The art work of the 24 students who participated in this year's Art Club at Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove was on display at their final show on April 20. The students spent six weeks creating the colourful paintings still lifes that were on display.

Grade 7/8 teacher, Mr. Hull, who heads up the club, said that he was impressed with the student work. He explained that he likes to let the students paint what comes naturally to them and tries his best not to influence their final pieces. The students began by learning basic drawing techniques, and then moved into creating colour tones, first painting with larger brushes and then moving into finishing accents using smaller brushes. The paintings were impressive and ranged from bright, dramatic colour schemes of frogs and teddy bears, some reminiscent of Matisse, to impressionistically depicted vases of flowers and other subjects. The only rule that the young artists had to abide by was not using black to create their darker tones and shadows since it has a tendency to muddy the final work.

The special event was catered by Linda Tremblay with the help of her children, Boris and Natasha. The young artists and their guests enjoyed a number of fancy treats that included cappuccinos, sparkling juices, cakes, fancy croissant sandwiches, lemon and chocolate mousse, a fancy layer cake and speared fruit sticks.

submitted by NAEC

On April 18, Wyatt Keller of North Addington Education Centre competed in the Eastern Ontario Regional Skills Competition Qualifer event held at St. Lawrence College. Competing in Small Powered Equipment, Wyatt wrote a trades exam, reassembled a small engine and completed a wiring project. Winning second place, Wyatt now moves on to join fellow NAEC'ers Terri-Lynn Rosenblath (Graphic Design Studio Production) and Kameron Armstrong (Work Place Health & Safety) on Team Limestone, who will travel to the Ontario Technological Skills Competition in Waterloo, May 4 to 6.   

Prior to their regular board meeting on April 8 at the Limestone District School Board offices in Kingston, school trustees handed out their annual Outstanding Service Awards.

Among the recipients were three local residents who were honored for their dedicated service. The first is Cheryl Allen of Sharbot Lake, who has served on the school councils at the former Sharbot Lake public, intermediate and high schools, and at the new Granite Ridge Education Centre in various roles, including many years as council chair.

Allen began her service on school council in 1994 when her eldest daughter became a student at Sharbot Lake Public School. Since that time she has served on various councils and spearheaded the purchase of a number of requests presented to the council, which have included the school's score clocks, playground equipment, and more. The citation honoring Allen stated that over the years she has continually “set a mood on council supportive of providing a safe and caring environment for all students”.

As a active participant in the PARC (Program and Accommodation Review Committee) she was a tireless supporter of the new Granite Ridge school, recognizing the benefits that a new school could provide for future students in the area.

In the past Allen has successfully nominated several other people for LDSB awards and when I interviewed her by phone earlier this week she said that she was shocked and honored to be on the receiving end this time around.

Asked what made her get and stay involved in her local school councils over the years, she said, “I, as a parent, felt it was important to get involved and to offer my help wherever it was needed.”

Allen, who is currently the school council's vice chair, said that with the upcoming graduation this June of her youngest daughter, she will be taking a break from council and will be looking at other possible ways to continue to offer her services as a volunteer in the community.

Andrea Woogh, a grade 2/3 teacher at Loughborough Public School in Sydenham, was also honored with an award. In her citation Woogh was recognized as a “distinguished leader amongst her peers and someone who promotes each student's uniqueness while ensuring she has the training and skill sets needed to offer her students a nurturing, learning environment.“

Woogh, who has undertaken training in Aboriginal education, dispute resolution, literacy and technology, has introduced students to a number of innovative learning experiences, which have included the Yellowknife pen-pal program, and through a partnership with local high schools, woodworking and computer programming opportunities. She has helped co-create the LPS Green Team in an effort to certify LPS as an “eco-school. As an active athlete herself, Woogh recognizes that students' “growth and development can also occur outside the classroom”. She has coached soccer, track and field, volleyball and basketball at LPS as well as hockey and soccer in her local community.

Sharon Isbell, a long-time teacher at Loughborough Public School, was also honored with an Outstanding Service Award. Isbell was cited by Kim Deline, who wrote that she is “an effective educator, leader and communicator" whose positive teaching style and compassionate interactions with students demonstrate her love of teaching on a daily basis.

In her dedication to being the best teacher she can be, Isbell pursues her own personal professional development and was cited as “inspiring her students and fellow colleagues by offering extra programming through various school clubs while also acting as a liaison for the school's drama and arts programming.”

