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.

The impressive multi-media work of close to 200 students at Sydenham High School was included at the biennial Multi-media Festival, which was held at the school on December 11.

Headed up by Dawn Wallace, who has been teaching multi-media communications and technology at the school for the last seven years, the show included displays of student work in video, graphic design, introductory and advanced photography, printmaking, painting, animation, and sound mixing. Some of the highlights of the show included specific projects assigned to the communications technology students in grades 9 through 12, which included colorful mock movie posters, photo collages and entries in three separate student portfolio competitions, which included work in photography and graphic design.

I spoke to fifth-year student, Todd Muller, who entered his portfolio into the grade 11 photography competition. Muller has always loved photography and decided just this year to pursue that passion by enrolling in the introductory photography course that Wallace teaches. His portfolio submission included numerous intriguing, technically proficient and expertly composed photos of subjects that included hyenas at the Toronto Zoo, which were taken during a school photography trip there earlier this year. Muller said photography is a subject that he is seriously considering pursuing after high school at Sheridan College and possibly also at Ryerson. “I really love the creativity involved and the fact that you can be artistic with photography. I especially love staging my photos and for me that is where the artistry and creativity comes into play.”

At the show, Wallace beamed with pride at the students’ work and said that the communications technology and multimedia courses are important because they represent the “language of the day”. “The students are learning the ABCs of visual and audio language and basically all of the fundamentals that they need to know to pursue learning in this field,” she said. She added that she is often surprised and inspired by the work of her students. “I am often blown away by the work they create and often it is they who are teaching me new things, which makes teaching them, for me, a real privilege.” Wallace said a big part of her job is to help students develop their own voice and she said it is tremendously exciting to watch students find the media that best expresses who and what they are. Her words certainly ring true in the mock movie posters that were created by grade 10 students. Colorful, artistic, unique and savvy, one has to look very closely to realize that these posters are not the real thing - though they could easily be.

Mike Love, head coach of Sydenham's senior boys football team, recalled the team's final game played against Peterborough's Crestwood Mustangs at the Mary Ann Sills Park in Belleville on November 26 for the Senior AA title. The exciting win wrapped up a flawless season for the senior boys, who came out strong from the start against the Mustangs with Golden Eagle Sam Moyse scoring on the second play of the game on a pass from quarterback Dylan Fisher.

That lead spread to 14-0 when the Mustangs fumbled Sydenham's kick. With Sydenham offense in control of the ball, they moved up the turf handily with Brodie Latimer scoring on a four-yard push into the end zone. Sydenham recovered a second fumbled ball by the Mustangs and scored on a pass to Sam Moyse, moving Sydenham well ahead 21-0. Crestwood fought back hard and ran some well planned plays that failed to pan out. Sydenham scored another three points when Mike Bashall kicked a field goal, wrapping up a stellar first quarter and opening up a 24-0 lead for the Golden Eagles. Crestwood changed that fast in the second and turned their game around, scoring a quick consecutive three in a row, their third coming just five seconds before the clock timed out.

At the half the score was 24-21, making the match anyone's game. Love recalled how he and the team felt at that point. “We had the best start any team could want but Crestwood's passing game got us in the second but we managed to gather ourselves together and at half time I told the boys to calm down a bit and we reset our dials to the middle setting again after being up so fast and then coming down so hard.”

Reset they did and opening with the ball at the start of the third, Sydenham moved quickly on a long drive with Brodie Latimer scoring five minutes into the third, moving Sydenham ahead 31-21. Another long drive by the Eagles killed some precious time off the clock in the third and kept the Mustangs 10 points behind at the start of the fourth.

Early in the fourth Sydenham scored a single on a punt and their defense rallied, stopping the Mustangs from moving the ball far enough for a chance. It was five minutes into the fourth that Sydenham's Sam Moyse scored on a pass from Fisher for his third touchdown of the game, which moved the Golden Eagles further ahead 39-21. Bashall's kick put them up one more: 40-21.

The Mustangs demonstrated that they still had something left and with four seconds left in the game scored another touchdown but in the end it was not enough to move them ahead and Sydenham took the win 40-27, wrapping up a perfect season for the Sydenham seniors.

Moyse, Latimer and Fisher proved an unbeatable offensive trio not only in Belleville but all season long, as was kicker Mike Bashall who converted all five touchdowns and two single points on a kick and a punt that cemented the team's decisive win over Crestwood.

Love was proud of all his players. “They worked very, very hard for a long, long time. They came out for every single practice and just got better and better as the season went on.”

