Volume 111 Issue 6
Profile of highest achieving grade12 student Kyle Nickel with Principal Todd
Sieben at the ÉCCHS awards ceremony.
February 2017
École Composite Sketch
THEÉCCHS
Since graduating from ÉCCHS, Kyle has kept busy with rock climbing, playing some
low-quality rec-league basketball, and exploring Whyte Ave and all that Edmonton has
to offer. Kyle is also pursuing a B.Sc. with Honors in Biochemistry at the University of
Alberta's North Campus on the side.
Biochemistry has been a fascinating program expanding on the courses Kyle found interesting in high school. Kyle feels lucky to have so many options and courses available
at the North Campus. One thing he noticed in hindsight about ÉCCHS is how much the
teachers truly care about the performance and achievements of the students. “At the
North Campus, I have gotten used to being in lecture halls of 400 students and being
identified by my student ID number, not my name. At ÉCCHS, I recall my teachers being very willing to give extra academic help if needed or some tips on my jump-shot
after a basketball game if necessary.”
While Kyle thoroughly enjoys his time at the University, he is very aware of how important ÉCCHS has been in both his academic and personal life. “Through ÉCCHS, I
was given the opportunity to excel scholastically, play sports for a number of incredible
coaches and alongside some amazing athletes, and have a lot of fun. I want to say thanks
to all of the teachers who made all these things possible. Thanks to the ÉCCHS awards
ceremony for rewarding my academic achievements. Thank you to the people working
behind the scenes, making sure everything runs smoothly...”
Be A Donor!
The ECCHS Awards Program acknowledges the hard work, dedication and community service given
by our students in a variety of areas.
We are blessed to have generous sponsors who have pledged their ongoing commitment to our
school’s scholarship programs. If you have considered becoming a sponsor of a program or would like
to donate a gift to acknowledge a student’s achievements, consider contacting our award committee
members for information on making tax deductible contributions that can help students pursue their
educational dreams.
Your gifts help our students prepare for post-secondary learning and for life.
Awards Committee members to speak to for information:
Diane Gee [email protected] 780 672 -4416 ext 165
Kim Balay [email protected] 780-672-4416 ext. 204
Caroline Simonson [email protected] 780-672-4416 Ext 306
MUSIC NOTES
As the registration process for the 2017/2018 school year begins, students are encouraged to consider including a music class in their schedule. The ÉCCHS Music Dept. offers something for everyone, from the beginner to the advanced musician, in the areas of band (instrumental), choral (singing), and guitar.
Anyone wishing to support the ÉCCHS Music Parent Association (MPA) Grocery Gift Card fund raising program is encouraged to do so. Funds earned are used to offset travel costs for the ÉCCHS music groups. Grocery gift cards may be picked up at Richardson’s Jewellery in Duggan Mall. An information sheet describing
this program can be picked up in the band room office.
Parents please note that we are now looking for supervisors for all of our music travel projects. Let Mrs. Karen Walger, Mr. Green, or me know if you are interested and available to help. The next activity coming up
soon is the grade 9 band camp Feb. 9 & 10. See our music calendar for information about the rest of the year.
A number of ÉCCHS band students have been accepted into Northern Alberta Honor Bands this semester.
The students will meet in Edmonton for 2 days of rehearsal under experienced conductors and then perform
concerts for the public.
Northern Alberta Senior High Honor Band (gr. 10-12)
-Krysta Hurley (flute)
-Nick Ioanidis (trombone)
-Lauren Payne (flute)
Northern Alberta Junior High Honor Band (gr. 9)
-Calvin French (bass clarinet)
-Kassia Hohm (flute)
-Hope Zimmerman (clarinet)
The Music Calendar
Feb 3-5=Northern Alberta High School Honor Band weekend (several ÉCCHS students involved)
Feb 9-10=Grade Nine band camp
Mar 1-3=Northern Alberta Junior High School Honor Band weekend ( gr. 9’s involved)
Mar 13-16=Concert Band (Gr. 10-12) at Alberta International Band Festival in Edmonton.
