October 2013 - Regina Catholic Schools

Regina Catholic School Division
Director’s Communiqué
Issue 30, October 2013
A message from Director of Education Rob Currie
“We need to keep telling the story, because if we don’t, it dies.” -Sr. Maureen Sullivan
I recently attended a national conference called Catholic Education: A National
Conversation. This conference focused on the vision, mission, value and sustainability of
Catholic education in Canada. The repeated theme at the conference was the importance of our
staff, clergy and parents working together to share the story of Jesus Christ. Without Christ at
the centre of our education system, the mandate of Catholic school divisions, and the need for
Catholic schools, diminishes and disappears. Saskatchewan is one of only three provinces with
publicly funded Catholic education. Thus, we, as a Division, need to continue to share the story
of Jesus Christ.
Fr. John Weckend, the Archbishop’s Representative to Catholic Education and Pastor at St.
Cecilia Parish, wrote an excellent article in his parish newsletter about the positive value of,
and the need to be vigilant to protect, Catholic education. His article reminds us of the gift and
privilege our Catholic education system really is. As with any gift and privilege, we need to be faith-filled witnesses and
lead by example. I invite you to visit the St. Cecilia Parish website to read Fr. John’s inspiring article.
This edition of the Communiqué includes more examples of “difference makers” within our Division. These great
people – students, staff members, parents, clergy and community supporters – have truly made a difference by
actualizing the mission of our Division. A few examples include:
•
Patrice Krueger, a Miller Comprehensive Catholic High School teacher, successfully lead the Terry Fox Run at
her school. Students and staff focused on the “never give up” message of Terry Fox and have, similar to many of our
other schools, raised funds to continue research in the fight against cancer.
•
St. Marguerite Bourgeoys School, St. Matthew School and St. Josaphat School all successfully hosted Oil
Recycling Days that illustrated the environmental leadership and stewardship of students and staff.
•
Dr. Martin LeBoldus Catholic High School students and staff were selected to host the launch of the Ministry
of Education’s Youth Safety Day. This dynamic school was selected because of its significant level of engagement in the
provincial program.
•
Both the St. Francis Community School and Sacred Heart Community School staff members were commissioned
at St. Cecilia Parish in September. This commissioning was an important recognition by the St. Cecilia Parish of the
quality work done by the staff of these two schools.
•
Mr. Wendelin Herle, who recently passed away, served as Director of Education and Board Trustee for our
Division in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Mr. Herle was committed to Catholic education and today we appreciate the
legacy of his faith-filled servant leadership at the local, provincial and national levels.
We are encouraged that our student enrolment continues to grow. We now have approximately 10,500 students, a fact
that demonstrates the need for a Prekindergarten to Grade 12 Catholic education system in Regina and an appreciation
for the good work that we do. Once again, we accept the responsibility and trust from our parents to prepare their
children for tomorrow’s world. I know our staff members respect this incredible trust from our parents and look to
make a difference in the lives of their students. I am proud of our over 1,100 employees who daily dedicate themselves
to give for the benefit of our students.
As we prepare for Thanksgiving, I invite you to consider your many blessings and to offer a prayer of thanks.
Personally, I am thankful for our school division personnel and faith community for the tireless work to ensure Catholic
education remains a reality in the City of Regina.
God bless,
Employee 15 & 25 year awards
Demonstrating Christ-Like Behaviour
15 Years
Congratulations to our 15 year award recipients:
Marian Bachman, St. Luke School
Terri Bernard, St. Gabriel School
Stephanie Casper, Catholic Education Centre
Michael Chase, Catholic Education Centre
Dwayne Ell, Miller Catholic High School
Marilyn Fisher, St. Michael Community School
Wendy Gervais, St. Angela Merici School
Susan Kirton, St. Catherine Community School
Maxine Klein, Holy Rosary Community School
Garrett Kot, LeBoldus Catholic High School
Michaela Kraft, St. Mary School
Yvonne Kyba, St. Angela Merici School
Lydell Lang, Miller Catholic High School
Jo-Anne Lewis, Riffel Catholic High School
Janet Merk, St. Dominic Savio School
Rene Montenegro, Sacred Heart Community School
Joseph Parisone, Maintenance Shop
Cindy Patenaude, Miller Catholic High School
Markus Rubrecht, St. Catherine Community School
Alex Sarvari, Deshaye Catholic School
Shelley Scheibel, Sacred Heart Community School
Yvonne Sirdar, St. Joan School
Kenneth Stephen, St. Luke School
Brigette Steranko, Deshaye Catholic School
Annette Vogelsang, Sacred Heart Community School
25 Years
Congratulations to our 25 year award recipients:
Del Augustine, on leave
Jean Dufresne, on secondment
Robert Faris, Miller Catholic High School
Shauna Hanus, O’Neill Catholic High School
David Ripplinger, Riffel Catholic High School
Patricia Schiissler, St. Theresa School
Diane Seiferling, O’Neill Catholic High School
Congratulations and thank you to all the 15 and 25
year staff. We appreciate all you bring to the Regina
Catholic School Division!
