Greater Sudbury students will be participating in a Mock Trial Competition to be held on Monday, January 17 and Tuesday, January 18, 2005 at the Sudbury Courthouse located on Elm Street. This year’s Mock Trial Competition represents a joint effort on behalf of Sudbury’s legal community and the French Catholic, Rainbow District and Sudbury Catholic District School Boards.

Groups of Grade 12 Law students from participating schools will compete by holding “mock” trials which will culminate in a final round to decide the winner. St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School will have twelve Grade 12 students participating in the mock trial event as well as Mr. Boisvert’s Grade 11 class from St. Charles College. The mock trial competition is an exciting event which is gaining in popularity. This year there will over 100 students from 8 different schools taking part on January 17 and 18. In last year’s competition, St. Benedict’s defence team defeated Lockerby Composite’s Crown team in the final round of play.

The day begins with an opening address at 8:45 a.m. on January 17 followed by the trial competitions at 9:00 am, 10:30 am and noon. The play off rounds will be held on January 18, 2005.

It’s Monday morning and the Grade 1/2 students in Ms. Kindrachuk’s class and the Grade 4 students in Ms. Giusti’s class eagerly await the arrival of artist Val MacMenemey. The children know her as “Ms. V,” a dynamic artist who visits students and teachers at St. Andrew’s school on a regular basis to work with the school community.

The Learning Through the Arts Program was initiated by the Sudbury Catholic District School Board in order to create a partnership between the artist and the teacher so that new and exciting art ideas could be explored and implemented in the school’s art program. “The Learning Through the Arts initiative was an excellent opportunity in that it gave the students and teachers a chance to develop an appreciation of art through a variety of forms and venues,” stated Sherry Bortolotti, St. Andrew Catholic School principal. “More importantly, the program helped our children understand that art is therapeutic and given the right tools and skills it empowers children to express themselves,” concluded Bortolotti.

Students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board participated in the Victory Team celebration held at Cambrian College recently. The Victory Team Program was created to develop and nurture positive behaviour in the youth of the community by implementing a peer initiative program throughout local elementary schools.

The Victory Team Program gives all students the opportunity of participating on a team which does not demand any exceptional type of scholastic or athletic excellence but rather looks for students who display a positive attitude. Elementary schools from all four school boards are involved in the Victory Program and are divided into three team categories: Sophomore, (JK to Grade 2); Junior Varsity, (Grades 3 to 5); Varsity, (Grades 6 to 8).

The students on the Victory Teams are selected from
staff nominations in each school with one student being chosen each
week. Team members receive Victory Team T-shirts with the opportunity to participate in three major events, and will be awarded gold medals at the end of the year.

Special congratulations goes out to St. Anne School, whose students took home top prize in the Victory Team Puzzle Championship!

Teachers, principals, curriculum coordinators, members of Special
Education Advisory Groups, superintendents, directors, and almost anyone related to the field of education were treated to a highly informative seminar on “Adult Learners” and “How They Learn” at a breakfast seminar hosted by the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury and SMTAB recently. Pat Hatt, a world renowned educator with a Masters in Language and Learning Problems and a Canadian Specialist in the areas of adult literacy had a room packed with educators captivated with her high energy and dynamic presentation style.

According to Hatt, almost 10 percent of the Canadian population has a
learning disability, with the same percentage translated into schools
and students. “A child sitting in a classroom may not know what is
wrong with them when it comes to processing information,” stated Hatt.
“They do know, however, that for one reason or another they are
different from the other students.” Individuals with Learning
Disabilities, both as children and as adults experience problems with
processing information. A Learning Disability can also affect the way
in which a person takes in, remembers, understands and expresses
information. What is surprising to many people is that people with
learning disabilities are intelligent and have the ability to learn in
spite of difficulties in processing information. However, given the
appropriate coping strategies and accommodations these individuals can
be extremely successful.

The Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury (LDAS) in conjunction
with the Sudbury Manitoulin Training and Adjustment Board (SMTAB)
invited Mrs. Hatt to share her knowledge on literacy and support groups for individuals with learning disabilities in number of public
presentations. Session one took place at Cambrian College on November 23 with students, parents and teachers involved with “Breaking Down the Barriers.” This informative and educational session included the topics of balancing accommodations while maintaining skills, integrity, the need for acceptance and disclosure by students with LD and their parents, and the critical value of schools, teachers, parents and student partnerships. Session two: “Our Community, Breaking Down Barriers” was held on November 24 for employment service deliverers, teachers and counsellors of adults and focused on the various types of learning disabilities.

