On Wednesday, May 31st, North Addington Education Centre’s Grade 11 and Grade 12 Recreation and Fitness Leadership class, travelled to Algonquin park to partake in a 4-day canoe trip.

The students prepared for the trip during the month of May during their class. They had to prepare presentations to teach the rest of the class important information about the trip. They also had to go through various amounts of training to learn proper canoe strokes and safety practices, such as canoe-over-canoe rescue, as well as how to portage efficiently over long distances.

Their trip consisted of canoeing multiple lakes throughout a day, as well as numerous portages, one being approximately 2.5 kilometres! The students successfully completed the portages in record times and kept a positive attitude during the entire trip, despite some rain and wind at times. Grade 12 student, Shaelynn Flagler commented on her experience, “The challenges were the weather, bugs and mud which made the portages and the days on the lake very difficult, but we as a group were able to conquer Algonquin Park and have a good trip.”

Their teacher, Mrs. Sproule, commented on her students saying, “the growth that we saw in students, both individually and as a group, was phenomenal.  Some students learned to camp and canoe for the first time on a trip while others had the opportunity to catch their first trout and eat it cooked over the campfire!” The students all agree that it was a great educational trip and a wonderful experience. They all grew closer to each other and bonded more than they ever would have in just a classroom environment.

The school and teachers hope to continue in their outdoor educational trips and are very grateful to their local sponsors for making these trips possible. Without the sponsors, they would be unable to afford the supplies and transportation needed for the trip.

Shannon Delyea and Emma Fuller travelled to Toronto on May 1st to compete in the Provincial Skills Competition as members of Team Limestone.  Delyea competed in the Photography contest, where she presented one printed photograph, a digital portfolio of twenty photographs, and photographed and edited twenty polished images of all of the competitions happening at the Toronto Congress Centre.  “It was a great experience and I recommend the Skills Competition to everyone.  It was an excellent challenge,” Delyea said.

Emma Fuller competed in the Graphic Design Studio Production event, for a second year, where she designed a menu, a logo and a triangular shaped box using Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator the day of the competition.  “The Ontario Skills Competition has been a great learning experience and it has taught me a lot of valuable skills.  I recommend that students give this competition a try!” said Fuller.

Congratulations to these talented students!

North Addington is proud of its forested backyard, and soon it will host an interpretive walking trail for students and staff. Emma Fuller, a grade 12 student, is pairing Graphic Design and Biology to create ten signs that will inform trail walkers about the ecology and natural history of eastern Ontario. Last Thursday, Fuller accepted a generous grant from the Limestone Learning Foundation that will help pay for a large part of the project. “It is a unique trail that will benefit all our students from Kindergarten to Grade 12,” said Fuller. “We are really excited to be doing this project.”

Fuller is a park naturalist in Bon Echo Provincial Park during the summer and has shared her passion for the environment with her peers. As the founding member of “Enviro-Pro Hyper-Force,” NAEC’s earth-conscious student group, she organized a trail clean-up for Earth Day last Friday. Fuller, Cassidy Wilson, Greg Garey and Ryan Cruickshank walked the 3.5 km trail cleaning up litter on their lunch hour. “It was nice to be a part of this for earth day and to know that we are making a difference,” said Wilson, “and it was a nice walk.”

Stay tuned for more details about the grand opening of the Viking Trail in June.

Once again, the North Addington Education Centre Skills Team brought their “A” game to the Limestone District Skills Competition, held at St. Lawrence College last Friday. Taking on students from LDSB, Algonquin Lakeshore and Hastings County, the Vikings competed with the top students in four events.

Jared Mieske, a grade 9 student, competed in the Small Powered Equipment contest, with a very strong showing.

In the Graphic Design Presentation competition, Mackenzie Johnson (grade 10) and Natalie Reynolds (grade 12) competed against very strong designs, presenting a poster, t-shirt and button designs they made, advertising the Provincial Skills Competition. Natalie Reynolds won the gold for a second year in a row, with an outstanding design.