The awards were presented to the employees at the
Opening Mass at the Resurrection Parish. Employees
who have worked with the Division for fifteen years were
given a small Wilf Perreault print and those who have
been with us for twenty-five years were given a large
Perreault print.
LeBoldus students giving back
Demonstrating Christ-Like Behaviour
A group of students from Dr. Martin LeBoldus Catholic High School helped raise money for Ovarian Cancer Research
by participating in the Ovarian Cancer Walk held on Sunday, September 8, 2013 - another great example of our students
getting involved in the community!
Opening Mass
Demonstrating Christ-Like Behaviour
The Opening Mass for all the staff of the Regina Catholic School
Division was held at the new Resurrection Parish on August 29.
The celebration of staff coming together in their faith to begin a
new school year focused on the value of Catholic education and the
privilege of being able to have a publicly-funded Catholic education
system.
The mass, which has traditionally been held at the Holy Rosary
Cathedral, was held for the first time at a different parish due to the
renovations being done at the Cathedral to honour their 100th year
anniversary.
Everyone who attended the mass received a blessed Rosary from the
greeters to honour our Holy Mother, patron saint of the Cathedral. It
was a beautiful gathering for all.
Vicky Bonnell, the School Board Chair,
bringing greetings to the staff at the
Opening Mass.
The Catholic School Division staff choir singing at the Opening Mass.
O’Neill football players honoured
Improving Student Outcomes
This summer, Yol Piok and David Singer, two students
of Archbishop M. C. O’Neill Catholic High School, made
the Team Saskatchewan Provincial Under 18 Football
Team.
With that team, they competed for a National
Championship at the Football Canada Cup Tournament in
Moncton, New Brunswick in July.
The Saskatchewan team came in fourth at this
competition, and Yol Piok was named a tournament allstar player.
Yol Piok
A proud student moment
Demonstrating Christ-Like Behaviour
Hakim Ocaya, a student at Archbishop M. C. O’Neill
Catholic High School, surprised a stranger with a good
deed. She was working at a Rider football game with the
O’Neill Travel Group to earn money for a European trip
in April when a lady came to the counter and asked to
talk to the supervisor. The lady pointed to Hakim and
mentioned that she had dropped a $20 bill and Hakim
had chased her down to the bleachers to return it to her.
She was grateful and very impressed with the honour and
the character of all the student volunteers. Well done,
Hakim.
Out of the players at this tournament, a roster was
selected to represent Canada, as part of the Under 18
national team, at a week-long event in Texas in February.
Impressively, both Yol Piok and David Singer were chosen
for the Team Canada roster.
Only six players from Saskatchewan were selected to this
roster, two of which are from O’Neill! As part of Team
Canada, these players have an opportunity to be selected
for the Football World Junior Championship team.
David Singer
Saskatchewan Science Centre
corporate membership
Opportunities through Partnerships
The Regina Catholic School Division has once again
partnered with the Saskatchewan Science Centre, a
non-profit, non-governmental organization with a
mission to ignite scientific curiosity and innovation in
Saskatchewan communities through interactive, dynamic
and engaging opportunities.
We have established a Corporate membership that
allows our employees to purchase family memberships at
15% discount for the year.
LeBoldus students go global
Improving Student Outcomes
A group of twelve students from Dr. Martin LeBoldus
Catholic High School joined students from schools in
Ontario, Alberta, and New Brunswick in a journey to
Edinburgh, Scotland this summer. There, the students
participated in an eight day working drama exertion.