Close to 300 fans bundled up and braved the snow and wind to cheer on Sydenham's senior Golden Eagles, who faced off against the Almonte Thunderbolts at the EOSSA A AA football championship game in Kingston, which was held at CaraCo Home Field on November 14.

Both teams were undefeated in their regular seasons and were well matched; they played an exciting back and forth nail biter.

Almonte took a 7 point lead with a touchdown near the end of the first quarter. Then, with just seconds left in the first they fumbled the ball in Sydenham's end zone and Golden Eagle Conner O'Brien recovered it for a touch down. A successful conversion tied the game up 7-7.

There was no scoring in the second quarter until the very end, when with 30 seconds left on the clock Sydenham's Mike Bashal kicked a 25 yard field goal and Sydenham led at the half, 10-7.

Sydenham pushed hard again early in the third and a second three-point field goal by Bashall put the the up 13 - 7. Sydenham drove to the 20 yard line later in third quarter but failed to score, and Almonte responded with three minutes left on a passing touchdown from the 20. After the conversion they took the lead for the firrst time 14-13.

Sydenham’s offense worked hard to get a last chance in the third and with 40 seconds left they gained possession after recovering a fumble and had another chance to move ahead with under 20 seconds left but fell short once again.

Almonte pushed hard early in the fourth in an effort to increase their one point lead but Sydenham's defense held strong and when the Sydenham offense got possession half way through the fourth, a great long pass to Bashall followed by a hand off to O'Brien, Sydenham was once again within scoring distance at which their coach called a time out.

In their next push Sydenham’s Brodie Latimer put the ball across the line and moved the Golden Eagles into first 19-14. A two point conversion attempt missed the mark.

With just six minutes left in the game Sydenham fans went wild as their defense succeeded in shutting Almonte down. Then, with just under four minutes remaining and the snow falling Sydenham’s Brodie Latimer moved the ball for a first down deep in the Almont zone and Sam Moyse scored what looked like the clinching touchdown for Sydenham. However, that proved not to be the case as their was a flag on the play and Sydenham took a ten yard penalty. When they missed a field goal attempt, it was left to the Sydenham defense to keep the Thunderbolts at bay.

It looked like Sydenham might get a final chance to widen their win when Almonte quarterback was sacked but the fumble was picked up by Almonte again.

With a minute left, Sydenham’s Peter Kaiser intercepted a long pass, bringing the Sydenham fans to their feet. Sydenham then ran out the clock, winning 19-14 win, moving on to the National Capital Bowl.

Following the game Almonte coach Chris Spratt said that his boys had a couple of hardships but never quit. “We knew it would be close and though our team doesn't have the big size and numbers, they never quit and showed that we can swing with the big boys”.

Golden Eagles’ coach Mike Love was thrilled with the win and said that although his team still has work prior to the championship game on Saturday, he was really pleased to see his team moving on to it. “It was a really exciting game right up to the end. The boys just hung in there and played their hearts out and were rewarded with a victory,” Love said. The championship game will take place in Belleville on Saturday November 22 against Crestwood of Peterborough.

Sydenham’s junior girls AA basketball team had a great season this year but their luck ran out at the EOSSAA (Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association) tournament on November 12, which was hosted by Sydenham High School. The Arnprior Redmen defeated the Junior Golden Eagles in the first match, which their coach Janet Sanderson described as a very close and exciting game.

The Golden Eagles led by eight points early in the game but turnovers hurt them in the second half and Arnprior capitalized on their chances.

Sydenham hung in, though, and got back their focus near the end of the game, sinking a number of threes.

“It was the first game the team had lost at home in a long time,” Sanderson said, adding, “The girls played really hard and I am really proud of the effort that they made but we ended up losing by 3 in the end”.

You would never know that they had lost their first game by how hard the team played in their second game of the day against the Thousand Islands Pirates, even though they would not move on to the finals. In their last game of the season Sydenham beat the Pirates 41 to 27.

Ms. Sanderson, who coaches the juniors along with Mark Richards, said the team came a really long way this season.

“We started off the season slowly due to some injuries and sickness but we had a great positive stretch towards the end of the season. I'm really proud of the girls and what they were able to do this year. They were really dedicated and there was almost a kind of a family feeling within the team, which was great,” she said.

Photo 2018-       

For 15-year-old Sydenham student, William Sanderson, it's a dream come true. Come Christmas Day the grade 10 student will be heading down south - way down south - and will be one of just 70 international students aged 14-18 boarding an ice breaker at the southern tip of Argentina and setting out to explore Antarctica.

