Two weeks ago students from NAEC competed in the Limestone District School Board Skills Competition. This year saw a different format with students competing at various high schools around the board over several days instead of the usual one day event at St. Lawrence College. Also new for North Addington, 25% of the NAEC competitors were in grade 9.

The first day of competition was at Sharbot Lake for team of Two, 2D Character Animation where students had to design then animate characters using Flash animation. Michael McEwen & Devon Salmond captured a bronze medal, while Devon Deruchie & Lucas Parks-Delyea took home the silver medal. “I really liked the animation,” said Lucas, “and having a chance to do it was very exciting.”

Natasha McIsaac and Courtney Johnson travelled to LCVI for the Digital photography competition, where they showed off their previously edited and mounted photographs as well as their PhotoShop editing skills to produce stunning images.  

Shane Taylor competed at Bayridge Secondary School for Prepared Speech. His speech, delivered in a narrative style, won him the bronze medal.

On the last day of competition, Kayla Keller and Megan Cruickshank travelled to LaSalle to compete in the Graphic Design Presentation Competition. This involved producing a new 25th Anniversary logo for Skills Canada, an 11” x 17” poster and a brochure front, mounted very specifically. They then presented their portfolio containing their creative process and defended their designs to a panel of judges. Terry Murphy and Zack McQuigge, also at LaSalle, competed in Desktop Publishing, where they had to create a logo, print ad and business sign for a small business in a set time frame. Terry won the silver medal and Zack won the gold. Zack will go on to represent Team Limestone at RIM Park in Waterloo May 7th and 8th. Congratulations to all of Team NAEC, who showed excellent sportsmanship and talent at their respective competitions.

Mike Sewell, Program Leader Skills, Training and Technology for Limestone District had this to say, "NAEC students continue to demonstrate their proficiency and their leadership skills in the Digital Arts and Prepared Speech areas, sending 12 students to five separate events in this year's version of the Limestone Skills Competition. Even though they may be the smallest secondary school in the district, NAEC believes that 'success truly has no limits'".

Congratulations to all of Team NAEC, who showed excellent sportsmanship and talent at their respective competitions.

Josh Goodfellow first came to Sharbot Lake High School as a student. He returned fully grown, and accepted a position as an Educational Assistant on a casual basis, and started work in the School to Community classroom. Josh has a strong commitment to the well-being of all students and to the school community. He has worked as an effective member of the school team in many capacities at the school; in the School to Community program, as an Educational Assistant in the school’s LitFit class, a new and unique

program for grade 9 boys with behavioral and academic struggles, as a member of a professional learning team with teachers, and as a member of the school’s coaching staff, to name a few. In each of these roles, Josh’s support for all students is genuine, invaluable and always goes above and beyond his formal role.

Josh takes a lead in the School to Community program in several areas. He was instrumental in planning for and fund-raising for the school’s Snoezelen room. He

single-handedly raised over $10,000 for it. Josh helps to coordinate the school recycling program, involving the students in a meaningful way at every stage, and he works alongside the students in the greenhouse and community garden, assisting them in learning to cultivate plants and vegetables. Through his work in the School to Community program, he has become familiar with, and works closely with, several community agencies that support the students and their families.

Last year, Josh welcomed the opportunity to work in the school’s LitFit class with a group of very challenging grade 9 boys. His work involved supporting their skill development in self-control, conflict mediation, literacy strategies, and healthy living habits. Josh thrived in this program and the classroom teacher found his input and

leadership with the students to be invaluable. Several of the boys now have a positive rapport with Josh and rely on him when situations become challenging. This has had a very positive impact on the tone in the school.

Josh attends staff meetings on a regular basis and participates in professional learning opportunities. This year he joined a learning team on differentiated instruction to enhance the strategies he uses when working with and supporting students. Josh also gets involved in the extra-curricular activities at the school, coaching or assisting the coach, in all sports. As a result of this involvement, there are many students who seek out Josh for support of social and emotional situations. He is empathetic, compassionate, very grounded, and professional in his creative and effective approach to students. Josh readily responds to medical emergencies as a member of the school’s First Aid team. As well, he competently steps in to support the Principal, Vice-Principal, and teacher-in charge during sensitive or high risk situations that can arise in a high school with students or parents. Any time that Josh has taken on this role, he does so professionally, appropriately, and always using sound judgment.

The Sharbot Lake family is very fortunate to have Josh in their midst, with his numerous contributions to the school community, his passion for helping students, and his warm and ready smile for everyone.

The Limestone District School Board is proud to honour Josh Goodfellow with an Outstanding Service Award.

NAEC’s students presented a sea of pink on April 10, the International Day of Pink. It is estimated that at least 90% of the students wore some form of pink, be it a pink shirt, pink shoes, or other pink items. This is the biggest turn-out of pink people at the school since the first NAEC Day of Pink in 2011.

