A poster taped to the front door of Harrowsmith Public School greeted author Kenneth Oppel with the words, “We love you Ken Oppel and your books!” As part of the Kingston Writers Festival, the famed Canadian children's author spoke to students at HPS about his books, what inspires them and how he goes about creating them. He spoke extensively about the first book in his trilogy titled Silverwing, which was written in 1997 and is still the best seller of the 28 books he has penned to date.

The book’s plot centers around a Canadian silver-haired insectivore bat named Shade, and the adventures he experiences with Marina, an eastern red bat who was booted out of her colony after being banded. The two experience many adventures as they try to reunite Shade with his mother and colony. The popularity of the trilogy eventually led to an animated TV series but Oppel explained that he had tried to make his bat characters as real as possible; he did not want them to seem like just cartoon creations. He pointed out some amazing bat facts, like the fact that there are1000 different species; how bats use echo location to find food; how some consume 1000 bugs in a single night and how they catch insects with their tails, then flip them into their wings, and from wing to mouth. He spoke of how he used real life locations as the backdrops in the trilogy, thus investing the books with real place facts and real life landmarks.

He spoke of his second trilogy of adventure stories called Airborn, set in an imaginary past about 100 years ago, which resembles earth prior to the First World War except that in the stories airplanes had not been invented. Instead people travel and live on huge air ships, which Oppel said were inspired by both the airships of the 1930s like the Hindenburg and huge cruise liners like the Titanic.

The ship is called Aurora and the hero is a 15-year-old cabin boy (Matt Cruse) who essentially lives in the sky. The stories are about his adventures with his friend, a ship passenger Kate de Vries. Together they explore desert islands, mysterious ghost airships carrying treasures and discover new species of animals.

One of Oppel’s more recent works is a book titled “Half Brother”, which was inspired by two experiments done on chimpanzees in the 1970s. Half Brother is about Ben Tomlin, a 13-year-old boy whose scientist parents adopt a nine-day-old chimpanzee named Zan. They bring Zan home as an experiment and undertake to teach him sign language while trying to raise him as a human child. Oppel explained that Ben is expected to be big brother to this baby chimp. The story is about their relationship, how Zan changes Ben's entire family and what happens when this very strange experiment starts to go "terribly, terribly wrong.”

Oppel said that he wrote two of his most recent works, “This Dark Endeavor” and “Such Wicked Intent” as prequels to one of his own most beloved novels, Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein”. The books tell of a teenage Victor Frankenstein, his weird, dangerous and appalling escapades and his sick twin brother Conrad. There are towers, dungeons and secret passages and of course the adventures as Victor tries to find the elixir of life.

HPS Principal Valerie Arsenault was thrilled to have Oppel visit. “It's great for the students here to have a chance to meet, listen to and ask questions of the author behind the books that they adore and have been reading for years.” Oppel's visit generated a lot of excitement and numerous questions from his young audience, who were captivated by his presentation. Oppel himself said that a personal visit from an author gives young readers “a chance to meet the person who thinks about these subjects and creates these stories. I believe it will further their interest in writing and reading and it also helps to generate interest in my work.”

Following his presentation students lined up with books, which Oppel graciously signed.

Over 250 young runners tested their mettle at the annual Timber Wolf Run at Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove on October 1. The event, which was founded by retired LOLPS French teacher Brian Robertson, was taken over by LOLPS grade one teacher Jen Meulenaar three years ago.

The run attracts students from grades 1 through 8 at other schools, including North Addington Education Centre, Clarendon Central, Granite Ridge and for their first year as participants, Prince Charles Public School. The students are invited to walk or run the race, which takes place through the woods around the school and the length of the race varies from 1-2.5km. The run is a fun event and gives the students in the northern schools a chance to get together outside for a bit of exercise and fun. The top three winners in each category received medals and ribbons were handed out to the fourth and fifth place finishers. The grade 7/8 top male and female finishers each received a trophy.

LOLPS principal Emily Yanch said her school looks forward to hosting the event every year. “It's a great opportunity to get all of our northern schools together, have a fun and healthy competition, and it's a great way to get outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.”

The septic system for the Granite Ridge Education Centre, currently under construction in Sharbot Lake, has been the subject of consultation between the Limestone District School Board and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for a year.

Because the school is located within 300 metres of the west basin of Shabot Lake, which has been identified as a Trout Sensitive Lake by the province, an environmental compliance approval from the ministry was needed before the septic system could be constructed.

On August 23, that approval was granted.

Sarah Dick, Senior Environmental Officer at the Kingston MoE office, said in an email: “On August 23, 2013, the Environmental Compliance Approval for the Granite Ridge Education Centre was issued. 
The approval permits the establishment of sewage works for the collection, transmission, treatment and subsurface disposal of domestic sewage, with a rated capacity of 17,000 litres per day. The new system is equipped with phosphorus treatment, which is a significant improvement to the previous system.”

