Grade 8 Track and Field

On Friday, twenty four grade 8 students represented St. Joseph’s at the Renfrew Elementary Track and Field Meet.

There were many strong performances by our athletes. Wyatt Zohr finished 2^nd in both the 200m and high jump events, while Skylar Kluke finished 3^rd in the high jump. Molly Helferty finished 1^st in the 1600m race, Sammi Gauthier 2^nd in high jump. Alison Kasaboski 3^rd in the 100m race, and Saralyn Deslaurier 2^nd in the standing long, and 3^rd in the running long jump.

Sonya Bergin claimed the Senior girls champion award, finishing 1^st in both the standing long and running long jump, and 2^nd in shot put.

Great work everyone.

Portal Program In High Gear

The Grade 8 Portal Program is at the mid-way point, and by all accounts, it appears to be tracking as an overall success once again.

The program, intended as a means by which the school's Grade 8 students receive more of the "high school" experience, is a six-week rotation where 80 minutes a week are dedicated to attending secondary specialty classes. This year's roster of activities includes auto shop, woodworking, media, food services, art , fireball science and elite soccer training, and indications are that it was received quite favourably by the students involved.

"I like it," said SJCHS student Nolan Saumure. "It helps me think about what choices I need to make when it comes time to pick courses later on in high school." Saumure's not alone in that view.

"You get a taste of what high school is all about" says Cody Briscoe-Voldock. "You get a better idea of the courses that are out there, and the teachers who teach them. I think it's excellent."

The program, in it's second year, is built around the generosity of those secondary teachers who give up valuable preparation time to plan and implement these lessons, and their efforts, it would appear, have not gone unnoticed by the students who benefit from them.

Once again, a job well done!

Turn The Page, Goldilocks

You know, there’s more to that Little Red Riding Hood than one is led to believe through simply reading bedtime stories. In fact, with her success rate, this planet, and the people on it, might just run a little more smoothly if all of us were to have access to her insights as an analyst.

But maybe that’s just the stuff of fairy tales, too.

But, it was, after all, just another ordinary day in Fairy Tale Land, and it was put on display for all to see as the St. Joseph’s Catholic High School performing arts community hosts an original musical entitled Turn The Page Goldilocks all this week. The musical is a collaboration of many, but started as the brainchild of Mary Ellen Vice, who wrote it, in concert with Kevin McSheffrey, who wrote the accompanying musical score with some help from his daughter Sarah, a former SJCHS student and performer in her own right.

Funny thing about those ordinary days in Fairy Tale Land, they have the look of being truly extra-ordinary when Little Red Riding Hood, and a joint of effort of goodwill to secure a library for Fairy Tale Land, combine to bring characters together in ways that could not be imagined at the story’s beginning.

Take the Evil Stepmother, played by Bailey Rogers. She’s got a bit of stereotype-thing going, and it doesn’t help that she’s got the personality of a chainsaw. But, you see, she wants to change, and she seeks help from the resident pseudo-psychiatrist, Little Red Riding Hood, who in math class passes as Natalie Walters. Riding Hood attempts to soften the acerbic Evil Stepmother, who, in her defence, has generations of experience being the Evil Stepmother working against her.

Then you’ve got the Big Bad Wolf, played by John Legris, who’s struggling himself with his own issues, and would like nothing better than to get the “Bad” out of his name, knowing that it serves as a barrier in his relations with others in Fairy Tale Land, as three little pigs would be able to attest. He, too, is a regular patient of Red Riding Hood.

And finally, we’ve got Christine Helferty as Goldilocks, who harbours some darkness of her own, a darkness that prevents her from realizing her true potential for love and happy days.

Well, you know what? A little advice and encouragement from the right people, the support of friends and the ever-present chorus of characters, and coffee served up by the Gingerbread Man (Kelly Slight) will go a long way towards solving a lot of problems, and the fact that everyone’s excited by the upcoming talent show doesn’t hurt either. To raise money for the library, everyone in Fairy Tale Land wants to perform, because, well, as we all know, everyone wants to be a star.

Now, folks, there’s no reason to give away the whole story here, so you’ll have to show up yourself to figure out how people like the Scarecrow (Colin Carnegie) and The Candlestick Maker (Nigel Grinstead) make a real difference in the great scheme of things in Fairy Tale Land.

Suffice to say, Turn The Page Goldilocks is an absolutely delightful way to spend a couple of hours, and congratulations is due to all those who had a hand in the production and performance of the show.

Well done, everyone!!!

A Tale Of The Tape

Sometimes, the effort to get involved can land one in situations that can result in all manner of unexpected things happening.

And so it was with SJCHS math teacher and coach Mike McMahon, who thought it might be fun to allow himself to be duct-taped to a wall as part of the student council's spirit week shenanigans. With the wide-eyed innocence of the lamb on his way to you-know-where, McMahon surrendered himself to the clutches of the masses during Thursday's lunch hour, and, well, it got kinda ugly kinda quick.

Perhaps having never read Gulliver's Travels, McMahon may have been unaware that one of the school's spirit ministers is Lilly Freemark. That's Lilly, as in Lilliputions, Mike! And that rhymes with yikes where I come from.

And so it was, that on Thursday of this past week, a perfectly good math teacher found himself pasted to the cafeteria wall, bound there with scads of duct tape that must have left local hardware stores sending clerks deep into the storerooms to keep product on the shelves.

In fairness to the Lilliputions, there were some basic civilities granted to their victim. They did not tape closed any spots that might be used for breathing. Well, at least one, anyways. And they did not allow any of their number to throw things at the incapacitated victim, as doing so would violate a basic tenet of their code, whatever that might be, and such as it is. Bad enough the verbal abusing from casual bystanders, who, for reasons known only to them, found the whole thing amusing, perhaps even funny.

Luckily, a hastily assembled group of SJCHS staff were able to fight their way in and extricate the hapless teacher from his plight, restoring order to the scene.

And, oh yeah. It looked like a lot of fun.

SJCHS Spirit Week In Full Swing

School spirit remains alive and well in the halls of St. Joseph's this week.

Monday saw the week start off with Character Day, and that was followed up Tuesday by Retro Day, with some of the retro action pictured above. These theme days will be followed up by others as the week progresses.

SJCHS Alumni Completes Teaching Stint

I distinctly remember telling Alison that, if anyone was going to cry this time around, it would be her. And sure enough, I was right.

Maybe a little context would be helpful.

You see, five weeks ago, a student teacher was due to arrive in our classroom, and I was preparing the students for the experience, just to make sure everyone was, well, familiar with the playbook, so to speak. That’s when Alison told me that, the last time they had hosted a supply teacher, they made her cry.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Alison a lot. But that like doesn’t extend to serving up a free pass to making student teachers cry, so I issued my directive, that there would be no crying, particularly student-engineered crying on the part of my new student teacher.

I needn’t have worried.

Amanda Hoare is a graduate of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, and her appearance in my classroom was a homecoming of sorts, in that she was familiar with the staff, and with most of the building. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s going to be effective in the classroom. Well, after five weeks of careful observation, coupled with extensive reflection, I’ve arrived at the only possible conclusion.

She is.

We, the students of 8C and myself, wish to thank Amanda for her hard work over these past five weeks, and to further thank her for her good humour, and the wonderful disposition that she brings to every activity that she’s a part of. The students thrived under her leadership, and quite frankly, were sorry to see her placement come to an end.

And so there was some crying at the end. And it was Alison, among others, doing it. But this time around, it was good crying. The kind you get when people care about stuff, or even better, other people.

Good luck Miss Hoare. You’ve made many friends here, and we wish you all the best.