They were an elite group of students who were chosen
to perform two one-act plays at Edinburgh’s Fringe
Festival.
Joan Lichtenwald, an English teacher at LeBoldus,
Bernadette Gavin, and Dan McDonald worked with
the students all year to prepare. The two plays that were
chosen were “A Play with Words,” a satirical play, and
“Blind Love,” a play about a boy meeting a girl and the
lifelong experience of relationships.
The students also stopped in London at Globe Theatre
for a workshop and to see a play. In Edinburgh, they
stayed at the Edinburgh University residence and
performed their plays four times. They also attended
workshops and enjoyed the opportunity to see other
plays at the festival. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the
oldest and largest festival of its kind in the world.
The trip was a unique and incredible opportunity
for the students as only about 50 students in North
America are invited to participate in the festival.
Youth Safety Education Day
Opportunities through Partnerships
Representatives from the Regina Catholic School
Division met with leaders of the Service and Hospitality
Safety Association of Saskatchewan at Dr. Martin LeBoldus
Catholic High School to hand out toques and promote
Youth Safety Education Day on Tuesday, September 10.
LeBoldus has enjoyed a long-time partnership with the
SHSA. Pictured here on “Youth Safety Awareness Day” are
Michele Braun, Rob Currie, Jim Bence (SHSA Director),
Richard Donnelly and Lawrence Biegler. LeBoldus
students received toques (as modelled in the photo) and
t-shirts.
A new course introduced this year deals with safety
training in the services and mining sectors. This offers
students valuable work experience and safety training
certificates that they can use as graduates in the workplace.
Shout Out for Innovations
Opportunities through Partnerships
Improving Student Outcomes
Erin Gee, a graduate of Archbishop M. C. O’Neill
Catholic High School and former student at École St.
Mary, is now living and working in Montreal, Quebec.
Erin is renowned for her unique adaption of mechanical
devices in creating music based on raw emotions. Erin
earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and then
in Fine Arts at the University of Regina. The following
text is an excerpt of an article written about Erin by Liz
Crompton from the MARCS Institute at the University of
Western Sydney.
What does anger sound like? What Music does sorrow
imply? Human emotions is being given a new sound
track thanks to an exciting new collaboration between
art and neuroscience. Erin Gee, a Concordia University
researcher, is taking feelings to a new level by tapping
directly into the human brain, delivering music powered
purely by the human body and its emotions. Using data
collected from physiological displays of emotion, Gee
created a software and, hardware system that incorporates
a set of experimental musical instruments that performs
a symphony of sentiments. For example, Gee has orange
images on her black laptop screen that look something like
a pair of grinning Halloween Jack-o’-lanterns. They are, in
fact, computer-generated images of larynxes. Gee has rigged
a microphone so that when a person speaks or sings or
shouts - the larynxes respond in sync. You can literally watch
what you say. She is intrigued by the contrasts: the sleek
high-tech devices that look ever more futuristic versus the
fleshiness of the larynx.
Her research could have significant therapeutic benefits for
those who have difficulty expressing emotion. Individuals
with autism disorders, for example, often struggle to
understand the emotions of others. Gee’s robotic technology
could be used to teach them how to identify feelings by
externalizing and exaggerating them into such forms as
music. Having developed strong research connections in
Australia around the topic of human bodies and electronic
voices, Gee is pursuing a Master’s of Fine Arts in Studio Arts
under the guidance of neurophysiologist Vaughan Macefield
at the University of Sydney. She will give her robots, which
she builds herself, their debut during a world premiere in
Montreal this fall through chamber music organization
Innovations en Concert. This research was funded in
part by Concordia International, the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council, and the MARCS Institute
of the University of Western Sydney, with support of the
Conseil des arts de Montréal. The Thinking Head project is
funded by the Australian Research and National Health and
Medical Research Council.
She will defend her thesis in February. The city of
Montreal has given her $16,000 to show this work first in
Montreal. She has invested a lot of this into her costs while
working on the research and robots. Each of the robots cost
approximately $500.00 for her to make everything herself.
