St. Marys DCVI - Weblog 08-09

Report Cards

Final Report Cards for Semester 2 were mailed today (July 2) along with a copy of the June Newsletter.

Have a safe and enjoyable summer!

Download June Newsletter

It's over for another school year

Today was the last day of classes for the 08-09 school year.  All that remains now is final assessments (which start tomorrow!).

It was, of course, Tractor Day; classes were shortened; there was a final assembly; BBQ lunch; teachers played the grads in a rousing game of dodge ball (replacement for the rained-out baseball game).

We bid a fond farewell to Mr. Bishop, Mrs. Cumming, Mr. Richardson, Mrs. Scheerer, Mr. Seebach, and Mr. Steel.  These teachers will be missed! Special thanks to Justin Milne who silk screened all of the shirts given to the departing teachers.

The final assembly also included a number of parodies by the Grade 12 Drama Students.  One was a video!

Good luck to everyone on their final assessments.

[ Photo Gallery ]

Final Exam Schedule

Click on the link to view a copy of the June 09 Final Exam Schedule.

Download June Exam 2009

Exercise Science trip to UWO Kinesiology Department

The  Exercise Science class went for a tour of the University of Western Ontario's Kinesiology Department on Friday June 5th.  As part of the tour the students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities associated with each department.  

The tour included the following departments:

1.  Exercise Nutrition Lab - Students did a VO2 Max test, Body composition test,  Computer simulated mountain bike race, and vibration plate

2.  International Centre for Olympic Studies - Viewed a number of Olympic memorabilia including a medal podium from the Los Angeles Olympics.

3.  Anatatorium - A 3D anatomy lab

4.  Exercise and Health Pyschology Lab

5.  Biomechanis Lab - Students looked at how force can be measured using a force plate

Former St. Marys DCVI graduate Ryan Frayne, now a grad student in the Biomechanics Lab at UWO was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, a great day!!

Mr. Moore

[ Photo Gallery ]  Photos by "shutter-bug" Moore

Athletic Banquet

Last week the Athletic Banquet was held in the cafeteria at the high school.  We fed just under 200 people, both athletes and their families, and coaches. 

The following major athletic awards were distributed:

                             Sportsmanship                  MVP
Grade 9 Girls            Brittany Smith              Tasha Rae
Grade 9 Boys            David Sproat                Dominic Pieroni
Junior Girls             Josie Hendry                 Megan Fennema
Junior Boys             JB Moffatt                     Travis McEwan
Senior Girls             Kelsey Robinson            Brittany Sterkenburg
Senior Boys             Jordan Cornwall            James Robinson
Graduating Athlete of the Year    Jane Hendriksen

Thanks to Mrs. Cumming and her Culinary  Group (a volunteer array of students that enjoy the culinary craft) took on the task of catering a superb meal.

Thanks to Ella Urquhart and Jordan Cornwall for being our MC’s for the evening.
A special thanks to both Ella and Brittany Sterkenburg for organizing the evening’s slide show.
And to my grade 9 girls class, especially Nicole Youngson, Shelby Fuhr and Aerial Levy for decorating the cafeteria.

 And finally, a big thankyou to everyone who attended the evening, especially parents, without whose support and encouragement none of this would have been possible and coaches whose dedication to excellence and the ideals of sportsmanship and fair play have truly inspired us all.

So many times, when I speak to other teachers/coaches around the province, they are amazed at what we, as a small school accomplish.  You are all to be applauded for helping us fulfill the unofficial school motto, “Small School, Big Heart!”

Mrs. Wrigley

[ Photo Gallery ]

Class Valedictorian - 2009

Next week graduating students will be asked to nominate their class valedictorian.

The valedictorian makes a speech at commencement, as a representative of the graduating class.  The general idea is for the speaker to thank, to inspire, to reflect, and to say farewell to the school on behalf of the graduating students. 

As a potential graduating student, you are invited to recommend a classmate for the role.  After nominations have been made, there will be a ballot to decide upon your 2008 valedictorian.

CRITERIA
It is important to carefully choose someone who will represent your graduating class as a whole.  Please read over the suggested criteria carefully.

The valedictorian must be a student in a position to graduate in June 2009 (completed 30 credits, 40 hours of community service, and completed the literacy test).

Your nominee should possess the following qualities:

- Engaging personality
- Is respected by peers and staff
- Strong verbal communication skills
- Positive attitude and enthusiastic
- Destined for success
- Outstanding interpersonal skills
- Accepting of others
- Extracurricular involvement
- Is a positive role model.
- Is able to deliver an appropriate valedictorian speech,
on behalf of all graduating students.

Nominations and voting will take place the week of June 8 - 12 in Gr. 12 classes.  Ponder your nomination carefully.

Mrs. Cronsberry

The New Garden Begins!

Renovation have begun to the James Street school entrance in order to add some more green space and enhance the school’s curb appeal. The fences and asphalt do not look very welcoming and so we are planning on sprucing it up with a beautiful, new garden.

Plans have been underway for quite some time. The St. Marys DCVI EcoTeam and the staff at Dave’s Landscaping have taken the lead and are co-coordinating the project. Klomp’s Landscaping has generously provided us with the plan and McLean Taylor Construction helped with all of the dirty work by removing the fences and asphalt.

The EcoTeam has been fund-raising for the past two years: first with the reusable SIGG water bottles and now with the EcoTeam T-Shirts, which are currently on sale for $20 each. We are half way to our goal and will be looking for some support from any interested community members, businesses or service clubs. Please contact the school if you would like to make a donation.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE DEVELOPMENTS!