Apr 3-8=Camrose Music Festival Week
Apr 21-23=Chorazz! At Canadian Rocky Mountain Festival
May 16=Gr. 9 Band at A.B.A Festival in Red Deer
May 16=Concert Band at A.B.A Festival in Red Deer
June 5= Year end concert.
Music Parent Information
The grocery card fundraiser is drawing to a close. Fundraising for this year ends on March 31, 2017. Any
funds raised after that date will be applied to next year. Currently the Safeway grocery cards are returning
8% to music students while Co-op and Superstore give back 5%.
Grade 9 band camp is Feb. 9-10. We need 3-4 chaperones. See Mr. Spila or Mr. Green for more information.
Senior band trip is tentatively planned for May 25-27. They hope to take in a concert in Calgary as well as
head to the mountains for some performances.
Needed immediately: Band Tour Coordinator. Our Music Parents Association tour coordinator had to step
down. We are looking for someone to fill this position immediately. Contact Mr. Spila, Mr. Green or President Roseanna Holm at [email protected] for more information. We are also still looking for a VicePresident and Fund Raising Coordinator.
Camrose Neighbor Aid Center
If you, or anyone you know is struggling trying to put food on the table...there is help.
Please contact the local Food Bank at 780-679-3220. The Food Bank is open Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday’s from 9:00 am—11:30 am No Referral required.
If you or anyone you know is interested in tutoring High
School Math, Science, Humanities please contact Mrs.
Praticante.
Head’s up...anything that is not school
property (textbooks, calculators) left in the
lockers after the designated clean out day
in June will be donated or thrown away.
After hours Emergency Transportation
number is
1-844-773-BRSD (1-844-773-2773)
High School Curling 2016-17
We are extremely happy to have two complete school curling teams this year. Our boys’ team consists of
the following players: Scott Gilroy, Nathanael Mascaluk, Joel Patterson, and Dominic Tollefson. Our girls’
team is comprised of two grade 9 girls and two grade 10’s: Josie Zimmerman, Hope Zimmerman, Kassidy
Cameron, and Morgan Kushnerik.
We have another player, Sergio Garrote Luengo, who comes to us from Spain. His first experience ever
stepping on ice was at the curling rink in October, and he was hooked! Since that time, Sergio has been involved in every practice, taken part in the adult league as a substitute, and has become quite a student of the
game.
As mentioned, these curlers have been involved in the Thursday adult league play since early October. We
have experienced some success and a lot of improvement, with the assistance of our coaches, Mr. Lindstrand
and Mr. Algar!
Coming up in February, both teams will be taking part in the Areas competition. ÉCCHS will be hosting the
Zones bonspiel on February 24/25, at the Rose City Curling Club, here in Camrose. We are assured of having at least one of our teams taking part in that event, and hope to see lots of support when that date arrives!
Should we experience success at Zones, Provincials take place the following weekend. Good luck to both
teams as they continue into the season!
Beginning January 24, 2017 -- when you order your yearbook ONLINE
only at jostensyearbooks.com, Jostens is giving away up to 4 free icons with the purchase of personalization. This offer ends on March 3rd. Yearbooks purchased through
the school are not eligible for this promotion.
The Camrose and District Soccer Association is excited to announce that r egistr ation for the outdoor soccer season (with teams for kids aged 4 to 18) will go live starting February 01, 2017. From that time until March
31, 2017 registrations can be processed online at our website: camrosesoccer.com. We will also have two in person registration dates set up during the weeks of February 20th and March 20th at Business IQ. The confirmed
dates and times will be posted on our website.
Stop doing these 8 things for your Teen this School Year by Amy Car ney
Don’t judge me if you happen to see my kids eating packaged Ritz crackers for school lunch. Don’t
judge me if they’re on the sidelines of PE because they forgot their uniform. Don’t judge me if they
didn’t turn in their homework because it’s still sitting home on their desk.
What some may view as a lack of parenting, is what I deem parenting on purpose, as we work to
build necessary life skills in our kids. I stopped making daily breakfasts and packing school lunches
long ago. I don’t feel obligated to deliver forgotten items left behind at home. School projects and
homework are not any part of my existence.
