Recently the St. Paul Catholic Elementary School Choir had the opportunity to sing in front of a large crowd. The group performed the national anthem before a Wolves game and did a spectacular job! A bonus for the group was having their picture taken with Howler during the event!
Category: Student Achievement
St. Benedict Gives from the Heart at Christmastime
On Friday December 4th, St. Benedict welcomed a couple of special guests to help with the TD Bank Toy Caravan. Terry and Mell, from Q92, Sudbury’s Best Rock, dropped by to help TD Canada Trust promote their annual toy drive. St. Benedict has been a great supporter of this annual event and has collected more than 2300 new toys over the past three years to be placed under the Christmas Tree on Christmas morning to brighten hundreds of homes across the city. People from across the city were invited to drop by the school with their new unwrapped toy and in return enjoy a free breakfast sandwich. Ms. Kuzenko expressed her pride in the generosity of the staff and students, and Ms. Catalano the school’s lunchroom supervisor and Mr. Pappin the school Chaplaincy Lead battled it out in Battle of the Sexes. Terry and Mell also spoke to Ethan Jodouin and Alassandra Marone and asked why the school was so passionate about this toy drive. “Our students care about others…we want to make sure everyone has a Merry Christmas,” and so the generous number of gifts continues to grow. So far this year the school is well on the way to surpassing its goal of collecting 850 toys for children across the city.”
“She Shoots… She Scores” – MMA Regals Wrap Up Another Successful Goals for Girls Tournament
For the past several years, Marymount Academy has held its annual Goals for Girls Ball Hockey Tournament. This tournament is organized by the school’s Girls’ Athletic Association (GAA) and involves student and teacher floor hockey teams playing ball hockey round robin style with themed teams, creative uniforms and spirit awards. The Goals for Girls campaign is held to encourage young women to be physically active and to help them recognize and become involved in the many activities and opportunities available in their school and community. As well, this tournament is also a fundraiser in which monies raised are used to sponsor young women who cannot financially afford to play sports, and to purchase fitness equipment. This year, in addition to the school fundraising, a portion of the funds raised will go towards the Adaptive Canuck ALS Foundation. Marymount worked with retired teacher Michel Leroux, who was diagnosed with ALS a month after he retired from teaching, as well as a gentleman by the name of Jeff Perreault (who was also diagnosed with ALS about a year ago and is only in his mid-30’s). Together, they are trying to raise enough funds to help provide advanced stem cell treatments for all PALS (People Living with ALS), and the students and staff at MMA felt that this would be a great organization to also support with its Goals for Girls fundraiser. Alongside the one day ball hockey tournament, students also had the opportunity to soak their teachers with a bucket/dunk tank in the school. All teams that signed up to play paid an entrance fee, and that fee allowed each team member to attempt to hit a target that dumped ice-cold water on the teachers. As well, any student could pay five dollars for the opportunity to soak their teachers. Needless to say, the teachers who signed up were cold and wet for a big portion of the day as the final monies raised were over $3200.00 with a portion going to the Adaptive Canucks Foundation, as well as to support students in need. Mia Tullio, Co-President of the G.A.A. was happy that today was about the school and the community. “As Regals we are taught the importance of giving back to those who need support, both close to us, as well as in our community,” Tullio explained. “The culture of Marymount is very unique in that we really try to better ourselves, by helping others. Through this Goals for Girls event, we are able to engage in physical activity in a positive and spirited environment, but more importantly we are able to provide assistance to our fellow students who may need it, and are also supporting an organization that supports families, friends and neighbours right in our own community!”
Marymount Regals Step Up Their Annual Food Drive Challenge
One often hears about world hunger, but the reality is that hunger is also in our own community – especially in December and January. Every year, Marymount Academy holds an annual Christmas food drive to help stock the shelves of the Sudbury Food Bank in preparation for the holiday season. The school pairs up with “Kids Helping Kids”, which was founded by Edgar Burton and is the biggest food drive in Sudbury. One quarter to one third of the food received at the Sudbury Food Bank annually is collected from the Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive. The founder, Mr. Burton, unfortunately is no longer with us, however his legacy and impact still lives on, especially in our Marymount community. This campaign has a special place in the Regals’ hearts as his wife, Sharon Burton, works in our school cafeteria. Her continuous kindness and generosity on a day-to-day basis has inspired many girls to give back to our community through this event.
Typically, the Marymount Catholic Charities Council (MC3) sets a goal of 5000 cans, but this year we decided to step it up. We set a goal of 10,000 cans and with a combination of non-perishable food and monetary donations, the Regals raised a total of 12,613 cans. This is the largest number of cans collected at Marymount since 2012. Lise Callahan, the teacher in charge of the drive was thrilled with the school’s response to the challenge. “We are incredibly proud of our Regals and know that their efforts in helping to alleviate food insecurity will impact many individuals throughout Greater Sudbury this Christmas season. What has had the most value and impact on our school has been the exposure that we have been able to bring around the topic of local hunger.”
MMA Regals Inspired to be “Change Agents” At Ottawa WEDay
On November 9th, 2015, 35 Marymount Academy students travelled to Ottawa excited for the big event the next day. On November 10, these students had the opportunity to attend the Ottawa WeDay event at the Canadian Tire Centre joining more than 15,000 students and teachers from over 500 schools. Tickets are not available for purchase for this event. Instead, they have to be earned through social justice actions the year before. This is done so that the students can celebrate what they have already done, and be motivated to do more the next year. Students must take part in a local and global challenge, so Marymount Academy students organized a food drive locally, and sold rafiki bracelets made by, and to support women in villages in Africa.
