Immediately after the ribbon cutting, students at Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School stormed the pathway into the school’s new courtyard on June 9, 2011. At the official opening for the courtyard, staff and students joined together to celebrate the vision of many of the students. This courtyard has been a space that the school had been planning for several years and had finally come to fruition as a result of a speak-up grant that was applied for and granted by the Ministry of Education. Grade twelve students from last year had been collectively planning for a quiet restful place to gather between classes and during breaks, but until this past year, the monies were unavailable. Because of the funding from the successful Speak Up grant application, the school officially open their courtyard on June 9, 2011, which includes several picnic tables, a lush green lawn, a bricked pathway and several benches and picnic tables – which were built by the school’s woodshop classes. Lori Roy, a Bishop teacher who worked with the students and their applications was thrilled with the space and the happiness of the students. “Before, this space was just rocks and dirt, and a few holes in the ground as a result of some unsuccessful attempts to make it into something better,” Roy stated. “ Now, it is a quiet, reflective, positive gathering space for our grade twelve students and as a result they are just ecstatic. The only sad part, is that the students who were successful in their grant application have already graduated so they weren’t able to be here for the official opening. I really hope they will come back to visit to see that their dream became an actuality – our presents students will be forever grateful for this gift.”
As part of the Ministry’s Student Voice Initiative, Speak up Grants allow for projects inspired by students’ ideas to become a reality.
Category: Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School
Bishop Alexander Carter Students Fight World Hunger
Students from Bishop Alexander Carter did their part in fighting world hunger this past month by taking part in a 30 hour famine.The group of 90 students formed groups of 12 to compete in several character, team, and global awareness building activities such as a community clean-up, a scavenger hunt, and several art activities. Students were even lucky enough to have a guest speaker, on behalf of Development and Peace, from Sierra Leone. While students were hard at work on a full length motion picture movie being produced by the specialist high skills major class, teachers taking part were also hard at work making a chocolate and vanilla marble cake with crisp maple bacon to garnish – a treat for students after the famine was over, and that is when the hunger began to set in. But determined to make a difference and stick to the goal, students fought the hunger knowing that it would all be over after the 30 hours.
Wrapping up the events before the big luncheon, students and staff took part in a morning prayer service. “We all really had a good time, and we met so many new interesting people,” stated Kelsey Blais , Bishop Alexander Carter student. “At the end of the day, it was great to know that each and everyone of us is changing someone’s life, maybe not forever, but even for just a second, that’s what counts.” Raising well over $1 400, students were proud of their efforts and knew that they had made a difference not only in their community, but in the world as well.
Cross-Curriculum Learning at Bishop Alexander CCSS
Students taking the grade 10 Canadian History class at Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School got a real hands-on learning experience when they began to study World War II recently. As part of the curriculum, students had to learn about different technology including vehicles and weapons used during the war and were assigned the task of re-creating replicas of some of these technologies. Teacher Catherine MacNamara ask her students to choose a, plane, tank, ship or weapon and create a model based on research as well as write a report on its significance or impact on the war, specifically who used it and why. In order to engage the students, MacNamara teamed up with construction teacher Dennis Duchaine who allowed the students to use his shop to help recreate these models during class time. “What a great way to get students excited about learning,” MacNamara said. “When you allow them to use their creativity and really have a hands-on experience, they are much more engaged in the process and get really excited about the project. Even students who are not the traditional learners enjoy this project because it combines history with practical learning and tools – the end result being students who have created amazing projects and are also quite proud of themselves.”
Duchaine was quick to jump in with the project as he too sees the importance of allowing students to experience learning in different ways. “Cross-curriculum activities are a great way to build positive learning experiences for our students,” Duchaine said. “All of the students involved really enjoyed taking part in this project and we are definitely going to look for more opportunities in the future to do this again with other classes.”
Bishop Alexander CCSS – Building Bridges and School Spirit Together
Students at Bishop Alexander Carter faced a bridge building challenge this past week in their woodshop class. The students had been given the task of building model bridges and then the completed projects were subjected to weight tests. The rules allowed only for glue and wood 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch to be used. In the end the majority of the bridges were able to remain stable even with a weight of 300 lbs pulling down on them. Savanna Lamoureux, one of the woodshop students said that the day was a lot of fun and it was a great opportunity for the students to express their school spirit. “We really had a lot of fun.” said Lamoureux. “Not only building the bridges, but also destroying them after it was all done!”