ADMINISTRATIVE NEWSPHOENIX

FLASH

Saint Francis Catholic Secondary School Niagara Catholic District School Board

Mr. K. Griepsma, Principal

Mr. T. Marshall and Mr. K. Timmins, Vice Principals

541 Lake Street, St. Catharines, ON L2N 4H7

(905)646-2002 Phone (905)646-1452 Fax

Volume 3, April 2013

April is a time of renewal, in many senses of the word. The rains renew our fields and wash away the evidence of winter. Jesus’ resurrection is

another sign of renewal in our Catholic faith.

As we continue in the Easter season, we thank God for our many blessings and ask that we continue to have the strength, stamina and focus to continue our mission of living the Gospel values as a Catholic Secondary School community.

Mid-term reports have been sent home with students and we ask parents to review the status of their child’s progress in their various courses. Please contact your child’s teacher(s) if you have any questions or concerns pertaining to your child’s progress in their courses.

It is with great excitement that we announce that an official name change from St. Francis Catholic Secondary School to Saint Francis Catholic Secondary School has been approved by both the Ministry of Education and the Board of Trustees for the Niagara Catholic District School Board.

This name change was prompted by a desire to be consistent with our sister

high schools in Niagara Falls and to give proper reverence to the “Saint” in Saint Francis. We will be tweaking our logo; however, there will be NO additional costs to parents and families in terms of uniform or other items.

Please note that a number of exciting activities will be taking place at Saint Francis in the coming weeks, including:

Catholic Education Week will be held May • 13th - 17th

The board-wide Graduation Celebration • for all Grade 12's will be held on Thursday, May 16th.There will a board “Faith Day” on Friday, • May 17th. This is a Professional Activity day for staff and there will be no classes for students on this day. Monday, May 20• th will be the Victoria Day holiday. Classes will resume on Tuesday, May 21st.The Grade 9 EQAO Math Assessment will • be conducted on Wednesday, June 12th and Thursday, June 13th.Final Exams will run from Thursday, June • 20th to Wednesday, June 26th.Graduation Exercises will take place at the • Niagara-on-the-Lake campus of Niagara College (Glendale) on Wednesday, June 26th at 6:00 p.m.Prom will take place at Jon Michaels’ • Banquet Hall in Thorold on Thursday, June 27th.

May God continue to bless the Saint Francis community as we progress toward our year-end activities.

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Chaplain’s CornerMr. P. McGuire

Lenten FundraisersFollowing our Ash Wednesday Prayer Service, the holy season of Lent was upon us. Lent is known as a time of fasting, praying and giving alms. St. Francis staff and students took the message to heart and extra prayer services were organized by Student Council and our Vice Principals, each leading after school prayer services in the Lenten spirit. The spirit of giving was also present during our food drive where we collected over 20 boxes full of canned goods which were donated to both St. Denis and Star of the Sea parishes. Several classes also organized Lenten fundraisers including Mrs. Drago’s Grade 9 class and the Chaplain’s crew who both raised close to $200 to buy a pig to support farmers in Guatemala.

Over 20 of our students also helped our local homeless by participating in the Coldest Night of the Year Walk for Start Me up Niagara. Students walked 10km and raised close to $1000.

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Volume 3, April 2013

Holy Thursday Prayer ServiceDuring Holy Week, our students proudly showcased their musical and dramatic talent at our Holy Thursday Prayer Service which featured 4 different bands, the stations of the cross, and 2 dramatic interpretations of the Gospel.

Easter Mass The week following Easter, we celebrated the resurrection and were grateful to Fr. Peter Walton who celebrated mass in the gymnasium with our entire student body. The Choir once again provided beautiful music ministry.

Grade 11 RetreatsGrade 11’s travelled to the Grantham Lion’s Club on Thursday April 11th for their grade level retreat which took on the topic of choices and consequences. Our future seniors began to prepare themselves for some of the tough choices they will be making in their final year as a Phoenix.