During WEDay, the students were inspired by several outstanding speakers and bands including Rick Hansen, Spencer West, Henry Winkler, Waneek Horn-Miller, Simple Plan and Shawn Hook. A last minute addition to the line up proved to be the most exciting for the crowd as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie took to the stage for his very first large scale public appearance and speech. As the new Minister for Youth, Trudeau spoke to the crowd and told them that they are not to think of themselves as leaders of tomorrow, instead to be leaders today. Marymount Academy teacher Lise Callaghan described the day – “It is so fast paced and the feeling is electric in the space,” explained Callaghan. “The students are bombarded with positivity and are told that they truly can make a difference. They are told they need to become “Change Agents” and to find their spark and take steps forward, no matter how small, to achieve their dreams.” The Regals left the event energized, and have already started discussions to continue the momentum from the day, with plans in place to continue to make a difference at the school, community, and global levels.
Marymount Regals’ Flag Football Team Captures 5th Straight Division “A” City Title
It was a perfect season for the Marymount Flag Football team. The regular season champions validated their record with a convincing 32-9 win over the Confederation Chargers in the Division “A” city championship. This is Marymount’s 5th straight city title, an impressive dynasty to say the least! The game was quite a bit closer than the score would show leading up to the middle of the third quarter; however, experience and some incredible game play by both the offense and defence proved very difficult for Confederation and the Regals took control of the remainder of the game. Coaches Dan Bartolucci, Jason Weiler, Julia Boschetto, and Tori Jewell couldn’t be more proud of their team. Marymount’s last taste of defeat was the opening game of the 2014 season and since then, they have gone on to win 13 games in a row.
Way to go Regals, you truly are 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2… 1!!!
PIus XII Walk-A-Thon Supports NEO Kids
The students and staff of Pius XII Catholic Elementary School, alongside staff and volunteers from Holy Redeemer Parish couldn’t have asked for better weather on November 3, 2015 as they all took part in the Pius Walk-a-Thon for NEO Kids. Jocelyne Bene from Holy Redeemer had approached the school a while back to see if they could partner up to support this local initiative. “The motto for Holy Redeemer Parish is Walk the Talk,” explained Bene. “This saying became more meaningful to them as they became the hands and feet of Jesus for other children in our community.” Students from grades 3-6 at Pius, including students from the Care and Development class arrived at the church at 9:45 a.m., and after a brief rundown of the day and prayer, the students began their two-hour trek around the church grounds under brilliant sunshine. Funds were collected through pledged donations and a total of over $1600.00 was raised to support the NEO Kids initiative.
“We have a really great relationship with Holy Redeemer Parish,” explained Laurie Zahra, principal of the school. “We are so proud of our students and staff for taking part in this most important initiative, and we also want to recognize and thank our parish partner for allowing us to join them in supporting NEO Kids.”
Pies for Rice at St. Charles Elementary
Staff and students at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School have been on a mission to raise money for a good cause. On October 16th, students attended a presentation by Tammy Pomroy, a former Sudbury resident who now lives in Cambodia. The presentation was about a school that Mrs. Pomroy founded called ABCs and Rice. This school is a reverse tuition school where some of the poorest students in the area are not able to attend because they must stay at home to help earn money. At ABCs and Rice, students get paid in rice at the end of each month for their attendance.
Students and staff were moved by the presentation and chose to do a fundraiser to help the students at ABCs and Rice out. Students and staff had a hat day, and brought in donations of a toonie to wear a hat in class. The staff decided to set a goal of $600, and if the school met that goal, Ms. Neuts, an EA would get a pie thrown in her face. Then Ms. Swain joined in and raised the goal to $1000 and she would get pied as well. Next, Mr. Peplinski agreed for $1100 and finally, Mr. Belanger for $1200. Vice Principal Laura Stirrett said she was very proud of how staff and students joined together to support ABCs and Rice, and a big part of that success was due to the enthusiasm of staff in helping us reach those goals along with the generosity of the families at St. Charles Elementary. In all, showing true RAM spirit, staff and students raised over $1400 for ABCs and RIce!!
Mrs. Pomroy was excited to get the news, stating that “With a donation of $1400, St. Charles Elementary has sponsored every child in the school to have rice for the next 2 months!”
Way to go RAMS!
For more information about ABCs and Rice, please go to: www.abcrice.org
St. Ben’s In the Pink for October
Several weeks ago, Lindsey Jones, former St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School student, now employed by the Canadian Cancer Society (Sudbury) contacted her alma mater to see if they were up to a challenge. She asked the school if they would accept the challenge to “pinkify” their school and support a breast cancer fundraiser for the month of October. Never ones to back away from a challenge, the students and staff set a goal to raise $ 2500 by the end of the month. For every $500 raised, the students got to select one staff member to “pinkify”. The school raised money through daily donations, a pink cupcake bake sale and a football buy out game in which the Junior boys football team played the girls flag football team. Both teams also paid 5 dollars per member to take part in the game. In the end, the students surpassed the challenge goal and presented the Canadian Cancer Society (Sudbury) with a cheque for over $4000. On October 30th, as part of the presentation assembly, student council members each “pinkified” 6 of the St. Ben’s staff with lots of pink hair dye and pink feather boas. In addition, St. Ben’s grade 9 student, Willow Nadeau had her head shaved in front of the entire school and donated her locks for the third time. Nadeau volunteers every day afterschool at the Canadian Cancer Society and wanted to show her support alongside her classmates.
“We are completely overwhelmed with the response from our student council, student body and staff with this October Breast Cancer Challenge,” explained James MacNeil, St. Ben’s teacher. “The students wholeheartedly accepted this challenge. We are so proud of our St. Ben’s Bears and are grateful to be part of such a supportive school community!”