Photo: Bill Campbell presenting the bursary to Katelyn Ronfeld

The Friends of Bon Echo Park announced the winners of the 2011 Bursary Awards at their Annual General Meeting on September 3. The bursary award program has been in place for over 15 years and provides up to two $500 bursaries to winning students. The bursaries are open to graduating students of the North Addington Education Centre (NAEC) in Cloyne and to students working at the park.

NAEC graduate Katelyn Ronfeld has had a long-time relationship with Bon Echo and a wealth of experience in a volunteer capacity in the Northbrook-Cloyne area. Among her skills and strengths are her willingness to serve, her inter-personal relationships and organization. She has served the 1st Cloyne Girl Guide program for seven years. Annual campouts at Bon Echo with the Guides encouraged the girls to learn about the wildlife, plants and trees and how to preserve the natural habitat around them. As a member of the NAEC Eco Team she assisted in enforcing new recycling programs and energy audits and in providing every student with a re-usable water bottle, helping not just the community but the entire school to be ecologically friendly. At graduation she received the Lieutenant Governor General’s Community Volunteer Award. Katelyn has been accepted into the University of Ottawa Bachelor of Social Sciences program with a major in Sociology/Co-Op where she will focus on the interaction of young children within society, mentoring them as a role model.

Colin Sutherland has worked in the Natural Heritage Education program at Bon Echo for two summers. A native of Ottawa, Colin has camped at Bon Echo since he was six years old. Colin’s first year on the Bon Echo staff caused him to rethink his major, changing from Journalism to joint honours programs in Geography and Sociology. One project that he is interested in developing is interactive trail guides. The end result could be self-guided tours using a tablet computer. The Friends have expressed interest in this in the past and are keenly aware that it is a significant way to open up the park’s excellent trails to more people.

The Friends of Bon Echo also support other student programs related to the natural world. Each year they contribute $500 to the Ontario Parks Partners Bursary Program in recognition of summer park employees across Ontario who are outstanding in their service to park visitors. On September 23-25 the Friends will be sending two local high school students to the Youth Summit on Biodiversity and Sustainable Living sponsored by Ontario Nature.

 By Devin Gagne-Baldacchin, Grade 8

The students and staff of North Addington Education Centre have been busy bringing in non-perishable food items. The local food bank has been low on food and financial resources are limited, so the elementary students responded with a school-wide food drive during the last week of school.

In total, over 1300 items were brought in and $180.00 was raised. Classroom teachers used various incentives to encourage students to bring in items. The homeroom who brought in the most items (per student) was awarded with a ‘Make Your Own Sundae’ party. Ms. Buck’s class was the winner, bringing in a record-breaking 386 items (14 items per student). The response was so incredible that second and third place also received a sundae party (Mrs. Beeg and Mrs. Hackett’s classes). In addition, many teachers also matched the number of items brought in by students and/or offered to have an ice cream party for the class even if they did not have the most items.

A special thank you goes to Mrs. Hackett’s grade eight class. Taylor Salmond and Cayley Wilson went around to homerooms each morning, collecting, tallying, and unloading the food. Robyn Cornish was responsible for posters. The class helped box the items up, load them in the van, and unload them at the food bank. The class also used 1/3 of their graduating funds (over $100) to purchase non-perishable items. They played an enormous leadership role in the undertaking of this event.

Students were excited to participate and give back to the community. Angela Salmond, the principal, would like to thank the students, their families, and staff for their generosity: "We have shown what wonderful results can come about when we pull together. This is such a good opportunity for students and the fact that we have gathered so much is almost unbelievable".

This time of year is especially low for the food bank, as children are home for the summer. Those wishing to donate items can call 613-391-1408 (leave a message if no answer), and to receive help from the food bank, call Land O’ Lakes Community Services at 613-336-8934.

Photo: NAEC's new young authors

Each year, radio station 98.9FM The Drive gets money to promote Canadian music. The station has decided to put the money into music programs across the Limestone board, and is donating $1000 each to 13 schools. North Addington Education Centre was lucky to be one of them and on April 4, Joe and Jenn-O of The Drive, presented the music department with a $1000 cheque. Beth Lindsay of the music department says the department is very grateful for the donation and plans on using it towards repairing many of the instruments so they will continue to have the resources to run a successful program at the school. Nick Smart, Mike Deshane and Daryn Bolland played two rock songs for their classmates and the DJs. The clip should be aired on Friday morning.

Photo: NAEC's new young authors

Students in Ms. Buck’s grade 5/6 class at the North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne were feeling quite proud this week, and with good reason. All 27 students were celebrating the arrival of their very own, newly bound, hard cover, one off copies of a non-fiction book, which each had authored by themselves.