The students gathered together for a Whole School Photo, and a short assembly. Ms. Salmond reminded the students about the background of the Day of Pink. A student at a Nova Scotia school was bullied because he was wearing a pink shirt. A group of students went and bought pink shirts and wore them to school as an anti-bullying gesture. The International Day of Pink is specifically designed to combat homophobic and gender-based bullying.

Mrs. Fuller’s Grade 1/2 class, Ms. Buck’s Grade 5/6 class and Ms. Cuthill’s Grade 6/7 class all made displays regarding the Day of Pink. These were (and are) displayed in the front foyer, for students, staff and visitors to consider. Other classes viewed videos, made posters, or had discussions about being sensitive, kind and accepting of everyone.

Jeremy Dias, who started DayofPink.org, will be visiting NAEC on April 17, to continue the conversation. Jeremy was, himself, a victim of homophobic bullying and started “Jer’s Vision”, a non-profit group dedicated to ending bullying and educating people about acceptance. Principal Angela Salmond commented, “We are very pleased to have Jeremy come and talk to us. We tried to schedule him last year, but had no luck. This year, Ms. Gaffney and Mr. Kerr, along with the Limestone District School Board, have managed to arrange a visit.”

Township to Reopen Negotiations with Limestone Board

In 2008, the Limestone School Board contributed a lump sum of $695,000 to the Township as their share of the cost of providing municipal water services to the two schools and greenhouse located in Sydenham.

Since this initial decision, circumstances have changed: the water plant has undergone a significant upgrade, the high school is building “a significant addition,” and as part of this building program, the Board has demolished some former rental properties which had water hook-ups.

Recognizing these changed circumstances, Council has directed staff to reopen funding negotiations with the Limestone Board.

Highway 38: A Road by Any Other Name?

The City of Kingston has proposed renaming that portion of Road 38 which runs from 401 to the boundary of South Frontenac, and has asked the Township for its comments. Township Planning & Roads department recommends the road name remain as it is, and would like to discuss the matter with City staff before making a formal comment. Council agreed, and passed a motion to ask the City to defer their decision until Township and City staff can meet.

Truck to be Replaced through Insurance

Public Works Manager Segsworth reported on an adjustment to the 2013 vehicle replacement program. A township truck which was budgeted to be replaced next year was recently destroyed by fire. The Township’s insurance policy covers the full replacement value, so the truck can be replaced with a current model for the cost of the $10,000 deductible. Councillor Vandewal expressed concern that this might affect the overall insurance premiums.

The High Cost of Protecting Our Lakes

Planner Lindsay MiIls reported to last week’s Committee of the Whole that over the past five years, staff have had to deal with five serious infractions of site plan agreements. All cases have involved the illegal clearing away of natural vegetation near the shoreline, and disturbance of natural soil cover. Some have also involved illegal construction of buildings and retaining walls. Rectifying these infractions has cost staff considerable time and expense.

Several council members suggested charging a much more substantial deposit, which would be returned once the property is developed, unless there are infractions to the site plan agreement. There was agreement that Council supported their staff in enforcing protection of township lakes.

Cemetery Board Amalgamation

In late 2012, following input from all three cemetery boards, Council made it clear that it wanted the Township to have one amalgamated cemetery board, one set of by-laws, and new rates that would be the same across the township, and more nearly cover the cost of operation. The service components were to be separated into three parts: administration, grounds and excavation.

Further to Council’s direction, CAO Orr met with representatives from the three township cemetery boards to outline Council’s direction and the next steps for implementation.

Orr reported back to Council on April 2: “The tone of the meeting was very angry and bitter… members felt they had not been heard or valued for their knowledge and experience.”

The lengthy meeting ended with no agreement on a process for establishing the new amalgamated board, or the details of a new by-law. All did agree that Orr should write to each member of the present Boards asking them if they wished to continue their involvement with the Cemetery Board. 

It is no surprise that the plans for a 50-year anniversary celebration at Clarendon Central Public School (CCPS) in Plevna began with two women who both have had a long and rich history there.

Heather White, an early graduate and former caretaker at the school, and Brenda Martin, one of the school's former principals, began thinking about a 50-year anniversary celebration close to a year and a half ago. The two formed a committee to organize the event, which is open to everyone and will take place at the school on Saturday, April 13 from 10am - 4pm.

The event is to remember and celebrate the beloved community school whose motto continues to be “Working Together, Learning Together, Growing Together”. Construction began on the school in 1961 and was completed in 1963 when it was officially opened. Clarendon Central would end up replacing 14 smaller schools in the surrounding area, including the Ardoch, Plevna, Fernleigh and Ompah school houses. John Walton was the school's first principal and its first teachers were Elinor (Burke) Black, Gail Wilson and Ernest Young. In 1988 plans were underway to add a gymnasium to the school, which was completed in 1992.

