the children read with their parents, they had the opportunity to show their family members their performance portfolios which contain all their “best work”. The students were able to explain why they chose those pieces for their portfolios.
Lindsay Michel, junior kindergarten teacher states, “It was beautiful to see families reading their favorite books and hearing the students using terms like ‘author’ and ‘illustrator’. The students were very excited to share their hard work in their performance portfolios and speak with their families about what they have been learning. Today, it was a wonderful to see the students and their families share in the joy and appreciation of learning literacy. You could feel that real sense of community that we have at St. David – I was very proud of our students and truly enjoyed the positive relationship building opportunity Family Literacy Day offers schools”.