How do we raise competent adults if we’re always doing everything for our kids?
Walk away from doing these 8 things for your teen this school year.
1. Waking them up in the morning- If you are still waking little Johnny up in the mornings, it’s
time to let an alarm clock do its job. My foursome have been expected to get themselves up on early
school mornings since they started middle school. There are days one will come racing out with only a few minutes to spare before they have to be out the door. The snooze button no longer feels luxurious when it’s caused you to miss breakfast.
I heard a Mom actually voice out loud that her teen sons were just so cute still, that she loved going
in and waking them up every morning. Please stop. I find my sons just as adorable as you do, but
our goal is to raise well-functioning adults here.
2. Making their breakfast and packing their lunch - My morning alarm is the sound of the kids
clanging cereal bowls. My job is to make sure there is food in the house so that they can eat breakfast and pack a lunch.
One friend asked, yeah but how do you know what they’re bringing for school lunch? I don’t. I
know what food I have in my pantry and it’s on them to pack up what they feel is a good lunch. It
will only be a few short years and I will have no idea what they are eating for any of their meals
away at college. Free yourself away from the PB and J station now.
3. Filling out their paperwork - I have a lot of kids, which equates to a lot of beginning of the
school year paperwork. I used to dread this stack, until the kids became of age to fill all of it out
themselves. Our teens are expected to fill out all of their own paperwork, to the best of their ability.
They put the papers to be signed on a clipboard and leave it for me on the kitchen island. I sign
them and put them back on their desks.
Hold your teens accountable. They will need to fill out job and college applications soon and they
need to know how to do that without your intervention.
4. Delivering their forgotten items - Monday morning we pulled out of the driveway and
screeched around the corner of the house when daughter dear realized she forgot her phone. “We
have to go back, Mom!” Another exclaimed that he forgot his freshly washed PE uniform folded in
the laundry room. I braked in hesitation as I contemplated turning around. Nope. Off we go, as the
vision surfaced of both of them playing around on their phones before it was time to leave.
Parents don’t miss opportunities to provide natural consequences for your teens. Forget something?
Feel the pain of that. Kids also get to see, that you can make it through the day without a mistake
consuming you.
We also have a rule that Mom and Dad are not to get pleading texts from school asking for forgotten
items. It still happens, but we have the right to just shoot back “that’s a bummer.”
5. Making their failure to plan your emergency - School projects do not get assigned the night before they are due. Therefore, I do not run out and pick up materials at the last minute to get a project
finished. I do always keep poster boards and general materials on hand for the procrastinating child.
But, other needed items, you may have to wait for. Do not race to Michaels for your kid who hasn’t
taken time to plan.
This is a good topic to talk about in weekly family meetings. Does anyone have projects coming up
that they’re going to need supplies for so that I can pick them up at my convenience this week?
6. Doing all of their laundry - “What? YOU didn’t get my shorts washed? This response always
backfires on the kid who may lose their mind thinking that I’m the only one who can do laundry
around here. Every once in a while a child needs a healthy reminder that I do not work for them. The
minute they assume that this is my main role in life, is the minute that I gladly hand over the laundry
task to them.
Most days I do the washing and the kids fold and put their clothes away, but they are capable of tackling the entire process when need be.
7. Emailing and calling their teachers and coaches - If our child has a problem with a teacher or
coach, he is going to have to take it to the one in charge. There is no way that we, as parents, are going to question a coach or email a teacher about something that should be between the authority figure
and our child.
Don’t be that over involved parent. Teach your child that if something is important enough to him,
then he needs to learn how to handle the issue himself or at least ask you to help them.
8. Meddling in their academics - Put the pencil down parents. Most of the time, I honestly couldn’t
tell you what my kids are doing for school work. We talk about projects and papers over dinner, but
we’ve always had the expectation for our kids to own their work and grades. At times, they’ve earned
Principals Lists, Honor Rolls and National Junior Honor Society honors on their own accord. At other
times, they’ve missed the mark.