The septic system will need to be constructed and approved before the new school will be able to receive an occupancy permit from the Central Frontenac building department.

The Limestone Board is aiming to have the building ready for students in early November.

Janice Peters, the long time office manager at Hinchinbrooke Public School, couldn't let the final day of classes in the school's history pass without some sort of gesture. The school did have an official closing on June 15, but this was the final day, the final time the buses would come into the parking lot and gather up all the children and take them away for the summer.

Janice had an idea. Helium balloons, (biodegradable helium balloons in fact) one for each child, to be released just before they boarded the buses.

This children and staff gathered in front of the school. Most of them held on to their balloons until the proper moment, and they let go. The balloons floated up into the sky as everyone watched, and then drifted away. There were some hugs; some tears were wiped away. The children got on the buses, and the buses drove off, leaving a quiet, empty building in their wake.

Hinchinbrooke Public School opened in 1966. It served the population of Hinchinbrooke township, and later, Central Frontenac, for 47 years. There is a committee working on a plan to keep the building in public use as a recreational centre.

The heat and humidity were getting to the audience at the springtime Sydenham High School graduation last week (Thursday, June 27)

With over 200 graduates, and dozens of special awards to hand out, the audience had to struggle to maintain their enthusiasm at times.

Not so when Tyler MacComish took the stage to receive awards from the Kingston Community Credit Union and the Sydenham High School Staff Association, when the audience erupted in sustained applause, the loudest cheer for any of the deserving award winners all evening.

Because he has been a student in the School to Community Class, Tyler is now 20 and has been at the school longer than almost all of the graduating class, and his impact has been felt by the entire Sydenham High School community.

One of his teachers, Karl Hammer, met Tyler in September of 2006.

“Tyler began as a very quiet and shy young man, but slowly began to show his true personality over the course of the year. Tyler is one of the most well-mannered and positive people I have ever met.”

Over the past 7 years Tyler has been a manager for soccer, football, basketball, volleyball... he also played junior boys basketball, football and dressed and took the final snaps in the annual Bubba Bowl game in SR football this year. He has twice won manager of the year, and won a special award at this year's athletic banquet for his commitment and service to the athletic program at the school.

He has done co-op programs in the school and at the local Foodland store, where he has become an integral member of the Foodland family.

At SHS he has been the student council representative from the school to community classroom.

“Tyler is Mr. Sydenham,” said Karl Hammer. "He is known by all and highly respected for the joy he brings to people's lives. He is here with me helping me get my classroom ready for next year. Although he has moved on as a student and will leave my program... he will now become one of my close friends.”

There was standing room only at the cafetorium at Sharbot Lake High School on June 26, where friends and family gathered to celebrate the achievements of the last official graduating class from SLHS. The school is slated to be demolished once the new Granite Ridge Education Centre is completed and that fact made for an especially lively, emotional and very energetic ceremony that saw numerous graduates receive multiple awards, trophies scholarships and bursaries.

The commencement program included addresses by Principal Heather Highet, Vice-principal David Russell, senior management director with the Limestone District School Board, Brenda Hunter, and School Trustee Ann Goodfellow, as well as live musical entertainment courtesy of the SLHS band. Meaghan Kirby introduced the valedictorian of 2013, Cadence Cumpson, whom she described as spirited, kind, genuine, determined, bubbly - in a nutshell - a fireball.

Cadence took on a leadership role in many areas of the school while simultaneously working hard and succeeding academically. She was active in athletics, music, student council and many other special school events. In her address Cadence proved those descriptors to be true and made a very humorous, moving and impassioned speech about the school she entered four years ago as a grade nine newbie and how the staff and students there all helped to shape and inform her. She spoke about many memorable events and her easy speaking nature and fine sense of humour made the final valedictory address a memorable one.

Congratulations to all of the graduates, who will long be remembered as the last to graduate from Sharbot Lake High School.

In a special school closing ceremony at Sharbot Lake Public School put on by current staff and students on June 20, former students and staff had a chance to bid farewell to the school that holds many cherished memories for them.

The current school was built in 1930 and replaced the former one-room school house, which had been erected in 1887 further down the hill from the present site. The public school is slated to close in the upcoming school year when students and staff will be moved to Granite Ridge Education Centre, the new school currently under construction in Sharbot Lake.

The closing ceremony included addresses by Trustee Anne Goodfellow, current and former school council representatives Sarah Sauve and Cheryl Allen, SLPS grade 5/6 teacher Stephanie Leeder and former staff member Pam Woods. Each spoke of what the school has meant to them over the years and remembered SLPS as a small rural school with a big family feel. Each class at the school made a special presentation that included numerous songs and readings and Mrs. Harding wrapped up the presentations with a slide show commemorating the history of the school in photos from both its former and recent days.

