On June 12, students in Mr. McVety's grade 10 Civics class at the Granite Ridge Education Centre competed in the finals for the Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) Award, a $5,000 grant awarded to the winning students to fund a local charity of their choice.

The program teaches secondary school students the fundamentals of philanthropy by giving them the opportunity to play a direct role in making a financial grant to a local social service organization in their own community. Four groups of students who made it to the finals of the competition took to the stage in the school’s cafetorium and gave presentations to a panel of judges made up of staff and students from the school. Also in attendance at the presentations was Steve Humphries, the final presentations coordinator from YPI Canada.

The program, which is run through the Toskan Casale Foundation, takes place across Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. It is a philanthropic initiative that aims to engage grade 9 and 10 students in local social issues by asking them to choose an issue and then to research a local charity of their choice. They then create an in-depth presentation and make a case as to why their chosen charity should receive the $5,000 award.

The four groups who competed chose four different charities: Almost Home, a Kingston-based charity that supports sick children and their families; Dawn House, a women's shelter in Kingston; the Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa, which supports women who are or may become criminalized and their families; and lastly Ottawa Therapy Dogs, an organization that trains and uses therapy dogs to assist individuals with disabilities and other special needs. The judges definitely had their work cut out for them as they made their final decision following the presentations, and after a long deliberation, they announced the winners.

Representing Dawn House, Grace Cumpson, Summer Kennedy and Emalee Ridell were called to the stage and presented with the $5,000 cheque. Randy McVety, who has been running the YPI program at the school for the last seven years, said that YPI encourages students to become actively and passionately involved in creating better communities by researching the organizations that exist to fulfill those needs. “At certain points in our lives we can need help from other people and organizations and this program is an incredibly tangible, authentic and relevant one that encourages students to identify those social needs and to actively connect with the organizations that address them”.

Over the last seven years, students at the school have raised $40,000 through the YPI program, which has helped to fund a variety of local charities. This year alone across Canada, 150 YPI awards will be given out totaling over $1 million in grants to grassroots social service organizations.

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On June 10, NAEC was fortunate to welcome Tammy and Bernard Nelson to teach workshops. The workshops were attended by Mrs. Pelow’s Grade 6 class, Mr. Hill’s Grade 8 class, Mr. Pelow’s Restart class, Ms. Cuddy’s Grade 2 class, and Mr. Rewbotham’s Grade 5 class.

Prior to the workshops, Tammy and Bernard set up a sacred altar, with a buffalo rug, decorated buffalo skull, and various other sacred objects, including different coloured squares of material. Each workshop started with an opening prayer done in the Oji-Cree language. Bernard then explained the sacred pipe, and translated his prayer. Tammy explained the four clan animals Bernard works with, the four sacred medicines and their purpose, and the four directions.

Each student made a prayer tie. This consisted of a red square of felt, into which sacred tobacco was put, and the square was tied off with red wool, to create a little, sealed bag. Students were told to think of family members or friends for whom they would like prayers for healing or other concerns, while making the tie. Bernard and Tammy collected the prayer ties, and will take them to the Sundance Ceremony they are attending this summer to include them in the prayers that will be offered.

The Nelsons also provided drum teaching and finished the workshop with the students drumming, which was an activity the students clearly enjoyed, and then students were given the opportunity to ask questions.

Students and staff said they really enjoyed the workshops. The Grade 6 class was very engaged. Olivia Douglas said, “Something that I learned was that they pray for animals they kill, and that’s good.” Edison McGarvey agreed, saying, “I enjoyed learning about how they kill animals. First they pray and then they put tobacco on the ground and ask to take an animal’s life.” Diana Weichenthal remarked, “It was very interesting and I thought they did a good job describing their culture. It was a fun and very informative morning.” Jaydin Reid added, “I would love to do it again!” Grade 8 students were equally enthusiastic. “It was cool because the guy was a survivor of residential schools,” commented Alex McInnis. Kayla Newman said, “It was interesting to learn about their culture.”

As well as travelling the province, teaching people about First Nations culture, Tammy and Bernard host sweat lodges at their home in Inverary, and are traditional sundancers. Bernard is also an Elder at RMC, acting as a mentor for First Nations and Metis people at the college.

