Photo: Left to right: Colista McQuigge, Ashley Buls, Rachel Van Dusen, Emma Fuller, Madi Lemke, Aryssa Grant, Megan Cruickshank and Deanna Allen.

Students from NAEC participated in painting a canvas for the Limestone Learning Foundation’s Crystal Ball Gala, which was held October 15, at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston. About 8 schools volunteered for this task.

Canvases from each school had to have a crystal ball in the centre, and a black and silver border. Apart from that, students were free to use their imagination. The NAEC students’ theme was “Diversity Through the Arts”. They chose to make their crystal ball a crystal globe, surrounded by art of different cultures.

Emma Fuller represented India with a picture of the Taj Mahal. Colista McQuigge chose an African musician’s image. Megan Cruickshank depicted Canada’s culture, showing a dog-sled team. Deanna Allen painted a Thai scene, with a dancer and decorated elephant, while Aryssa Grant and Madi Lemke selected a scene featuring a Chinese Dragon parade. The crystal globe and the border were painted by Ashley Buls.

“I was very impressed with the caliber of the work,” remarked Principal Angela Salmond. “I am particularly pleased that the canvas was worked on by both elementary and secondary students, to reflect the unique quality of our school.”

The canvas was received in May, and students started painting right away. They completed the canvas after returning from the summer holiday. Because it was hard for more than one or two students to work on the canvas at once, it was necessary to devise a schedule to get the canvas completed. Students worked in their lunch hours and after school, as well as during the day.

The Sharbot Lake Panthers took on the Marie-Rivier Dragons in back to back junior and seniors games in Sharbot Lake on October 18. The junior Panthers started out strong, winning the first two sets of their game 25-19 and 25-11. It didn't take long, though for the Dragons to finally find their groove and they fought back hard, winning three in a row 25-19, 25-20 and 15-9 and clinching the win. Junior Dragons coach, Christelle Belec, said after the game, “It took the boys the first two sets to get used to the ceiling height and the size of the serving space but after that they played very well.”

In the seniors’ game that followed, the two teams battled hard back and forth, with Sharbot Lake winning the first set 25-20. The Dragons came on strong in the second, proving they were up for a fight, and took the second 25-21. In the third, Panthers Johnny Vinkle and Collum McGregor made multiple thunderous spikes, helping to put the Panthers back on top, and they took the third 25-18, making a win seem imminent. In the fourth the Dragons proved they were not ready to call it a day, and though the Panthers took an early lead, by mid-set they had lost it and were down 6 points, which they could not recover. In the end they lost the set 25-18. In the nail-biting fifth, Sharbot Lake once again took control early with a quick 4-1 lead. The Dragons turned on the fire and by mid-set were leading 7-6. In the end the Panthers were not able to turn it around and the Dragons finished them off with a flick of their tails, winning the final set 15-8 and taking the win.

Photo: 2011 SLHS Valedictorian, Kaitlyn Hannah

Amid countless shout outs of “I love you”, and photo ops taken by family and friends, Sharbot Lake High School graduates of the 2011 school year received their proper due at the school cafeteria on October 7, where there was standing room only. Kaitlyn Hannah, who is currently attending Ottawa University, was chosen as this year’s valedictorian. An ardent reader and writer, Kaitlyn was honoured with numerous awards and bursaries during the evening, including the school’s Writer of the Year Award. She was also recognized for her work on student council as well as on the 30-Hour Famine, Remembrance Day, and the students’ social justice committees. Kaitlyn was also active with the Student Vote movement. SLHS teacher Lorraine Ryan introduced her as an example of “Finding your passion and doing it well, keeping your individuality while creating a community of support.”

Kaitlyn had the final word of the evening and her humble and humorous speech invoked the memorable journey that students take, from fledgling grade nine newbies to confident, aspiring graduates entering the world that awaits them.

