O’Neill C.V.I.
[email protected]
A P R I L ,
301 Simcoe Street N.,
Oshawa, ON L1G 4T1
(905)728.7531 (ph.)
(905)728.2425 (fax)
NEW Website:
www.ddsb.ca/school/oneillcvi
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DURHAM
DISTRICT
SCHOOL
BOARD
OSHAWA TRUSTEES:
Michael Barrett
City of Oshawa
905-725-2980
[email protected]
Kathleen Hopper
City of Oshawa
905.436-3647
[email protected]
Larry Jacula
City of Oshawa
905-571-0195
[email protected]
Joe Allin
Chairman of the Board
705-357-3697 or 866-890-2227
[email protected]
2 0 1 4
Principal’s Message
O’Neill students continue to demonstrate their
leadership every day through their acts of
kindness and leadership throughout their
school days. However there are a few
individuals that require special mention. For
example, we are very proud of Aiden
Woodcock for being voted as the Student
Trustee representing Oshawa/Whitby. It’s a
challenging position but I have no doubt that
Aiden will continue to serve her community
well.
that the change will better serve our student
community. With this change in date, we will
have a change in our Final Exam schedule. Our
final exams will commence on Tuesday, June
17. That day will start with Period 1 exam
followed by 3 classes. The rest of the exam
days will be devoted to just exams and no
classes.
Our Grade 9 students who are currently taking
Math will be writing their EQAO tests on
Wednesday, June 11 and Thursday, June 12
during their math classes. These final exams
are a mandatory component and therefore it is
very important that all students participate in
Lauren Reid should also receive recognition for them. Parents/Guardians and students are
her leadership. She has brought Science Fair to encouraged to check our school website for
the masses and had a record number of
updates.
students participating. Our student winners
The Interim Report Card provides valuable
were Gabby Sweeny-Tobin and Samantha
information regarding students’ progess in
Griarte.
each course. Parents and guardians are
Three student leaders, Liam Edwards, Liz Avery, encouraged to spend time to review the report
Kishore Daggupati were honoured as O’Neill’s cards with their son(s)/daughter(s). Comments
Student Recognition Award recipients on the
and Learning Skills in addition to the numerical
evening of April 16, 2014. These students were grades provide valuable information about the
recognized for their outstanding leadership,
students’ performance. If you need further
involvement, volunteerism and selflessness
information or clarification, please contact the
throughout their years at O’Neill.
appropriate subject teacher.
Congratulations go to all of these students for
Second semester has brought a full range of
being such incredible embassadors.
activities for all students. In addition to the
In addition to all of these co-curricular
courses and the Ontario Secondary School
activities, our students of GWL3O1 class under Literacy Test (O.S.S.L.T.), students and staff
the leadership of Ms. Whitehouse, have led a
have been busy with other co-curricular
fundraising campaign to combat cancer. They activities including boys and girls’ rugby, girls’
sold daffodil pins and baked goods to all staff
soccer, mountain biking, golf, music, dance,
and students. They should be applauded for
visual art club, student council, debating club,
their efforts.
robotics club, breakfast club, S.A.S.S., choirs,
There are some valuable information that you bands and the list continues. As you read the
following pages of this newsletter, you will see
will be reading up on through this newsletter.
some of the details of how these activities are
For example, our new Commencement
unfolding at O’Neill.
Ceremony will be held in June rather than the
traditional October celebration. It is our hope
PAGE
2
“How you make others feel about themselves says a lot about you.”
Math News
On Wednesday, June 11, 2014 and Thursday,
June 12, 2014, students who are taking grade
nine applied or academic math second
semester will be writing the EQAO Math
Assessment during their math classes.
Attendance is mandatory as this test
constitutes 5% of the final mark for each of
these grade nine math courses. A light snack
will be served during class on the day of the
EQAO test. We hope to continue our tradition
of excellence at O’Neill with this year’s results.
The teachers in the math department pay
special attention to the alignment of math
curriculum to the EQAO Math Assessment
with respect to content, context and cognitive
levels. Parents can download sample
questions at www.eqao.com.