The students will be part of a ten-day international youth experiential education program called Students on Ice. The program, which offers trips to both the Arctic and Antarctica, brings together students, scientists, artists, musicians and other leaders with the goal that they “become inspired, educated and empowered global ambassadors for a sustainable future.”

The expedition's home base will be an ice breaker and while on board students will learn from numerous polar experts, educators, researchers and scientists and will be involved in a number of hands-on research studies and experiments. Climate, the ice and wildlife will all be topics of study and for Sanderson it presents an opportunity to learn about and see one part of the world that most people never have a chance to visit.

Sanderson has always been interested in climate, the environment, nature and the great outdoors and as a youngster spent many hours with his teacher father at the Gould Lake Conservation Centre, experiencing the outdoors, nature and wildlife. “I've spent a lot of time in the wilderness and feel that when you're out exploring and living in nature you get a certain appreciation for it and a certain drive to protect it. The best summer experiences I have had have been in the outdoors and that is what inspires me to do something so that we can have these kind of places forever.”

The students will make their way by plane to Ushuaia, Argentina, where they will board the ice breaker and will spend a few days traveling up the Drake Passage. Planned stops include an excursion to Elephant Island where famed explorer Ernest Shackleton was stranded roughly 100 years ago. They will then travel to the Antarctic peninsula and will be stopping at a number of research bases there. Because it is the summer season there now, they will be making their way through open water and will likely see Emperor penguins, whales and other native species.

Sanderson is looking forward to meeting his shipmates, in his words, “people who will likely have similar interests as me” and to seeing the continent of Antarctica. “It is a place that, for the most part, has been untouched by humans and it will be really interesting to learn about a place that so few people have had a chance to see and study.”

The Students on Ice program requires participants to raise $14,500 for the trip. Since his acceptance in April of this year Sanderson has held many fundraising events and he says family, friends, the school, the Limestone District School Board and the community at large all made generous donations to help him fund his journey.

Of course he will be packing a camera and upon his return, as a new ambassador to the program he will be making presentations to local students about the trip.

As far as his future plans go Sanderson says that although he has not made any concrete plans he is hoping that the trip might show him a path or an opportunity that he didn't know existed before. "I'm really looking forward to seeing what this expedition might lead to.”

In the early going of their EOSSA (Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association) semi-final game at the Point, the Sydenham Golden Eagles looked like they might make mincemeat out of the Brockville Rams. 30 short seconds into the game the Rams fumbled a kick by Mike Bashall, and Sam Moyse scored a touchdown in the next play. After a successful conversion, the Eagles were up 7-0.

Sydenham's defense shut down a push up the middle by the Rams and then Bashall scored again, on a long pass from Dylan Fisher, putting Sydenham at 14-0 just half way into the first quarter.

Early in the second Sam Moyse made great catch and although he was rammed hard by Brockville he miraculously held on to the ball, sparking a drive down the field that led to a touchdown on a run by Tyler Cancian

The Rams fought back hard nad finally put 7 points on the board, and Sydenham responded with a field goal tobe up 24-7 at the half.

At the start of the third quarter, Sydenham marched down the field again, mixing their passing and rushing games, all culminating in another touchdown by Tyler Cancian, bringing the score to 31-7.

Brockville then mounted a sustained comeback, scoring twice in the third quarter, and after makingonluy one of two conversions they were down 31-20. After dominating play in the foruth, the Rams finally scored late in the game and after a two-point conversion the score was 31-28.

Then Sydenham finally maintained possession near the end of the game and managed to run the ball until the clock ran out, clinching the win and sending them to the EOSSA final.

Following the game Brockville coach Pete Atkinson said he was pleased with how his team fared. “Sydenham attacked quickly and got a great lead but my guys persisted, stuck with it and stayed with them and came roaring back in the second half, making for a very close game."

Sydenham coach Mike Love said he found the game “a little more nerve racking” than he and his team preferred it to be. “Brockville had a very strong second half and we kept giving them opportunities and they kept taking advantage of them but at the end of the day, we got a win and that is what we wanted.”

The Golden Eagles will play the EOSSAA final against the Almonte Thunderbolts on Friday Nov. 14, at 1pm at the Invista Centre, Kingston. The winner of that game will go on to the National Capitol Bowl in Toronto.

Move on to EOSSAA on home turf Nov 7

Sydenham’s senior Golden Eagles football team finished off their regular season with a 6 and 0 winning streak and a final win at the KASSAA (Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association) double A championships, which took place at Richardson stadium at Queen's University on November 1 and was a stellar team effort. Sydenham shut out the LaSalle Black Knights with a final score of 47-0.

