Jaguar Journal

Options, Orientation, and Musical

2010-04-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

2010 Options

On April 27, 2010, St. Joseph’s High School students attended the annual Options event in Pembroke. Options is a convention that holds activities hosted by the Skills and Trades Show, and demonstrates the different employment opportunities for students. It shows areas in aesthetics, hairstyling, the culinary arts, and tech. Chosen students competed in different competitions and the other students visited stations to learn about what each job has to offer.

Grade 7 & 8 Orientation

On April 29 and 30 , 2010, SJHS students and staff welcomed the many grade 7 and 8 students from schools all around Renfrew County into our school. The visiting students gathered in the cafeteria to listen to students discuss the many things they enjoy about St. Joe s, including our music programs, athletics, pastoral, environmental committee, student council, and the different trips students can sign up for. Afterwards, they were split into groups for The Jaguar Hunt . This was a game that we usually do as a school in the fall where students are paired into groups of two and they have to clip each other with a clothes pin without the other seeing. Instead of doing that, we changed the hunt into a scavenger hunt around the school. This was to get the students become more familiar with the premises and people. Some of the things the students had to do were visit the different classrooms life the science, foods, tech, and drama classes. They also had to find different staff members and wish them a good morning or give them a treat. As proof that these students did the different tasks, the group leader took the groups picture completing them. The visit ended with a pizza lunch during which time the students had a chance to take part in games, mingle and ask questions about our school. This orientation was to help students feel more welcomed into our school and to be more informed of the different things we have to offer. The photos can be on the school website at sjchs.blogspot.com.

Musical

With our Musical Turn the Page Goldilocks! just a few days away, we are ready and excited to perform. The set is done, the costumes are picked, and the songs and lyrics are all memorized. The only thing missing is you! So come on down and enjoy the show from May 11 to May 16 at 7:00pm, only $10 a ticket.

Earth Day, Spirit Week, and Relay For Life

2010-04-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

On April 22^nd, 2010, Students and staff of St. Joseph’s High school joined in many activities to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Earth Day in Canada. In the morning the students and staff helped to clean up the school ground. In the afternoon, we had Taylor Popkie, a former student, and Professors from Algonquin College came to our school and talked about renewable resources and the forestry industry. Following the presentations, we had an eco-friendly fashion show. The students showcased their clothing made out of recycled materials and an iPod touch was awarded to the best outfit. At the end of the day, each student was given a tree to plant at their homes courtesy of Mr. Kenny.

Spirit Week

From May 3^rd, to May 7^th, St. Joseph’s High School will hold their spring spirit week. On Monday, we will have character day, where students and staff dress up as their favourite character from a book, show or movie. Tuesday will be retro day, when the students are encouraged to dress from a different decade. On the Wednesday, it will be formal day and we will also attend Mass in Arnprior. Thursday will be duct tape day, where we will be able to show our creativity by constructing an outfit out of duct tape. Friday will be our final spirit day, where students and staff will be assigned a colour (black, white, blue, red, yellow, and green) and have to compete through a series of games to get the most points. At lunch there will be a barbeque. In the afternoon there will be a talent show where students are able to perform a variety of things such as singing, telling jokes, and dancing. On Friday night, we will have a spring semi-formal for all students from 8:00pm – 12:00am.

Relay For Life

SJCHS have been given the opportunity to participate in the Petawawa Relay for Life on June 4^th and 5^th. The participation level this year has been excellent with over 80 people joining. For the next few weeks, the teams will be fundraising on their own and during lunch periods. Our goal as a school is to raise over $8,000.

This And That

2010-04-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

Jazz Band Gigs

On April 7, the St. Joseph’s High School Jazz Band, Blues Guys, and quartet The Four Strong Winds, went on the road for two performances in Arnprior. In the morning they played for the St. Joseph’s Elementary School students and staff. They played an hour long show and then packed up again and moved to John 23^rd Elementary School to do the same show. The audiences loved the performances and some were even dancing and clapping along with the music! The performers also love getting the experience to perform in front of such an energetic audience. On Thursday April 15^th, the same group was on the road again to St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School and Our Lady of Fatima School for the same performance! Overall, these performances went well and, it was also a great opportunity for the students watching at these schools to see the kinds of things we have to offer at St. Joseph’s High School.