The book project was the brain child of their teacher, Ms. Buck, who is a first year teacher at NAEC, and it was geared to cover the non-fiction section of the language curriculum. “I thought this project would definitely be a lot more fun than writing a test. My goal was to really engage all of the students, especially those who might otherwise be lukewarm about the thought of writing, researching and creating an original piece of writing.” By choosing their own topics, the students had a chance to be creative while learning how to research, write, design and lay out a work of their own making. The finished product gave them something tangible at the end, something indeed worthy of celebration.

Ms Buck provided the students with a check list of what they needed to include: a table of contents, a glossary, at least four sub headings, fact boxes, at least one photo per page and a biography.

The class worked on their books on and off for about two months and when they were completed, the individual pages were printed off before Ms. Buck sent them off to be bound in hard cover at Smiths Fall Book Binding. She was as surprised and delighted with the finished results as her students were. “The finished books are truly amazing.” The cost of $10 per book seems nothing compared to the pride each title has bestowed on its author, many of whom say they never thought they could have accomplished such a undertaking.

One proud author, Max, chose fruit as his subject because of his love of pie and he included in his book all kinds of exotic fruits, where and how they are grown and what they are used for.

Grade six student Emma's book titled “The World of Polar Bears” explores a subject that is near and dear to her heart. Other titles included “Blob Fish”, “A Walk with Brock Throughout Canada”, “Extreme Sports” and “In the Life of a Moose”.

With the new books in hand the students will now prepare presentations to the class and will also have a chance read their books to the younger students at the school.

Ms. Buck was pleased with the enthusiasm her students showed for the project and plans to repeat it again next year. “This is something that motivates the students and gives them a real sense of accomplishment.” Judging by their faces and their intent desire to speak about their new works, these first books might not be the last ones created by the students in this class.

While most teachers are enjoying their summer vacations, Sarah Sproule and Darren Sissons from North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne have been making the rounds of local councils, Lions clubs and sports groups, looking for money to support an initiative they would like to get underway this coming fall at their school.

“North Addington is unique in the Limestone Board because not only does it have an outdoor classroom, it has 88 acres of land as well,” Sarah Sproule told Addington Highlands Council this week.

Sproule and Sissons are Physical Education teachers at NAEC. While they have brought their students to the Outdoor Learning Centre that the Limestone Board has in place at Gould Lake near Hartington, they find transporting the students to be expensive and access to the Gould Lake Centre to be an issue as well because it is shared with the entire board.

“We would like to establish something for our students and for other students in the north,” Sproule told Council.

The two teachers are preparing an application to the Limestone Learning Foundation for multiple-year funding of their project, which they are planning to submit in the fall.

“The foundation would like to see us have community partnerships in place first, so we are doing that this summer,” she added.

There is something in it for the local townships, Darrel Sissons pointed out.

“Like most northern schools in our board, we are seeing declining enrolment at NAEC. We need to establish something that is unique in order to keep the students engaged, keep the school going, and keep the student base there. If we keep the students we keep the parents, and the township will have a healthier tax base,” he said.

In addition to seeking funds for upgrading trails on the NAEC lands, and developing the land for educational purposes such as pond and eco-system studies, the two are hoping to raise money to purchase equipment, such as snow shoes, canoes, camping gear, etc., which are items that the school board will not fund.

“There is a lot of potential here for something that can make use of our greatest asset, the unique environment. Kids of all ages, from elementary to secondary, will benefit from learning science in the world instead of from a book, and from learning how to interact with the outdoors. This is a long-term project that we are totally committed to, and we want to get it started this coming year,” Sarah Sproule said.

Sissons and Sproule are seeking at least $2,000 from community partners, including both Addington Highlands and North Frontenac townships (they attended a North Frontenac Council meeting on June 27).

“I think that's really encouraging to have someone out there working on something on this,” said Addington Highlands councilor, Tony Fritsch. “I'd like to support it if we could.”

“We did do our budget earlier this spring, so we need to see if there is any money available,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “Perhaps we should defer this to our next meeting on August 2, and give you an answer then. How much was it that you wanted?”

“We'll take as much as we can get,” said Sproule.

North Frontenac Council also said they will consider the funding request at their next meeting, which is slated for June 18.

Photo: Scott Cannatta (centre) with students at NAEC. Photo: Katie Ohlke.

Some of us get exhausted just thinking of a marathon, let alone running one. But Scott Cannata, a physical anthropology student at Trent University in Peterborough, intends to run one marathon, or 42.2 kilometres, every day for approximately seven months in a run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. That translates to 209 marathons.

Cannata’s journey, named The Run To Live, will start on May 1, 2011 at St. John’s, NL and end at Port Renfrew, BC around mid-December if all goes as planned.

Scott Cannata has many local family connections and on March 26, a fundraiser was held for him at the Flinton hall. Many bands, groups and individuals donated their time and talents to make the event a success.