Taylor Salmond has been a quiet leader at North Addington Education Centre, but when things need doing the students and staff at the school know who to look to. She has used her skills in Volleyball to set up lunchtime mentoring sessions with elementary panel students in the school and ran clinics in her spare periods. She was the treasurer of the Student Council last year and president this year, and organised fundraisers, charity events and more. She is also an active community volunteer and her grades have been very high as well. She has maintained a 90% average over her entire high school career and won numerous proficiency awards.

Austin Fuller is a guitarist, an A student, a volunteer firefighter, and is good at fabrication. At NAEC he was a music teacher for younger students all through high school, has supervised summer students at Bon Echo, performed at the Denbigh Music Fest, and met his obligations to the Ward 1 fire department - all while attaining a Special Skills Major in Construction with an 86% overall average. This year he has been participating in a dual credit program in Automotive techniques at Loyalist, where he is planning to attend college next year in the Welding and Fabrication Program

Last year, Taylor Meeks won the award as the best all around student at Granite Ridge. He has also played varsity basketball, soccer, volleyball and track, and he won the coaches award for Basketball in 2014. He has coached in the Northern Area Basketball League for elementary-aged students, was one of the student guides when Granite Ridge was introduced to the community last year, and has been an important member of the Student Council for the last two years. His voice is known to the entire school community because he is one of the morning announcment team at Granite Ridge.

Students in grades JK through six at Land O' Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove were full of questions at a presentation by Hydro One staff celebrating Arbour Week, which took place at the school on May 5.

The presentation was headed up by Hydro One forestry technician Kerry Hinton, who explained the important roles that trees play in our environment by preventing soil erosion, reducing noise pollution, filtering water and cleaning the air of impurities through photosynthesis. He stressed their significance for wildlife as they provide nesting areas for birds, homes for squirrels and raccoons and hiding places from predators, while also offering sources of food such as berries, nuts and leaves. For us humans they not only provide shade in the hot summer months and act as wind breaks, but provide us with building supplies and food as well as pure aesthetic beauty. Hinton explained the various pieces of equipment that he and other staff members use to remove trees, and to trim branches and brush from Hydro lines.

Following the presentation the students went outdoors and watched a Hyrdro One staff member make an emergency descent from one of their bucket trucks, which garnered a generous round of applause. Students were also invited to help plant one large pear tree and one large Crimson King maple tree on the school’s front lawn. Each was also given a small white pine or white spruce sapling to take home to plant. Hinton said Arbour Week is an important way for children to understand the importance of trees in the environment while also learning about the work that Hydro One staff do out in the bush. He said it is a way to give back to communities by offering hundreds of trees to plant.

Willis Deline, who works as a senior foreman in the brushing department at Hydro One, said that he and his crew did a lot of brushing and tree removal in the area last summer and he felt this would be a nice opportunity for the crew to return to the community and show their support to the local school. Arbour Week presentations will take place at 35 different schools across Ontario.

Hot on the heels of their convincing results at the KASSAA meet two weeks ago, a number of SHS athletes were multiple top finishers at the EOSSAA meeting in Brockville last Thursday and Friday (May 21 and 22).

Once again, the hurdlers led the way, but there was disappointment in the Junior Hurdles Relay. With two multiple medalists in Merik Wilcock (hurdles) and Thomas Lambert (sprints), SHS seemed to be a sure bet to finish at or near the top of the 4 x 400 metre event and qualify the team for the Eastern Regional meet this week (the final qualifier for the provincial championships in Toronto – OFSAA) but a dropped baton on the first exchange left them in 10th place at the end of the race. The men's and women's 4 x 400 metre running teams fared better, however, and both will race again this week.

Here are the SHS medalists from EOSSAA:

Women's 80 Metre Hurdles midget - Brianna Burgess 1st – 13.5543 (photo finish)

Men's 100 Metre Hurdles midget - Liam Sands 1st in 15.35 qualified in 15.62

Women 300 metre hurdles midget - Brianna Burgess 2nd 52.64

Men's Pole Vault midget - Liam Sands 3rd 2.70 metres

Men's Triple Jump Midget – Zach Lollar 3rd 11.13 metres

Men's 100 Metre Sprint Junior - Thomas Lambert 3rd 11.75

Men's 200 Metre Sprint Junior - Thomas Lambert 2nd 23.70

Men's 400 Metre Run Junior - Thomas Lambert 2nd 52.00 ( Note - Nick Bauerschmit of Valour High School set meet record in a time of 51.62. The old record was 51.84.)

