For the second year in a row, Sydenham High School and North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne have achieved certification as Eco-Schools.

But while SHS received a bronze certification in 2009 and NAEC received gold, this year SHS was golden, and NAEC received silver level certification.

The Eco-Schools program was created by a consortium of education stakeholders to address environmental issues in the education system. Seven school boards, York University and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority collaborated to adapt and expand on the work of the Toronto District School Board, developing an environmental education program that is used province-wide.

Each year participating schools are evaluated in six key areas – teamwork and leadership, energy conservation, waste minimization, school grounds greening, curriculum, and environmental stewardship in the community.

Among the innovations that put SHS over the top this year was the eco-fair that was held in conjunction with Earth Day. The two schools were among eight in the Limestone Board to achieve the gold, silver or bronze level.

Last Thursday, Doug Gerow came to work as usual at SHS’s Community Education Centre. He’s been volunteering there three hours every weekday for the past 15 years, ever since he retired from his job at the Ministry of Transport.

Doug Gerow is the kind of volunteer who steps in to help wherever he sees something’s needed. He doesn’t talk about what he’s done, and doesn’t expect praise for his work. That’s why last Thursday’s events took him so by surprise.

He walked into a celebration recognizing him not only for his many years of service, but also for the ten new computers he has donated to the Centre. The computer lab, furnished completely by Doug, has been named in his honour. Director David Herrington said Doug is “Loyal, constant, compassionate and dedicated,” adding: “He makes great popcorn, too!”

When I asked Doug how he came to set up a whole computer lab by himself, he told me it all started before he retired, when he came to the adult education part of the program for computer upgrading.

“The few computers they had were in bad shape! So after I retired, I just kept watching the ads, and looking for deals: one store in particular had good prices,” he said.

And he sums up his entire experience at the Computer Education Centre by saying “It’s been a great life to be here!”

Perhaps most important of all, Doug Gerow has closed the gap that often exists between young people and seniors: as one student commented; “He’s great to talk cars with – his first car was a ’38 Dodge – my dream car!”

The new plaque outside the computer lab has a picture of Doug, above a quote from Ghandi: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Phys. Ed. students at Sydenham High School carry the torch for the Ontario Special Olympics Torch Run on May 28 in Sydenham

Ninety students at Sydenham High School joined forces with members of the Frontenac and other area OPP detachments for their 24th annual Ontario Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Ontario (SOO).

The run is an annual community-based, province-wide event to raise funds and awareness for the Special Olympics movement in Ontario, the charity of choice for the Ontario Chiefs of Police Association. Funds are raised through donations, pledges for the runners, the sale of t-shirts and other merchandise, corporate donations and other special fundraising events.

The run began at the school and took participants along a 2.5km loop around downtown Sydenham. Vice-Principal Bryan Lambert participated in the run. He spoke about the important opportunity it offers students at the school. “It’s great to have our Phys. Ed. students fully engaged in this event. It’s a wonderful cause and since we have a number of students at the school with special needs, the event goes a long way in pulling people together in the community and bridging the gap for those students who have special needs."

Trousdale’s Foodland donated food and beverages for the runners and OPP Constable Natalie McDowell of the Frontenac detachment, who organized the event, was thrilled with the turnout that included 17 officers, most from Frontenac detachment. She was equally pleased with the funds raised, which more than doubled last year's total.

This year the 2010 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games will be in London, Ontario, from July 13 to 17. Athletes from across the country will be taking part for the chance to represent Canada at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Greece.

Anyone who missed the run and would like to donate to the SOO can visit their website at www.specialolympicsontario.com or www.torchrunontario.com

Photo: Sydenham's Golden Eagles

Although going to print on a Tuesday leaves us here at the News hanging regarding the outcome of the Eagles’ final game at the National Capital Bowl, which was played in Toronto at the Rogers Centre yesterday, Wed. Nov. 24 against Peterborough's Crestwood Mustangs, I thought I might brief fans regarding the last nail-biter of a game that got them there.

The Golden Eagles had to be the underdogs going into Saturday’s game. The St. Peter’s Knights were the defending champions; Sydenham’s starting quarterback Steve Knapton was out for the season; they were playing their third game in a week; and the game was being played in Ottawa, the Knights’ home town.

The Golden Eagles’ grade 11 quarterback Brett Irwin, who took over from Knapton, stayed calm and cool, not causing any turnovers in the game and connecting with Ben Fisher for a long touchdown pass that put Sydenham up 8-0 at half time.

The Knights came on in the second half, scoring a single early on, and with four minutes left they finally scored a touchdown to bring the score back to 8-7. The turning point in the game came when Sydenham’s Hayden Peters, a kicker himself, partially blocked the St. Peter’s conversion kick attempt, forcing it to bounce off the crossbar and out, keeping the score at 8-7.

Sydenham then recovered the onside kick. A few plays later Brett Irwin handed the ball off the running back Josh Thompson, who reared back and threw a touchdown pass to Ollie Moyse. The game was put completely out of reach when Kieran Doyle intercepted a St. Peter’s pass and returned it for another touchdown, bringing the final score to 21-7.

