“Be the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
FATHER JOHN REDMOND
CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL AND
REGIONAL ARTS CENTRE
~Mahatma Gandhi
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
SCIENCE CENTRE
DUKE OF EDINBURGH
F A L L
2 0 1 4 / W I N T E R 2 0 1 5
GIFTED &
KENYAN JOURNEY
P.A.R.T.Y. PROGRAM
SOCIAL JUSTICE
SYMPOSIUM
ENRICHMENT IQ
PSAT
TAKE ACTION
WORKSHOP
CLASS AT COLUMBIA
NEWSLETTER
HOUR OF CODE
WORLD PRESS
TIFF BELL LIGHT BOX
GUEST SPEAKER
SERIES:
 MICROBIOLOGIST
 CBC JOURNALIST
 LAWYER
POTTED POTTER
STUDENT
NEWSLETTER
TEAM:
LILY GREEN
LAUREN ROLLIT
RACHEL SANTINI
The Gifted and Enrichment Program
is a dynamic non-credit program for
highly motivated students who have
achieved a high level of academic
success and have demonstrated exceptional leadership in school activities. The program offers opportunities
such as educational conferences,
workshops, simulations, field trips,
competitions
and
symposiums
geared toward the development of
key skills such as leadership, selfadvocacy, communication, and critical thinking. Students interested in
Enrichment may come to room 132
for more information.
PAGE
2
Science Centre Excursion
JASMINE CABANILLA
“You are not here
merely to make a
living. You are here
in order to enable
the world to live
more amply, with
greater vision, with
a finer spirit of hope
On November 25th, the students
of the Gifted and Enrichment
program had the opportunity to
visit the Ontario Science Centre
(personally, one of my favourite
places in the city).
We started off the day with a
hands-on physiology lab where we
learned all about the systems of
the human body. In this lab, we
took an in-depth look into the
respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems. We learned about
how they work and the external
factors that often affect them. We
got to see who, out of the 31 of
us, had the largest lung capacity
and we even got to probe real pig
lungs and a goat digestive system!
There were also two pairs of real
human lungs (one healthy pair, and
one that belonged to a smoker), a
human skeleton, and an ox heart
for us to examine.
The lab was run by Andrea, who
teaches biology at the Ontario
and achievement.
You are here to
enrich the world,
and you impoverish
yourself if you
forget the errand.”
~Woodrow Wilson
FATHER
JOHN
REDMOND
Science Centre Science School.
The OSCSS is a program for enthusiastic Grade 12 students with
a passion for science, in which
they get to attend an enriched
semester at the Science Centre
(Grade 11s, applications are already open for the 2015/2016
school year!). I’ll be attending the
OSCSS next semester, so it was
really cool that I was able to meet
one of my teachers and do a lab
with her beforehand!
In the afternoon, we checked out
the other exhibits in the Science
Centre, including the two newest
exhibits, the Human Edge and
Brain: The Inside Story. The Human Edge exhibit explores the
potential and limits of the human
body. This exhibit has everything
from a rock climbing wall, to a
deep sea diving simulation, to a
dance floor, to a real elephant
heart! Basically, we got to discover
everything that is (and isn’t) hu-
manly possible.
Brain: The Inside Story is a
special exhibit that’s at the
Science Centre for a limited
time only. We took a step into
our bodies’ control centre and
learned about all the amazing
abilities of the brain, like how
neurons work, and how the
brain stores memories and
organizes visual information.
This exhibit also includes a
bunch of cool activities, where
we tested out how our brains
respond to different stimulations like music, or foreign
languages, and puzzles and
games that probe our neural
connections and pathways.
This day was packed with fun,
learning, and super cool, really
weird facts about the human
body! It was an amazing experience that we’ll never forget!
PAGE
JOSEPH BORROMEO
Father John Redmond Gifted and Enrichment students had the wonderful
opportunity to visit the Ontario Science Centre to take part in the special
“BRAIN: The Inside Story” exhibit that
runs from November 19th, 2014 March 29th, 2015. At the beginning of
the day, we had a wonderful presentation by a biology professor who taught
us all about the complex systems in our
body as well as some ways we can
harm those delicate systems. Easily one
of the most memorable parts of the
presentation for me was getting to see
real pig lungs being expanded with
the use of an air pump to simulate
what breathing looks like inside our
body.