Men 100 Metre Hurdles - Merik Wilcock 1st 14.55

Men's 300 Metre Hurdles Junior -Merik Wilcock1st 42.45 (Wilcock's time was 1.57 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher.)

Men's Long Jump Junior - Daret Mckay 3rd 5.92 metres

Men's 800 metre senior Brady Roberston 3rd 1.59:60 (Robertson finished just 0.5 seconds ahead of Curtis Adams of SHS, who finished 4th, while Nick Adams finished 7th in a time of 2:03.41.)

Men's 100 Metre Hurdles, senior - Brodie Latimer 2nd 15.49 seconds.

Women's 100 metre ambulatory – Shirley Hughes Ryan 1st 17.29

Women's 800 Metre run Ambulatory - Shirley Hughes Ryan – 1st 3:32.59

Women's 100 Metre run Intellectual Disabilities - Dominique Hannah 2nd 16.05, Brianna Clow - 3rd 17.44

Relays –

Women's 4 x 400 Metre relay – Open Division, 3rd 4:25.13

Men's 4 x 400 Metre relay - Open division, Sydenham 2nd 3:33.42

David Cox keeps jumping for GREC - Now in his senior year, David Cox continues to be the standard bearer for Track athletes from Granite Ridge Education Centre. In the High Jump event at EOSSAA, he took second place with a jump of 1.85 metres, and will move on to the next meet this week.

Since the start of February, the six members of the Granite Ridge School of Rock have been working together to learn to play musical instruments, build a musical ear, improve team-work and boost self-confidence. The students and their teacher, Julia Schall, have been listening to, playing and debating the merits of a wide variety of musical genres – from old time rock and roll, alternative, indie pop, country and rap. Their band, The Undecided, is composed of grade 8 students (L-R): Aurora McCumber, guitar; Esther Hoffmann, bass; Dawson King, guitar and vocals; Finn Limber, keyboards and vocals; Nic Smith, keyboards; and Maya Chorney, drums. The Undecided are very excited to be performing at the Celebration of Music at Granite Ridge on Monday, May 25 at 7 pm. Sharing the stage with the School of Rock will be the Granite Ridge High School band and the Young Choristers under the direction of Christina Wotherspoon, as well as other talented student and staff performers. The cost for the show is $5, with children under 12 free. We hope to see you there!

Students from Land O' Lakes Public School put on the play "A Dragon's Tale" last week in performances at Granite Ridge Education Centre, and in the auditorium at LOLPS on Thursday night for parents and other family members, and again on Friday for students in the school. The show was produced and directed by teacher Danielle Harding, and featured students from multiple grades in the cast. A combination of live theatre and puppetry, A Dragon's Tale is a humorous take on the adventure genre. The students enjoyed putting it on and the audience enjoyed the performance as well.

With a total of 81 athletes, the Sydenham High School track team was not only the largest at the Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association (KASSAA) meet last week; it was also the most consistently competitive.

SHS athletes won 22 events, ahead of KCVI (19), Frontenac (16), and Holy Cross (14). While SHS was competitive in all events, as you can see below, they were the dominant team in just about all the hurdles events, for both men and women in all age categories.

SHS was the winning overall team for both men and women.

Here is the list of top three finishers

Among top finishers were Kayla Battler, 3rd in the 100 metre dash (midget girls) in 13.80 seconds; Brianna Burgess, 3rd in the 200 metre dash (midget girls) in 29.50 seconds and 1st in both the 80 metre hurdles in 13.70 seconds and the 300 metre hurdles in 50.50 seconds.

Jocelyn Miles finished in 3rd in the women's javelin (midget) at 22.71 metres. Brianna McComish finished third in women's high jump (junior) at 1.40 metres, second in the Long Jump at 4.24 metres, and third in the triple jump at 9.46 metres. Madison MacPherson was tied for 1st in the pole vault (junior) at 1.90 metres. Morgan Hamilton finished 2nd in the women's shot put (junior) at 8.94 metres, and 3rd in the discus event at 19.58 metres, an event where Mackenzie Ryan finished 2nd at 22.20 metres.