Literacy Test Update

On Thursday April 8^th, we had the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test for grade 10 students. In the morning, Mr. Russell Connors, Mr. Pat Watters, and Kelly Slight all made breakfast for the students writing the literacy test. All student must pass the literacy test in order to graduate and we are proud of our students hard work.

Musical Update

With only a few weeks left until St. Joseph’s musical “Turn the Page Goldilocks!”, the students and staff participants have been working very hard to get ready. We have most of the costumes for the various characters picked out and are just touching up the last few songs and choreography. We would like to thank the many volunteers who have been helping to put this show together, it is very much appreciated! “Turn the Page Goldilocks!” show dates are May 11^th until May 15^th at 7:00pm at St. Joseph’s High School. Tickets are $10.00 each and are available at the door.

Turn The Page Goldilocks

2010-04-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars for entertainment in mid-May as St. Joseph’s Catholic High School will be presenting our annual musical theatre production. This year we will be presenting “Turn the Page Goldilocks!” an original fairy-tale musical written and choreographed by our very own Mrs. Mary Ellen Vice. It has 18 original songs written by a team of talented composers led by our very own Mr. Kevin McSheffrey.

This musical has lots of show-stopping numbers with amazing acting, singing and dancing! Students have been working hard for the past few months to get things ready for the show and are anxious to be a part of this premier production.

We would like to thank Mrs. Mary Ellen Vice and Mr. McSheffrey for sharing all their time and amazing talent to creating this one-of-a-kind musical. Without these two, the show really couldn’t go on.

We are all so excited about this musical and hope to see you all there at the performances! “Turn the Page Goldilocks!” show dates are May 11^th until May 15^th at 7:00pm at St. Joseph’s High School. Tickets are $10.00 each and are available at the door.

Reach For The Top

2010-04-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Reach for the Top is a Canadian trivia game in which high school students compete against one another at local, provincial, and national levels. Teams are asked a variety of time-limited questions testing general knowledge in areas including history, geography, biology, sports and many more areas. The provincial and national championship rounds are recorded for television. Reach for the Top first aired on CBC television in 1961 in Vancouver and was a regular weekly show on TV until 1985.

St. Joseph’s has a very rich history in Reach for the Top, and in the 1992 – 93 seasons, with the St Joseph’s High School team of John Colterman, Julie McHale, BJ McMahon (SJCHS teacher Mr. Mike McMahon’s brother), David Timm and Jaimie Vanderberg, won the national championship. The current team is made up of Sun Lee, Thomas Prince, Michael Hagerman, Myles Rowat, Ian Connors, Hayley Wall, Dylan Cull, and Stephen Lorbetski, and the coach of the team is Mr. Dave Rowat. The team meets during their lunch hour and other times to practice, and after winning the County Championship, they are on their way to another excellent season of Reach for the Top.

For more information and pictures of the SJCHS Reach for the Top team go to the SJCHS website at: www.sjchs.blogspot.com in the news section.

School Council, Parent teacher Interviews & Ontario Secondary School Literacy Testing

2010-04-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

With the March Break over and only about 13 weeks of school left before summer holidays, there are still many things happening at St. Joseph’s High School.

On Tuesday March 30^th the SJHS School Council will meet at 7:00PM in the Sr. Claire Gallagher Library at the school. The SJHS School Council meet once each month to discuss different ways to enhance the learning environment provided at SJHS. The current priorities for this Council are: a strengthened faith life within the school, creating a safe, healthy and environmentally friendly school and, providing an environment that ensures success for all students. New members are always welcome!

April 8^th, 2010 will be a busy day this year! Firstly, this is the date that has been set by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) for the administration of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). This test is taken by all grade 10 students across Ontario and is a requirement in order to graduate with an Ontario Secondary School Graduation Diploma. The test consists of reading and writing exercises where the students will read several reading passages and then answer multiple-choice, short and long answer questions based on what they have read. Good luck to all SJHS grade 10 students.

On April 8^th there will also be parent teacher interviews from 3:30 – 7:30 PM. These meetings give parents an opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher to learn about what they are doing in class. All the teachers will be seated throughout the gymnasium and parents can move from one teacher to the next to discuss such things as course expectations and how their son or daughter is performing.