The rest of the day was filled with
the students wandering around the
exceptionally impressive “BRAIN: The
Inside Story” exhibit that was filled
with many hands on activities that
helped to show how our brain works
as well as a couple mind tricks that
challenged the natural way our brain
processes things. The exhibit resembled a maze that had you walk
through a forest of tangled wires and
flashing lights to embody what it is
like for the billions of neurons inside
your brain to communicate with each
other. I think this exhibit was a very
interesting and fun way to learn about
how our brain works and interacts
with the rest of our body and its
many complex systems. I would
greatly encourage future students to
attend a trip to the Science Centre if
it were to ever be offered again!
3
PAGE
4
Duke of Edinburgh Breakfast
PETER MAKSYMOWSKY
On Tuesday November 4, it was
an early morning for a group of
driven and dedicated students and
alumni. We attended the annual
Duke of Edinburgh Corporate
Breakfast and had the pleasure of
listening to a very inspiring speech
by Curt Harnett. Mr. Harnett is
Canada’s most decorated cyclist
and has won three medals at the
Olympic Games. His life story is
an inspirational message to young
people telling them to passionately follow their dreams. His initial
love for the sport of hockey
evolved into a passion of cycling.
He has been appointed as Canada's Chef de Mission for the 2015
Pan American games being held in
Toronto. He encourages us all to
give back our time and talent to
support our nation's athletes participating in these games. We are
truly very grateful for this incredible opportunity to listen to such an
inspirational guest speaker and
enjoy a delicious and nutritious
breakfast.
My Kenyan Journey
“Our greatest
weakness lies in
giving up. The
most certain way
to succeed is always to try just
one more time.”
~Thomas Edison
FATHER
SHANIA NIGLI My dream of going to Africa came
to fruition on August 2nd when I
waved goodbye to my family as I
went through security at Pearson
Airport. My heart was heavy yet
excited at the prospect of being a
missionary. I didn’t know what to
expect but the moment I was
greeted by 47 children at the St.
Therese Development Center, I
felt I was home. The children
ranging from ages 3 to 15, have
not had a childhood like mine.
They have all been abused from a
young age They have been rescued and brought to the Center
for rehabilitation, counselling,
education, treatment, but most
importantly, to an environment
that is safe and loving. They seem
to forget the negative experiences and are always smiling, laughing, dancing, and helping one anJOHN
REDMOND
other. After my 4 short weeks
with them, I have realized that
they had given me more than I
had given them. They taught me
to love, forgive, be brave, have
faith, and never lose hope.
Each morning they wake up with
smiles on their faces, excited for
whatever the day may have in
store, despite what they have
been through. One of the children’s stories that really touched
me was Michelle’s. Michelle is 3
years old and the youngest at the
center. She joined the Center at
the age of 2 after suffering abuse.
Michelle stood out to me because she was always laughing
and dancing and having a great
time. Her older brother is also at
the Center and their relationship
is filled with so much love and
forgiveness.
This behaviour from
a three year old is something truly
inspiring. The four weeks seemed to
go by too quickly and the much dreaded day arrived when I had to say
goodbye to these children and the
friends I had made.
This experience has made me realize
how fortunate I am to be living in
Canada. Being in a safe environment
all the time surrounded by people
who love and care for me and who
would never hurt me.
These children need us. And we as a
school community have to do something. That is my promise to them, to
serve and support them. These children touched my heart and I hope
their story inspires you as much as it
did me. PAGE
P.A.R.T.Y at Sunnybrook!
JESSICA KENNEDY
On Tuesday, October 21st, 44 Redmond Gifted and Enrichment students
had the opportunity to visit Sunnybrook Hospital and the Lyndhurst
Centre, a rehabilitation centre for
people with spinal cord injuries. We
met at school at 7:15 am and traveled
by bus to Sunnybrook, some of us
taking naps on the way. Upon arrival,
we were immediately greeted by our
guides for the morning and had a few
presentations to kick off the day.
P.A.R.T.Y. stands for Prevent Alcohol
and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth.
