After 7 months of preparation, The St. John’s “Bookie Monsters” are proud of their third place finish at The Battle of the Books Competition held on April 23rd at Tom Davies Community Centre in Lively. Furthermore, the team won the spirit award thanks to the quick thinking of Mrs. Roque, teacher and Bookie Monster parent, who created the team cheer on the spot! Coaches Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Walker are very proud of James Roque, Ashley Ross, Lauren Carlson, Avery Hoffman, Madison Michalowicz, and Aidan Gardner.
Category: Student Achievement
St. James Supports Daffodil Week
During the month of April, St. James Catholic Elementary School held a “Daffodil Week” to raise money for cancer research. Students and staff brought in over $700! Pictured are members of the student council (C3) with teacher and campaign organizer Tammy Lanci, as they present the cheque to Cathy Burns, a representative from the Canadian Cancer Society.
St. Raphael Students Soar at Kiwanis
St. Raphael Catholic Elementary Life Skills students competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival this year. Living Rhythm, the name of the group, won a gold medal for their performance of the percussion ensemble piece “Earth Happiness” written by their musical director Jeff Stewart. They were notified recently that the group was also recommended for a second award. On Monday, April 14,2014, at the final concert of the Kiwanis Festival, they were given the Muriel E. Holford Memorial Award, a $75 award in the memory of Muriel E. Holford.
Muriel was a piano teacher near Ottawa in her younger years and staunch supporter of music festivals throughout her life. In the 1960s she played a huge role in the coordination of the Onaping-Levack Music Festival. She was always a strong supporter of the Kiwanis Music Festival in Sudbury. Her children all participated in the festival and, when she passed away she left a large sum of money to be given as yearly awards to the Kiwanis Festival. Mrs. Holford’s daughter assured the group that her mother would be very pleased to know that Living Rhythm won this award.
St. Paul Choir Recognized at Kiwanis Music Festival
The St. Paul Choir under the direction of Ms Kristine Shewchuk and Mme Ashley Nodwell participated at the Kiwanis Music Festival at the end of March. The choir, consisting of over 40 members from Grades 1 to 6, sang the song “I Am a Small Part of the World” by Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse. After a lot of hard work and practice, the students were very excited to receive a Gold Award. At the Kiwanis Award Ceremony, the choir was also recognized with the “Elementary School Choir Award”. The adjudicator wrote “What an absolutely enjoyable and thoroughly engaging performance today!” The staff, students and parents are very proud of their dedication in keeping music alive in our school.
St. Raphael Celebrates their “Hero”
St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School Students, staff and community partners were on hand to celebrate one of their own on Wednesday, April 9. Primary Lifeskills student Wii’um Morin was the honoured guest as he has been selected to be one of the Canadian Down syndrome heroes for 2014. The school wanted to show Wii’um how proud they were of him, and spoke of his outstanding character, creativity and loving spirit. Wii’um took it all in stride while sitting on the stage, and quietly listened as teacher Kelly Beaton spoke of his exceptional personality, and unique outlook on life.
St. Raphael Presented with $5000 Cheque and One Surprise to Support Lifeskills Students
International members from the United Commercial Travellers (UCT) were on hand at St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School on April 9 to present the Lifeskills class with a cheque for $5000. Several months earlier, teacher Elissa Zuliani decided to enter her Lifeskills class in a contest she had read about in one of the UCT catalogues. The contest was open to all North American schools who support students with intellectual disabilities. Zuliani put together a two minute video that showcased the exceptional qualities and values that her students possess. The final winner was to be decided by votes so, after a heated battle for first place with Eldon High School in Eldon, Missouri, the students at St. Raphael placed second.
Visibly moved during the presentation, Zuliani thanked the representatives from UCT International including the CEO of UCT –Joe Hoffman from Ohio as well as the International President of UCT – Bob Kellog from Michigan. Also on hand for the presentation were several members of the local UCT branch. Zuliani also thanked her fellow teachers, parent council members and all of the parents of her students. “We are so proud of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the Greater City of Sudbury for their votes of support,” Zuliani stated. “This was truly Sudbury at its best! I thank UCT for this incredible funding which will enhance their learning. I am overwhelmed both professionally and personally – it is not about the money, it is about the message –that people with disabilities are valuable members of society and it is our obligation to support them and to nurture them – mind, body and spirit”. The members of the local UCT decided to surprise the staff and students with an additional cheque for $2500 as they felt the students should have won first place. As well, the students were promised a pizza lunch in the upcoming days as part of the celebration. The money will go towards the purchase of technology to support the Lifeskills students in their ongoing learning.
Sizzling Science at SCDSB Science Fair
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board would like to congratulate the following students and schools on their excellent achievements at recent Board-Wide Science Fair on March 26. After the judges had completed their task, thirteen projects were selected to advance to the Regional Science Fair to be held at Laurentian University on April 12th, 2014.
Best of luck to all students in the upcoming Regional Science Fair.
Sudbury Catholic Schools, Science Fair Winners
Marymount Academy
Brittany Thorton – Viscosity: Can it Save You?
Julie Burns – Screen Time and Depression
Sophia Zulich – Electronic Lemons
Mackenzie Bruce – Cotton Cruelty
Emelia Kucyk – Video Game for the Blind
Dana Rachkowski and Hailey McDonald – Aquaponics
Alessandra Kempson – the Effects of WiFi
St. Raphael
Billy Moskal – Does Colour Affect Plant Life?
Emma Dionne – Does Music Affect Your Ability to Memorize?
Colton Gobbo – Hoe Do Video Games Affect Your Health?
St. Ben’s
Laura Rinaldi – Magnetic Spring
Enoch Kim and Max Rizzard – Gauging Gauss and Fluctuating Ferrofluid
St. James
Marina Leblanc – Les pieds froids
Marymount Regals Take OFSSA Curling Gold
The Marymount Regals curling team came home OFSAA champions this past weekend with an 8-3 win over Brockville in Brampton. The team, consisting of skip Krysta Burns, vice, Monica Graham, second Cynthia Furlotte and lead Kaylyn Collin and Kayla Nickson were elated with their gold medal win and the school’s second curling crown ever, and first since 1981. Team coach/teacher Brenda Thompson was extremely proud of the girls and was thrilled that they played so well and remained undefeated during every round. “I, as well as the rest of the school, are so proud of this team and their commitment to playing to the best of their ability,” Thompson said. “ Many of the students and staff were able to watch the final game line online, and were ecstatic to see the team crowned as the provincial champions, which is an absolutely incredible accomplishment!”
St. Ben’s Robotics Team Mentor Rookie BAC Team
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).