Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Category: Student Achievement

St. Charles College Students Trapping Bugs for Guelph Research Institute

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The grade ten Science classes are taking their studies outside by trapping insects. Teacher George Fritz has partnered with the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph to sample the insect community in the St. Charles College school yard.

One of the classes set-up what is known as an “insect malaise trap” to collect specimens. The students will now spend the next two weeks monitoring what is caught in the trap. Fritz says “students will also have to note environmental conditions and the number of insects caught.”

After the sampling period, the specimens will be returned to the BIO facility in Guelph where the DNA of the insects will be barcoded for species recognition, and added to the Institute’s database.

Later on in the semester, the class will receive a report on the insect specimens. Fritz is hoping that the process leads to new information being added to the database.

SCDSB Staff Share their Knowledge in Calgary

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Sudbury Catholic District School Board Superintendent Rossella Bagnato and Assistive Technology Teacher Jennifer Connelly visited Calgary from July 3-5 for the national Canadian Association of School System Administrators (CASSA) conference. The two were asked to present at the conference with this year’s theme being student engagement

The pair showcased their presentation entitled, “If you give a student a voice” which is a play off the children’s books- “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”, and “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Bagnato and Connelly shared data from Sudbury Catholic that was collected through a “Tell Them From Me” survey which allowed students in a variety of grades to have a voice and express their concerns and issues while dealing with school and home life.

Through this data, staff was able to create a focus for student engagement and prioritize the needs of the students. Over 250 school system administrators attended the conference and were impressed with the Sudbury Catholic presentation. “Sharing best practice with others across the country is a great way to showcase the incredible work we are doing at our school board,” Bagnato explained. “We really put our students first with everything that we do at Sudbury Catholic, and we were very honoured to be asked to share our experiences. This was a great opportunity for us to let everyone know just how great our staff and students really are!”

See the book created to showcase our Sudbury Catholic student voice.

SCDSB Students Walk for Terry

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Each year in Ontario, more than 4000 schools take part in the Terry Fox run to raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation. Monies raised last year by the province’s schools was $7.2 million, an increase of $1 million from the previous year’s total. Several Sudbury Catholic schools took part in this national fundraiser and collected over $10,394.32 this past year, with an overall total of $57,515.51 collected to date. Board Chair, Jody Cameron expressed his gratitude to the students and staff at Sudbury Catholic for their generosity and dedication. “In Canada, everyone is familiar with the Terry Fox legacy, and I am very proud of our schools for their commitment to this great cause,” Cameron said. “Our students, staff, parents and school communities recognize the importance of this foundation, and will continue to support it with our great spirit and commitment.”

SCDSB Award Winning Authors

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Three students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board have been selected as winners of the Young Authors Award through the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association. Ethan Matte, a student at Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary Award won for his non-fiction submission entitled “The Art of Fishing”. In the secondary panel, St. Benedict student Nikki Lemieux won for her non-fiction submission entitled “Consumer or Consumed”. The final winner is Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School student Shanleigh Brosseau for her short story submission entitled “La Couleur D’Amour”. Her short story “La couleur d’amour” was inspired by the approaching celebration of St. Valentine. Shanleigh enjoys writing in her spare time, especially “chapter books” on her IPhone. Her enthousiasm of music and writing is what pushed her to create a very metaphorical short story of a broken heart pendant.
All three award winning submissions can be found in this year’s OECTA Young Authors Awards 2014.
Congratulations to all three students for your outstanding writing pieces and we look forward to reading future works!

Ten Year Anniversary for Johhathan Hetu Walk at St. Charles Elementary

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For the past nine years, students and staff of St. Charles Catholic Elementary have taken part in the Johnathan Hetu walk. Johnathan Hetu was an exceptional student at the school and passed away in 2004 after a two-year battle with leukemia. Teacher David Nicholls, who was to have Johnathan in his class that next year, felt compelled to do something to honour Johnathan’s memory – thus the creation of the Johnathan Hetu walk. Students were asked to raise funds, and all the monies were donated to the Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer (N.O.F.C.C.). This year, students and staff once again participated in the walk and raised an outstanding amount of $7112. 77 bringing their grand total to close to $60,000 for their ten year anniversary of the walk. Once again, Johnathan’s family joined the school for the walk and the entire school community celebrated Johnathan’s spirit and inspiration.
School principal, Dave Soehner, was overwhelmed with the school’s spirit once again. “I am extremely proud of my students and staff for continuing to honour our former student and his family through this walk and their donations,” Soehner stated. “The Johnathan Hetu walk brings us closer as a school community, allows us the opportunity to celebrate one of our own, as well as give back to our own city in a very positive and direct way through N.O.F.C.C.”