Isbell is also involved in championing the school's Green Team in their effort to gain eco-school status and is an active member of the school's 100th anniversary committee.

I spoke with Sharon Isbell by phone earlier this week and she said, on behalf of herself and Ms Woogh, that they were extremely honored to have received the award. "We both feel so humbled. There are so many teachers who go above and beyond their daily requirements and we are just grateful and feel privileged to be able to work in this school community with so many committed staff members, parents, students and administrators.”

Helen Peterson, principal at LPS, was thrilled that two of her staff members received awards and said “Sharon Isbell and Andrea Woogh represent the epitome of excellence in teaching. They focus on quality education for all students. They are both examples of the reality that it is just as much about who you are as what you teach. They lead students and other staff by example. Sharon and Andrea are part of the outstanding staff at Loughborough that put the needs of our students, our future, first!"

Heather Highet, principal at Granite Ridge, was equally pleased with Cheryl Allen's award and said she was “thrilled that the LDSB has recognized Cheryl for her unwavering support and decades-long contributions to our school councils."

by Valerie Allan

On April 8, NAEC students and staff once again celebrated the International Day of Pink. An assembly was held, in which the whole school participated, and it was a sea of pink. Students wore pink clothes, accessories, and/or pins. The assembly was led by Madi Lemki, Cassandra Parks, Lucas Parks and Selena Pelicos. These students had recently returned from the “Dare to Stand Out” conference in Kingston, and were eager to share their message with their peers and the staff. The group outlined the origins of the Day of Pink, and then stressed that “A pink shirt doesn’t stop bullying – you do!” Their message was that a bystander is contributing to bullying, if they don’t stand up for their fellow students. At lunchtime, the Grade 8 class joined Secondary students to play “Pop the stigma”. Pink balloons were attached to the wall with common stigmas or stereotypes taped to them. A student would read the stigma, then pop the balloon and read the answer which was inside. It was a fun, if noisy, activity. Students also signed posters which had the pledge “A pink shirt doesn’t stop bullying – I do!” This is the fourth year in a row that NAEC has observed the International Day of Pink.

Submitted by NAEC

For the past few weeks students at NAEC have been preparing for the annual Limestone Skills Competition, held at St. Lawrence College. This competition tests the knowledge, in theory and practice of students for the skilled trade event that they have chosen. Nineteen students at North Addington Education Centre stood up and accepted the challenge.

In 2D Animation, Team of Two, Lucas Parks and Nickolas Wood won bronze medals for their excellent animation.

In the Digital Photography competition, Haily Whitelock, Summer Andrew and Bree Gillingham completed an editing test and then a photography task, finishing strong and with beautiful photographs.

In the Graphic Design Presentation event, Natalie Reynolds, Emma Fuller, Cassidy Wilson and Ryan Cruickshank presented posters and postcard design advertising the Ontario Skills Competition that they created beforehand along with their portfolios.

In the Electrical Systems event, Matt Crigger and Shane Arney competed wiring outlets and other electrical tasks. Shane won a bronze medal in this event.

In the Graphic Design Studio Production event, Shannon Delyea, Brittany Wood, Terri-Lynn Rosenblath and Brittany Delyea competed by creating a package design for a product as well as a full page advertisement for this product. Brittany Wood won bronze, Brittany Delyea won silver and Terri-Lynn won gold.

In Small Engines, an event that tests mechanical, technical and electrical skills, Jarrett Malcolm won bronze, Andre Tryon won silver and Wyatt Keller won gold.

In the Work Place Safety event Kameron Armstrong had to present a brochure on a safety issue and go on a workplace safety inspection. Kameron won silver.

Wyatt advances to the Regional Qualifier Competition at St. Lawrence on Saturday, April 18for Small engine repair.

Terri-Lynn and Kameron automatically advance and will represent Team Limestone at the Provincials in Waterloo, May 4 to 6.

The North Addington Education Centre community is very proud of all of the students who competed.

In an effort to teach practical life skills to students in the Limestone District School Board (LDSB), a new pilot project called Slow Cookers for Kids was launched at three Kingston area schools, and last week the three-day program was introduced to grade 7 and 8 students at Prince Charles Public School in Verona. The project is run by the Enactus St. Lawrence College (SLC) program and delivered by Chef Thomas Elia and his culinary students at St. Lawrence College in Kingston.