Sian Lloyd was 1st in the javelin throw (junior) at 23.37 metres, and Mackenzie Ryan placed 3rd at 22.14 metres.

Brittany Campbell finished 2nd in the 100 metre dash (senior) at 13.40 seconds, and 3rd in the 200 metre dash at 27.80 seconds. If Danielle Gossage was disappointed with her off the podium 4th place finish in the 400 metre dash (senior) she made up for it with a 1st place run in the 800 metres in 2.38.20 minutes, and 2nd in the 1500 metres in 5.20.60 minutes.

As a team, SHS was 1st in the 4x100 metre relay (senior) in 53.90 seconds, and 1st as well in the 4x400 metre relay in 4:30.90 minutes. High jumper Shawna Vanluven was 2nd (senior) at 1.50 metres. In the shot put (senior) Danielle Miles finished 3rd at 9.55 metres, and Katherine Newton was 1st in the javelin at 27.55 metres while Cassidy Trueman was 3rd in the same event at 23.36 metres.

Shirley Hughes-Ryan finished 1st in two events, the women's 100 metre dash (ambulatory) in 16.40 seconds – breaking her own KASSAA record, and the 800 metre run (ambulatory) in 4:13.90. Dominique Hannah also broke her own KASSAA record, finishing 1st in the 100 metre dash (intellectually impaired) in 15.70 seconds, and Brianna Clow finished 2nd at 16.90 seconds.

Among the male athletes, Liam Sands was 1st in the 100 metre hurdles (midget) in 17 seconds flat, while Lucas Pereira finished 2nd in 18.70 seconds. Pereira also finished second in the 300 metre hurdles in 50.70 seconds.

Matt Caird finished 2nd in the men's high jump (midget) with a clearance of 1.60 metres, and Liam Sands finished second in the pole vault, clearing 1.80 metres. Zach Lollar was 2nd in the men's long jump at 5.20 metres, and third in the triple jump at 10.88 metres.

Jared Amos was 2nd in both shot put, 11.24 metres, and the discus events, 29.54 metres. Thomas Lambert was 2nd in the 100 metre dash at 12.20 seconds. He finished 1st in the 200 metre dash at 24.40 seconds, and capped it off with a meet record tying time of 52.70 seconds in winning the 400 metre dash (junior)

Continuing the SHS dominance in hurdles, Merik Wilcox set a meet record, 14.40 seconds, finishing 1st in the 100 metre event (junior) and also won the 300 metre event in 42.90 seconds. Sydenham also took the 4x100 metre hurdles in 48.40 seconds.

Daret McKay finished 2nd in the pole vault (junior) at 2.40 metres, and took 3rd in the triple jump at 1.55 metres. Wil Sanderson finished 2nd in both the discus (38.66 metres) and the javelin throw (36.14 metres)

Among senior men, SHS's Chad McInnes finished 3rd in the 200 metre dash in 25.20 seconds and 3rd as well in the 400 metre dash in 53.50 seconds. In the 800 metre run, Brady Robertson finished 2nd in 2:02.60 and Chris Adams finished 3rd in 2:03.20.

SHS swept the senior men's 100 metre hurdles event. Brodie Latimer ran it in 15.60 to win, Eric Lusk was 2nd in 17.00, and Tyler Cancian was third in 17.10. The 400 metre hurdles event also yielded a sweep: Chad McInnes won it in 1:01.80, Ryan Gibson was 2nd in 1:03.00 and Ben Amos was 3rd in 1:07.10.

SHS finished 3rd in the 4x100 metre relay in a time of 50.80.

Brady Robertson finished second in the men's javelin throw with a 42.17 metre effort, and finally, the 4x400 metre relay team took first place with a 3:40.30 time.

This year's Inside Ride event, which took place at Sydenham High School on May 8, seemed bigger, brighter and more spirited than in years past.

That was likely due to the fact that one of SHS's own, grade 12 student Sam Eastman, has been battling Non-Hogkins lymphoma since his diagnosis earlier this year. Soon after getting the news, friends at the school initiated the #Samstrong campaign and its force could be seen, heard and felt at the Inside Ride.

