St. Raphael students in Mrs. DeAngelis’ Life Skills class honoured the pets in their lives on Monday, May 2nd as part of their Catholic Education Week activities. The students have been studying animals all year and putting on a play for their parents was their culminating activity.

The students then worked with their parents and relatives to complete artwork to celebrate the animals in their world.

Thank you for the animals in our lives – like cats and dogs and goldfish – are wonderful pets whom we love. Some – like cows and sheep and chickens – provide us with food and clothing. Some work for us, some scare us, some love us, some entertain us and some amaze us, but they all enrich our lives. May we always love and protect them as Saint Francis of Assisi did. Amen

The St. Benedict Bears football team recently had their starting offensive line participate at the McMaster University “Up Front Offensive Line Developmental Camp”. St. Benedict players Erick Lessard, Carter Long, Troy Kingsbury, Emilio Frometa, and Spencer Dailey, all took part in the event.

Bears Head Coach, Frank Rocca, also attended the camp as a guest coach. Rocca said the camp was a great experience for his troops. “To have your starting 5 attend a camp of this quality is tremendous. This group, which has 4 SDSSAA all stars, including lineman of the year, could be taking time off in the off season. Instead they choose to come down here and improve. That says a lot about our kids. There are plenty of drills and skills that they pick up, plus they are marketing themselves to play football after they are done at St. Benedict.”

One player that has broke new ground is towering offensive tackle Erick Lessard. Lessard was able to become the 1st player from Sudbury to crack the starting line up for the Greater Toronto Area all-star team. Lessard played well for team GTA againstt the Golden Horseshoe all star team, but cam short losing in the end by a score of 11-7. Lessard still came out a winner as he displayed his abilities againstt the best talent from southern Ontario, in front of coaches from all over the country.

St. Benedict students’ attention was captured by Greater City of Sudbury’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Roger Nash, during his poetry workshop with senior English classes. He told them they can write about anything, and by doing so, keep a special memory alive. Dr. Nash demonstrated this fact by reading his poems about the family cat Genghis, and another about his childhood memory of his grandmother’s passion for playing piano; so vigorously it seemed to take flight. Roger Nash intrigued students with his explanations for the impetus behind his poems, which in turn inspired students to write their own poetry. His final advice was that through poetry one can, “take something ordinary, and make it extraordinary”.

The junior kindergarten class at St.Francis School prepared a traditional symbol to celebrate Easter and the season of spring. Students eagerly dyed their Easter eggs using primary and secondary colours. The students were in awe of the vibrant colours which appeared on the eggs.

Mrs.Visentin’s junior kindergarten class from St. Francis School had a “golden ticket” opportunity on April 20th. The students were invited to see Marymount Academy’s production of Willy Wonka. Students had front row seats and an opportunity to meet Willy Wonka, the owner of the largest chocolate factory in the world! The young students enjoyed meeting one of the characters from the play during the intermission. The students left wondering what they would do if they received a lifetime supply of chocolate.

Students in Mrs. Smrke’s grade seven class at St. Raphael School helped staff and students remember why we celebrate Easter this weekend.  The students acted out each station of the cross.
 
The twelfth station
Jesus died on the cross.
They left you nailed to the cross to die.
You died for us.
Jesus, thank you for giving us your life and your love.

There were three students sent to the board public speaking semi-finals at St. Anne School last week to represent St. Raphael School. Believe it or not, the three students are all moving onto the finals.

Ashlynn Philion took first place in the junior division for her speech on bubblegum – the history, the chemical make-up and the trend that never pops.

Hailey Moskal took first place in the intermediate division for her speech on the history of newly acquired camp, and how the recent purchase has bonded her family together.

Brittany Thornton took second place in the primary division for her speech on saving polar bears.

The SCDSB finals are scheduled for Wednesday, April 20th at St. Francis School at 6:30 p.m.

Students in teacher Todd Rayne’s Grade 5/6 class are working on a conservation project, but this one is pretty unique. These Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School students have decided to collect garbage. Rayne is the school’s Dearness Conservation Lead, and has had several conversations with the school’s staff about how the students could reduce their energy and water usage, as well as increase their recycling efforts. One of the things that Rayne noticed in his own classroom was how many school supplies were being swept up at the end of the day and thrown in the garbage. This is when the D.C. team decided to make some changes. Over the past fifty days, the grade 5/6 students have visited all the junior classrooms and collected all of the discarded and forgotten school supplies that would have otherwise been thrown in the garbage. The results after their collection were astounding. After the first weigh-in, he students recorded that they had collected over 10 pounds of school supplies. Instead of being thrown out, the collected supplies are now returned back to their classes to be reused. As well, the students have tracked all of their findings for each class on a spreadsheet so that each week and month they can take their data to help support their cause and show each class where they need improvement. The next step for the class is making the school aware of their findings. Through the use of student created podcasts played over morning announcements, the class teaches the student body about the importance of recycling and taking care of their belongings. “We started this because I was noticing a lot of discarded supplies in my own classroom,” Rayne said. “As the D.C. lead, I knew it was our responsibility to make others aware of the waste and by getting the students so involved, there is much more buy-in on their part. Now they have become the teachers for the rest of the school and it is a win-win situation as we have all become conservation champions!” The students will be continuing this project until the end of the school year along with several other conservation initiatives, and it is their hope that they can reduce the waste significantly, possibly even to a “zero pound” collection.

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is pleased to announce Jody Cameron as the new Vice-Chair of the Board. At the March Board meeting, trustee Paula Peroni announced that she would be stepping down from her Vice-Chair position effective April 11. At the April 12 board meeting, trustee Cameron ran unchallenged for the position and as a result was elected to the position of Vice-Chair.
“It is once again a great privilege and honour to serve the Sudbury Catholic District School Board in the position of Vice-Chair,” Cameron stated. “I look forward to working with Chair Barry MacDonald, as well as the other trustees as we are committed to ensuring the very best in Catholic education for all of our students.”
Cameron has served two terms previous in the position of Vice-Chair as well as two terms for the Board in the position of Chair.