NAEC hosted visiting actor Lara Jean Chorostecki on September 23 and 24, prior to the school trip to Stratford, and on October 2, after the trip. She led the students in several drama-based activities, focusing on “Anne Frank” and Shakespeare’s language, as well as the use of voice and body in drama.

The visit was part of a program called “Teaching Shakespeare” which is run by the Education Department at Stratford. In order to receive funding towards a student trip to Stratford, and to arrange for a visiting actor, teachers are required to attend a “Teaching Shakespeare” conference for three days in August. There were about 60 teachers, in total. Ms. Allan and Ms. Randle attended from NAEC, and received materials and ideas that they could use in a classroom.

Many actors who are in productions at Stratford worked alongside the teachers in a variety of workshops. Lara Jean Chorostecki was one of the participating actors in the “Teaching Shakespeare” conference, and was paired up with NAEC. Although she got her start in Stratford, at the age of 17, she is now in movies and on television. Her most recent series was “X-Company” on CBC this year – now available on Netflix. A second season is planned for early 2016. She was also on the very popular “Hannibal”, which is also available on Netflix. For more information on Ms. Chorostecki, visit: http://www.larajeanchorostecki.com/about/

Students in grade 9, 10, 11 and 12 participated in the workshops, and enjoyed the experience very much. Allya Garey, who is a big fan of “X-Company”, presented a thank-you card to Ms. Chorostecki on her last day at NAEC.

The students of North Addington Education Centre will be suiting up in their Campbell's Soup costumes on October 31 and knocking on your door! They will be asking for non-perishable food items for the local food bank, which is experiencing a shortage of food.

About 10 secondary students will be spreading out between Flinton, Northbrook, and Cloyne to hwlp the food bank instead of tricking or treating for candy. The students are not strangers to supporting the community who supports them.

This is the fifth year for the very successful event. We're asking community members to contribute what they can. We will be having three to four students canvassing each community between approximately 5 and 8pm. They will be wearing NAEC ID tags and a very large smile. We are going to visit as many households as possible, but if you have contributions and the food is not picked up, please call Candice Bovard throughout the week at 613-336-8991 and we will pick it up.

On behalf of students and staff, the principal, Angela Salmond, would like to thank the community for their contributions to our food drive efforts over the years. "We would not be able to organize events like this without the support of our generous community. Thank you for investing in our children, and helping to show them what really matters."

If you see students in the community and they are “trick or eating”, feel free to ask them to sing or dance for your donation; they are prepared to work for your generosity!

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.

By: Misti Harnden

On April 29th, 2015 North Addington Education Centre, a small, rural K-12 school in Cloyne, Ontario, held a Cuts for Cancer event. This event is currently ranked third for all Cuts for Cancer fundraisers online across Ontario.

Three students (Alexus Wagner, Selena Pelicos and Terri-Lynn Rosenblath) and three teachers (Melissa Randle, Krista Walker and Leanne Shepherd) had their hair cut, by local hairdresser Teri Woods.

In addition to the over $4000 collected for the hair cutting event, funds were raised by a silent auction, talent show and money jar campaign.

Event organizer Melissa Randle stated, “I am so proud of everyone involved in this fundraiser. I’m ecstatic that we were able to exceed our original $3000 goal.”

During the Viking Cuts for Cancer event over 3 feet of hair was cut to be donated. There was a tie for the money jar campaign winner. Tim Pelow and Josh Goodfellow shaved their legs, Edna Lessard begrudgingly wore a Toronto jersey and Leanne Shepherd ate a live worm. Although not the winners, Katie Ohlke got a makeover by a student, Candice Bovard will wear her hair in a Mohawk and Valerie Allan will take part in a pie in the face event.

To date, over $4700 has been raised for the Canadian Cancer Society. To sponsor this event, visit http://goo.gl/4WsMa8 (the link is currently still active).

by Valerie Allan

On April 23 NAEC hosted its annual Earth Day celebrations. The secondary EcoTeam organized the events for the day. Students from grades K-12 participated in a school yard and community cleanup throughout the day.

