Faith Archives - Page 5 of 9 - St. Charles College

Cardinals Lend a Holiday Helping Hand

Posted on December 15, 2015 by admin

The tradition to help families in need at Christmas is still alive after more than twenty years at St. Charles College.

This year almost twenty-five families will have gifts to put under the tree for their children thanks to the Cards.

Homerooms pool money together in the weeks leading up to Christmas and then go shopping with the child’s pre-made list in hand.

Deacon Steve Callaghan, the school Chaplain spearheads the initiative yearly, “Each homeroom essentially adopts a child or children within a family attending one of its feeder schools and supplies gifts for the children.” To keep annonymity and respect the families privacy, Deacon Steve delivers the parcels to the parents in the days leading up to Christmas through the help of the feeder school Principals.

Principal Patty Mardero says “The initiative falls in line with the Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectation five which focuses on students becoming collaborative contributors inside of the walls of the school but also helping students beyond that in the greater community.”

St. Charles College Ugly Sweaters Team Up with Holy Trinity Grade One students in PJ’s

Posted on December 14, 2015 by admin

The grade nine French Immersion students at St. Charles College are currently studying a unit on “Les Contes” (short stories). One of their assignments was to create a “conte” and develop vocabulary words and comprehension questions about their “contes”.

The students collaborated with teacher Colette Perrin’s Grade 1 Immersion students to read the “contes”, and assist them with their French reading and understanding.

The small students also happened to be celebrating pajama day and were divided into stations for story time with the big SCC students who were celebrating ugly Christmas sweater day.

Christmas Cards for Children with Cancer

Posted on December 2, 2015 by admin

Christmas will be just a little brighter this year for some patients in the Sudbury area suffering from cancer. Grade 8 students at St. Charles College Elementary, created handmade Christmas cards that will be distributed to patients suffering from cancer, in honour of one of their own classmates who is courageously battling the disease.

Mrs. Kathy Belanger, the teacher in charge of the activity said: “One of my students, came to me with a letter from her grand mother’s friend, asking if we would be willing to create Christmas cards as a way to make some people’s holiday season a little brighter. Our class thought it would be a wonderful gesture to demonstrate how we are ‘Church in the World’.”

During two religion classes, students in the 8A homeroom put their artistic talents to work while listening to Christmas music, which created an atmosphere of happiness, joy and hope for those struggling with the disease.

The cards will be distributed before the holidays begin.

“Dear Veteran Letters Being Penned at St. Charles College

Posted on November 9, 2015 by admin

As part of a letter writing unit in Literacy studies, students in teacher Sarah Bock’s grade seven class at St. Charles College are writing war veterans.

The students are writing the letters in an effort to show veterans why there are valued. The unit ties in nicely to the Remembrance Day theme.

Bock says in the past, her students have written troops in combat but she thought it would be an interesting twist to write veterans who have served in the past.

Once completed and assessed, the letters will be mailed out to veterans listed on the Veteran Affairs website through a campaign called “Postcards for Peace.”

Cards Do It – Largest Single Donation to the Sudbury Food Bank for a Five Day Drive

Posted on October 28, 2015 by admin

The goal was to raise 60 thousand cans in five days. The result was astounding. Students and staff, along with the support of its feeder schools and the community raised 125, 452 cans to line the shelves of the food bank heading into the holiday season.

The breakdown is twenty thousand dollars in cash collected and 25, 000 cans. Students will spend the day assisting with the transport of the food to the food bank warehouse.

The St. Charles College food drive started thirty years ago and has been a yearly tradition with its feeder schools – St. David’s, Holy Trinity, Pius XII, St. John and St. Paul schools.

Principal Patty Mardero says “in thirty years this is the largest donation to date. The students really upped the ante for next year.”

Cards can do it!

Posted on October 21, 2015 by admin

Members of the St. Charles College Student Council are selling tees in the main foyer of the school this week to support the Sudbury Food Bank. The t-shirts which are retailing for twenty dollars go to supporting the school’s annual food drive. That means the sale of one shirt equates to 100 cans to line the shelves at the food bank.