One of the organizers, Beverly James, is a cousin of Scott’s, and she says she was overwhelmed by the response. “We didn’t have that much time to organize it,” she said, “but everyone pitched in – all the musicians - and people just showed up with plates of sandwiches and food for the buffet dinner.” Beverley said that the musicians really helped each other – one group had forgotten their keyboard so John Fradenburg of Log Cabin Music drove all the way back to his store to bring one.

The organizers are planning another fundraiser, to be held when Scott passes through Kaladar on his run, and James says that all the musicians have already indicated their willingness to play again on that day.

“The run will be really tough for him, both physically and psychologically – perhaps the psychological part will be the hardest,” James said, “but he’s a tremendous young man. He can do it.”

Unlike his hero, Terry Fox, Scott Cannata has never had cancer, but when he was 12 his mother Deborah battled cervical cancer, which affected him deeply. Later, he lost his paternal grandfather to cancer. On a video that was made about the Run to Live, he says that that showed him that not everybody survives the way his mother has.

In September 2009 he decided to undertake the run and has been training ever since for it. He runs about 150 to 200 kilometres a week, in addition to cross-training.

In addition to his mother and grandfather, he has dedicated the run to several people, one of whom is his six-year-old cousin, Isabelle Lemke, of Belleville. Isabelle is almost finished her treatments for acute lymphoblastic leukemia after than two years of chemotherapy and in spite of being very sick from the treatments last week, she was able to be present at the fundraiser on Saturday night.

Scott is also planning to dedicate part of each run to someone he reads about in the letters he will be receiving.

The day before the Flinton event, Scott visited North Addington Education Centre (NAEC). He told the students, "Running a marathon a day is hard and will hurt, but it is nothing compared to the pain of dealing with cancer on a daily basis." Many NAEC students came out to Flinton to support Scott - they performed, volunteered and spoke.

In the coming months students and adults will be writing to Scott and they will track his journey via a large map of Canada at the school. For every toonie donation that comes in, students will put a sticker on the map.

Beverley James said that a group of runners from the school intends to meet Scott on Highway 7 and run with him. Of course, he will pass by Sharbot Lake first and she hopes that NAEC’s efforts will inspire other schools in the area to undertake fundraisers. “Perhaps runners from one school could escort Scott to meet runners from the other,” she said.

The fundraisers that are taking place right now are to raise funds for the expenses of the trip. The Flinton event brought in $3,000, and Beverly James wishes to thank all the musicians and the many people who helped on Saturday night.

The fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society will start when the run starts on May 1. The goal of The Run To Live is to raise $2 for every Canadian, or approximately $70 million. Because of his local connections, many from this area will probably be watching the run with special interest. To follow Scott’s progress, to donate, or post messages of support, visit www.theruntolive.com. 

Photo: NAEC students gather core samples from Lake Mazinaw. Courtesy of Dave Deacon

Grade nine students from North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne had a chance to get to the bottom of things when on Feb.23 they assisted Queen’s University geographer Scott Lamoureux and Professor Robert McLeman of the University of Ottawa in extracting core samples from the bottom of frozen Mazinaw Lake near Bon Echo Provincial Park. The research is part of a multi-university project aimed at understanding what impacts climate change may have in store for people of this region. The samples will be used to reconstruct the environmental changes in the Eastern Ontario Highlands over the past several centuries. By involving local communities in the project, the researchers hope to raise awareness of environmental issues and to encourage students to pursue post-secondary training in environmental research.

Participating students from Mr. Hasler's, Ms. Snider's and Ms. Lloyd’s classes at NAEC used an auger to drill holes into the lake ice, into which they inserted metre-long plastic tubes. The tubes were then lowered down to the lake bottom and a weight was used to pound the tubes into the sediment there encasing a core sample in each. The layers in the cores show a history of the environment going back hundreds of years, to pre-European settlement. Two samples were obtained, which students then took back to their classrooms, where they were studied.

Professor Robert McLeman explained what exactly the samples showed. “We saw in both samples, about mid-way through, a large grey streak which points to an event that likely occurred roughly 100 years ago. The streak demonstrates that there was large-scale erosion going on, likely the result of the clear cutting of the forest around the lake.”

McLeman explained how this type of information would give researchers the information they are hoping to gain to get a better understanding of climate change. ”With this research we are hoping to get a better understanding of the trends of long-term environmental trends in the region. We will use the findings to help us plan for the future and help us to adapt to climate change. Similarly, because so many people live downstream from Mazinaw Lake it’s also important for us to understand what changes are happening from a water management point of view.”

Researchers plan to take more core samples from the lake, which will be sent to laboratories for further study. The results will also be sent to the students at NAEC for further learning opportunities.

Professor McLeman was pleased to provide the students with such an exciting and valuable hands-on learning tool. “By allowing the students to practice hands-on science in their own backyard we are hoping to get them excited about the environmental sciences and are also hoping to encourage them to pursue environmental studies later on, either at college or university.”