The secondary Leadership class also ran a colouring contest for the elementary classes. The secondary students had a hard time judging the artwork, but in the end, the following winners were announced: Spencer Bolduc, Madison Madigan, Sophia Borger, Alyssa Thompson, Briahana Wilson, Dominique Shorts, Ally Maschke, Jenni Miske, Amanda Clancy, Josie Heyman, and Rachel Cumming.

Students from the school also attended an Environmental Summit on April 22 which will give them information to bring back to the school and share. The EcoTeam has also been working hard on their renewal application for EcoSchool certification due at the end of April. NAEC has been a certified EcoSchool for the past six years and was the first gold certified school in the board.

Just in time for the clean-up, heavy snow began to fall. Melissa Randle (EcoTeam staff advisor) remarked, “I’m proud of the dedication I saw today with the Earth Day cleanup. Students braved the elements to ensure that our school grounds and community were free from garbage.”

by Valerie Allan

On April 24, the North Gym at NAEC was packed with contestants and spectators in the first National Archery in the Schools Tournament hosted by NAEC. Present were students, staff and parents from Granite Ridge Education Centre, Madawaska Valley District High School, and North Addington Education Centre. There were 32 participants in the Tournament, including NAEC students Devin Gagne-Baldacchin, Brittany Delyea, Madi Lemke, Greg Garey, William Cruickshank, Stephen Humphrey, Caleb Leoen, and Eric Chatson.

The tournament was part of the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP), organized by Sarah Sproule. Ms. Sproule was certified as a NASP trainer and instructor this past August, and NAEC was one of the first ten schools in Ontario to be certified as a NASP school.

NAEC placed first overall, with a total of 1300 points out of a possible 1500. NAEC students placed as follows: Girls’ competition: Brittany Delyea – 1^st, Madi Lemke – 4^th. Boys’ competition: Greg Garey – 1^st, William Cruickshank – 2^nd, Stephen Humphrey - 3^rd, Caleb Leoen and Eric Chatson – 5^th (tie).

Next year, NAEC will be partaking in the provincial championships, and already has been invited to Madawaska Valley District High School for a tournament next school year.

The sponsor for NASP is the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. The slogan of NASP is “Changing Lives one Arrow at a Time”.

by Valerie Allan

A small group of Grade 10 Art students took advantage of the bus taking students to the Science conference at Bayridge Secondary School; they hitched a ride to The Glass House on Sydenham Road, as part of an extension of the Art Curriculum. As well as enjoying making a piece of art, the students loved the pets at The Glass House – two very friendly cats and a lovely dog made the students feel right at home. The students completed a piece from scratch, starting with cutting out a pattern from paper, then cutting the glass, foiling it, soldering it, and adding a patina. This process usually takes about six hours, but the students managed it in less than four hours, by concentrating hard on their task.

The trip was made possible by The Glass House charging a reduced fee for their class, and a subsidy from the Artist’s Guild.

by Valerie Allan

NAEC is participating in a scientific experiment in partnership with Guelph University. Students, staff, and visitors may have noticed the giant “Malaise” trap situated behind the school. This trap attracts and traps insects, which are then sent to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario in order to assign a barcode to their DNA.

This is a cross-Canada endeavour, involving secondary schools in each province. NAEC is the only school in Limestone District School Board to participate. Ms. Randle, a Science teacher at NAEC, applied for this opportunity. NAEC was one of about 60 sites selected from over 200 applications. Ms. Randle explains, “When I heard about this opportunity at STAO 2014, I knew that this was the type of project that I wanted our students to participate in.”

The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) at the University of Guelph outlines the program in some of their literature: “Through this program we have provided thousands of students with information on biodiversity, DNA barcoding, and the star of our program — the Malaise trap. Because this tent-like apparatus is so effective at collecting insects, we provide each class with its own trap to explore biodiversity in their schoolyard.”

The trap is set up for three weeks, and specimens are collected by students throughout that time.

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.