SCDSB Hosts Fifth Annual Turning Points Essay Contest

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Students, parents, teachers and invited guests gathered at the Sudbury Catholic District Board office on May 7, 2014 to take part in the SCDSB’s fifth annual Turning Points Essay Contest Awards ceremony. This essay contest is an initiative that stems from the Learning Partnership, which is an organization that champions a strong public education system to deliver innovative programs, credible research, policy initiatives, executive leadership and public engagement across Canada. Turning Points is a character development and literacy program that allows students to reflect on their fundamental values and, through a process of self-reflection and dialogue, write a narrative essay about a significant event, or turning point in their lives. As it is the fifth year, student participation has continued to grow as teachers have continued to encourage their involvement with this rewarding program. The Turning Points Essay Contest is a powerful character development and literacy program that all 4 of our secondary schools, as well as the intermediate students at St. Anne participate in this year. There are 3 divisions, Grade 7/8, Grade 9/10 and Grade 11/12. The top three essays for grade 7/8 and 9/10 and the top 4 essays for Grade 11/12 were selected. There were also several honourable mentions for the 9/10 and 11/12 categories. Cash prizes were awarded for secondary essays. All essays will also be published in an annual anthology that will be sent to students and participating schools next year. The 
students that took part in this contest and authored the winning essays were awarded plaques, a copy of the publication, as well as monetary awards at the celebration.
 The students were honoured for their efforts and several students had the opportunity to read their essays allowed. The audience was visibly moved by these emotional accounts and several staff involved spoke of the courage and strength of their students to be able to write such heart-felt accounts of their experiences. Top prize went to Rilie Phillips of Marymount Academy.

SCDSB Students Soar at Canada Wide Science Fair

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SCDSB regional science fair winners spent 8 days in Windsor competing at the Canada Wide Science Fair, accompanied by teachers Loretta Cuda and Melissa Talevi recently. They competed againstt 463 students from across Canada.
Marymount students Hailey Mackenzie and Dayna Rachkowski won the Resource Award for developing a better way to use natural resources that provide sustainable sources of food, products or prosperity for their project titled “Aquaponics”
Marymount students Alex Millar and Marika Moskalyk won an Excellence Award – Silver Medal for their project titled “Green Gold: Phytoremediation of the Long Lake Gold Mine”.
St. James student Marina Leblanc won an Excellence Award – Bronze Medal for her project titled “Cold Feet”.

Picture: l-r
Marika Moskalyk, Alex Millar, Marina Leblanc, (teacher)Loretta Cuda, (teacher) Melissa Talevi, Dayna Rachkowski, Hailey Mackenzie

Celebrating Writers

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Three girls at St. Charles College were recently honoured for their written works of art.  Grade 12 students Maicie Szilva and Melissa Minor as well as grade 9 student Katie Miscio were recognized at the Sudbury Turning Points ceremony.  

Turning Points is a writing competition put on by the Learning Partnership that focuses on building character development and literacy for students in grades 6-12.

The focus of the written submissions is to hone in on an important turning point in student lives.  Maicie Szilva won a 2nd place award for her essay entitled “I Lost Her” about her sister’s illness which causes seizures.   Miscio and Minor both received honourable mentions at the ceremony.  Katie Miscio’s essay called “A New Normal” focused on the death of both her grandparents.  Melissa Minor’s called “Aftermath” was about bullying.   

Be Our Guest

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St. Charles College wants YOU to join Belle, Gaston, Mrs. Potts and the rest of the cast of Beauty and the Beast.  Be our guest as they bring Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to life from May 6-10th at 7 p.m.  Parents with small children may wish to take in the 1 p.m. matinee May 10th where they can meet the cast of characters after the show.  The production was directed and produced by teacher Diandra Zafiris. 

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