Europe Trip 2010

2010-03-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

From the 14th to the 23^rd of March, twenty four students and four staff members from St. Joseph's High School will be spending their March Break on a ten-day trip to Europe.

The group will take an overnight flight from Ottawa to Zurich, Switzerland, where they will stay two days exploring the country’s beautiful scenery, taking a guided tour of the old town of Lucerne. They will then travel through the Alps, to the Italian lakes region bordering Switzerland, for a lake cruise, and the following day, travel to Venice to take a guided tour and a chance to see St. Mark’s Square and the Grand Canal.

At the Doge's Palace they will be able to see a leather-making demonstration. On the sixth and seventh day, they will be in Florence for a guided tour with stops at the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria, where they will see the famous statue of David, by Michelangelo.

From Florence they will make their way to Assisi, to visit the Basilica of St. Francis, and then continue onto Rome. On their last full day, the group will pay a visit to Vatican City.

These students and staff members are very excited about this trip and the whole school community of St. Joe's wishes them all the best on their journey, hoping for fun, learning, and, above all else, a safe return!

The Four Strong Winds

2010-02-26T18:22:00.001-08:00

St. Joseph’s High School is a school with plenty of musical talent.

Some examples of that great talent would be the Blues Guys, the Jazz Band, our annual Musical, the Coffee Houses, school choir, dramatic presentations, Christmas and other concerts, and our school quartet called the Four Strong Winds

This quartet is made up of Christine Helferty, Molly Helferty, Bailey Rogers, and Natalie Walters, and is directed by Mr. Kevin McSheffrey. They took their name from the song Four Strong Winds by Ian Tyson, and started rehearsing together in September, twice weekly, developing a repertoire of songs featuring four part harmony. The songs are mostly arranged by Mr. Kevin McSheffrey, and are set to suit the particular vocal strengths and qualities of the group members.

The Four Strong Winds have already performed nine times at St. Joe’s and elsewhere in the community, and are scheduled to perform March 7^th, at the Bonnechere Manor telethon fundraiser.

The quartet carries the torch handed to it by their fore-runners, The Four Quarters. That group, comprised of Catherine Helferty, Rachel Helferty, Sarah McSheffrey, and Lindsey Vaive, was also directed by McSheffrey, but graduated last spring, leaving him the unenviable task of finding replacements. Fortunately, but no real surprise, Mr. McSheffrey was able to uncover the current quartet, as there’s no shortage of voacltalent walking our halls these days.

As to the Four Strong Winds, they have their own Youtube presence, available here at this site by going to the Performing Arts section

On Monday, March 8^th, at 10:30a.m., we will have our annual Bishop’s Mass. Bishop Michael Mulhall will be celebrating this Mass for students, staff and special guests of St. Joseph’s High School. This Mass is in honour of St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of our school.

Dominican Republic Team Returns

2010-02-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

On February 3^rd, Dominican Republic Teams from St. Joseph’s Catholic High School (SJCHS) and Bishop Smith Catholic High School (BSCHS) Dominican Republic left for their ten day humanitarian mission.

They arrived at Yamasa at 4:30 p.m. with hockey bags full of medical supplies. These were much needed supplies that were purchased through fundraising here at the school or donated by the local medical community. For the next 10 days, the students experienced a whirlwind of activities and events, attending various schools, including those schools twinned with their own. While at the schools, the group performed a song and dance for the local students, and were, in turn, treated to performances themselves. They attended Mass at a local church, and delivered friendship kits, consisting of a months worth of food, to impoverished families. Fittingly, after each day, the DR Team would reflect on a biblical passage that went with what they had experienced that day.

And before leaving, the team was able to visit the capital city of Santo Domingo, where they visited the cathedral that is a source of pride to a people impoverished, yet rich in faith.

While these students are all now back home, they will gather again in the coming months to further reflect on this experience, and how they can continue to help the less fortunate in the world.

Welcome back team!

More Change At SJCHS

2010-02-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

Change is an inevitable part of our lives. Change can be a good thing – even if we don't always understand the reasons at the time. The students and staff at St. Joseph's High school are experiencing a great deal of change these days.