Gee is a founding member of Holophon, an audio
curatorial collective based out of Saskatchewan established
in 2008 and she has also received several awards from the
Saskatchewan Arts Board, and the Canada Council for the
Arts.
Her interactive audio installation Lucide (2010), was
shown at Regina’s Neutral Ground Contemporary Art
Forum, featuring a line of five oversized eyeballs. Triggered
by a light sensor in its iris, each eyeball activated a different
voice in a choir. By opening and closing the handcrafted
eyeballs, gallery-goers, could control the number of voices
singing a composition.
Canoeing program
Improving Student Outcomes
This year, fifteen of our Division schools took advantage of
the fine weather by participating in the canoeing program in
September. Staff and students from St. Augustine Community
School can be seen in the photo on the left, and those from St.
Michael Community School can be seen in the photo to the right.
A proud Catholic moment
Demonstrating Christ-Like Behaviour
St. Cecilia Parish invited the staff of both Sacred Heart
Community School and St. Francis Community School
the parish’s 10:00 am Mass on Sunday, September 22.
During Mass, Father John Weckend called the school
staff to the front during mass and commissioned them,
complete with a special blessing given by the whole
congregation. After the blessing the congregation clapped
for the staff, demonstrating their confidence in the good
work that they do. The staff was then invited downstairs
for a free Pancake breakfast hosted by the Knights of
Columbus and Parish.
Starla Grebinksi, the Principal of Sacred Heart
Community School, was deeply touched by St. Cecilia
Parish.
You can read all about the commissioning in the St.
Cecilia September newsletter at http://www.stcecregina.
com/Bulletin/2013/SeptemberNewsletter.pdf.
An excerpt of the blessing given at St. Cecilia Parish:
Lord Jesus, light of the world and saviour of all, You have been
sent by our heavenly Father to be our teacher, our Lord and our
brother.
Give your special blessings to those who dedicate their lives as
teachers.
Guide them in their studies and in their classes, and help
them to teach young and old by their word and their example.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer, for you are our Lord for ever and
ever. Amen.
PAA and partnerships
Opportunities through Partnerships
Students from Miller and LeBoldus
toured Partner Technologies Inc. (PTI)
on October 1. PTI is a local company that
builds transformers and ships them all over
the world. In the photo, students are shown
with Richard Donnelly, PAA/Partnerships
Consultant, and George Partyka Jr., a LeBoldus
graduate who is now a manager of sales
for this very successful high-technological
company.
If you know of a business that might benefit
from connecting with Regina Catholic
students, please contact Richard Donnelly at
306-791-7319.
High School Cross-Country
Improving Student Outcomes
Riffel’s Sarah Slusar (in front in the picture) placed first at the
Regina High Schools Athletic Association cross-country meet.
She won all 16 of her races during four years of competing in
RHSAA meets.
LeBoldus runners also won two events. Kaden Nilson won the
Midget Boys, and Matt Johnson won the Senior Boys. Brynn
Latimer, also from LeBoldus, finished second in the Senior Girls
event.
Rachel Evans of O’Neill won the Midget Girls and Emanwil
Ginawi of Miller won the Junior Boys. Well done, athletes!
A note from Chinook School Division
Opportunities through Partnerships
Representatives from the Chinook School Division
toured the PAA classrooms at Miller Comprehensive
Catholic High School. They were so impressed with the
facilities and the staff, they sent the following letter:
On behalf of the Chinook School Division, we want to
thank you and your staff for their hospitality, collegiality and
their willingness to showcase their facility and equipment
at Miller Comprehensive Catholic High School. It was
very clear that Jamie Bresciani, Blair Bachelu and Richard
Donnelly all have a tremendous amount of pride for the
school’s programs and the opportunities they offer students.
Thank you - we had a great visit!
Kyle McIntyre, Deputy Director, Chinook SD 211.
The Game’s Afoot
The Regina Little
Theatre 2013-14
season opened with
The Game’s Afoot - a
comedy that draws
from Sherlock
Holmes mysteries.
The play, written by
Ken Ludwig, won the
award for best play at
2012 Mystery writers
of America Edgar Allen Poe Awards.
Irene Paul, the Executive Assistant for Student Services,
played Darla Chase in the play, a character who is stabbed
during a Christmas celebration at Sherlock’s Connecticut
Mansion.