To this day the school continues to serve students and their families with a continued dedication to the arts, new technology, and hands on skills.

Brenda Martin was school principal from 1984-88 and headed up the silver anniversary celebrations in 1988. She spoke of what the school has meant to her over the years. “I was always impressed by the many talented students who attended the school over the years. So many of them were incredibly talented in the arts and technology areas and they really benefited from the many artists who came to the school to teach them a number of different skills, like wood working, tie-dying and mask making.” Many of those objects will be on display at the event.

Martin also spoke of the intimacy of the school because of its size, which is just under 100 students in total from kindergarten to grade 8. “Clarendon Central is a very unique little country school and teaching there was always been such a joy because the curriculum for the entire school could be so easily integrated.”

She recalled some of her favorite memories, which included bringing the students to her cottage where they learned about outdoor education: ice fishing, snow shoeing, native traditions and more. "I remember when the students paddled canoes down the Mississippi River to pick wild rice; it was such an intimate experience and I'm sure some of those students still carry with them some of those memories to this day.”

Martin is hoping to re-ignite some of those memories at the upcoming anniversary celebrations, where classrooms will designated by the various decades and special activities and events will be taking place in each location. Visitors will see displays of old photos and will be invited to participate in a number of special activities like trivia challenges, sock hops and other events from school days gone by.

In the '60s room pictures of the various old schoolhouses that CCPS replaced along with examples of furniture and school equipment from that era will be on display. The later years of the school will focus on new technology at the school including its smart boards and computers. Hungry visitors will be able to enjoy a '60s style cafe with hotdogs, hamburgs and sodas. There will also be a raffle for a number of special hand made items by former students, which include an oak blanket box by Brian Lemke, an original painting by Gleva Lemke and an original sketch by Carrie White.

At noon, a ceremony will take place with a welcome by current school principal Dave Allison, LDSB trustee Ann Goodfellow and North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton. There will also be available for purchase a 50th Anniversary year book titled "Remember When" and orders will be taken for a special DVD recording of the day's events.

Organizers hope to see everyone come out to help celebrate this special event at CCPS.

It sure didn't feel like a competition, due to the fact that creative people often prefer to collaborate rather than compete. But compete they did on March 27, when six students in total competed in the first round of the 2D Computer animation component of the Limestone Skills Competition at Sharbot Lake High School.

In the final minutes before turning in their finished products, the three teams, comprised of students from Sharbot Lake, North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne and Sydenham High School, scrambled to put together their final animated short films, all of which were created in Adobe Flash and ran just over a minute in length.

With just a few minutes left in the competition, one team groaned as they lost all of the backgrounds to their film but luckily managed to find a way to put them back in.

The students began at 8:30am and worked right through until 2pm, with a short lunch break. The goal was to write, design and create a “spring” themed 2D animated short complete with storyboard. The competing students, who were from grade nine through twelve, had to first develop their characters, complete a story board, create all of the backgrounds and then animate their characters.

I had a chance to watch the finished films along with three volunteer judges, Ilona Cox, Eric Wotherspoon and Josh Goodfellow. The judges marked the films out of a total of 100 points. Points were scored for clarity of the message, story quality, cinematography, storyboard changes and final animation. Under the heading of character design, the students were judged on their model sheets, character design, model structure, character expression and model control.

The competition was run by SLHS math and computer teacher Nick Laan. It is one of a variety of competitions that invites LDSB students to test their mettle in different hands on skills with the hopes of encouraging them to focus on skilled trades opportunities in their future careers and/or post secondary studies. “The students competing here today are employing numerous skills like creativity, originality, organizational skills, working under pressure and to a deadline as well learning how to collaborate in a team,” Laan said. “These annual competitions, which normally take place on a single day at St. Lawrence College, are happening at various locations this year and the goal is to allow students a chance to focus on a skilled trade option that they might be interested in pursuing after high school. A competition like this one acts as an entry way; this particular group of students, for example, who are interested in animation might end up working in animation, media or graphic arts, advertising or journalism, or in a number of other related fields.”

Katie Ohlke, who teaches graphic art and computers at NAEC and was also present at the competition, said, “Not only is this a real-world application of their skills and a chance for students to see if they are interested in the particular field of work but it also gives students in the north a chance to travel to other schools and meet and work with other students who have similar interests.”

Shortly after 2pm the final winners were announced. Kara Morey and Emily Woodcock of Sydenham High School won for their spring bunny love story. They are now eligible to compete in a regional qualifier round at St. Lawrence College in Kingston along with other high students all over Eastern Ontario. Emily said that she and Kara plan to keep training and working hard with the hopes winning the next round. Asked about the competition they were up against, Kara said, “I was pretty intimidated. The other films were really great and they could have easily won too.”

Should Kara and Emily win round two in Kingston, they will move on and will be eligible to compete in Waterloo at the provincial level. If they win again they can go on to the country-wide Skills Canada competition.