For youth, motor vehicle collisions
are the leading cause of death, followed by suicide. Most of these
deaths
are preventable, due to im paired or distracted driving. A police
officer, a nurse at Sunnybrook, and an
occupational therapist, informed us
about the risks involved in driving a
motor vehicle. The presentations
were emotionally intense, and I have
never seen a crowd so captivated and
engaged. Next, we went on a quick
tour of Sunnybrook Hospital, starting
with a trauma room. It was amazing
to see this facility, which 1200 pa-
tients come through each year, half
of which can be attributed to motor
vehicle collisions. In this room, the
Sunnybrook trauma team routinely
saves lives, but for many patients,
donated blood units are needed to
do so. However, blood isn’t the only
thing that’s needed—skin and organ
donations are also vital for the recovery of many trauma patients.
Having never heard about skin donation, it intrigued me to hear that skin
for grafting onto victims of third
degree burns was removed from
deceased donors in small, discreet
patches on their backs and immediately placed into liquid nitrogen to
prevent it from drying out.
Following the visit to the trauma
room, we were taken on a quick
walk through the ICU.
The afternoon had a more relaxed
pace. We all climbed back onto the
bus for the short drive to Lyndhurst
Rehabilitative Centre, a large and
welcoming facility where we were
immediately greeted by two more
speakers. Having suffered spinal cord
injuries a few years back, the two
men led us on a tour of the facility and
told their personal stories about the
day they were injured, the long recovery process they’d had, and both the
challenges and new lives that they have
today. Both were very inspiring speakers, and opened the minds of all present to the reality of such life-changing
injuries. One of the speakers, at 17
years of age, slipped and fell on the
deck of a family pool, resulting in quadriplegia. Despite this, he was determined to regain some of what he’d
lost, and today is one of the most
positive people I have ever met, focused on figuring out his life all over
again and ready to move on. By the
time that we got back onto the bus for
the return trip to Redmond, the
roughly fifty students on the trip were
already thinking differently about risk,
injury, and the work of those in the
medical and therapeutic fields. It is not
an overstatement to say that this trip
has changed our perspectives in a lot
of ways. To anyone looking to broaden
their horizons, this program is a trip
worth considering!
5
PAGE
6
The “Social” Justice League
LILY GREEN
Water makes up about 70% of the
earth's surface. Only 2.5% of all the
water on earth is usable fresh water,
most of which is frozen in glaciers.
This leaves less than 1% of Earth's
water for every organism on earth to
use to survive. As humans, we need
water for just about everything: drinking, cooking, and washing. What
would happen if this water were to
disappear?
Water was the main topic of the 2014
Social Justice Symposium at the University of Toronto. Ten students attended the symposium on Thursday,
December 11th and learned all about
the importance of water from Alex
and Tyler Mifflin, two brothers who
have their own show on TVO - The
Water Brothers - in which they travel
all over the world exposing world
issues that relate to water. They've
covered topics such as sanitation issues in Kenya, the Pacific Garbage
Patches, and over-fishing. They spoke
to us about their passion for water
and why it was so important that we
conserve our water and protect our
water supply. We even got to watch
an episode of The Water Brothers,
in which they explore a remote aboriginal community in northern Ontario's struggle to get clean water.
Most of the members of the community have no running water, and the
water source near their village has
no proper filtration facility. It was
shocking that there are people on
our country's soil whose rights to
clean drinking water are simply not
being honoured.
We also had the pleasure of hearing
from another speaker, Brother Denis Claivaz, who talked about his mission trips to transform a small community in Kenya into a village with
running water, medical facilities, and
schools. He explained that the
brothers were only able to help the
community through negotiation with
its leaders. The brothers provided
the materials that the community
members needed to build a well
deep enough so that water could be
brought to them, without forcing
women to walk all the way to their
water source and back every morning for impure water. The brothers
Redmond Writes the PSAT
“Always do your
RACHEL SANTINI
best. What you
plant now, you
will harvest later.”
~Og Mandino
FATHER
also built a hospital and provided the
community members with the medical
facilities they needed, and built a
school. The brothers managed to
provide the community with everything they needed to become a selfsustaining village.