Students have been busy writing many math
contests. The top scorers in the Sun Life
Financial Canadian Open Mathematics
Challenge were Logan Groves, Laura Green,
and Nikhil Patel. The top scorers in the
Canadian Intermediate Math Contest were
Heidi Young, Esther Yeung, and Wendy Jing.
The top scoring students in the Canadian
Senior Math Contest were Laura Green, Nikhil
Patel, and Caroline Lin. The top scorers in the
Junior ASMA and Math League contests were
as follows:
Junior ASMA
Grade 9 - Kevin Zheng, Megha Kodancha,
Kenna Bartlett
Grade 10 - Esther Yeung, Heidi Young, Gabriel
Harris
Math League
Grade 10 –Esther Yeung, Heidi Young, Wendy
Jing, Riley Pellerin
Grade11- Soroush Heydari, Liam Jose, Sidney
Maxwell
O’NEILL
C.V.I.
Grade 12 – Laura Green, Logan Groves,
Caroline Lin, Hisham Mohammed
The University of Waterloo math contests
were written on February 20th by students in
enriched grade nine, ten and eleven math
classes. The top scoring students were as
follows:
Grade 9 (Pascal Contest) - Kevin Zheng, Emma
Houck, Sara Harvey, Megha Kodancha
Grade 10 (Cayley Contest) - Heidi Young,
Keshana King, Matisse Touchard, Esther Yeung
Grade 11 (Fermat Contest) - Jillian
Hofkirchner, Madison Penfold, Julio Oliveros
Several senior math students wrote the
University of Waterloo Euclid math contest on
April 15th, and several grade ten students
wrote the University of Waterloo Galois math
contest on April 16th.
There will be a Math Awards Assembly in the
auditorium at O’Neill on Friday, June 13, 2014
from 12:00-12:45 PM for all students in the
enriched and gifted math program, and
parents are invited to attend.
Each student taking either grade 9 or 10 math
in second semester should have been
registered during their math class for help in
math homework being offered online by
tutors at the Durham District School Board.
The help is available at http://
homeworkhelp.ilc.org from Sunday to
Thursday from 5:30-9:30 PM.
APRIL,
2014
Performing Arts
PAGE
3
The second semester of the 2013/2014 school year got off to a great
start in the music/performing arts department. All vocal and
instrumental ensembles worked extremely hard in preparation for
numerous concerts and festivals. The Instrumental Jazz Ensembles
participated in the Southern Ontario Band Festival. The Concert Bands
travelled to London to participate in the Musicfest Regional Festival.
The Chamber Choirs travelled to Bowmanville to participate in the
Ontario Vocal Festival and the Vocal Jazz Ensembles travelled to
Brampton to participate in the Ontario Vocal Jazz Festival! In total 13
ensembles and over 350 students participated in Festivals this year!
At each Festival, O’Neill Ensembles received high praise for their
outstanding quality and commitment to excellence!
The Drama department has also been very busy; the Grade 9 Performing Arts Class took their Children’s musical ‘Phantom of
the Music Room’ on tour to area elementary schools. The Grade 10
Performing Arts class presented their two one act plays ‘Hoodie’ and
‘Drop Dead Juliet’ to very enthusiastic audiences at O’Neill, and O’Neill
Theatre Troupe presented ‘Free’ at the Sears festival winning 2 acting
awards!
O’Neill Dance has also had a very busy spring presenting ‘Just Dance’ in
April. Joining the O’Neill Dancers for performances were the Senior
Wind Ensemble and Senior Chamber choir, adding a live element to their
recital!
Upcoming Events in the Performing Arts Department include; The Senior
Music Tour to Portugal, where the senior ensembles will be performing
in palaces and concert halls in Lisbon! The Spring Finale takes place
Thursday May, 15 @ 7pm featuring all of O’Neill’s Music Ensembles.