Mrs Donnelly

Room 144 Silent Auction

The students from room 144 have 25 individual items to be auctioned as they fund raise their way to Niagara Falls. Hoping to ride the Maid of the Mist and touch a World Wonder in the morning and entice butterflies to land on them in the afternoon, the students have set a goal of $500. All items are on display outside the main office and bid sheets are located in room 144. All you need to do is place your bid in $1 increments and then check back to see if you are still the high bidder. Good luck and thanks to all!

Miss Black

Item	Donated By
10 lunches for 2	Room 144
10 months of Homemade Pies	Room 144
Sylvania 1GB MP3 Player	Matthew McDonald
Brand New Fish Pole	Devon Cain
18 holes of Golf (weekday)	Science Hill Country Club
2 Rounds of 18 Holes of Golf (anytime)	St. Marys Golf and Country Club
18 Holes of Golf (weekday after 2 pm)	River Valley Golf and Country Club
Ice Cream Pie	Hearn’s Ice Cream
$20 Gift Certificate	MacPherson Arts and Crafts
$50 Gift Certificate for Fuel	Dowler Karn
1 Medium Deluxe Pizza	Stacey’s Pizza
½ hour Reflexology Treatment	Heal A’ Peel
$10 Gift Certificate	Subway
Led Zeppelin T-Shirt	World’s Coolest Music Store
Bolaball Set	Sam’s Home Hardware
Optimus Prime Helmet	Mr. Bishop
Monopoly Deluxe Version	Mr. Bishop
5 Piece Desk Organizer	Mr. Bishop
Mini Food Processor	Independent Grocer
Sarnia Sting Hat, Socks and T-shirt	Dunny’s Source for Sports
4 Scented Candles	Village Craft and Candles
½ hour Reflexology Treatment	Rhonda Mossey
$25 Gift Certificate	The Creamery
$30 Gift Certificate	Glo
$20 Gift Certificate	Towne and Country Cheese Shoppe

OFSAA West Regional Track & Field

St. Marys Salukis Tasha Rae and Samantha Kerekes competed at the OFSAA West Regional Track and Field Championships last Friday and Saturday.  The meet was held at Resurrection CHS in Waterloo and is the stepping stone to the provincial championships.  The top athletes from WOSSAA, CWOSSAA and SWOSSAA were all there to do their best.

Tasha and Samantha had qualified for this meet by finishing 4th in their events last week at the WOSSAA Championships held in London.  Tasha was competing in the 1500m and the 3000m and Samantha was throwing the javelin.

Tasha ran her 1500m on Friday evening.  The event was scheduled for a 5:10 pm start, but was delayed by one hour.  When she and the other 15 competitors finally took off, the front runners set an almost sprint like pace.  Tasha injured her hamstring slightly off the start, which hampered her stride throughout the race.  Despite the pain, she ran a good race, just two seconds off her personal best time, but finished well back in the pack.

The next day, with the injury now just a dull ache, she once again took to the track in the Midget Girls 3000m.  Although the sun stayed out and the temperature was ideal, there was a strong wind that the runners had to contend with.  As a result, more than half of the competitors, including Tasha, didn’t run as well as they had in qualifying.  Again, she ran well but finished out of contention.

Samantha’s javelin competition was also effected by the wind, this time as a crosswind.  In her competition, and in the others throughout the day, the wind sometimes would carry the javelin out of the throwing sector and thus be deemed a no-throw.  Samantha started the event ranked 15th out of 16 and her goal was to improve her placing.  Her first throw got carried out by the wind and was a no-throw.  Her second was a good one, just 30cm short of her personal best, at 23.46m.  Her third attempt was again a no-throw.  So with everything riding on just one good attempt, Samantha managed to move from 15th up to 11th, missing 10th place by just 3cm.

Congratulations to Samantha and Tasha, as well as the rest of the DCVI Track and Field team on a great season.

Mr. Ellison

Senior Girls Soccer - WOSSA Silver Medalists

The St. Marys DCVI Senior Girls soccer team entered the WOSSAA championships as the second seed from Huron Perth. The tournament was held in St. Marys on Tuesday May 26.

The team played their semi-final game against Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School. The girls came out hard, and surprised Holy Cross with their strong play. The team communicated well and passed consistently. The midfielders sent many balls through to the speedy forwards, creating many scoring chances. Andrea Payton opened the scoring for the Salukis towards the end of the first half. A well placed ball in the air caught the goalie out of position and put the Salukis up 1-0. Going into the second half, the girls continued to push and keep the pressure on Holy Cross. Candra Staffen broke through their defense and went one on one with the goalie. She caught her own rebound and put it in the net to put the team up 2-0. The girls played tight defense for the remainder of the game and held on for an exciting 2-0 victory which gave them a berth in the gold medal game. Goalie Kelsey Robinson earned the shutout and was supported by the strong play of the defense: Lisa Nethercott, Nicole Meta, Lara Middleton, Nicole Barber and Kierstin Myers.

The afternoon game to determine the gold medal was against St. Joseph's High School from St. Thomas. Both teams came out firing and played an aggressive game. Strong defensive plays from both teams limited the scoring chances. The Salukis battled hard and never let up. Goalie Robinson made some key saves and was assisted by the defense. Nicole Meta and Katie Curtis had a great game, and placed the ball well. Despite the strong play, the Salukis could not find the net and regulation time ended in a 0-0 tie. Overtime solved nothing, and the gold medal and a trip to OFSAA came down to a shoot out. Katie Curtis and Nicole Barber scored for St. Marys in the shoot out, but it was not enough. St. Joe's won the gold and the Salukis had to settle for silver.

Throughout the day, rough play resulted in numerous injuries for St. Marys players. The girls played tough, and held on until the end. What a fantastic end to a great season. Excellent job girls!

Mrs. Chateauvert