These apps and websites, where parents can go in and see every detail of children’s school grades and
homework, are not helping our over parenting epidemic.
Every blue moon I will ask the kids to pull up their student account and show me their grades, because I want them to know I do care. I did notice our daughter slacking off at the end of last year and
my acknowledgement helped her catch up, but I’m not taking it on as one of my regular responsibilities and you shouldn’t be either.
What is your parenting goal? Is it to raise competent and capable adults?
If so, then let’s work on backing off in areas where our teens can stand on their own two feet. I know
they’re our babies and it feels good to hover over them once in a while, but in all seriousness, it’s up
to us to raise them to be capable people.
I want to feel confident when I launch my kids into the real world that they are going to be just fine
because I stepped back and let them navigate failure and real life stuff on their own.
So please don’t judge me if my kids scramble around, shoving pre-packaged items into that brown
paper lunch bag, before racing to catch the bus. It’s all on purpose my friends.
2016-2017 Alberta Education Accountability Pillar Survey Information
As an annual check-up on the education system, the Accountability Pillar provides an opportunity for Alberta
Education and school authorities to ensure that we are equipping students for success.
The Accountability Pillar uses a set of 16 indicators consisting of surveys of students, parents and teachers on
various aspects of quality; student outcomes such as dropout and high school completion rates; and provincial
assessments of student learning.
From January to the end of February, Alberta Education will be conducting the annual Accountability Pillar
Survey. In January, parents of students in grade 4, 7, and 10 will receive a survey from Alberta Education.
Our students have already completed the Accountability survey online at school along with the Tell Them
From Me Survey. In February, all teachers will be completing their surveys online at school.
All surveys are anonymous and ask questions about experiences with the school. In addition to English and
French, the parent survey is available in Chinese, Punjabi, Arabic, Blackfoot, Cree, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog
and Urdu.
Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of education your child is
receiving, so we encourage you to return your survey promptly.
Survey results will be available to school authorities in May 2017, and will be reported publicly as part of their
3-Year Education Plans and Annual Education Results Reports.
BRSD #31 Bussing Information
February 2017
Reminder to all parents about WINTER!
1. ÉCCHS does do outside Phys. Ed. classes, except in the most extreme condi ons. Please send your
child prepared to be outdoors.
2. Bus students need to arrive at the bus stop prepared for winter weather – including coats, boots,
mi%s and hats. Refer to the Transporta on le%er sent home earlier this school year, or call the
school office if you have any ques ons.
3. Please ensure your family has a copy of the current phone fan-out.
4. Don’t forget to no fy the school if your emergency contact numbers change.
5. School bus route closures are adver sed through the BRSD website at www.brsd.ab.ca or ÉCCHS at
www.brsd.ab.ca/school/cchs and click on the yellow school bus. This year, as last year, a bus route
will be cancelled if the air temperature is below -40 C or if the air temperature combined with wind
chill is below -40 C. Other winter issues: When a morning bus route has been cancelled due to any
weather related issue such as a winter storm or poor road condi ons, bus drivers are NOT expected
or required to run their a6ernoon route. Parents who have delivered their students to school are
expected to pick them up at dismissal. The excep on would be if the bus has not run in the morning
due to foggy condi ons and it is not foggy in the a6ernoon, school buses will likely run for the a6ernoon route.
If there’s an ALERT message across the top of your school website, there’s a bus delay or cancellation
Battle River School Division would like to remind everyone to check your school website directly for updates on the bus schedule.
If there is a change to the bus schedule for your school, it will appear in an ALERT banner at the very top of the school website. If
there is no banner visible on your school website, all routes for your school are running as scheduled. The Alert looks like this:
If you click on the Alert, it will expand and provide additional details about the schedule changes.
If no ALERT is visible, there are no bus service disruptions – it is ‘business as usual’.
If you want information for more than one school, the Battle River School Division main website (www.brsd.ab.ca) will have the Alerts
for every school in the division.
Every family affected by a bus route delay or cancellation also receives an automated phone message.