In the Graphic Design Studio Production competition, Bradley Kavanaugh-Sweeney, Kaden Snider (grade 9), Zach Andrew (grade 10), Gaven Burke (grade 11), Denver Lucas, Emma Fuller and Brittany Delyea (grade 12) completed a rigorous challenge, designing a logo and several pieces of media based on specific criteria at the competition. Emma Fuller won gold for a second year in a row and Brittany Delyea won the bronze medal.
In the Photography Competition, Brianna Bolduc (grade 11), Emma Grand, Terri-Lynn Rosenblath and Shannon Delyea (grade 12) brought their best photographs, completed an editing test and shot photographs then edited on site, in fast paced schedule. Shannon Delyea won the gold medal and Terri-Lynn Rosenblath won the silver.  

The Skills Competition is a curriculum based competition that has students compete in real life scenarios of the skilled trades. It is an internationally recognized event. The gold medal winners have qualified to move on to compete at the Provincial level in Toronto, May 1st to 3rd as part of Team Limestone. Congratulations to the entire team!

The students of North Addington Education Centre suited up on October 31st in their Campbell’s Soup Costumes, to collect items for the food bank. For the first time ever, items were collected in Denbigh for the Denbigh Food Bank.

On October 27, a packed bus left NAEC early in the morning for a trip to Toronto. Students started their program with a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum. There, they saw the work of Dale Chihuly, a famous artist who works in blown glass. Students saw boats filled with huge glass globes, a landscape of glass including creatures from above and below the sea, various vessels, and some installations called “Persians”, inspired by the patterns in Persian Rugs.

As well as seeing the Chihuly exhibit, students visited other areas of the ROM, including the dinosaur exhibit, the Chinese exhibit, the bat cave, and the rock exhibit.

The group split into two for the next part of the day. Photos are not available for this part of the day, because one group was in the pitch dark, while the other was in an art gallery (a traditional “no-photo” zone).

Ms. Dunphy and Ms. Shepherd accompanied students to “Onoir”. This is a restaurant where the food is consumed in total darkness. The premise behind this is that all the diners’ senses are concentrated on their food, rather than being distracted by their surroundings. Students and staff reported having a delicious meal, and said it was a lot of fun to eat in the dark. Many said they would like to go again.

Ms. Allan and Ms. Harnden took their group to the Art Gallery of Ontario to see the “Mystical Landscapes” exhibit. This featured an international array of different landscape artists, such as Van Gogh, Gaugiun, Monet and Georgia O’Keefe. There was also a good representation of Canadian artists, including Emily Carr, Tom Thompson and the Group of Seven. The focus of the exhibit was the concentration of artists on the soothing effects of the natural world in times of upheaval. Students were pleased when they recognized the works of artists they knew, but also enjoyed seeing the works of artists th  

On October 7, a group of students from North Addington Education Centre travelled to Kingston to visit the Kingston Glass Studio. Students took it in turns to try their hands at glass blowing, in order to make a spherical ornament. Each student chose the colours and style of their ornament, and blew it into a spherical shape with the help of the professional glass blowers at the studio.

“It was great to make your own glass ball, but it was just as much fun to watch your peers doing it,” said Emma Fuller, a grade 12 student. Students had to wait several days for the ornaments to cool enough to be transported, and were delighted with the results. This trip was in preparation for a trip on October 27 to the Dale Chihuly exhibition at the ROM in Toronto.

Grade 7 to 12 students at NAEC have also been having fun with a ball. They have been using inflatable bubble balls in a variety of activities. These balls were rented from Skyza, a new company from Pembroke. The balls are very large, with shoulder straps to keep them in place and keep the players’ heads protected.

Students have played Bubble Soccer, Sumo Wrestling, Last Man Standing, and King of the Hill. The great advantage to using the bubble balls is that students are protected from injury when making contact. It is also good exercise, because speed is not as hazardous. In addition, students spend a lot of energy manoeuvring while playing Bubble Soccer.

