Students, parents, teachers and invited guests gathered at the Sudbury Catholic District Board office on May 9, 2012 to take part in the SCDSB’s third annual Turning Points Essay Contest Awards ceremony. This essay contest is an initiative which 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 third year, student participation has continued to grow as teachers have continued to encourage their involvement with this rewarding program. The secondary 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 Wednesday night’s 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 of the teachers involved spoke of the courage and strength of their students to be able to write such heart-felt accounts of their experiences. Allison Cameron, a Marymount English teacher was the master of ceremonies at this event and was visibly moved after the students read aloud their essays. “Even after being involved with this initiative for three years, I am never really prepared for the poignant words our students have written and shared with others,” Cameron stated. “The courage of these students to express their deepest feelings and emotions about their life’s turning point is so powerful – for the student, and their families.” Catherine McCullough, Director of Education for the Board echoed Cameron’s sentiments. “I am thrilled that the this program once again met with such success, and am so honoured that our students have courageously shared their most personal and meaningful life experiences. We are certainly overwhelmed by their talent and honesty involved in this writing experience.”
Author: admin
Score! Sudbury Catholic Receives Significant Funding to Support Music Programming
The grade 8 students at St. Benedict donned their coats and waited by the door for the vehicle from St. John’s Music in Toronto to arrived jammed packed with goods. Getting ready to unload their order, their teacher, Leanne Urso, couldn’t stop herself from grinning – “Its like Christmas!” exclaimed Urso. Both Urso and St. Anne’s vice principal, Joanne Comisso applied for some funding back in June to support the board’s music programming. Successful in their grant application, both staff members received word that the Sudbury Catholic Board would be receiving $20,000 worth of musical instruments and other music paraphernalia from MusiCounts. MusiCounts is a music education charity associated with the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, working towards keeping music alive in schools across Canada. This specific grant, called the Band Aid grant, speaks to their mission of ensuring that children in Canada have access to comprehensive music programs through their schools, regardless of socio-economic circumstances. On Friday, September 30, MusiCounts held a press conference to announce this year’s recipients of these grants nationwide, with the help of Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies, as well as Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. A total of $600,000 was distributed to over 80 school communities across the country. Sudbury Catholic was the only recipient in Northeastern Ontario successful in their grant application.
Both Urso and Comisso conduct the elementary Sudbury Catholic concert band, which is comprised of grade 7 and 8 students from St. Anne, St. Raphael, Pius XII and St. Benedict. This band, which practices separately in their individual schools, come together on several occasions throughout the school year to perform as one. With the arrival of new instruments and music programming material, both Urso and Comisso were overjoyed with the success of their application. “We are both so passionate about music,” Comisso stated. “This arrival of instruments and materials is a huge, huge addition to our programming, and we are so fortunate.”
Barry MacDonald, Chair of the Board for Sudbury Catholic echoed Comisso’s comments. “ What an outstanding accomplishment for our Board. This substantial delivery of musical instruments etc., is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our staff,” MacDonald stated. “The passion that drives our staff to offer our students more, directly impacts these students, and allows our staff to deliver above standard programming.”
Upcoming concert dates will be announced in the near future with the band performing in and around the city, with their brand new instruments.
Poetry Comes Alive at St. Benedict
At St. Benedict CSS poetry comes alive as students follow the spoken-word tradition of oral literature from long ago. Performance poetry is a different art form from the usual printed version, and was the original method used by poets in Ancient Greece to reach audiences with their work. After a week of poetry writing, editing, polishing and practicing their delivery, they are ready to showcase their piece in front of attentive classmates, teacher and published poet Tanya Neumeyer using the same medium of ancient times. At the end of all their performances, the students involved were said to have graduated from Neumeyer’s week-long poetry course when they cried out unanimously “We did it!”.
Poetry Slam at St. Benedict
St. Benedict grade 9 students Fraser MacLeod and Dennis Leblanc listen to the rules of poetry competition as given by professional performance poet Tanya Neumeyer. One parameter is that the performance is timed, so students run the risk of being penalized if their poetry is too short or runs too long. During this poetry battle their classmates enjoyed actively participating as judges giving points for delivery, while other students got to cheer, clap or snap their fingers if they liked the score given or ‘boo’ if they disagreed with a low score. Poetry slams are now a widespread form of popular poetry.
Free Writing at St. Benedict
St. Benedict grade 9 students, including their English teacher Mr. Closs celebrate April as Poetry month by work on a ‘free writing’ exercise. Free-writing involves self-expression by keeping your pen moving continuously for a short period of time without concern for spelling, grammar or neatness. This technique helped students to collect ideas on paper which later lead to more formal pieces of poetry writing. Both students and teacher were inspired by a spoken-word workshops given by visiting Toronto-based poet Tanya Neumeyer.