Sydenham’s coach Mike Love said that Brett Irwin deserves a lot of credit for the win. “Brett played a great game even with a strong wind blowing constantly on the field,” Love said. “Overall it was a pretty hard fought game. The Knights are physically a very big team and their running back played a great game gaining 200 yards.”

In the run up to Wednesday’s game Mike Love suggested the team will just try to continue to ride the wave that has seen them win eight games in a row after stumbling with losses in their first two games at the beginning of the season.

“We've played five games in 15 days and so have not had a lot of time to regroup. Our plan is to go in just doing what we've been doing. We've had a really great season and the guys have played better every single week and have come a long way. If we do end up taking the cup on Wednesday, all I know is that it will be a pretty fun bus ride home.”

(P.S. If you don’t know what happened in Toronto yesterday, just ask any teenager or any parent of a teenager living south of Parham)

Photo by Emily Hole

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Sydenham Golden Eagles at the OFSAA National Capital Region final at the Rogers Centre in Toronto last week. The Golden Eagles took Peterborough’s Crestwood High School to overtime. The entire season came down to a two-yard attempt at a decisive touchdown by star running back Josh Thompson, which was held off by the Crestwood defence. Minutes later Crestwood kicked the winning field goal. The win was the first for Crestwood after losing in the final game at the Rogers Centre three years in a row. Still, it was an impressive run for the Golden Eagles, a season full of comebacks that will add to SHS football lore.

Photo: Nick Babcock singing an original at SYD's Cafe at SHS

Numerous musically talented students at Sydenham High School took to the stage on December 2 for the school’s annual SYD's Cafe talent show, a fundraiser for the school’s music program. A total of 13 acts entertained a large audience in the school gym and showed that the school boasts a number of incredibly talented young individuals. I caught the first half of the show, which included a spectacular solo mash-up dance by Amy Walton.

Nick Babcock accompanied himself on guitar and for his second number treated the fans to a first - one of his own original tunes, a soulful, sexy dedication to Jenny. Other highlights included two very accomplished covers by Shelby Plumridge, who accompanied herself on guitar and Maddy Creasor who sang a moving version of the tune “Beautiful” while Eddy the rapper performed his latest rhymes.

Emcees for the evening Jessie Bell and Jordan Dawson did a fine job interspersing comedic banter between the numbers. The popular event continues to be the perfect opportunity for students to show off their musical chops while raising money for the music program at the school.

Sydenham High’s annual fashion show, as always, was a glorious spring burst of energy, sound, colour and fun. The auditorium rocked with cheers, music and laughter throughout an hour-long, fast-paced show which featured skits, dancing and lots of great outfits loaned by a range of Kingston stores. Clothing lines featured everything from sleepwear, swimwear and general sportswear, through day clothes to prom outfits and a stunning bridal gown with a full sweeping skirt that could be transformed in a moment to a shorter dress for dancing.

At the beginning, the lights came up on a bare brick wall with the show theme, “Backbeat” painted across, flanked by a couple of stacks of smoking tires. The school to community students opened the show. Shy at first, they soon warmed to the enthusiastic audience. In between the fashion sets that followed, a running skit by senior drama students riffed on the “Oz” story, and the SHS dancers performed two sets. Members of the drama classes, in full costume, put in a tantalizing pitch for Arsenic and Old Lace (coming to SHS in May).

The fashion show is a huge production, with as many or more people working behind the scenes as there are on stage. Shelley Brooks has been the coordinator behind it all, for the past 20 years. “This will be the last year for such a big show,” Shelley says. “Next year, it will be much smaller, perhaps more an afternoon event in the cafeteria for Mother’s Day.”

Photo: Students on the high ropes course

“Leadership camp is a place where preconceived ideas about leadership and other barriers are broken down”, said Sydenham High School teacher and leadership camp staff supervisor, Kim Kippen.

Along with co-staff supervisor, Don Lalonde, Kippen oversaw a two-day camp for 70 Sydenham High School students on Oct. 18 and 19 at Camp IAWAH, located off the Westport Road, east of Godfrey.

The leadership camp, which has been running for years at Sydenham HS, aims to impart leadership skills to students from all areas of the school by offering concrete examples of leadership through a series of hands-on activities and discussions. Groups of students from grades 9 through 11 were invited by teachers to attend the camp.

The camp is led by four teacher-nominated grade 12 students. The four leaders were Calista Vogelzang, Cia Myles-Gonzalez, David Amos and Shayna Joron, and they were supported by additional grade 12 students who supervised the various activities.

This year’s camp theme, initiated by the four camp leaders, was titled “The Next Step” and it was designed for the students to explore and experience the defining qualities of leadership: initiative, perspective, setting goals, teamwork, overcoming obstacles, setting examples, and self-improvement. The ideas were discussed and also demonstrated through a series of activities that each student had a chance to participate in.

For the segment on perseverance and overcoming obstacles, students completed a relay obstacle course where a pair of students was tied together by one hand, and had no choice but to use their communication skills in order to successfully complete the course. Following the obstacle course students discussed what kind of communications worked well and what did not.