We would like to welcome back Mr. Mark Searson as our principal. Mr. Brennan Trainor, who was our acting principal, will be leaving and going to Our Lady of Lourdes in Pembroke. Miss Heidi Robinson, our vice principal, will also be leaving to take over the responsibility of VICE-principal at John XXIII. Mrs. Patty Watters, our student success teacher, will we moving to our acting vice-principal, and Mr. Russ Connors will be taking over in the student success position. Finally, Mr. Tim O'Connor will then be replacing Mr. Connors in Special Education.

We’re glad that Mr. Searson is back, and would like to wish Mr. Trainor and Miss Robinson good luck in their new positions.

In addition to the many changes at our school, we are all aware of the unfortunate events taking place in Haiti. For the past few weeks, we have been fundraising for Haiti by holding bake sales and encouraging students and staff to donate money. Our overall effort has resulted, to date, in the raising of somewhere in the area of $1000 to this cause.

On Wednesday, February 17^th, 2010, the St. Joseph’s High School students will be attending St. Frances Xavier Church for the Ash Wednesday Mass. SJCHS students will participate in various ways to assist with the Mass through song, or as readers or Mass servers.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent, and provides for a period of reflection leading up to Easter Sunday.

The Olympics and Valentine's Day

2010-01-29T17:01:00.001-08:00

To show support for Canada and our Canadian Olympic team, on February 12^th, the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, St. Joseph’s High School will be having an Olympic Day. This day is set to raise excitement for the games with students dressing up in red and white to cheer on our athletes. Also, during the following weeks of Olympic events, students will be welcomed to watch the sporting events during their lunch break in select classrooms in the school. The opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games begin on February 12^th at 6:00PM.

As a lead up to St. Valentines Day, students are now participating in our annual matchmaker event. Matchmaker is a fundraising event where students fill out questionnaire forms that are sent back to a company who matches students based upon compatibility. The students can then buy their matchmaker results for $2 as a fundraiser for student council. These results also provide information such as people sharing the same birthdays, statistics about the year they’re born, and other fun bits of information.

Also, there will be a Valentines’ Day Dance following the Olympic Day on February 12^th.

Christian Charity and Solidarity

2010-01-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

This week is a quiet week at SJHS with students studying and writing exams. There are no regular classes and no extracurricular activities. A new semester will begin February 2^nd following a PA Day on the 1^st.

The St, Joseph’s High School community regularly gets involved in fundraising activities and raising awareness of issues and charities both locally and globally.

These have included, to name only a few; challenges between homeroom classes to collect food for the local food bank, hosting a pink day with a coin drive to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research, participating in THINKfast, a 25 hour educational fast to raise awareness of third world issues and, as was mentioned in last weeks article, the upcoming Dominican Republic experience.

Following the recent earthquake in Haiti that has left so many people in need, the students and staff have decided to join in with the efforts from across the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke to raise funds to help those affected by this disaster. For the next couple of weeks, students will be collecting monetary donations from each homeroom class. These donations will be forwarded to be included in an overall donation from the diocese, combined with collections from each of the parishes. We will continue to keep the people of Haiti in our thoughts and prayers.

Dominican Republic and Haiti

2010-01-29T16:56:00.000-08:00

The semester is ending and students have been busy with final projects and preparing for exams which will be written from January 24^th to the 29^th. The new semester will begin on February 2^nd.

Every year at this time a small group of grade 11 students from St. Joseph’s High School are selected to team up with a group of students from Bishop Smith High School in Pembroke to visit the Dominican Republic on a humanitarian mission. Throughout the visit, students will be living with host families in the town of Yamasa, DR and will be doing a number of different activities during the 10 day journey to bring aid to impoverished families in the area. Some of the things that the students will be doing include delivering friendship kits of food to poor families, working in a soup kitchen, doing odd jobs or visiting a local school. These students have been raising funds with bake sales and other initiatives for almost a year to pay for much needed medical supplies, which they will also bring with them. The students who have been chosen to represent our school this year are Katie Troutman, Kerry Keyes, Sheena Plouffe and Audrey McMann along with teacher Paula Legere. The DR Team members are counting down the days with much anticipation.