The event, now in its fifth year at the school, is run by the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation, a registered Canadian charity that raises money for children's cancer programs across the country. The charity is unique in that it follows a 100% donation model of fundraising, in which all funds raised go directly to the programs. Funds from the Sydenham event will be donated to the Children's Cancer Care Fund, a fundraising campaign run out of Kingston General Hospital and aimed at easing the financial burden on families facing a cancer diagnosis by funding the various related costs that come with a cancer diagnosis that are not covered by OHIP.

The Sydenham Inside Ride attracted 26 six-member teams, with each team having raised a minimum of $300. During the one-hour event, each rider from each team took a 10-minute turn at the wheel of their bike as their team members danced to the throbbing tunes expertly spun by emcee Marshall Jeske.

Altogether, an incredible $14,000 was raised!

School spirit was running extraordinarily high, with teams boasting awesome costumes under team names like The New Groove, The Magic School Bus, and The Beach Babes, who sprayed loaded water guns and bounced beach balls throughout. Event coordinator Jen Davies called the Inside Ride “a one-hour party with a purpose” and she said, "These students really seem to get the idea that cancer is not just something that happens to somebody else, which is very motivating for them.” Prizes were awarded for best team spirit, best costumes, top distance cycled by a team as well as top male, top female, top volunteer and top team fundraisers.

Other prizes included donated gifts from Goodlife as well as prizes collected through the school's parent council. Sam's family of course was out in full force as the #Samstrong team and Sam's mother, Libby Hearn, fittingly and bravely spoke at the start of the event, updating the students and staff on Sam's battle as he enters his fourth round of chemotherapy.

“He is fighting really hard and he is doing it because he has the tremendous support of this school and this community. You are all making such a huge difference in his battle. We, his family, just wanted to say thank you and Sam wanted me to send his thanks to you all as well.” Sam had been planning to attend the event but an infection prevented him from making the trip to the school. For those who missed the event, donations can still be made until the end of November 2015 by visiting sydenham.theinsideride.com.

When the Sydenham high school addition was completed last year, part of the structure included an imposing stepped concrete retaining wall on the west side, looming over Mill Street. The three-foot deep terraces were filled with earth and planted.

Landscaping is the last step in a construction project, when time and money are usually running short. In my experience this often leads to compromises in quality and execution, regardless of what the original plan may have been.

By the end of last summer some of the plants had flourished, especially the grasses. But it was immediately apparent that the earth they were set in had not been the good quality sterilized potting soil and compost that an investment in a new planting deserves. Instead the fill appeared to have come straight from a field or roadside, rich with its own assortment of seeds.

This spring the steps are rampant with hardy perennials: dandelions, Manitoba maples, chicory and burdock. Many other plants are outlaws with their profiles on the province's noxious weed list: bull thistles, wild vetch so deep-rooted and fragile-stemmed that it’s almost impossible to eradicate by pulling, Queen Anne’s lace, quack grass, and worse. Much worse. Tall clumps of ragweed towered last fall above the rest of the growth, and will have reseeded. (Allergic to ragweed? Then you know why this plant’s on the list.)

Most alarming of all is the wild parsnip thriving everywhere along the steps, preparing to bloom and reseed this summer. Wild parsnip is closely related to giant hogweed. Its sap causes the skin to react to sunlight, resulting in intensely painful slow-healing sores, and is also possibly carcinogenic. Now even if someone tries to sort out this horticultural disaster, it will be a dangerous as well as difficult job.

Questions come to mind: why was poor quality weed-riddled fill used for these plantings? Why no mulch, which would have helped prevent at least some unwanted seeds from germinating? Why was there no provision to have someone with good plant recognition skills weed the steps thoroughly during the first summer? Did any thought go into the choice of plants used? A more careful selection and interplanting of dwarf evergreens, vines, various coloured day lilies and grasses would have filled the steps fully and attractively in a year or two, minimizing ongoing maintenance.

Instead the school now presents a noxious weed-ridden eyesore to anyone approaching from the west or heading down the main street into the village, an annoyance and hazard to both students and community.

Assuming the Limestone Board is responsible for the final product of their building project, what do they intend to do this summer to address this mess?