For more information on Learning Disabilities, please contact the
Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury at ph. 522-0100 or by
e-mail at info@ldasudbury.ca or website at www.ldasudbury.ca

Sudbury Catholic District School Board students joined forces with the
National Geographic Society and the City of Greater Sudbury in helping
to promote geographic literacy and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)during GIS Day held at Tom Davies Square recently. During this unique half-day presentation students were able to interact with City of Greater Sudbury staff to discover the impact that geography has on our everyday lives. GIS demonstrations included “real time” computer
generated mapping, open exhibits, games, and a question and answer
session which focused on the integration of computer software, data and solutions that are used by hundreds of thousands of people in
government, education, and business. GIS Day is part of the National
Geographic Society’s exciting new initiative, Geography Action! 2004
which is a year long initiative encompassing key educational
achievements to help promote the understanding of geography in schools
around the world.

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board will see a new smiling face
in the board room of the Catholic Education Centre with the recent induction of Victoria Roach, the new Student Representative. Victoria is a grade 12 student at Marymount Academy.

Ray Vincent, Board Chair congratulated Victoria on assuming her new role and encouraged her to actively participate in Board meetings, acting on behalf of the student body.

Meetings of the Board are held on the first Tuesday of every month at
the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s Education Centre.

Grade 7, 8, 9 & 10 students from the Enrichment Program at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board will be participating in the “Ultimate Challenge” on Friday, November 19, 2004 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Marymount Academy in the school’s gymnasium.

Forty students will be divided into 5 groups and will be given a number of challenges that they will have to “brain storm” in order to effect the desired results. Using only basic resources such as a skate board, duct tape, elastic, rope, string, paper and card board, students must; (1) design and create an apparatus that will hit a target from a distance of 10 ft. (2) build a car that will be able to negotiate an obstacle course and (3) design and create a robotic arm that will be able to grasp an object

The students will be given the morning to design and construct the car, shooting device and robotic arm with the actual race taking place from 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Marymount Academy gymnasium. Students must then make use of these three devices to negotiate a jungle course and rescue a rare monkey from an obscure mountain. The students will be marked on the quality and design of the three apparatus, time taken to execute the obstacle course, and the degree of success of the mission.

Students from Marymount Academy hosted “NSAID” Day (National Students Against Impaired Driving) along with students from high schools all across the country recently. To help focus on the day’s theme, Marymount’s OSAID council (Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving) played a selection of songs that promoted awareness of this very important event. An information area was also set up in the cafeteria to answer questions from the student body.

The OSAID council had more than 500 students and staff sign their names to the “chain of life,” a huge paper link chain that has become an annual part of NSAID day at Marymount Academy. The signatures on the “chain of life” are a promise that the individuals who have committed to this cause will not drink and drive, nor will they get into a car with a drunk driver. The chain was posted in the cafeteria to remind everyone involved of their commitment. The goal of the “chain of life” is to convey the message to everyone in the school and community that “drinking and driving” is never acceptable.

Over two dozen high school students from the Sudbury Catholic District
School Board learned of the dangers of behaviourial and drug-related
risks at a dramatic day long presentation at the Sudbury Regional
Hospital recently. The Grade 11 students from St. Charles College
were participants in the Prevent Alcohol & Risk Related Trauma in Youth also known as the P.A.R.T.Y. Program. This national program was developed in 1986 by an Emergency Nurse at Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto at the request of area teenagers concerned about the growing number of their peers being injured or killed because of risk-taking behaviour. Vanda Cooper,
Administrative Director, Emergency and Medical Program in reference to this special program stated that, “Our intention is to eventually present the program once a month during the school year. With four school boards in this community, the challenge will be to get this message out to all students.” Through the course of the day, students were walked through the steps they might take if they were involved in a trauma, including contact with Paramedic services, the
Emergency Department and the Intensive Care Unit. This was followed by a spinal cord/traumatic brain injury presentation and a tour of the
Rehabilitation Unit. The P.A.R.T.Y. Program is now run at 60 hospitals across North America, including the Sudbury Regional Hospital. Cooper states the program already has a proven track record. “A study undertaken by Sunnybrook Hospital demonstrated the positive benefits of this program, with past participants involved in far fewer traumas and alcohol-related driving offences. It really makes young people think before they make an unfortunate, life altering decision,” concluded Cooper.