Clubs & ActivitiesEcoschoolsMrs. A. Lucchetta and Mrs. G. O’Leary

The St. Francis Ecoschools Team has been busy raising awareness and organizing school events regarding important global issues. In honour of this year’s Earth Hour, the entire St. Francis community turned out the lights as part of the Niagara Catholic District School Board’s energy conservation initiative. The team hung posters throughout the school and even organized a “Be Green, Be Lucky” bake sale to raise awareness about energy conservation and climate change. The Ecoschools members are continuing to run a very successful recycling program and we will also be adding additional green bins for students to use throughout the school, with the ultimate goal of creating a waste free school! We are also extremely excited about the installation of two new hydration stations in our school for students to use with their own reusable water bottles. To celebrate Earth Day which is April 22nd, our team will be busy once again planning an assembly and prayer service as well as other exciting activities for all students to participate in. The Ecoschools Club is excited and motivated for all of the upcoming events they have in store for the Phoenix school community!

REACH SQUADMrs. A. Van Kralingen

Another exciting season has ended for the Reach Team coached by Mrs. Van Kralingen, Mrs. Cheng, and Mrs. Casburn. For those who do not know, Reach members compete in teams of 4 against the other Catholic schools, testing their knowledge of all kinds of trivia. The season consists of 6 tournaments where each team plays 3 games at each tournament. Reach players are divided into two age groups: intermediates who are in grade 9 or 10 and seniors who are in grade 11 or 12. The following students comprised our teams:

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St. Francis Intermediate 1 St. Francis Intermediate 2 Fiona Peiris Andrew SinclairAnna Mazur Nicholas NolanMaryam Memon Thomas DedinskyBernadette Kujani Stephen MieleMinuet Ettinger-Wheeler Janine PagaduanTara Laverty Kate TanAnnie Yang Kelly Sanders

St. Francis Senior 1 St. Francis Senior 2Joe Song Page AuJeremy Espino Christy RohalyRyan Pedro Zachary MatthewsMaher Alazzam Mike MasonJP Tabios Eunice EspinoLeina Elfaki Andrea ZapataPeter Malik Altaf Nurie

The top 4 teams from the league were invited to compete in the final round robin tournament held at St. Francis on Wednesday, March 27th. We had a very successful season, with the St. Francis Intermediate Team #2 moving on to the finals. After three exciting matches, the intermediate team lost only 1 match to end up in second place overall in the entire board. Way to go Phoenix! Congratulations to all the team members for a great season and we hope to see new and returning players next year!

In partnership with the Seaway Mall, Job Gym Niagara, the City of Welland, Home Depot Niagara Falls, Fonthill Building Supply, Niagara Food Festival, Young’s Automotive, David Chevrolet, Niagara College, Skills Ontario, Holiday Inn St. Catharines and numerous sponsors throughout Niagara and beyond, we proudly hosted the tenth Annual Niagara Catholic Technology Skills Competition 2013. On Thursday, February 28th our secondary school students participated in the Culinary Arts and Baking Competition at Niagara College Glendale Campus and our Welding competition was hosted at Niagara College Welland Campus.

On Tuesday, March 5th all other technology competitions took place at the Seaway Mall Welland followed by our Awards Ceremony on March 6th held in Centre Court of Seaway Mall. This year we were fortunate to have Dr. Dan Patterson, President Niagara College with us along with Gail Smyth, Executive Director – Skills Canada-Ontario. Dan and Gail were welcomed as guest speakers as well as recipients of our 2013 Niagara Catholic Friends of Technology.3D Character AnimationSilver medal winners

Colin MillerEric Schmidt

Home Building (Team)Bronze medal winners

David SirignanoAdam RankinSam Lidgett

Keegen Wainwright

HairstylingBronze medal winner

Kylee RobbinsElectrical Wiring

Silver medal winnerGerard Thompson

Technology Skills Competition

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Volume 3, April 2013

Some Like It HotMrs. K. Phelan-Savage

St. Francis performed Some Like It Hot at Ridley’s Mandeville Theatre on April 17, 18, and 19, 2013. We have adapted this hilarious musical comedy from its original screenplay, for the stage. The classic Billy Wilder story is of two musicians who accidentally witness a mob hit and must hide out in an all female band disguised as women. Combining the “hot” jazz music of the era in a story filled with romance and comedy, Some Like It Hot is a crowd-pleaser for all ages.