On the high ropes course, students faced a number of daunting aerial challenges that had them working in teams suspended on ropes high above the tree tops. Student organizer, David Amos, said he felt that the participating students benefited greatly from the camp. “One important idea they learn is that they are able to set goals for themselves and they also take what they have learned here back into the community.”

Shayna Joron agreed. “These skills can really help them to prepare to face challenges in their own lives.” “And they come to realize that anyone has the ability to become a good leader, even the quiet students,” Calista Vogelzang added.

Sydenham High School teacher, Beth Barz, who coaches with the Queen’s University women’s rugby team, the national rugby program and also at Sydenham High, was invited as the guest speaker. She shared some of the wisdom she has accumulated while attending a workshop for female coaches of national teams, particularly what coach Melody Davidson of the Canadian women’s hockey team imparted to her.

“I spoke to them about how Melody brought the team to victory, first with thorough planning and also by reviewing their performances.”

Beth Barz feels that the camp gives students something they might not otherwise get during regular school hours.

“Anytime students can get out of the school setting they are able to think a little bit differently. They are able to challenge themselves in different ways and this gives them a sense of autonomy over how and what they learn. We are recognizing more and more that students need that autonomy, which sometimes, academically they do not always get.”

Kim Kippen agreed.

“It's an incredible opportunity for students who may have never had this kind of experience before to reevaluate their own preconceived ideas of leadership and what it means. Each student tends to build on what they already know so while each student’s experience at the camp is different, it always tends to be a very positive and memorable one.”

Student organizer David Amos had the final word and mentioned that what likely makes students so eager to participate is that “the whole camp revolves around demonstrating leadership ideas in a really fun environment, which I believe is what makes the camp so successful.” 

Photo: Grade 10 students insert plants for the new butterfly garden.

An eco-auditing contest run by the Kingston Sustainability Centre's "Youth Mentoring Youth" program has awarded Sydenham High a butterfly garden as a reward for the school's environmental awareness. Exactly what does a newly-awarded butterfly garden look like? In this case, it comes as bags of soil, compost and mulch, a lot of pots of plants, shovels, trowels, gloves and water pails. This week, members of the International Society for Conservation Biology (themselves biology students at Queen's) demonstrated planting techniques to two grade ten classes. The garden plot had already been worked up in a sunny spot at the front of the school, and within an hour, the plants were all tucked into the garden, watered and mulched. Western 

Landscape services of Elginburg donated the supplies and initial digging. The plants chosen were native or naturalized ones that will attract butterflies with their leaves, nectar and colour. 

Because this is SHS's garden, the flowers will all be red or yellow, the school colours.  

Photo: Miriam Rutledge (right) and Angela Saxe.

Miriam Rutledge, a grade 12 student at Sydenham High School, is one of the top three finalists of 120 students who submitted stories for the “You Think You Can Write” contest, part of the upcoming Kingston WritersFest, which attracts authors of international renown.

Miriam's story titled “The Cellist” was written in the first person and tells the thoughts and observations of a cellist performing in a recital hall in front of a large audience. Like so many successful short stories, “The Cellist’ is based on Rutledge’s own real life experiences. An accomplished cello player, Miriam has been studying privately with Wolf Tormann, a celebrated cello player, teacher and professor of music at Queens University, for 10 years. She knows first hand in body, mind and soul exactly what a cello player undergoes during a recital. So it is no wonder that her story rings so true, as exemplified when the cellist observes from her view on stage “the occasional luminous face in the glow of a cell phone.” Or as in her second paragraph, when the cellist begins to play, and “Each note is like a pearl, perfectly shaped and shining. My bow flows over the strings like ocean waves over rocks on a calm day. I can feel my body moving with the melody and my soul lifting with each crescendo.”

As in all contests, certain stipulations had to met. No more than 750 words, the story also had to include five words: luminous, ocean, melody, dawn and inspire. Miriam felt confident that her subject could easily incorporate all five words and explained, “I already had the idea of writing something like what I did, so it wasn't that difficult for me to include the mandatory words.”

As far as her creative writing goes she says she enjoys it and is currently taking a senior level English course offered at SHS called "Writer’s Craft”. “I've always loved writing creatively. I've written a tragic romance and other things but they tend to be mostly related to school assignments.”As far as pursuing a writing career, Miriam says she hopes to get accepted into the COCA course offered at Queens, which combines computer science with the creative arts so that she can continue her music studies and study fine art as well.

The contest came to her attention thanks to Angela Saxe, a teacher/librarian at SHS and one of the two volunteer youth coordinators at the Kingston Writers’ Festival. Saxe, a writer herself, feels strongly about giving students more opportunities to write creatively. “Not only does the contest bring an awareness to students of the Kingston WritersFest, which in the last couple of years has been aiming some of its programming to youth and young writers, but the contest also gives students a chance to write creatively outside of the school curriculum, which is a good thing.”

The festival will be held from September 22 – 25, and now Miriam is just waiting for the judge’s final verdict, which will be announced on September 22 at the opening night at the Grand Theatre. For more information visit www.kingstonwritersfest.ca