I was so inspired by the possibility of
going on a mission trip that after lunch
I chose to go to a workshop in which
students described their experiences
on their own volunteer leadership
trips to the third world. They talked
about the people they met and the
differences they were able to make in
the lives of the people there as well as
the impact the people they met had
on their own lives. It seemed like an
amazing experience, and I am certainly
interested in going on a mission trip
myself.
I have attended the Social Justice
Symposium every year since grade 9
and it never fails to inform, shock, and
inspire me. I have learned so much
from each year's symposium, and I
strongly encourage anyone who is
interested in social justice to attend
this trip. It is truly worth it. On Wednesday, October 15th,
2014, 30 students from Redmond’s
Gifted and Enrichment program
challenged themselves to conquer
the Preliminary SAT/NMSQT. The
PSAT is a 2 hour and 10 minutes
test, separated into five sections,
assessing the critical reading, mathematics, and writing skills students
need for college and beyond. Although it was challenging, writing
the PSAT was an important experience. The PSAT prepares students
for the actual SAT by helping stuJOHN
REDMOND
dents understand their strengths
and weaknesses. Students who
write the PSAT are also familiar
with the tough “correction factor”
that deducts 0.25 of a mark if you
get an answer wrong. I must say it
was certainly difficult to leave some
answers blank. Now that I have
written the PSAT, I feel a lot more
prepared for the SAT.
The SAT is a standardized American test that all high school students in the United States must
complete by their senior year to
apply to American universities. The
SAT is not mandatory for Canadian
students to apply to Canadian universities, but it provides them with the
opportunity to apply to American
schools in the hope of athletic and
academic scholarships. Writing the
SAT provides Canadian students with
numerous opportunities to enrich their
education outside of Canada. The
PSAT is a perfect way to jump-start
your search for university or college. It
was a great experience that I recommend everyone take advantage of.
PAGE
We Take Action!
AMANDA GASPARRO
On Tuesday, November 18th, the grade 9
students had their first taste of the 3 part
Take Action Leadership series generously
provided by the Me to We/Free the Children
Program. After introducing themselves, our
leaders, who had plenty experience in leaving
a lasting impact on the world, led us in some
icebreakers. Ian and Dan created games that
stimulated our minds, dispersing all the Tuesday morning fogginess, and helped us to familiarize ourselves with each other to release
any awkward energy.
Next, we broke up into small groups
(evidently communication on a large scale is
one of the skills we needed to work on) and
discussed what we wanted to get out of the
workshop. The results were to develop leadership skills, adopt encouraging attitudes and
work on communicating with our peers,
among others. We also talked about how to
create a safe space for ideas within any community, and how leaders don’t impose their
ideas on a group, but nurture others’ ideas
and talents so that they can grow.
At one point in the workshop, we created a
metaphorical representation of our society,
using the simple example of a bus. By hearing about the issues, we became bystanders,
but when we got off the “bus” to discuss
why we were for particular causes over
others, and how they are related, we
stopped being apathetic, and became upstanders. This led to how we could “get off
the bus” in our everyday lives.
“This was the turning point for me,” said
Julia Menezes, a participant in the workshop.
“When we created genuine plans for charitable actions that we were expected to car-
ry out, as a team, which would have
measurable results in our local community, it set this workshop apart from others.”
Though we started out the workshop
wondering what it could do for us, we
left wondering what we could do for the
world, now with the skills to act on our
ideas. By breaking down seemingly impossible issues like Youth Alcohol Abuse,
Children Literacy and Homelessness, we
found ways to make noticeable differences in our local community, which will
no doubt lead to global outcomes. Lookout for big changes on the frontiers of
these issues; thanks to Ian, Dan, Ms.
Carducci and the other organizers of this
amazing event, our students are empowered and ready to Take Action.
7
PAGE
8
Class at Columbia
VANESSA SKUBIC
“Problems are not stop
signs, they are
This past summer, I was privileged
to spend three weeks at one of
the leading Ivy League universities,
Columbia University in the heart
of New York City. On July 12th,
2014 the much-anticipated trip
had finally arrived. I grabbed my
bags, and off I went to catch my
early 6:45 am flight. I knew this
would be an experience of a lifetime.