“These are definitely the most formative years of our lives and it is here that we find out who we are and where we want to go,” she said. She spoke of the intimacy of the small high school where one teacher can teach you three classes and coach you on a team: “Where you have had at least one long conversation with every student in the school and where our motto -'We are family' is completely true.” She spoke of the memorable school trips, the school dances and the way the students banded together over the years to help those in need. She also spoke of the diverse skills and talents of each of her classmates and how these varied skills will help to serve them in their upcoming years. In closing, she left the students with a few words of advice. “1. Strive to be like Mr. McVety in every way possible. In so doing, you'll be sure to succeed. 2. Always remember the people that you met in high school and don't let those friendships die. 3. Don't work too hard - life is short, have fun.” Finally she said, “Graduation is not the end, it is the beginning.”

Fitting words indeed. Congratulations to all of the graduates.

Photo: Ryan Michie, Geoffrey Murray, Justine Olmont, and students at SLHS launch their recently completed canoe

This year’s grade 11 students in Geoff Murray’s construction class have just finished building a canoe. The project was begun this past June by Murray and Outdoor Education teacher Ryan Michie, and the students and staff celebrated its completion with an official launch at Oso beach on October 11.

Prior to the launch the students had put the finishing touches on the canoe, sanding out its rough interior and weaving the nylon seats in the canoe’s stern and bow. The boat, as visually appealing as it is water worthy, was made from local pine and boasts cherry gunnels. It is similar in style to a second boat that the students began this year and are halfway through completing in this year’s construction course. Murray said that the skills they learned finishing off this boat will serve them well when it comes to completing their second one. Justine Wilmont, a student teacher from Queen’s University who joined the group at the official launch, has been shadowing Murray’s construction class and has plans to continue the canoe theme. She will be assisting students in the class with individual canoe paddle projects that will take place later this year. 

The students were thrilled with both the look and performance of the boat as Mr. Michie and Ms. Olmont got into it, paddled it out onto the lake and landed it shortly after at the government dock. Grade 11 student, Norman Harris, who worked on the canoe, said the project has inspired him to consider building his own boat this year. ”I went to Camp IAWAH this summer and did a three-day canoe trip there, which I loved, so the idea of building my own boat would definitely be something I would consider as a fun and worthwhile project,” he said. All of the students seemed thrilled to see how their handiwork stood the ultimate water test.

Photo: Courtesy Cathy Reynolds.

Throughout the month of September students in the JK/SK class at Hinchinbrooke Public School have been learning about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. In addition to reading information about monarchs, the children have also had the opportunity to witness the various stages of the life cycle first hand.  When school began. Five monarch caterpillars were living in a large cage in the classroom. Over the course of the month the students were able to witness each caterpillar's amazing transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Once each butterfly was able to fly, the class released it. This proved to be a very moving experience for the students and their teacher, Niki Putnam.

Watching these life cycle stages first hand helped the students to understand the information they were hearing in the books they were reading and songs they were singing.  They are now eagerly demonstrating their knowledge of the life cycle through drama, music, visual arts and writing activities.

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

Photo: New SLHS vice principal, Mr. David Russell

Students and staff at Sharbot Lake High School need no introduction to their newly appointed vice principal, Mr. David Russell. A long-time teacher at the school, Mr. Russell has taught many subjects during his seven-year stint there, including law, phys. ed., technology, social studies and media arts.

As a result of his experience, he brings to his new post an intimate knowledge of not only the school curriculum but also of the students and staff, which he says is a huge benefit. “I have a great rapport with both students and staff and have also over the years worked with numerous teachers who had a long history at the school, so I feel I have a real understanding of the school’s history and culture.”

Russell, who lives in Tamworth with his three children and his wife Wendy, who also teaches at SLHS, grew up in Scarborough and prior to beginning a second career as a teacher, worked as a technician and in management at Bell Canada for 12 years. In 1991 he graduated from McMaster University with a history degree and did his practical teacher training at Durham University in Durham, England.

Before joining the Limestone District School Board, Russell taught for eight years at Dunbarton High School in Pickering, a large school with close to 2000 students - 10 times the size of the student body at SLHS. “The nice thing about a smaller school like Sharbot Lake is that everyone knows everyone and every individual feels like an integral part of the bigger picture,” he said.