With our students preparing to go off to the DR, it is hard not to think of the ongoing tragic event happening in neighbouring Haiti. The St Joseph’s High School community will continue to keep these victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers.

Provincial Representative Visit SJCHS

2009-12-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

On Monday December 14^th, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Mr. Steve Peters, and Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP, Mr. John Yakabuski, came to St. Joseph’s High School to speak to our grade 10 and 12 students. The two spoke about what they do and the different things they like about their respective jobs.

Mr. Peters was elected as the MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London, and then elected by his fellow MPP’s in the Provincial legislature to serve as speaker. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is known as the servant of the House and has to ensure that the rules are followed within the Legislative Chamber. Mr. Peters also told us that he enjoys traveling around Ontario to meet new people and getting to know more of our vast province.

The role of our MPP, Mr. Yakabuski, is to debate ideas that he feels should or shouldn’t become a law and also, to make changes to bills and current laws. Mr. Yakabuski is frequently seen with his constituents in the community, whether it’s in a parade or just at a high school sporting event.

On behalf of the SJCHS community, we would like to thank Mr. Peters and Mr. Yakabuski for taking time out of their busy schedules to come and talk to us about their role in the Provincial Government.

Christmas Concert and Jazz Band

2009-12-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas is truly a time to think of the many blessings in our lives and of the gifts we can share with others. With Christmas just days away, St Joseph’s High School is busy preparing for our upcoming Christmas concert. The first performance will be held December 17^th at 7:00pm and is open to the public. On December 18^th, the last day of school before the Christmas holidays, there will be a second performance for the school community. The entertainment will consist of musical acts of singing and instrumental, other performances of dancing, and a play put on by Mrs. Vice’s drama class.

In the spirit of Christmas, the entrance to our school chapel has been decorated with a beautifully made paper-mâché nativity scene reminding us of the true reason for Christmas. This piece of art was made by Tearin Gray, a student at our school

Jazz Band Fundraiser Update

The Jazz band’s orange and grapefruit fundraiser was a success and they were delivered to our school on Monday the 8^th. Everyone who purchased the oranges or grapefruits picked them up and are now enjoying the fresh taste of Florida sunshine! If you still haven’t picked up your pre-ordered oranges or grapefruit, please stop by our school and get them.

Pen Pals and Christmas Concert

2009-11-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

St Joseph’s High School has always been recognized for creating a welcoming environment for everyone within its school community.

For example, as a way to make the grade 8 students feel more included at St Joseph’s High School, grade 12 students are being matched up with grade 8 students to exchange letters as pen pals. The senior students will write about their experiences at the school and what they have enjoyed about their time at St. Joseph's High School. The grade 8 students will then respond back with any questions they may have about what high school life is like at St. Joe’s.

This program was developed to create a stronger sense of unity between students of all ages at our school. As a grade 8 student, you might not always know what the school may have to offer but, by creating links to other student who have been through the St Joseph’s experience, they can get a better student perspective on the questions they ask.

Grade 8 students will also get a better taste of high school life by experiencing high school classes in areas such as technology, art, music, hospitality and tourism. This will allow them to be further acquainted with the high school life at St. Joe’s.

With Christmas just around the corner, the students and staff at St Joseph’s are getting ready for our Christmas concert, and auditions have started for the December 17th show. There will be performances by the Blues Guys, the school jazz band, and other talented students. Be sure to mark your calendar.

Remembrance

2009-11-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

On November 11^th, St. Joseph’s High School paused to remember by holding our own Remembrance Day ceremony at the school.

This ceremony consisted of a musical presentation by a school quartet called the Four Strong Winds, comprised of Natalie Walters, Bailey Rogers, Christine and Molly Helferty, and under the direction of Mr. McSheffrey. Further acts included a dramatic presentation consisting of students in tableau depicting life at war, prepared and presented by Mrs. Vices’ grades 11 & 12 drama class.

A slide show presented by Lauren Schmidt and Emily Troutman included scenes of war but ended with a list of names of soldiers both dead and alive who are known to the students and staff within our school.