When two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre, they want to get out of town and

get away from the gangster responsib le, S p a t s C o l o m b o . T h e y ' r e desperate to get a gig out of town but the only job they know of is in an all girl band heading to Florida. They show up at the train station as Josephine and Daphne, the replacement saxophone and bass players. They certainly enjoy being around the girls, especially Sugar Kane Kowalczyk who sings and plays the ukulele. Joe in particular sets out to woo Sugar while Jerry/Daphne is wooed by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. Mayhem ensues as the two men try

to keep their true

identities h idden w h i l e

S p a t s C o l o m b o and his crew show up

for a meeting with several other

crime lords. (Synopsis from www.imdb.com)

Student actors, musicians, technical crew, set builders and designers, under the guidance of many talented staff members and parents, are busily getting ready for the big move into the theatre. A huge thank you goes out to everyone for their time and commitment. As usual, the St. Francis community has outdone itself!

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Cast (in order of appearance) Funeral Directors - Mike Angaran and Rowan TraynorMulligan - JP TabiosToothpick Charlie - Pawel SzopinskiCaptain - Dan ZamfirMozzarella - Braydon MironHenchman - Paulina MilanSpatz Columbo - Sam LidgettWaitress - Maeghan BuntingDrunk - Reilly SmithJerry - Marcus KretzJoe - Alex DamianoSecretaries - Alexi Pacquin, Jordyn AllanNellie - Janelle PaynePoliakoff - Dan ZamfirSweet Sue - Alana Ferguson

Bienstock - Rowan Traynor Mechanic - Ethan MorneauRosella - Alexia DelPrioreOlga - Hanna DylMary Lou - MacKenzie WalchukDolores - Nikki KentEmily - Taylor TimoneySugar Kane - Heather MirynechOsgood Fielding - Mike Angaran

Bellhop - Ethan MorneauHotel Staff - Alexi Pacquin, Maeghan BuntingMother - Jordyn AllanChild - Victoria Lalonde Paradise - Dan Zamfir1st Official - Catharine Parker2nd Official - Pawel SzopinskiBonaparte - Reilly Smith

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Volume 3, April 2013

Phoenix Swim TeamMs. D. Scull

The Phoenix swim team proudly represented our school at all levels this year with the addition of several top grade 9 athletes. We once again had one of the largest para- swimmer teams in the province who were able to place 4th at OFSAA with only 2 attending. Next year we hope to bring all 4 athletes and take the championship trophy home.

Newcomers Emily Stacey, Olivia Usick, Matt Vanleeuwen and Sara Cotnam joined returning swimmers, Olivia Austin, Asia Gray, Laura Sands, Jack Harold and Mike Kreuk in qualifying for SOSSA.

Matt won 2 golds at SOSSA in 50 fly and 50 breast, and placed 9th and 10th at OFSAA.Jack won 2 golds at SOSSA in 100 IM and 100 back and placed 9th and 10th at OFSAA.Mike placed 2nd at SOSSA then came 7th at OFSAA in 100 free. Emily won gold at SOSSA in the 50m backstroke.

Para-swimmer Alex Evans won 2 events at SOSSA and won an OFSAA gold in 50 free. Chantelle Balanowski, a newcomer, won a bronze medal in 50 back and placed 5th in 50 free. Outstanding!

The coaches, Ms. Scull and Mrs. Weekes would like to thank Jack and Mike for their coaching expertise this year and wish them well with their swimming at University next year. We would also like to thank this year’s swimmers for their commitment and excellence all season.