School Principal David Allison saved for the end a special presentation- the opening of a school time capsule that was left at the school and meant to be opened in 2020. The capsule included many artifacts from 1999, the year that it was created.

Following the ceremony guests were invited to peruse a number of old and treasured school artifacts that were set up in a special “memory room” and visitors had a chance to leaf through and marvel at the fascinating collection of old notebooks and other school memorabilia kept by former teachers from as far back as the early 1900's.

While many were sad that the small school will be closing its doors for good in the upcoming school year, many expressed their confidence that the move to the new school in Sharbot Lake will make for an exciting change for both staff and students. The special ceremony represented the final chapter at SLPS, the small rural school perched high on a hill overlooking Sharbot Lake, which will long be fondly remembered by the hundreds of students and staff who passed through its doors in its 126-year history.

Mr. Hill, Ms. Cuthill and Ms. Buck took their students to the Secondary side to participate in a dance-off on June 11 at NAEC. This was the culmination of a project by Mrs. Walker's Grade 10 Physical Education class, which counts for 15% of the students' final mark. Deanna Allen, Jessica Chatson, Racheal Dorion, Tara Pringle, Taylor Salmond, Haily Whitelock and Cayley Wilson led the Elementary classes in dancing.

The Grade 10 students were completing an assignment which measured their leadership qualities, ability to work with peers, communication skills, and engagement in a different type of fitness activity (other than sports). The students had to learn the steps of the dance themselves, and then teach them to the Elementary students.

The Grade 10 students had to work with their Elementary peers over the course of a couple of weeks, involving two or three sessions to practice the dance. After the Elementary students had learned the dance, the teachers decided it would be fun to have an entire gym full of students dancing.

Each class ran through the dance once, as the other students looked on, and then there was a dance-off, in which all the students danced at the same time. The judges were Mrs. Salmond and Ms. Allan. They had a hard time deciding which class was the most engaged and energetic, as everyone seemed to be having a good time, particularly when doing the do-si-do. They declared all three classes winners.

Both students and teachers really enjoyed the exercise. Principal Angela Salmond said, "It is always good to see our teachers working together, and this was a particularly enjoyable event because the students were working together, too."

Hats off to the Parent Council at Loughborough Public School in Sydenham who entertained hundreds of students and their families on June 14 under sunny skies at their annual fundraiser, which was back this year after a one-year hiatus.

Multiple events took place inside and outside the school and included many games, a presentation by Ray's Reptiles in the school gym, demonstrations by the Frontenac OPP, Fire Department and ambulance services, and a bake sale in the school’s main foyer. In the library a silent auction fundraiser took place with many notable donations from local businesses and individuals. Also up for grabs was an impressive selection of fine art paintings, created by LPS students and representing each of the individual classrooms at the school. Jason Silver played his acoustic guitar and provided the perfect musical back drop to the day.

Christine Marshall, chair of the LPS parent council, was pleased with the turnout. She said that the funds raised by the fun fair will go towards supporting the school’s music department and program, which was brought back this year after a few years’ absence. Funds will also be used to put in a new technology system at the school called Synervoice, which uses an automated messaging service to let parents know of upcoming events at the school.a

Elementary students and staff at North Addington Education Centre met with a team from OFAH (Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters) and participated in a series of activities which gave them a better understanding of their environment. This program was sponsored by OFAH at no cost to NAEC students (who would normally have to pay). The presentation of this program was organized by Student Success teacher Sarah Sproule, an avid hunter and fisher herself.

The presentations were designed for Kindergarten to Grades 5/6. Students rotated through ten different activities, learning as they went. The activities focused on different issues, and the weather co-operated with a lovely sunny day. Activities included a deer game, a fishing information session, a prey game, and a casting challenge.

Outside on the football field, groups learned about the balance between species and their predators and food sources. Students were divided into groups consisting of deer, resources and predators, and played a game that showed how populations shifted depending on availability of food sources.

Inside, in the new foyer, students watched an information presentation regarding different types of fish. They then played a Jeopardy game in which they identified different local fish, ranging from yellow perch to rainbow trout.

Outside once again, students investigated the difficulties encountered by birds when searching for prey. Students took it in turns to "be" an eagle and everyone else hid in the trees and bushes. The eagle was supposed to try to find his or her prey, while the prey tried not to be found.

In the gym, students did a "casting challenge". This took the form of a relay in which students formed a line and took it in turns to cast fishing lines into a hoop. After their cast, they ran to the back of the line, and worked their way up again.

The Kindergarten to Grade 2 students participated in the morning session, and the Grade 3 to Grade 6 group participated in the afternoon. The activities were run by 3 college/university students and one staff member employed by OFAH, and the event was a big success. "It was well organized, and the kids learned a great deal and had a lot of fun," said Ms. Buck, who teaches Grade 5/6.