In the role of vice principal, Russell said he is looking forward to the challenge that comes with dealing with “something different everyday” as well as the opportunities that come with having a wider impact on a greater number of students and on the school as a whole. He mentioned a few goals he would like to achieve as vice principal: first, to provide a fun and positive atmosphere for both students and staff at the school; second, to ensure that all students pass their literacy tests; and third, to help students reach their highest academic potential.

Asked about possible drawbacks to coming to his post as an insider, he replied, “Managing the change in relationships might be an issue in that I am now in more of a disciplinary role with the students and in more of a critical role with the staff. But, that being said, so far that has not been a problem at all.” Instead Russell sees his history at the school as an overall advantage. He looks forward to working with Principal Heather Highet, with whom he says he shares a similar overall approach. “We see eye to eye on a number of things and tend to approach things with a similar outlook, which makes for a great working relationship.”

Russell looks comfortable in his new post and no doubt it must be equally comforting for students returning after the summer to recognize a well-known staff member who will now be assisting at the helm.

A hot July night proved to be a less than ideal time for most people to attend a public meeting on the draft design of the new Kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Sharbot Lake, which at this point is planned for completion in just over two years.

Terry White from the Ventin group in Toronto presented the design to school administrators and school board officials and a few members of the public in the cafetorium of the existing Sharbot Lake High School on Tuesday evening.

The three-storey L-shaped design with a cafetorium and double gym located on the second and third floors is similar to one that was agreed to in June by a design committee that included members of parent councils as well as board employees.

Terry White, who has been designing schools for over two decades, said that he normally would put the gym and cafetorium on the ground floor, “but the layout of the site and the demands of this school made that unworkable in this case, so we settled on a second floor gym.”

The way the building is planned however, there will be direct access to the second floor from the exterior of the building at three locations, “so there will be a lot of access nonetheless,” White added.

The plan is for the school to be located in the parking lot, as far towards the north as possible before it hits the flood plain towards the existing playing field, which will remain.

The wood and auto shops will be located on the ground floor at the north end of the building, with the cafetorium and double gym above, stretching out past where there is currently a basketball court and into where there are now rocks and trees to the west.

Part of the plan is to excavate into that rock to fit the gym in, allowing direct access to the gym from behind the building as the landscape rises.

The rest of the building will extend to the south, towards where the existing school is now located.

The kindergarten rooms will be located on the ground floor, at the south end of the building, adjacent to the elementary playing field. The elementary classrooms will be located on the second floor and the high school classes on the third floor.

The administration office and the library will be located on the first floor, where the two parts of the L-shaped building meet. Across from the administration offices there will be a library and a computer lab, which will open up onto a courtyard behind the building.

The cladding of the building could include brick, concrete and perhaps wood, and there will be a number of full-length glass windows employed to bring natural lighting to the library, the entranceway, and other parts of the building.

Among the community-focussed features of the design are plans to orient the cafetorium to optimise theatrical performances by North Frontenac Little Theatre and the school drama department. Not only will there be seating for 200 – 225 people in the cafetorium, the wall to the gym will be removable, creating the option of a 600 plus seat theatre.

The temporary wall in the middle of the double gym can also be removed, creating a space that could potentially hold as many 1000 people.

Dianne Lake, who attended the meeting as a member of the public but pointed out she not only attended Sharbot Lake High School, but spend 28 years running the cafeteria, made the point that during the 1998 ice storm the school spent 22 days as an emergency shelter and relief centre.

“That extra capacity for a public space might become a huge community asset some day,” she said.

Terry White said that the final design should be ready for public viewing in the early fall, and he hopes the project can go to tender in late October. Preliminary construction could begin before freeze up.

Ann Goodfellow, the school board trustee for the region, pointed out that the Ministry of Education will require that a complete costing be done for every aspect of the project before they approve it.

“Maybe we can break ground next spring,” she said.

The municipal building permitting process will also need to be undertaken, and will likely include environmental assessments.

There were no representatives from the municipality at the public meeting.

 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.