Co-curricular News

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Department News

FSF/International LanguagesMme. M. Mauro-Marshall

The FSF/International Languages Department has been quite visible and active at St.Francis. Six of our students: Dawson Brockenshire, Anthony Mella, Victoria Terry , Victoria Turton, Shannon Uskin and Halle Figliomeni along with fourteen other students from Notre Dame, Blessed Trinity , Denis Morris and Lakeshore Catholic spent two glorious weeks in Italy. These students are part of the IDC 30 course offered through Continuing Education. Every Tuesday, they attended classes for 2 hours after school and culminating their 110 hours in Italy in order to receive an interdisciplinary or an art credit. The students were exposed to the art, culture, history, language and way of life of Italy. They visited Rome, Florence, Assisi, Siena, Vinci, Verona, Padua and Venice. This is an experience these students will never forget.

The 17th Annual NCDSB French/ Italian/Spanish Public Speaking Contest that was held on Tuesday March 26, 2013 at Club Roma and was a huge success! This board-wide contest was represented by all of our 8 high schools with a total of 125 students competing in the various categories of second and third language acquisition. St. Francis was proudly represented by:

Ariel Consonni, Janine Pagaduan, Stephanie Ngoyen, Gabrielle Lahaie, Adam Vassallo, Reid Vassallo, Kylee Robbins, Angel Valeria, Mohammed Ahmed and Crystal Almeida.

The FSF/International Languages Department along with the Music Department has also planned an excursion

to New York City in May. The students will experience the

cultural history, art, music and life of the Big Apple.

The grade 12 French students will also be representing St. Francis at the Annual Brock Niagara French Contest which will be held on May 8, 2013.

The FSF/International languages department will

also be heading to Toronto with the grade 9-12 language

students to experience a tour of the City/TV OMNI studios and the St. Lawrence Market. They will see first hand the importance of having a second and even third language in today’s society.

Always remember MONOLINGUALISM IS DEAD! “ Vive les langues!”Learning a second and third language is extremely important in our world today!

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Volume 3, April 2013

My Son or Daughter Will Be Missing School Today……

Reminder to parents-please call the attendance office before 8:00 a.m. when your son/daughter will be absent, late or needs to be dismissed for an appointment, etc. There is a 24 hr answering machine 7 days a week. Please indicate the reason for absence or early dismissal if possible. Reminder to students/parents that they need to “sign in” when

arriving late or “sign out” when leaving school early with Attendance accordingly for safety reasons.

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New Subscription to online resourses!

NCDSB

SFCSS

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Volume 3, April 2013

CALENDAR OF EVENTSMAY

Sunday, May 5 - Sunday, May 12 CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

Monday, Mary 6 - Wednesday, May 8Groff Photography in Portable 315

Wednesday, May 8Buddy Day

Friday, May 10Special Out of Uniform Day -- Buy-out

Tuesday, May 14Grad Retreat at Ball's Falls

Thursday, May 16NCDSB Graduation Celebration

Grad Luncheon

Friday, May 17Secondary PD Day

Monday, May 20Victoria Day Holiday

Tuesday, May 21Markbook Reports

Thursday, May 23Sidewalk Chalk Festival

Thursday, May 24Drama trip - You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

Friday, May 25Casual Dress Day

Wednesday, May 30Sidewalk Chalk Festival -- Rain Date

Thursday May 30Closing School Mass

Friday, May 31Casual Dress Day

JUNE

Wednesday, June 5 - Thursday, June 6EQAO Math Prep

Thursday, June 6Young Artists' Gallery

Thursday, June 13 - Tuesday, June 18French/Italian Oral Examinations

Thursday, June 13 - Wednesday, June 19EQAO

Friday, June 14Recognition Day

Casual Dress Day

Wednesday, June 19Markbook Reports Sent Home

Period 6 Exams

Thursday, June 20 - Tuesday, June 25EXAMS

Wednesday, June 26Exam Conflict Day

Graduation at Niagara College

Thursday, June 27Exam Review DaySeconday PD DAY

Prom -- John Michael

Thursday, June 28Secondary PD Day