Little Shop of Horrors

The talent or our students is awesome. Thanks to Denine Williams for her hours of work directing the show and the many staff and volunteers. The plant and set created by Ian Ganton is impressive and the organization and coordination of the stage and sound by Megan Morley and Paul Sawchyn has been fantastic. Thank you also to Bobbi Gasparelli, David Young, our student teacher, and Greg Ryckman for their help and musical talents in the pit band.

MUSTANG SALLY CHARACTER EDUCATION AT GRAND VIEW PUBLIC SCHOOL

Mustang Sally was invited to conduct a Character Education Day at
Grand View Public School on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. Students
showed their own good character by coming into the gym to lend a
helping hand when Mustang Sally members were setting up seating and
again, later, when the seating had to be disassembled at the end of
the day. Many thanks to all those hardworking students whose teamwork
made the job seem effortless.

The morning classroom visits involved Mustang Sally musicians, in
their leadership roles, discussing character attributes as they
pertain to band members, their personal lives, and their school lives.
Mustang Sally fielded many questions about auditions and Korah high
school life. The primary grades were treated to their very own
concert in the gym and they were introduced to each instrument and to
a number of character attributes the band members use to work together
(i.e., personal responsibility, perseverance, co-operation, teamwork,
caring and fairness). The attribute of fairness was stressed since it
is the attribute being emphasized for February. Mustang Sally members
spoke about how important it is to be fair in the band and gave the
example of how each of them has a solo and that other members do not
compete, but work to blend in and enhance each other's solo
performance, because it is only fair to let each have a solo
spotlight.

The afternoon performance to the whole school included songs to match
character attributes, accompanied by a power-point presentation with
slides related to the attributes, and a video, "Angel," produced by
Sir George Ross students and staff, with the permission of Thames
Valley District School Board. The video is about bullying, the
importance of standing up for the victim, and the importance of
speaking out against bullying. Mustang Sally's own vocalist, Jenna
Train, sang the song "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan to accompany the
video. Many thanks go to Mrs. Dolcetti, Mrs. Lucio, teachers and
students for such a warm, enthusiastic welcome and for being such
gracious hosts for the day.

1st Place Winner!

Randy Roy-city of SSM waste diversion supervisor, Anna Boyonoski & Charlie Thomlinson - "Bag This" Challenge Committee Members, Mr. DiBerardino and Mr. Cole.
Mr. DiBerardino is wearing a jacket made out of reusable bags and signed by David Suzuki.

Andrea Mitchell receives a certificate of Merit for winning the competition from Anna Boyonski

Certificate for first place for the "Create Your Own Challenge" School Challenge where Korah submitted a list of initiatives that they are involved in to help reduce, reuse and recycle.

Korah took top honours in the highshcool division in the city's "Bag This" School Challenge. In a ceremony at the school on Friday morning Korah was awarded $1000 along with various certificates by Randy Roy, the city’s Waste Diversion Supervisor, along with members of the Shopper Loyalty “Bag This” committee members Charlie Thomlinson and Anna Boyonoski.

The competition which was kicked off October 1 was designed to reduce the number of plastic bags sent to landfill and to encourage and promote the use of reusable bags. The competition was made up of six challenges.

The problem with the plastic bags at the landfill is not the amount of space they take up but they cause problems by flying all over and “littering the landfill,” according to Roy. He says that landfill fill staff spend hours trying to pick up the bags and those that get away can end up anywhere “They don’t stop blowing”. Roy cites a recent news story about a tortoise choking on a plastic bag. “You don’t know where that bag came from.”

Thanks to this initiative Roy says 225,000 bags were sent to recycling. The bags were sent to GTA Recycling where then to a company that turns the bags into decking. The bags were collected between October 1, 2008 and January 31, 2009 and totalled 2,019 kilograms. “I thought I would be able to pick up them up in my Ford Focus” said Roy “but there were just too many.”

Charlie Thomlinson told the students that 4783 students, parents and families from across the city took part in challenge, 18 schools participated including two that were late to project, and with the bags collected 11 backyard decks measuring 3 meters by 4 meters could be constructed.

Korah Collegiate & Vocational School has helped keep Sault Ste. Marie healthy and beautiful by
- Reporting on what their school is doing currently to address waste reduction, reuse and recycling (3Rs)
- Providing suggestions that reinforce and promote continuous awareness of waste reduction and environmental issues.

Practice, practice, practice

The robot is complete and on the way to its first competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and then to another competition in Mississauga, Ontario. This year the robot
is competing to gather balls off a low friction playing surface intended to simulate the
surface of the moon, and then shoot baskets? The robot which is able to score the
most points wins. The challenge is complicated by the fact that other robots are trying
to knock it off course and prevent it from winning. Students had to design and build their
own robot. The technical, engineering and programming skills used in this competition
are impressive. Thank you to Steve Burmaster, Jon Budau and Rob Marshall from AHHS,
for leading this team. Thanks also to those who helped from the community. Joe Edder
and Craig Mock from TENERIS, Cal Oswin from EPOH, Mike Aikens and John Larue
from ESSAR and Al Gooderham from Sault College. This year’s robot was dedicated to
Holly Wickett and named Holly the “Wickett” robot.

Drama Posters

Posters above created by Paula D'Agostino and Danielle Hodgson in Communication Technology.

Have A Heart Campaign

Are you aware that 73,000 Canadians are HIV positive, and almost 30% of them don't know they're infected. Do you want to help? Well you can! Stay tuned for more information on the Have A Heart Campaign.

Announcements

Valentines Day is coming fast, and there's no better gift than roses! Come on out and support Water For Life in the front foyer at lunch by buying roses for that special someone! Roses are $3.00 each and are only being sold from Monday to Thursday.