The blue shirts were designed by students in teacher Beverly Belanger’s leadership class. Student Jordan Sutton designed the image on the front of the shirt while Tyler Michaud came up with this year’s slogan: “Cards ‘can’ do it! 60, 000.”

The goal for this year’s food drive is to collect sixty thousand cans and they are doing it with the support of feeder schools – St. David’s, Holy Trinity, Pius XII, St. John and St. Paul schools.

The food drive is an annual tradition dating back to almost thirty years ago.

Grade 7 and 8 Students at St. Charles College Create a New Yearly Tradition to Give Thanks

Posted on October 13, 2015 by admin

The grade 7 and 8 Student Council at St. Charles College wanted to find a way to celebrate the fall harvest and give thanks for everything they have at school and home. The council decided to break bread and share a meal together. This meal fed the more than two hundred elementary students enroled at the school.

In addition to dining together to celebrate Thanksgiving ahead of the holiday weekend, the students also contributed a few dollars or a few cans to the upcoming school canned food drive initiative.

Principal Mrs. Patty Mardero says “it was nice to see these elementary students starting their own yearly tradition as they find their niche here at SCC. We, too have to be thankful for these students joining our Cards family.”

St. Charles Cards on Annual Mission to Fill Sudbury Food Bank Shelves

Posted on October 7, 2015 by admin

This week, students at St. Charles began visits to feeder schools to get students amped up and motivated about this year’s food drive.

The goal is to raise 60, 000 cans for the Sudbury Food Bank, along with support from its feeder schools – St. David’s, Holy Trinity, Pius XII, St. John and St. Paul schools.

The food drive began almost thirty years ago with the student council at the time initiating the drive. Founder, Jim Szilva continues to help the school each year with the annual mission. The school is also supported by Kiss 105.3 and Q host Melanie Dahl on the airways.

In the past, donations from St.Charles College each fall have made for the largest single donation in Sudbury Food Bank history.

The drive wraps up on October 27th when final results will be tabulated and unveiled at the assembly.

Grades 7 to 12 Cardinals Celebrate Mass All Together as One

Posted on September 18, 2015 by admin

The St. Charles College student body grew by more than two hundred this fall when grades 7 and 8 students were introduced into the campus mix.

On Thursday, September 17, 2015, students celebrated their first mass together in the gymnasium with Father Jim Ketzler of St. John the Evangelist in Garson presiding.

Under the direction of teacher Shannon Coyle, the new 7-12 choir helped to beautify the mass with their voices.

Students from the senior boys’ football team helped with the procession and the Prayers of the Faithful.

After Setbacks and Heartache, St. Charles Cardinal is Honoured with Full Scholarship

Posted on May 15, 2015 by admin

There is not a more tenacious and motivated student than Lisa Ludwig. The seventeen year-old St. Charles College student and cancer survivor has just won Laurentian University’s Jim Fielding Memorial Bursary which will pay for her next four years of schooling.

Lisa’s story is full of hardship and hurdles. She has been a child of the ward since she was small – living with a foster family for as long as she can remember.

In grade eight, while her friends were celebrating graduation, she was having her leg biopsied. Days later, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma – the same cancer Terry Fox was stricken with in his teen years.

That summer before high school was overshadowed by hospital stays, treatments, hair loss and would eventually lead to the loss of her leg.

Due to treatments and a weak immune system, Lisa started grade 9 late in the second semester putting her off track to graduate with her peers. But that did not stop her – Lisa took classes through home schooling and summer school to get back on track. In addition, she worked on two co-operative education placements in grade 11 and 12 at Health Sciences North in both cancer and mental health wards and at the Children’s Treatment Centre. She will also graduate next month with a red seal with a Specialist High Skills Major designation in Healthcare.

Throughout high school, she was dealt more grief. Her foster father died of a heart attack when she was in grade ten and last year, and last year her foster care worker, Nicole Belair was killed in a house fire in Hanmer.

Lisa continues to have two hospital visits per year for her osteosarcoma but nothing has stopped this driven student. She is excited about this new chapter of her life at Laurentian University. She has high hopes of becoming a social worker who can help people and give back to a system she has been a part of all her life.