Head coach for the senior Golden Eagles, Mike Love, who has been coaching the team since 2006, highlighted some of the more important points of that game. He cited the team’s quarterback Dylan Fisher as a important piece of the team’s win. Fisher threw four touchdown passes, earning himself the MVP trophy, which was presented to him at the end of the game.

Running back Brodie Latimer also had a great game and ran the ball for two touchdowns.

Love credited the team’s defense led by line backer Mitch Herron for virtually shutting down the Knights’ offense and preventing them from getting a single point on the score board.

The Knights came into Saturday’s game with a 6-1 record, having lost their one and only game of the regular season to Sydenham at the annual Bubba Bowl event.

Love credited his “great group of players both in offense and defense” for a great regular season and the KASSAA win.

For their first EOSSAA (Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association) game, the senior Golden Eagles will be taking on the Brockville Collegiate Institute’s Rams on Friday, November 7 in Sydenham at 1:00 pm. The winner of that game will play the following weekend at the winner’s field. If the Golden Eagles keep it up they may indeed land themselves a spot at the National Capital Bowl, which is scheduled to take place on November 22, with the location to be announced.

In other football news the Sydenham Juniors also played at the KASSAA double A finals and lost their game against the LaSalle Black Knights 27-7.

A picturesque setting sun followed by a bright moon made this year’s Bubba Bowl on October 9 one to remember.. The main event was a double header where the Sydenham Golden Eagles took on the LaSalle Knights in two very exciting and close games, one going to Sydenham and the other to Lasalle.

The Bubba Bowl, now in its ninth year, is named for Alex “Bubba” Turcotte, who played for three years as a member of Sydenham’s junior football team and sadly died of heart failure in May of 2001. The event continues to draw thousands of football fans from the local community and is popular both with former students at the school, some of whom played ball there, and others who just happen to be big fans of the Sydenham Golden Eagles and the game.

Th Junior Golden Eagles and Kinghts taking to the field first. Though I was not able to stay for the games, coaches Mike Love and Jeff Ryan got me up to speed on how they unfolded.

In the junior contest, Sydenham scored early in the first quarter in their opening drive, with Merrick Wilcock getting the touchdown. After missing a 2 point conversion, and with the score at 6-0 for Sydenham, LaSalle tied it up and their single point conversion brought them into the lead 7-6. In the second quarter both teams demonstrated strong defense, each making it difficult for the other team to score and the half the score was unchanged at 7-6 for LaSalle.

Early in the third LaSalle put together a great drive and scored a touchdown and with a successful conversion spread their lead to 14-6. In the fourth Sydenham came back strong and in a long drive Shane Herron scored a touchdown, narrowing the score to 14-12 for LaSalle.

The tensest part of the game happened next, when Sydenham's Colin Bowman went for a two point conversion that ended at the goal line, leading to a lengthy conference among the referees. In the end they decided that Bowman had not crossed the line, leaving the score at 14-12 for LaSalle.

Sydenham then executed an onside kick recovering the ball on the Knights 40 yard line. The Golden Eagles then made a final attempt but their stalled after a failed fourth down attempt.

LaSalle won the game with a final score of 14-12.

Mike Love, Sydenham coach for the Senior Golden Eagles, provided a description of the game against the LaSalle seniors. He said it was “a very close and exciting contest”.

Picking it up at the half time mark, the Golden Eagles were leading 7-6. Early in the third quarter Tom Withey of Sydenham intercepted a LaSalle pass and returned it for a toucdown. LaSalle responded quickly, scoring a touchdown and adding a two point conversion to tie the game 14-14.

Late in the third Sydenham jumoed back into the lead when Sam Moyse scored on a long pass from Dylan Fisher, putting Sydenham into the lead 21-14 at the end of the third.

Early in the last quarter Sydenham recovered a fumble and following a short drive to the line, Brodie Latimer scored a rushing touchdown from a yard out, bringing the score to 28-14.

LaSalle fought back, though, recovering a fumble to score a touchdown with just one minute 30 seconds left in the fourth, closing Sydenham’s lead to 28-21. The Knights then attempted a short kick to get back possession but the Golden Eagles were quick to recover the ball. The Knights had a final chance with just 20 seconds left in the game but failed to get far enough to score.

The senior Eagles have now won three in a row. The Junior Eagles are still trying for their first win of the season and are down three games.

Congratulations to Dave Compton, who won the 50-50 draw, which he generously donated to SHS Athletics.