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Category: Student Achievement

SCDSB Celebrates Sixth Annual Turning Points Essay Contest Awards

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Invited students, parents, teachers and invited guests gathered together on May 6, 2015 to take part in the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s Sixth annual Turning Points Essay Contest Awards ceremony. This essay contest is an initiative that 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. The Turning Points Essay Contest is a powerful character development and literacy program that all 4 of our secondary schools, as well as the intermediate students at St. Anne participated in this year. There are 3 divisions, Grade 7/8, Grade 9/10 and Grade 11/12. Cash prizes were awarded for secondary essays and all essays will also be published in an annual anthology that will be sent to students and participating schools next year. The 
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 the celebration.
 Joanne Bénard, Director of Education for the Board was on hand for the celebration and awarded the students their prizes. After hearing the students read their essays, Bénard was visibly moved by their words and experiences. “I want to thank these students for sharing with us your strength and resiliency, and for being able to see the shining light in your experiences,” Bénard stated. “You have shown us that everyday is a blessing by sharing your emotional stories of strength and courage, accounts of laughter and tears, your deepest secrets, greatest fears, and biggest triumphs. What emerges as these essays take shape is just magic, and it reminds us all of the goodness and beauty in all of our students.”

Top Winners include:

Grade 11/12 Division

First Place – Mia Tullio
Second Place – Emily Brohart
Third Place – Taylor Emery

Grade 9/10 Division

First Place – Jenna Hoolans
Second Place – Julia Moore
Third Place – Alexis Gunther

Grade 7/8 Awards

First Place- Madison Penrose
Second Place – Amy Lucas
Third Place – Kaylee Kruk

World Religion Study Project Leads to Elaborate 3D Synagogues Designs

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Give Grade 11 French Immersion students at St. Charles College a challenge and they will meet and exceed it.  The students are studying world religions this semester.  As part of their Judaism studies, they were given the task to build a 3D synagogue including all the necessary elements of a synagogue on the inside. 

Teacher Jessica Demore says “The students stepped up to the challenge.  One group completed the task using 321 spoons to build their synagogue.  Others got fancy and virtual and constructed their synagogues using the ever popular building program, Minecraft.”

The French Immersion students will be visiting a synagogue later this month as part of their studies.  They will also study Islam and Hinduism, all the while comparing it to their Catholic faith before the end of the school year.

SCC Concert Choir Shining Bright like Diamonds Again

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The concert choir at St. Charles College can safely say they are the top secondary school choir in the city. More than twenty-five SCC students performed at the 70th annual Kiwanis Festival in Sudbury this week to take home diamond standing yet again.  Under the direction of teacher Ms. Shannon Coyle, this is the second year in a row that the choir has scored 90 or above – securing a diamond title for St. Charles College. The group performed All of Me by John Legend and the title song from Mama Mia. On Monday, April 13th at 7 p.m., the concert choir will be performing its rendition of Mamma Mia at the Kiwanis Festival final concert and awards ceremony at St.Andrews Place. There, they will receive the top secondary school choir award.

They’re coming to a door near you!

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Students who attend St. Paul, St. John, St. David, St. Raphael, St. Andrew, Pius and St. Bernadette Catholic elementary schools are out in full force this week. Their mission is to collect cans for its food drive in collaboration with St. Charles College.

Students from the seven schools are going door-to-door to collect cans and other non-perishable food items to help the Sudbury Food Bank stock its shelves over the cold winter months.

Every year, the feeder schools team up with St. Charles College, Q92 and KISS 105.3 to Stuff a Bus full of food. The radio stations also broadcast live from the school parking lot during the week. The food is then transported to the Sudbury Food Bank warehouse.

Student can collect a combination of canned foods and cash. Last year, they surpassed their goal by collecting more than 112 thousand cans.

The food drive began more than 25 years ago and its founder, former student Jim Szilva still takes part in the drive with his former high school.

Totals will be tabulated, with a wrap-up set for October 23rd.

St. Charles College Students Trapping Bugs for Guelph Research Institute

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The grade ten Science classes are taking their studies outside by trapping insects. Teacher George Fritz has partnered with the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph to sample the insect community in the St. Charles College school yard.

One of the classes set-up what is known as an “insect malaise trap” to collect specimens. The students will now spend the next two weeks monitoring what is caught in the trap. Fritz says “students will also have to note environmental conditions and the number of insects caught.”

After the sampling period, the specimens will be returned to the BIO facility in Guelph where the DNA of the insects will be barcoded for species recognition, and added to the Institute’s database.