North Addington Education Centre took a stand against bullying on April 13, by declaring it a Day of Pink. Students and staff in the school sported pink shirts, ties, hats and scarves, amongst other items of clothing.

Day of Pink is an international Day against Bullying, Harassment and Homophobia in schools. It was started by two Grade 12 students in a Nova Scotia school after a Grade 9 student was harassed for wearing a pink shirt. The two students went and bought 50 shirts and distributed them to students as a protest against the incident.

Elementary and Secondary staff promoted the event, and Student Council President J.R. Lee designated the 13th as Day of Pink in the Spirit Week schedule. School Houses were awarded points on the basis of the number of students wearing pink.

Principal Angela Salmond was particularly pleased with the turn-out, as she was hosting the secondary principals’ meeting at the school. Other principals were impressed by NAEC’s participation. “It was wonderful to see the whole school participating in this event. I was proud of our students for showing that they are against harassment of any kind. I am hoping for an even bigger number next year,” said Mrs. Salmond.

People interested in finding out more about Day of Pink can consult the website www.dayofpink.org

Photo: Courtney  Johnson with her art.

On May 8, Haily Whitelock and Courtney Johnson of North Addington Education Centre attended the Grand Opening of the Lennox and Addington Hospital Art Gallery’s spring exhibition of students’ work in Napanee. In a standing-room only event, students were presented with certificates recognizing their work as an image of the artwork in question was projected on a large screen. This format, highlighting the work and the student at the same time, was very effective.

Haily Whitelock’s print of a heart was displayed in the same frame as her fellow-student, Robyn Cornish’s print with the same subject matter. Haily’s mother and grandmother accompanied her. Haily is a talented artist in Grade 9 at NAEC. She excels in drawing, printmaking, sculpture, design, and ceramics.

Courtney Johnson, who is in Grade 10, was in the company of her father. Her brother was also present, having driven from Toronto for the occasion. Courtney had a feline theme in her drawing and print. Courtney has great success in drawing in the medium of charcoal, and her wood-cut print was equally successful. She demonstrates creativity and ingenuity in design and sculpture, as well.

The audience was audibly impressed with Kyle Deruchie’s wood-cut print of a wolf. Kyle was unable to attend. His sensitive portrayal of a wolf is particularly effective in the wood-cut print, as the grain is also incorporated into the texture of the print.

Colista McQuigge’s watercolour entitiled “Maple” was also selected, and displayed, but Colista was unable to attend.

Principal Angela Salmond said, “I am very proud, but not very surprised, that our students have made such a good showing. We have a very creative and talented body of students at NAEC. Our hallways and classrooms are a testimony to our student’s abilities.”

The L & A Hospital Student’s Art Exhibition is displayed in a hallway to the right of the main entrance. It is a light and airy space, with plenty of natural light.

NAEC Open House By Valerie Allan

North Addington Education Centre’s Open House on May 10 was a great success, with a lot of parents and students in attendance. School Council provided hot dogs and hamburgers for the attendees, which were cooked by students. There were also soft drinks available. Parents were able to tour both Elementary and Secondary classrooms and see what their (and other) students had been doing.  

Ms. Lucas’s class had their Mother’s Day presents on display. These consisted of flower pots or bowls which the students had made in class, and had fired in the kiln on the Secondary side of the school. Students then decorated their pottery with glaze. The pottery was fired for a second time, and the students had a dishwasher and microwave safe piece of pottery to give for Mother’s Day.

Parents, students and staff were treated to a sneak preview of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Lydia Kellar (as Willy Wonka) performed 'Pure Imagination', and Dallas Arney (as Charlie Bucket) and Morgan Wood (as Mr. Bucket) performed 'Think Positive'. The show is June 6 and 7, at 6:30pm.

Ms. Yanch spoke to Grade 8 students and their parents about what to expect for next year. It was an information-packed event which touched on the different pathways students could choose, the supports in place to help them be successful, and the work-habits they will need. She also touched on the volunteer hours they will need to complete in order to graduate. She stressed that, although NAEC is a small school, it can provide a variety of curriculum through various means such as on-line courses and correspondence. NAEC also has an extensive Co-operative Education program. The small class size works in the students’ favour, as teachers actually have time to sit down and go over content with their students.

Principal Angela Salmond remarked, “The transition from Elementary to Secondary School is less stressful for our students, as they have usually had some contact with the Secondary side, and often have relatives already attending the Secondary side.”

North Addington Education Centre celebrated its undergraduates
at awards night last week. Students are acknowledged for their hard work with academic points along with other honour certificates and proficiency awards. Abby Tryon, Kendra Wilson, Emma Benn, Danielle Drysdale, Brooke Hawley and Jared Salmond received pen sets or gold watches for high academic point achievement.