Upon arriving on campus, I was
greeted by extremely friendly
Columbia students. I got my ID
card and assigned to stay at the
Carman Hall. It all began to feel
real. As I arrived in my dorm, I
met my roommate Sophia, who is
from Brazil. My other suite mates
guidelines.”
~Robert H. Schuller
FATHER
JOHN
REDMOND
from Toronto and Venezuela.
We all immediately bonded.
The first day at Columbia was
full of exciting new beginnings. I
could not believe the culture
and diversity that was found on
the Columbia campus.
My first day of classes was a bit
intimidating; every student in
my Molecular Biology and Genetics class was extremely intelligent. We began to learn about
DNA, various genetic diseases
and restriction enzymes on the
first day of class. The lab class
in the afternoon, I must say I
enjoyed the most. The laboratory component consisted of a
collection of classical and cur-
rent experiments. This class
gave me a strong ability to critically analyze the resulting data,
and use my problem-solving
skills in order to complete
homework assignments and
labs. In the class I did over fifteen intensive labs. Just to
name a few: transposition mutagenesis, gel electrophoresis,
and replica platting. During our
final project I had the opportunity to do research on Alzheimer’s disease and find the
difficulty in making a sure diagnosis of the condition. The
classes were incredible as I was
able to meet individuals from
different countries who also
PAGE
were thrilled to learn new concepts
and share their ideas. During the
course of my three weeks at Columbia I was assigned many homework
assignments, labs, tests and quizzes.
However, the true test to see how
much we learned during the four
weeks at Columbia was our final exam. The professor told us that the
exam he made for the class was extremely difficult, and even second year
medical students found it challenging.
The exam was challenging an required
a developed understanding of how to
apply the course material to real life
situations.But successfully I completed
the exam and was proud of how much
I had acquired in a short time span.
Besides being a university student,
being in New York was probably the
most exciting part. After finishing our
homework, my friends and I would go
to Soho or to Central Park. One
evening, my friend Celidh and I were
walking in Soho and to our surprise
we stumbled upon Martin Scorsese
while he was shooting a television
show. I also had the opportunity to
watch Of Mice and Men on Broadway
and meet some of the cast: Chris
O’Donnell, Leighton Meester and
James Franco. I also had the chance
to meet Daniel Radcliffe, and
Michelle Williams. On another occasion I was able to watch one of my
favourite films in Bryant Park.
The best part of this trip was being
at Columbia University and having
the opportunity to meet students
from all over the world. I still continue to communicate with my friends
from Columbia. An experience I will
always cherish, have good memories
and lasting friendships. After spend-
ing three weeks at Columbia’s summer program I appreciated just how
much Columbia used New York as
an essential tool. The vibrant and
diverse setting of New York City
complements the beautiful oasis that
is Columbia University. Walking
through Butler Library is just a simple example where I was able to find
a quite place to study and enrich my
knowledge that was refreshing from
the hustle and bustle of N.Y.C. The
community of Columbia University is
not only found within the perimeter
of its location but beyond New York
City.
9
PAGE
10
An Hour of Code
HAYLEY CARRESCIA “I think, therefore
I am”
~René Descartes
On Wednesday December
10th, students from grades nine
to twelve participated in an
Hour of Code workshop in the
Redmond Library. This informative course taught students the
basics of computer programming, one of the most relevant
new topics in this digital era.
They were given the chance to
create interactive games by
adding in lines of code to cus-
FATHER
JOHN
REDMOND
tomize the colour, background,
and characters. The guest teacher, Ricardo, was a UI/UX Designer at Mozilla, part-time teacher
at Sheridan College, and graduate
from University of Toronto. His
enthusiasm allowed the students
to work together to enjoy the
wonders of computers and his
experience gave them a fascinating look into the role of software
development in start-up compa-
nies. Anyone interested in testing
their strengths at coding are encouraged to check out
www.codeacademy.com for fun,
interactive tutorials. As the students learned from this workshop, this website allows even
the most inexperienced to become software developing experts.
PAGE
A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words
JULIA MENEZES
This October, the Gifted
and Enrichment students had the
privilege of attending World Press.
This unique exhibit is constructed
within Brookfield Place, in the
heart of
Toronto's downtown
core, and was founded in the Netherlands over five decades ago. It is
a non-profit organization that annually displays the powerful images of
photo-journalists from last year.