The old bus cancellation link is no longer active. Sometimes if people google “BRSD bus cancellations” they will still get the old link,
so they are not receiving up to date information.
If your family needs more clarity, or if you are are not receiving an automated call, please contact the BRSD Transportation Department at 780-672-6131 Option 1 so we can ensure we have the correct contact information.
Brenda Johnson, Director of Transportation
For any ÉCCHS student and/or parent/guardian who is interested, there is a website that lists
many of the universities, colleges, and technical institutes in Alberta and what level of the new
math curriculum they require for entrance into their different programs. This website is
http://alis.alberta.ca/ec/ep/aas/ta/mathreq.html.
ÉCCHS Math Department
The next ECCHS/BROL School (Parent) Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, Febr uar y 28th,
2017 at 7:00 pm. in the ECCHS Library Learning Commons area (LCC Conference Room). To start things
off, there will be a “Mental Health First Aide” presentation for parents/guardians and students. Contact Amy
Kowal (School Council Chair) for details or if you have questions about the meeting or any additions to that
agenda. She can be reached at 780-679-0538 or [email protected] .
Thursday,
February
9th
ÉCCHS Composite High School Staff
Rutherford Scholarship steps....
The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship (the Rutherford) was named in honour of Alexander Rutherford, Alberta’s first Premier. The Rutherford recognizes and rewards academic achievement in senior high school to
encourage students to pursue post-secondary studies.
Application Process and Timelines
Step 1:
Submit your online application when:
Your final high school marks are available, and
You are planning on attending full-time post-secondary studies between August 1, 2016 and July 31, 2017,
AND
You have completed high school on or after September 30, 1980.
You will be notified in writing of the results of your assessment.
Step 2:
If you are eligible, Student Aid Alberta will ask your post-secondary institution to confirm your enrolment.
If you apply before you start post-secondary studies, your school will be asked to confirm your enrolment by
the end of your first month of studies.
If you apply during or after your post-secondary studies, your school will be asked to confirm your enrolment one month after your application has been assessed.
Step 3:
Your post-secondary school must confirm your registration before your cheque can be issued. Student Aid
will mail a cheque to you approximately 1 month after confirmation of registration is received.
Alberta Scholarships Update-Deadlines
February 1
Alberta Award for the Study of Canadian Human Rights and Multiculturalism
Alberta Ukrainian Centennial Commemorative Scholarships
Graduate Student Scholarship
Nomination deadline is Feb 1. Students must contact the Faculty of Graduate Studies at participating post-secondary
institutions to inquire about the application deadline.
International Education Award - Ukraine
Jason Lang Scholarship - Winter Term
Nomination Deadline is Feb 1. Students must contact the Student Awards Offices at participating post-secondary institutions to inquire about the application deadline.
Jimmie Condon Athletic Scholarship - Winter Term
Nomination Deadline is Feb 1. Nominated by individual coaches at post-secondary institutions. Students must contact their coaches to inquire about the application deadline.
Language Bursary Program for Teaching First Nations, Métis and Inuit Languages
Language Teacher Bursary Program
Prairie Baseball Academy Scholarship
Nomination Deadline is Feb 1. Students are nominated by the Prairie Baseball Academy. Students must contact the
academy to inquire about the application deadline.
February 15
Arts Graduate Scholarship
Dr. Gary McPherson Leadership Scholarship
Nomination Deadline is Feb 15. Students must contact the Student Awards Offices at participating post-secondary
institutions to inquire about the application deadline.
Languages In Teacher Education Scholarship
Nomination Deadline is Feb 15. Students must contact the Student Awards Offices at participating post-secondary
institutions to inquire about the application deadline.
Laurence Decore Awards for Student Leadership
Nomination Deadline is Feb 15. Students must contact the Student Awards Offices at participating post-secondary
institutions to inquire about the application deadline.
Sir James Lougheed Award of Distinction
April 1
Jo-Anne Koch Action For Bright Children (Calgary) Society Awards
April 30
China-Alberta Award for Excellence in Chinese