Amber Verbruggen, Grade 7, said, “It made you feel like you were on a roller-coaster.” Noah Gray, from Grade 8, observed, “It was fun because we got to “crush” people without getting in trouble!”

On September 29, North Addington Education Centre students participated in the annual Terry Fox Run. North Addington has been doing the run for over 25 years and every year the students are excited about the run. The elementary students learned about Terry Fox and his journey before the run took place and started fundraising. The kick-off assembly last week made the students enthusiastic about participating. Terry Fox ran for everyone and his goal was to raise one dollar for every Canadian; since then Canadians have raised over $700,000,000!

Everyone in the school participated, including the kindergarten classes. Maci, a kindergarten student said “I ran for Terry Fox and I want to do it again.”

Cole Delyea, a grade 4 student said, “I want to do it again next year, I ran for a friend's grandpa...” His sister, Sierra said, “I ran for Terry Fox and I’ll try to run more next year.”

North Addington students will find out how much they raised next week. Until then, the school is very proud of their accomplishment and the students are eager to run again next year.

On September 12, North Addington Education Centre had the honour to hear motivational speaker, Nick Foley, of Move for Inclusion (MFI), who spoke about his experiences and taught NAEC many valuable lessons. MFI is an organization that promotes inclusion of others and acceptance. MFI started in 2012, four days after Nick’s daughter was born. The students at NAEC listened to Nick and gained an insight of how important it is to include others and accept them for who they are. Recently, Nick went across Canada (Victoria, B.C to St. John’s, N.F) on a bicycle to raise awareness and promote physical activity. He emphasized that it is important to be a good person not just for others but for yourself.

Students at NAEC said that Nick Foley was an inspiration for them to get active and to accept people for who they are. Emma Grand, a Grade 12 student stated, “Nick’s presentation was very inspiring and really helped me learn to accept people.”

Tyson Johnson in Grade 9 said, “Nick Foley’s life lessons were inspirational. I really liked the bullying awareness stories.”

Nick wanted to leave NAEC with a very important message, “Celebrate acceptance without bias, and be inclusive to everyone.”

For more information on Move for Inclusion check out the website: http://moveforinclusion.com

Monarch butterflies will be flocking to 14 elementary schools in Lennox & Addington County this summer and fall. Pollinator gardens are being planted in school yards and butterflies will be raised in classrooms. Participating local schools include North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne, and Enterprise Public School.

The Lennox & Addington Stewardship Council is spearheading the Monarch Breeding Kits for Schools Project. The Monarch butterfly population is dwindling and all of our pollinators need help. The pilot project began in 2015 when 20 Monarch kits were supplied to 13 elementary schools in L&A County. Kits included caterpillars, chrysalides, a milkweed plant, and an aviary. Students were able to observe the entire life cycle of the Monarch from caterpillar to adult. In September, the children released the Monarchs to begin their migratory route, and the butterflies could be tagged and reported in the Monarch Watch database. This fall generation of Monarchs - the super generation - is able to fly 4,000 km to its winter destination in the mountains of Mexico.

This year in the 2016 Program, nine schools are planting gardens to help attract pollinators of all kinds: butterflies, birds and insects. Native species will be planted, and when the flowers bloom, the students can watch the feeding action. In addition, 14 schools ordered Monarch Breeding Kits, which will be set up in the classrooms at the beginning of September. The breeding kits come from a nursery that is accredited by the International Butterfly Breeders Organization.

Partners are essential to the momentum of this program. Maya Navrot, from Quinte Conservation, has assisted many schools with site plans and advice on plantings. Volunteers have contributed native plants and planting time to the pollinator gardens. Funding for this program has been gratefully received from TD Friends of the Environment, Napanee District Community Foundation, Quinte Conservation, Friends of the Salmon River, and Kingston Field Naturalists, as well as the contributions from participating schools.

For more information, contact Marilyn Murray, manager of the Monarch program, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.