As their website states,
"[World Press] exists to inspire
understanding of the world through
quality photo-journalism." And if
nothing else, the photos do inspire
an incredibly global-mined attitude.
From gut-wrenching shots of war
torn countries in the Middle East,
to awe inspiring photos of the natural world, the display features only
the very best of those in the field.
Taken by 5754 photographers from
132 countries, they stand as a tribute to those who have died, a voice
for those who have been silenced,
and open the eyes of us youth, who
are often blindsided to the global
conflicts effecting our world today.
Personally, I feel that the
exhibit was a great representation
of struggle, both at the international scale, and in our own backyards.
Many of my peers commentated on
the fact that many of the photos
were depressing, not in a way that
made one turn away, but instead
made one more grateful for all that
we have, living in the first world.
Expanding beyond the scope of the
camera lenses, I can only imagine
the hardships, danger and sacrifices
that the photo-journalists make
each day simply share the truth,
and I admire their yearning for
veracity. All in all, this was a great
trip that I would recommend all
students take part, in the years to
come.
11
PAGE
12
Learning the Secrets of C.G.I.
EMANUEL BUDULAI
Have you ever wondered how
movement in video games and
movies is so fluent and realistic? What about the effort it
takes to accurately portray
movement? On December 2nd,
Redmond’s Gifted and Enrich-
“I know that I am
intelligent,
ment students went on an
excursion to the TIFF Bell
Lightbox, a cultural centre in
the heart of downtown, to
learn about Computer Generated Imagery in film. In this full
day session, students learned
the basics of motion capture,
the process of recording the
movement of objects or people. Motion capture can be
used in many different fields,
but the focus was entertainment: Movies and Video
because I know
that I know
nothing.”
~Socrates
FATHER
JOHN
REDMOND
games. Students learned that
motion capture on a professional level is very costly, as
the equipment, space needed,
and actors can add up to a lot
of money. But students used a
very cheap alternative: an XBox Kinect and software to
imitate a true, realistic, motion
capture setup. The Kinect is a
device used in the X-Box
(gaming console) for physical
interaction in games. In this
case, the device was used to
capture the movement of students, and through the software, translate it into a 3D
model that was fully animated.
Students were separated into
different groups, and with
their creativity each group
created a short video using
motion-capture - from background and character models
to dialogue, this is the basics of
creating a movie using motion
capture. Students also learned
the drawbacks of such simple
alternatives to otherwise expensive technology. Because of
these limitations, there were
many humorous outcomes
where the Kinect struggled to
keep up with the students and
caused funny glitches in the
character models in the software. At the end of the day, it
was a very interesting experience and definitely an educational one, where students
both learned and had fun. Students also were able to express their creativity.
PAGE
13
PAGE
Guest Speaker Series
14
Once a month (and sometimes
more!) the Gifted and Enrichment program brings in a guest
to speak about his or her area
of expertise.
The students learn about different pathways, from engineers to published authors.
We also often hear from stu-
dents experiencing life at university or college.
The guest speaker series has
been a huge success among
students, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and
be enlightened by the knowledgeable speakers.
This is an eye-opening and
extremely valuable experience
for all students who participate.
Students can request a certain
focus that they would like to
learn more about. This is helpful in future career-planning.
A Common Pest with a Complex Purpose
REIJOHN RABE
“By failing to
prepare, you are
preparing to fail.”
~Benjamin
Franklin
The Gifted and Enrichment
students who attended Dr.
Mark Fitzpatrick's presentation
on Friday had a wonderful
opportunity to gain insight on
the work of fruit-fly biologists.
He briefly explained his route
into his current job teaching at
the University of Toronto.
Starting as a student whose
marks were best in music and
art, Professor Fitzpatrick never
imagined he would be teaching
science at the University of
Toronto. Moving on to the
presentation, the main topic
was genetics and how changing
a single gene of the fly can
completely change their roaming patterns. There would be
two kinds of fruit-flies: rovers
and sitters. The rovers would
be the ones moving farther
away from home whereas the
sitters would be the kind to
stay around the area of their
home. The amount of time to
compile this research was
about 50-60 years, meaning
that this research is not easily
obtained. Overall, this presentation was informative, insightful, and offered a view into the
work of a scientist. It was a
great opportunity to be able
to listen to a university professor. It allowed us to think
about what careers we would
like to pursue in the future.