Throughout the ceremony there were prayers facilitated by our school chaplain Ms Milosek. At 11:00 AM our whole school stood in silence for a minute, to honour our fallen soldiers and remember those who are still at war.

In addition to our school ceremony, members of our Student Council executive attended Lowe Square where Kelly Slight and Ian Connors laid a wreath at the cenotaph on behalf of our school.

At St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, remembrance is not a one day event, and if you go to our school website, www.sjchs.blogspot.com, you can view the SJCHS wall of honour (Remembering the Fallen link), showing the Canadian soldiers who have been killed in the current conflict in Afghanistan.

School / Faith Connection Strengthened

2009-11-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

To help develop the faith life of the students of St. Joseph's High School, on Monday, November 9th, St. Francis Xavier Parish and Our Lady of Fatima Parish held their first youth group meeting.

This group has been initiated by Kelly Slight, Natalie Walters, Kerry Keyes, Julia Rowat and Marlee Vandewouw, all students of St. Joe’s, and will meet every second Monday at 7:00pm. This is a faith based group that provides teenagers with the chance to get together and have discussions about important teen issues like peer pressure, body image, drugs, alcohol, and many other topics. There will also be fun games, activities, skits, and presentations.

The group is open to any high school students of St Francis Xavier and Our Lady of Fatima Parishes. St. Michael's Parish in Douglas also holds a youth group every second Sunday of every month at 7:30pm. They have discussions on different topics and have guest speakers. For more information visit our school website at sjchs.blogspot.com.

As another contribution, students from our school help out in St. Francis Xavier Church by participating at Mass the second Sunday of every month. Also, every Saturday night, students can be found at Our Lady of Fatima Parish singing as a choir.

On a final note, at the school itself, the annual Jaguar Hunt at our school has begun! This is a fun activity where students and staff are paired together and they try to secretly tag each other with a clothes pin. When one pins the other, they move on to the next round until there is only one person left. This game is an excellent way for our older students, younger students, and staff to become more acquainted as a school community.

Coffee House Slated For November

2009-11-03T06:11:00.000-08:00

St Joseph’s High School is becoming very well known for its musical talents; the Jazz Band, The Blues Guys, musical theatre and, Coffee House productions.

On November 12th, St. Joseph’s High School will host their traditional fall Coffee House showcasing many of their talented students and staff members in musical and dramatic performances. The evening’s lineup of acts will include instrumental numbers, vocals, small bands and other performers, new and old. "It’s a great opportunity for people who are usually too shy to get up and express their talents, because the environment is really relaxed.” said SJHS student Jon LeGris. “The coffee house is how I ended up singing publicly for the first time and I haven't regretted it once.”

Along with this great list of entertainment, there will also be bottomless cups of coffee and tea served up with a variety of food treats catered by the SJHS Foods Class. Admission to this event will be $5.00 with the proceeds going towards supporting SJHS Performing Arts.

The house fills up fast and is usually standing room only, so come early to ensure you get a good seat. The doors open at 6:30 P.M. with performances starting promptly at 7:00 P.M.

In keeping with other traditions too, the SJHS family will once again be participating in Operation Christmas Child (OCC). OCC is a charitable organization that sends shoe boxes filled with gift items such as school supplies, toys, candy, hygiene items, and more, to children who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine. Once again SJHS students will be contributing to this program by sending in shoe boxes of our own filled with supplies for the children. People around the world participate in this program, and it is a great way to help bring smiles to the many children around the world.

Graduation Preparations

2009-10-23T10:39:00.001-07:00

The halls at St. Joseph’s High school are all a buzz lately, with grade 12 students talking about what they will be doing after this year. Every week different universities and colleges have been coming to SJHS to make presentations to the graduating students. On October 19th, representatives from all 21 universities in Ontario attended St. Joe’s as part of the Ontario University Registrars’ Association, University Information Program. This provided an opportunity for students from across Renfrew County to ask questions and learn about the Universities they might be interested in attending.

Many people are affected by cancer every year. On Thursday, October 29th; as part of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, our students and staff will be dressing in pink to raise awareness of the need for ongoing cancer research.

On Friday October, 30th, with Halloween just around the corner, everyone will be dressing up in their imaginative costumes. There will be a contest for the most creative costumes and at lunch time, a haunted house for all students experience.