Sudbury Catholic Students to Take Part in Walk for a Second Chance- April 28
Student from all four Sudbury Catholic Secondary Schools will be taking part in the Irish Heritage Club of Sudbury’s Walk for a Second Chance on April 28th, 2012. This walk is organized to support organ donation awareness and the Gift of Life which is an initiative that is fully supported by the Sudbury Catholic District School Board and its students. On December 13, 2010, the Board launched its own challenge to the Greater City of Sudbury to be the first city in the province of Ontario to have 50% or more of its residents be registered organ and tissue donors, and have continued to spread the word to schools and the community about the importance of organ donation. Catherine McCullough, SCDSB Director of Education is very proud of Sudbury for embracing this initiative. “I am very proud of our Board for partnering with the Trillium Gift of Life Network for this very important initiative, and I encourage the entire community to join us in this challenge – to not only have Sudbury reach or even surpass the 50% registration for city-wide donation in Ontario, but more importantly, to recognize that there is no greater gift than the gift of life.”
David Dibrina, Sudbury Catholic Student Trustee, has been working with the Irish Heritage Club of Sudbury to continue to keep organ donation awareness a priority with students. “Organ donation is so important in saving the lives of others,” Dibrina stated. “It truly is one of the most selfless acts that we can do that can positively impact so many people. Students need to make sure they are registered (beadonor.ca) and talk to their families so that they know what their wishes are.”
The walk will take place on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. at the Bell Park Amphitheatre, Sudbury.
This is a walk for organ donation awareness and there are no monetary pledges.
For more information, please call (705)566-1328, or contact David Dibrina at St. Charles College at (705)566-9605.
Celebrating Poetry Month at St. Benedict
St. Benedict grade 7 students Lexis Costanzi and Kelsey Currie prepare by doing warm-up exercises before performing their poetry on stage for Toronto-based poet Tanya Neumeyer. Performance poetry is written especially for an audience. In this case, the students will be presenting their original creative writing pieces for their classmates. Recently, the students were inspired by Neumeyer’s spoken-word workshops in which she taught them performance skills such as stance, gesture and tone.
Poetry is Cool at St. Bens School
St. Benedict grades 7 and 9 students were treated to the living culture of performance poetry by published poet Tanya Neumeyer recently. At first the students were shy, but after Neumeyer’s spoken-word poetry workshops, she had the students writing and presenting their own polished poems on the stage for her and their classmates. At the end, clearly Neumeyer’s passion for poetry was infectious since the students described their week-long poetry experiences as “amazing,” “fantastic,” and “awesome.” When asked what was their favourite part, many responded with a self-confident “writing” and even “performing”. One student requested, “Can you come back?” Neumeyer said it was “a precious gift to see the students transition from contemplative stillness to fun expressive movements. I was inspired by their courage to take steps forward and stretch their comfort zone.”
Tanya Neumeyer is a Toronto-based poet whose visit to St. Ben’s was organized by Teacher-Librarian Ms Marinilli, and funded by the Ontario Arts Council.
St. Benedict Hosts Sudbury Rolling Thunder
Students at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School had the opportunity to buy out of last period on Tuesday, March 7, 2012 to support a great cause. The Sudbury Rolling Thunder basketball team visited the school to take part in an exhibition game involving both a student and teacher team. Proceeds from the buy out went to support local wheelchair athletes. Despite their best efforts, the St. Benedict staff and students who participated in the game weren’t able to sink many baskets againstt the Sudbury Rolling Thunder team, however the school community thoroughly enjoyed watching. One member of the Rolling Thunder, Sarah Lashbrook – a local author and writer, also stayed after the game to sign her latest book “Where the Stream and Creek Collide”.
This book is a fictional story whose main character is a paraplegic as she wanted to “give a relatable character to a minority group that seems to lack just that in the literary world.”
Stephanie Van Druenen, vice principal of St. Benedict was thrilled with the day’s event.
“This was a great opportunity for our school community on so many levels,” Van Druenen stated. “Not only did our students enjoy a lively basketball game, it was also an opportunity for everyone to learn about inclusion and awareness, overcoming obstacles, as well as enhanced understanding of equality in sports. On top of that, we raised almost a thousand dollars to support our community’s athletes.”
St. Benedict Girls Curling Team Take Title at NOSSA
Congratulations to the St. Benedict Girls Curling team on their huge success at the NOSSA championships. The girls went through the competition undefeated, beating Lo-ellen in the finals to win the NOSSA championship for a 2nd year in a row. A great accomplishment among many this and the last 4 years.
-4 years city champions
-4 years undefeated in SDSSA play
-2 consecutive NOSSA champions
-17 games undefeated in this year
The girls curling team consists of
Chloe Gordon (skip)
Cassandra Rees (vice)
Carolyne Graham (2nd)
Sabrina Frappier (lead)