Tickets will go on sale early May. O’Neill Music Theatre is proudly performing ‘Grease!’ from June 4 to 6. Tickets will be
available early May for these performances. The Grade 12 Drama Class will presenting their show Thursday, June 12 at O’Neill
and our final performance of the year is ‘Creations’ presented by the O’Neill Performing Arts dancers and will be held at the
Regent Theatre on Tuesday, June 17. Tickets for this event will go on sale in late May.
GUIDANCE DEPT.
The Guidance Department and our
graduates have begun preparations for
the upcoming Commencement
ceremony. The ceremony will take place
on Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm and will
be held at UOIT/Durham College.
Graduates will receive an invitation in the
mail that will include a map and
instructions for parking. At this time, all
of our graduates should have submitted
all of their signed community hours forms
to the Guidance office. Any grade 12 students who
have not yet completed their 40 hours must see
Ms.Aunger immediately. All of our grads will be
wearing a cap and gown in the ceremony. Students
are reminded that the $20.00 fee is due to Guidance
by May 1.
Summer school registration will open to students on
May 1 at www.dce.ca. Summer School will take place
this year at Maxwell Heights SS, Donald A. Wilson SS,
and Dunbarton SS. Upgrading courses will run from
July 3–16 and July 17-31. Counselors will be visiting
classes to explain the registration process in the next
several weeks. Students should see their Guidance
Counselor if they are considering an accelerated
course or have further questions about summer
school. Follow us on Twitter @ONeillGuidance for
PAGE
4
Science Fair
O’Neill Science Fair Winners make it to the Canada Wide Science Fair!
“Best Friends are the people you can do anything
and nothing with and still have the best time!”
On Friday, March 28th over fifty O’Neill students participated in the Science Fair in the school library.
Students from Mrs. Connolly’s grade 10 Gifted Science,
and Mrs. Hunter’s grade 11 Instrumental Music classes
participated as an enrichment opportunity.
The following winners received prizes thanks to
generous donations from UOIT, the Oshawa Credit
Union, and TD bank:
Fourth Place: Kathleen Bradley.
Third Place: Heidi Young and Maya Sarmento; Wendy
Jing; and Brianna Bennett.
Second Place: Erik Stokholm; and Melissa Bakker.
First Place: Gabby Sweeny-Tobin and Samantha
Griarte.
Gabby and Samantha went on to win First place in the Durham Region Science Fair the following weekend
at UOIT. Next, they will take their project “Heart Beats for Music” to Windsor from May 10 – 17th where
they will represent Durham Region at the Canada Wide Science Fair!
The O’Neill Science Fair could not have happened without the outstanding work of the organizing
committee which consisted of grade 12 students Laura Green, Sarah Lamb, Morgan Dookie, Caroline Lin,
Desmond Ho, and committee Chair Lauren Reid.
Improving Health and Wellness
During the week of April 14 HFA4C and ATC3M1/4M1
completed three collaborative lessons that illustrated the
strong relationship between nutrition and overall health.
The lessons used movement to explore the impact of sugar
on health by connecting to the ideas in an article and
making connections through word associations and
metaphor involving the ideas of craving, addiction, empty
nutrition and the
deception of the food industry. These bodily
kinesthetic activities allowed the students to think
and inquire through embodied cognition how
excess sugar consumption can contribute to
disease. Students’ cooked vegetarian chili
together and explored various alternative
cookbooks and practiced yoga and meditation.
Thank-you to all of our students for being open to
these new learning experiences.
O’NEILL
C.V.I.
APRIL,
2014
PAGE
5
INSIDE RIDE
O’NEILL HAS A FUTURE ACES SCHOLAR
Congratulations to Meagan Sorley who was selected
as one of 60 students across Canada to be a Future
Aces Scholar. This award and $1000 scholarship
was created by the Herbert H. Carnegie Foundation
to honour students who demonstrate exemplary
citizenship qualities in their home, school and
communities through extensive community service,
volunteerism and commitment to humanitarian
causes. Meagan is currently one of the coordinators
of our annual Leadership Camp and has been an
exemplary student throughout her four years at
O’Neill.