Flu Season

2009-10-19T06:09:00.001-07:00

As the flu season is upon us, our school is taking the recommended precautions and doing the best we can to prevent the spread of both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu.

Some of the things we have done to help alert people include, putting up informative posters that remind us to wash our hands regularly, to avoid hand and mouth contact, and to cough and sneeze in our sleeves. In all of our classrooms, we have hand sanitizer bottles for everyone to use.

Also, on our school website, we have put up many reminders about the flu and cold.

Student Council Cake Fundraiser

2009-10-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

As a fundraiser for student council at St. Joseph’s High School, our Prime Minister, Kelly Slight, helps out by baking cakes and decorating lockers for student’s birthdays and other celebrations.

For people who want to surprise a friend with a cake, it costs $20.00. The cake is delivered to the student at lunchtime and his or her locker is decorated and friends are welcome to write a birthday greeting.

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

2009-10-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

In preparation for Thanksgiving, St. Joseph’s High School celebrated a Thanksgiving Mass at our school on Thursday October 8th. Fr. T. Sirosky from St. Michael’s parish in Douglas attended the school as the celebrant and our school choir shared their musical talents.

Thanksgiving is a time to think of others and with this in mind the school community wrapped up our food drive on Friday October 9th. As a result of our two-week collection, a bountiful donation of food was delivered to the local food bank.

St. Joseph's High School Website

2009-10-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

There’s a saying that “you don’t have to know everything, you just need to know where to get it” and that is what the St, Joseph’s High School website is all about. This site is updated daily, and carriess news and information about all aspects of life at SJCHS. On this website you will easily find information for students, parents and staff alike. The information varies from sports to performing arts, to spirit to current news events, including the school’s response to the H1N1 influenza virus.

Some very useful information for the students can be found on the student services link on the main page. From this link students can access such information as course calendars, the master time table, a graduate tool kit and links to other student online services. The graduate took kit for instance provides important information and monthly key points to assist students in their preparation for graduation.

For parents and community members who want to keep current with what’s happening on a daily basis in the school, just click on the link to morning announcements. This is also handy for students and staff who miss announcements over the PA system. The SJCHS website also provides a link to the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board website where students and parents can access school busing information during inclement weather.

To explore all of the resourceful links on the SJHS website, please visit www.sjchs.blogspot.com

Spirit Week Update

2009-10-09T16:49:00.001-07:00

From October 5^th to 9^th, the students and staff of SJHS demonstrated their school spirit with a week of colour and culture celebrating such places as

France

Italy

and

Greece

with many costumes and lunch-time activities.

Jazz Band Fund Raiser Underway

2009-10-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

The St Joseph’s High School Jazz band has existed in the school for many years. The Jazz Band, under the direction of Mr. McLeod, is made up of students from all grades and features such instruments as piano, bass guitar, guitar, drums, saxophones, trumpets, clarinets and flutes. We participate in school events providing music for concerts and play at different elementary schools around our community. For many years the Jazz Band has also travelled to Toronto to participate in the Toronto Music Festival.

This year, to raise money to participate in the Toronto Music Festival, we will be selling fresh, seedless oranges and grapefruits that will be coming direct from Florida, and will be ready for pickup within three to five days after being picked. If you would like to purchase some of these delicious oranges and grapefruits, you can stop by our school’s main entrance where we will have a table set out to take orders from October 13th to October 23rd from 11:50 AM to 12:30 PM each school day. The cost of a small box is $25.00 and a large box is $40.00.

Spirit Week and Thanksgiving Food Drive

2009-09-28T05:38:00.000-07:00

With thanksgiving right around the cornier, our St. Josephs high School is busy with our upcoming spirit week and our current thanksgiving food drive.