Slow Cookers for Kids is one of Enactus's many projects designed to “reduce poverty and hunger, while promoting entrepreneurship, literacy life skills by creating comprehensive solutions to issues within the greater community.”

The Slow Cookers For Kids program resulted from Chef Elia's Food Sense program, which he runs at St. Lawrence College. Food Sense shows post-secondary students how to survive on an OSAP food budget of $7.50/day, which Chef Elia said is “pretty hard to do if you don't know how to cook”.

Given the fact that hot plates are not allowed in the student rooms at St. Lawrence, Elia introduced the idea of healthy and inexpensive cooking with the help of a slow cooker. “The beauty of a slow cooker is that it is safe and that it works 100% of the time.” he said.

Next, Chef Elia partnered up with Jason Quenneville, the technology teacher at First Avenue Public School in Kingston, and with the help of his students brought the Slow Cooker for Kids program to schools in the LDSB. The program teaches grade 7 and 8 students how to prepare and cook a number of healthy, inexpensive meals with the help of a slow cooker.

I visited Prince Charles during the final day of the program on February 26, where the students were preparing chocolate cake and a curry lentil dish, both made using a slow cooker. Chef Elia had the full attention of the students as he put the finishing touches on both items. Other meals prepared by the students during the program included vegetarian lasagne, and black bean soup and each meal cost on average about 50 cents per serving.

The students, who participated in the program not only learned the ins and out of slow cooking, but at the end of the program each received a canvas bag filled with the ingredients to create their own meal at home; a recipe book titled "Recipes for an Empty Wallet"; and last but not least their very own Hamilton Beach slow cooker.

Robert Riddell, a second-year culinary student at St. Lawrence, was one of four students teaching the PCPS students. He was thrilled with the opportunity to work with the students at PCPS. “It's a real pleasure to work with the students here and the program gives me an opportunity to share my skills and my trade and is a great way to give back to the community.”

Chef Elia, who to date has brought the program to three schools in the LDSB, was equally enthusiastic about how the program has been received. “What is truly amazing is that we did not know if we would be able to get young kids to eat this kind of stuff - lentils, curry and beans - and we have found the response to be phenomenal. Not only do the students love to cook, but they also love the meals and are taking the crock pots home, where they are making meals for their families.”

Elia said he hopes to see the program continue on at LDSB schools and that it is quickly grabbing the attention of other schools across Canada.

Funding for the program came from a partnership between Enactus SLC and the LDSB, and Elia said that a trust fund is currently being set up at the LDSB so that more slow cookers can be purchased for the program.

One student said, prior to digging into her bowl of lentil curry, that the program will definitely encourage more cooking at home for herself and her family.

For more information visit enactusslc.ca

Students at Sydenham High school have come together to support fellow student, Sam Eastman, who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

Sam, who is a grade 12 student at SHS, did not return from the Christmas holidays and when students began asking questions they recently found out why. Roughly three weeks ago Sam was diagnosed with stage 3 Non-Hogkin's lymphoma.

Soon after, his friends at the school immediately mobilized and decided to do something to show their support for Sam and his family. Three of Sam's closest friends, Chad, Aidan, and Ryan began the wave of school-wide support when they decided last week to shave their heads in the school cafeteria. The happening initiated an outpouring of support by other students at the school. By the end of the week over 50 students had shaved or cut off their hair and donated it to Locks for Love. Sam's close friend, Holly Thompson, invited students to the school cafeteria to paint t-shirts, and a school banner reading #SAMSTRONG was hung up in the school. T-shirts have been made and sold to raise funds as well and to date the school has collected over $1,000 in donations. The money will be given to Sam and his family to support them during Sam's treatment.

Currently Sam is undergoing chemotherapy at KGH in Kingston and his closest friends at the school have been keeping in close touch with him. Sam plays hockey, rugby and football at SHS, and also plays midget rep hockey in Westport. On February 9 he was well enough to attend the Westport's Rideau team's final home game of the season, where a number of fundraising events were also held.

The wave of support also spread to LaSalle Secondary School in Kingston where Sam was taking a special focus program prior to entering the hospital. Sam attended Perth Road Public School prior to moving to SHS in grade nine.