“Strength does not come from what you can do, it comes from overcoming the things
you once thought you couldn’t!”
On March 6th 2014, O’Neill C.V.I students participated in the Inside Ride. It is an event that was created by The
Coast to Coast against Cancer Foundation to raise money for children affected by cancer. Students ride stationary
bikes in teams of six in the gym for 10 minutes each, competing for the best costume, best mileage, and top fundraising efforts. This is an amazing cause that many of the students are very passionate about; O’Neill is proud to
have participated in an event that has deeply impacted the lives of so many children. This year’s ride was dedicated to grade 9 student, Liam Belsey, who provided an inspiring speech to open the event. The day of the event was
a great success! Everyone had a great
time dressing up and dancing to cheer
on their team. There was an incredible atmosphere in the gymnasium as
over 120 students and teachers put
aside their differences and rode together to support such an amazing
foundation, and hundreds more came
out to watch and support. A total of
just under $6000 was raised for Coast
to Coast against Cancer. O’Neill is
proud to have been able to make this
contribution, and plans to continue
hosting this event in future years.
Go Redhawks!
Our senior curling teams, coached by Mr.
Park, won the Tier II LOSSA
Championships! The team members were
Spencer Arnott, Andrew Lovell, Travis
Moriarity, Geoffrey Thomas, Kenna Bartlett,
Rebecca Carey, Paige Jordan, Pamela
Luke, Allison Riley and Samantha Sharratt.
Congratulations!
The Spring season has started (despite the
weather!). There are five rugby teams (2
girls, 3 boys) are being coached by Ms.
Manerowski, Ms. Morton, Ms. Santiago, Mr.
Valjakka, Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Kennelly;
girls varsity soccer is lead by Ms. Ordanis
and Mr.Sigsworth; mountain biking is
coached by Mr. Ring and the golf coach is
Mr. Weima. Please see the coach if you are
interested in playing this year, some teams
are still accepting players.
A big thank you to all of the teachers and
volunteers for giving their time to coach our
kids!
Upcoming Important Dates
Apr. 27-May 4
May 2—5
May 13-23
May 15
May 19
May 20
May 21
May 22
May 22
May 26
May 27
May 27—29
May 30
June 4—6
June 11-12
June 11
June 12
June 13
June 13
June 16
June 16
June 18
June 18-25
June 26
Jul 3
Sr. Music Tour—Portugal
Leadership Camp
Mock Trials
Spring Finale
Victoria Day (school closed)
Musical Act I Run
Gr. 10 P.A. Repertoire Recital (7:00 pm)
Gr. 10 P.A. Drama Recital (7:00 pm)
Musical Act II Run
Musical Dress Rehearsal
Gr. 9 P.A. Repertoire Recital (7:00 pm)
Musical Matinee
Prom
Musical
Grade 9 EQAO Math
Athletic Banquet
Gr. 12 Drama Night (7:00 pm)
Math Awards Assembly (1:45—2:30 pm)
Civics Exam
Civics Exam
Creations Dance Recital (7:00 pm)
Semester 2 Art Show Opening
Exams
Commencement @ UOIT/Durham College
Final Report Card Pick Up
NATIVE STUDIES
Annii, Kwe, Tansi, Se:kon, Hello!
Interested in exploring Canadian Aboriginal culture, spirituality, issues and relationship to nature? Consider taking Native
Studies next year. Discover the history and origins of Canada’s first peoples. Investigate the art, spirituality, music, dance
and literature of First Nations, Metis and Inuit cultures in the Canadian landscape. This past year we explored totem art,
story, visual art, and contemporary issues through documentaries. Although technical difficulties prevented a full discussion
with broadcast journalist, documentarian and Aboriginal advocate, Wab Kinew who created the series, The 8 th Fire for CBC,
we hope to continue our connection with Wab next year and hopefully rectify our Skype issues in order to bring him into the
classroom frequently.
We are hoping to create new networking connections for next year and secure guests such as hoop dancer drummer and
singer, Nimkii Osawamick, local aboriginal visual artists and aboriginal veterans.