On October 5th to the 9th, St. Joseph’s High School will be having our spirit and food culture week. On Monday there will be Italian day. Students will be expected to dress in Italian outfits and colours. Our cafeteria will be serving spaghetti and our lunch activity will be a meatball throwing contest. On Tuesday we will be having a Mexican day. The cafeteria will be serving tacos and the lunch activity will be a contest to make the best taco in 20 seconds. On Wednesday we will be having a Greek day. The cafeteria will be serving Greek salad and the lunch activity will be chariot races. On Thursday there will be a candy day. Students will be dressing in bright clothes and tights. At lunch our Dominican Republic team will be having a bake sale to raise money for their journey this year. On the Friday we will have house colours day. Students will be divided up into six groups: red, green, blue, yellow, white and black. Each team will participate in fun games and contests in the morning and in the afternoon we will be having a talent show as well as a barbeque at lunch. To end the week off, we will be having a school dance in the evening.

As a lead up to Thanksgiving, the school is participating in our annual Food Drive. Being a Catholic school, the promotion of generosity is a key element of our faith. Each homeroom is competing to bring in the most canned foods during the next week. All food donations with be sent to the local food bank the following week. As an added piece of fun, each class will design their cans into the shape of any object.

2009-2010 Executive School Council

2009-09-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

Our 2009/10 student executive and class representatives have been identified and are already planning for upcoming events like the school’s spirit week on October 5th to the 9th and the Thanksgiving food drive.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the members of the executive. Our Prime Minister is Kelly Slight and her job is to provide student leadership and will be an ambassador for the school within the community. Our Spirit Ministers are Audrey McMann and Lily Freemark and they are responsible for planning and organizing school spirit activities such as spirit days and school dances. The School’s Public Relations Minister is myself, Victoria Slight, and I am responsible for promoting the school and informing the community of school activities. The Finance Minister is Miles Rowat and he is to oversee the student council’s financial money matters. Our school’s Minister of Athletics is Natalie Walters and she will promote the athletics within the school. The environmental ministers are Paddy Enright and Julia Rowat. Finally, Emily Troutman has been appointed as our Pastoral Minister.

Student council will be supported by homeroom representatives who have been identified by each homeroom class. Our teacher advisors for this school year are Mrs. Hamel and Mr Friske.

Things are really starting to ramp up and it looks like it’s going to be another great year at St. Joseph’s High School!

The Journal Sits Down With Dr. Eva Olsson

2009-09-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Victoria Slight and I am the Public Relations Minister at St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew. Over the coming school year I will be writing news articles and media releases about upcoming and past events at our school.

On Thursday September 10^th, 2009, St. Joseph’s High School welcomed Dr. Eva Olsson, an internationally known author and lecturer to jump start our anti-bullying program. Dr. Olsson presented a powerful story of a terrible time of sadness and pain caused by hatred and cultural oppression during the Second World War.

Dr. Eva Olsson is an eighty-four year old holocaust survivor who was forced out of her home in Hungary at the age of nineteen and taken to live in the oppressive and cruel conditions of a concentration camp. She was told that she was going to work in a brick factory and was taken by boxcar to Auschwitz – Birkenau Germany. She shared the boxcar for the four-day trip with over 100 other people. They only had one bucket of water to drink, and one bucket of food to share between them all. They arrived to black smoke and soldiers everywhere, and soon discovered that their lives were about to change forever. Many would not survive, including 87 members of her own extended family.

Dr. Olsson spoke of the many difficulties that she had to overcome to survive. Throughout this experience she was separated from most of her family and was forced to work as a slave. She was moved around a lot, and at one point, even had to live in a hole in the ground with many other women. When the German’s knew that they were close to defeat, they took away their food rations for six days, but on April 15^th, 1945 at 11:00AM the British Army came and saved those who remained. Dr. Olsson stated that the one thing that helped her survive was “hope.”

Dr. Olsen has travelled extensively throughout Canada and the United States and lectured at over 2200 schools and churches telling her story, and delivering a message of hope. She advised that when she leaves a school, it is her goal that she leaves behind hope, that one day there will come an end to the intolerance of differences between people, and to bullying of all kinds. Her message to everyone is that we must stand up to intolerance and hatred, and know that even one person can make a difference.

St. Joseph’s High School is grateful for having had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Olsson, and is appreciative of the struggles she has endured. We are also thankful that she has chosen to share her message of hope with our school community. St. Joseph’s High School is working very seriously at establishing an anti bullying policy and this presentation, having spoken so strongly about an extreme version of the bystander effect, has been an excellent starting point for our anti bullying committee members.