One close friend at SHS, Erica Veldman, said that the students coming together for Sam was only natural, given his popularity at the school. "Sam is a great guy; he is a lot of fun, very confident, and an all around very sweet guy. All of his friends know that he would do exactly the same for them.”

Another friend, Connor Bayers, said Sam is known for being “very approachable and is someone who always shows everyone respect.”

The #SAMSTRONG campaign is ongoing at SHS. Anyone wishing to make a donation to Sam and his family to help cover expenses can contact Corinna Goldring of student services at Sydenham High School at 613-376-3612 Ext. 316.

On February 10 both the Sydenham High School's and the Frontenac Secondary School's senior boys' basketball teams went in undefeated into an exciting game that unfolded on the courts at Sydenham, where the Sydenham senior boys showed what it takes to remain undefeated.

In what was their season's final home game, the Sydenham seniors faced off against the Frontenac Falcons.

Sydenham came on strong early on and by the end of the first quarter the Golden Eagles were up by 10. Sydenham continued to pour it on in the second quarter and their aggressive play put them ahead by 20, with their win seeming imminent as their plan to play aggressively and to attack the basket paid off big time, garnering a 20-point lead that put the score at 35-15 for Sydenham at the half.

"The plan was to use our size and length to exploit and match up against the Falcons”, Sydenham's head coach, Shaun Kennedy said following the game.

That plan panned out but in the third quarter the Falcons fought back hard. Sydenham seemed a bit fatigued, and their complacency made for a quick come back for the Falcons, who battled back and in an eight-point run that had the Eagles licking their wings by the end of the third, they cut Sydenham's 20-point lead to 12.

“The Falcons definitely smothered us in the third,” Coach Kennedy said, “and we definitely started making some desperate plays. The Falcons managed to take away our think time and they chiseled the score down to where we had to rethink a bit about our patience.”

In the fourth Sydenham battled through and stilled the Falcons' comeback down, with Sydenham winning in a final score of 51-41.

Following the game Kennedy said it was “a heavyweight match up that has been brewing all season”.

The Sydenham seniors will face off against QECVI in their last game of the regular season and Coach Kennedy said that his team will now have a guaranteed spot in the playoffs (likely in first). Coach Kennedy is hoping his team goes on to play in the KASSAA finals.

Chiaroscuro, the technique of painting light and shadow, is one of the techniques that has been used by realistic painters for hundreds of years. It was the topic introduced to the 20 students at Land O'Lakes Public School on February 9 at their first session of the school’s popular art club, which is now in its third year there. Headed up by grade 7/8 teacher Mr. Hull, an award-winning painter in his own right, the club is open to students from grades three through eight and this year the club attracted 20 enthusiastic young artists, many returning for another year.

Mr. Hull began the class by explaining the technique of chiaroscuro and demonstrated how artists have used it to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat two-dimensional canvas. The basic idea is that light and shadow within a single artwork result from one or more imagined light sources and that the objects within the canvas are articulated three dimensionally based on where they sit in relation to that/those light sources.

Hull began by showing the students slides of various paintings, a few Rembrandt portraits and some of his own portraits of different staff members from the school. He asked the students to identify the position of the imagined light source in each work, which he explained is best done by looking at where the darkest shadows and brightest highlights fall within the painting. “Rembrandt is the classic example to use when demonstrating this technique,” Hull said, “since his paintings often depict a luminous figure in a deep sea of black. Chiaroscuro is just one element of design but it is a very important one when trying to make images appear three-dimensional.”

Following his talk Hull set up a spotlight in the classroom and invited the students to draw a number of balls set up on desks around the class. Using white and black charcoal on grey paper the students set to work and almost instantly a distinctive hum of focused creativity took over the room. As the children worked, Hull and his assistant Mr. Campbell answered questions and gave helpful suggestions to the students. Next, the students will move to the gym where they will paint still lifes that will be lit from a single light source, thereby furthering their understanding of the technique of chiaroscuro.

“Typically a lot of art work you see these days can tend to be flat and muddy but when you throw a strong light source on the subject matter and introduce the technique of chiaroscuro, the students begin to develop a much better understanding of how to make their paintings more three dimensional. In teaching this technique, I also want to open their eyes to the idea that everything they see in everyday life is a result of this idea and that they can apply this technique and paint from life using it.”

Hull is planning an art show at the school when the club wraps up in the coming months, where students, staff and the community will be invited to view the students’ finished works.