Later on in the semester, the class will receive a report on the insect specimens. Fritz is hoping that the process leads to new information being added to the database.

Celebrating Writers

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Three girls at St. Charles College were recently honoured for their written works of art.  Grade 12 students Maicie Szilva and Melissa Minor as well as grade 9 student Katie Miscio were recognized at the Sudbury Turning Points ceremony.  

Turning Points is a writing competition put on by the Learning Partnership that focuses on building character development and literacy for students in grades 6-12.

The focus of the written submissions is to hone in on an important turning point in student lives.  Maicie Szilva won a 2nd place award for her essay entitled “I Lost Her” about her sister’s illness which causes seizures.   Miscio and Minor both received honourable mentions at the ceremony.  Katie Miscio’s essay called “A New Normal” focused on the death of both her grandparents.  Melissa Minor’s called “Aftermath” was about bullying.   

Be Our Guest

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St. Charles College wants YOU to join Belle, Gaston, Mrs. Potts and the rest of the cast of Beauty and the Beast.  Be our guest as they bring Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to life from May 6-10th at 7 p.m.  Parents with small children may wish to take in the 1 p.m. matinee May 10th where they can meet the cast of characters after the show.  The production was directed and produced by teacher Diandra Zafiris. 

Trip of a Lifetime for St. Charles College Students

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Last month 15 students from St. Charles College went on the vacation of a lifetime. From April 12 – 20, 2013, as part of the school’s Specialist High Skills Major (S.H.S.M.) in Health and Wellness, these students, accompanied by two teachers, had the opportunity to visit the country of Guatemala to work with a restoration group in local communities. Based on the belief that “if you can keep a community environmentally healthy, you can keep the community physically healthy” teacher Tim Kingshott led the students to support the Chico Mendez Project which is a non-profit organization based out of Guatemala which works towards reforestation of the forests, the provision of environmental education, and the generation of oxygen for the world. The students helped collect soil and loam to mix and prep for the next round of trees that were scheduled to be planted in the areas they visited.
As well as the community service, another aspect of their trip was a homestay with a family from Guatemala. Each student had the opportunity to live with a Guatemalan family and experience their traditional culture.
In order to prepare for this trip, the students were required to learn the basics of First Aid, as well as travel and health/safety. The group even learned a little Spanish in order to support their communication skills during their adventure.
Kingshott, who is also an outdoor education teacher, organized many hikes, and other outdoor activities including ziplining. “This is the fourth year I have brought St. Charles College students to another country for the S.H.S.M. in Health and Wellness,” Kingshott stated. “Four years ago I took students to Ecuador, then Costa Rica, then Belize and this year Guatemala. It is such a life changing opportunity for these grade 11 and 12 students as they take part in real hands on learning. At the end of these trips, they take away skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. These experiences are history and learning based, curriculum based, and most importantly adventure based – all the while pushing the students beyond their comfort zone – there is no better way to learn!”

St. Charles College Student Takes Top Writing Prize and Becomes a Published Author

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Emily McCarthy has worked tirelessly to take the top prize in The Learning Partnership’s Turning Points Essay Contest this year. 
 
Each year, the essay contest forces students to explore their character development through the use of literacy. 
 
McCarthy’s personal essay of 500-700 words reflects on how individuals deal with conflict in their lives and how that changes them to become different people.
 
She shared the story of her cousin who died in 2009 and how she went through a dark stage in her life.  To overcome the darkness, she turned to her family and found a better relationship with God.
 
This is a first-time win for Emily and for her school, St. Charles College.
 
Ms. Lindsay Morris, her English teacher from first semester says “Emily deserves this honour.  As a class, we did a lot of legwork to make the students really think about who they are inside.  Emily did many drafts, and worked so hard to take each revision of her work seriously.  I would give her tips and the next day she would come back with an entire re-write.”
 
Emily will receive a cheque and a plaque for all her hard work.  She will also have her work formally published.
 

Cardinals Take Home Both Junior and Senior Volleyball Titles at NOSSA

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It was a celebratory Monday at St. Charles College recently.  The girls’ junior and senior volleyball teams competed at NOSSA and brought home not one BUT TWO championship banners.
 
The junior team beat the Sault’s Superior Heights Steelhawks to take the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA junior girls title. 
 
Head coach Julie Dion told her team to remain positive as they are always a team that works well at coming from behind and they did.
 
The senior team also took the AAA senior girls volleyball title after beating out the Korah Colts with their strong offense and defence. 
 
Both teams advanced to the Ontario Federation of School Athletics Associations (OFSAA) AAA championships held in Windsor March 3rd to the 6th.

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