SEPH MARSHALL-BURGHARDT
On Friday, October 10th, the
Redmond enrichment community was honoured to host Dr.
Mark Fitzpatrick, an innovative
researcher and Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Fitzpatrick received his PhD in
evolutionary biology and has
made significant contributions
in the fields of evolutionary
biology and the evolution of
animal behaviour. The 56 stu-
FATHER
JOHN
REDMOND
dents that attended the talk
learned that all animals have
specific behavioural tendencies, or what we call
“personalities”. The personality of an animal has consequences on growth, survival,
and reproduction. Dr. Fitzpatrick studies these tendencies
through the behaviours of the
common fruit fly. This species
short life span and large offspring groups make them ideal
for evolutionary genetic study,
and the behaviours observed
in their research has many
connections to other species
as well. Students left the
presentation feeling filled to
the brim with new knowledge
and inspired to learn more.
Once again, many thanks to
Dr. Fitzpatrick and his informative presentation. PAGE
Behind the Scenes at the CBC
EMILY FARRUGIA
A few weeks before Christmas, Ms. Rita
Tonelli, a National Assignment Editor
for the CBC came as a guest speaker to
Redmond. For over an hour she talked
to us about how a news station really
works behind the scenes (turns out it's
a lot more hectic than you think),
shared some fascinating stories of the
many surprises she's had to deal with
over the course of her career, and
closed with some tips on how to get
started if a student was thinking about
going into journalism. Ms. Tonelli was
an engaging and fast-paced speaker,
and as I am a Redmond student who
is interested in making journalism a
future for myself, I found her advice
motivating and insightful; it didn't sug-
arcoat the challenges of a career in journalism, but it also made me optimistic
that it is still something I can succeed in.
I, along with many other members of the
Enrichment program, were inspired and
extremely grateful that we got the opportunity to listen (as well as pick her
brain) to a journalist as accomplished as
Ms. Rita Tonelli.
The Many Dimensions of Law
VICTORIA BANIAK
On Friday, November 7th 2014, fortyfive students from the Gifted and Enrichment Program were fortunate
enough to observe the wise and guiding words of Ms. Elaine Penalagan, a
Crown Attorney. Ms. Penalagan has
been practicing law for many years and
our students were able to take a lot
from her intriguing presentation. Elaine
Penalagan has a Bachelor of Arts from
the University of Toronto and a Bach-
elor of Laws from Queen's University.
Generally, Ms. Penalagan worked as a
litigator, working from 1990 to 2010
as an Assistant Crown Attorney
(criminal trial and appellate). Her job
as a solicitor began in 2010, and now
Ms. Penalagan works with the Legal
Services Branch of the Ministry of the
Environment and Climate Change. To
add to her extensive career, Ms. Penalagan worked diversely in policy and
victims issues, and administrative and
civil asset forfeiture law. It was such
an honour to listen to Ms. Penalagan
because her abundance of experience makes her so knowledgeable.
We admire Ms. Penalagan for her
enlightening presentation and we
thank her for inspiring us and opening our eyes to a multitude of brandnew career choices.
15
Potted Potter Theatre Excursion
MIRANDA BELEN Muggles, wizards, and students alike
all had a fantastic time at this year's
theatre excursion to see Potted Potter. The play, a parody of J.K Rowling's famous series was a humorous
re-enactment of all seven books in
just 70 minutes. The actors did an
especially amazing job, as there were
only two actors playing all of the
characters throughout the whole
show. Plus, the props and costumes were deliberately limited to a
few simple objects, including a toy
train as the Hogwarts Express to add
to the comedy. Packed with quick wit
and clever humour, the actors had
the students laughing practically nonstop.
Overall, Potted Potter proved to be a
hit with the students. Many students
attended because of their love for the
book series of Harry Potter, and
many, if not all, agreed that the people behind Potted Potter did a great
job. This will definitely remain a highlight of 2014!
AP Exam Schedule 2015