The Toronto based dance company Ballet Creole brought their performance of Saraka to the YMCA Academy. The performance of drum and dance was a celebration of African and Carribean music, song, and dance in a colourful and vivid show that we will not soon forget. Some students even got in on the act and took their hand at drumming. The show was brought to us through a generous donation from an Academy family. Thank you to Ballet Creole for this incredible performance and for sharing your artistry with us.
2017 Valentine’s Dance!
The YMCA Academy Leadership and Peer Support class hosted a Valentine’s Day dance on February 14th, 2017. The tickets were sold at the price of $5 during lunch from Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and also at the dance (if you were last minute). Our Leadership and Peer Support class worked to plan and setup the dance for about a week and half. Students requested many songs to be played at the dance and our very own DJ B tried his best to get each student’s request to be played in one long list.
At the Valentine’s Day dance students had fun by dancing, hanging out with friends, eating nice treats made by our very own Cooking Club runned by Katie Clay. All the money that was raised by the Leadership and Peer Support class will be going to the YMCA Youth Exchange Program. The amount raised was a whopping $172.95. All in all the dance was a successful night and everyone in the dance seemed to enjoy their stay. For people that think this might be the last dance. Think not. There will be more dances to be hosted in the near future!
Thank you to Central YMCA for letting us book the auditorium!
Written by: Mahadir & Bailey
Check out more photos from this event on our Facebook page!
Visiting the Royal Winter Fair
Four of the YMCA Academy’s classes made a trip down to the annual Royal Winter Fair on November 11th, stopping along the way to observe a minute of silence in the sun.
Once there, we saw horses practicing their jumps, spent some time feeding (and of course petting) the animals in the petting zoo, saw some incredibly large vegetables grown by some incredible farmers, and watched the awesome Super Dogs show.
Students had the opportunity to meet some of the talented canines, and to work on a variety of assignments including taking photos of all the sights they were experiencing, planning what they would write, and discussing food nutrition and the positive aspects of locally grown produce.
The trip has become a much enjoyed annual tradition, and this year was another great one.
‘We Scare Hunger’ Food Drive
Our annual ‘We Scare Hunger’ Food Drive for the Fort York Food Bank was a success in giving! We had a goal of six boxes and we ended up with 10!
Thank you so much for all the amazing contributions. One family even chose to forgo giving out candy at Halloween and went shopping for their donations instead.
A special thanks to the Integrated Arts class for their organizing, promotion and schlepping. Well done!
Graphic design and typography are everywhere!
Graphic design and typography are everywhere we look! Even in places we might not think to look. The YMCA Academy’s Grade 10 Media Arts class took a walk around the neighbourhood to apply their knowledge and understanding of typography. After studying various applications of graphic design and typography in class, and learning about the history of fonts like Helvetica, students were ready to find real world examples of objects that look like letters just outside the classroom walls.
Students took as many photos as they could of lamp posts that look like the letter “i”, or stairs that look like an “E”. We even found a giant “O” perfect for a quick class photo. We will be compiling all our found letters to make a giant alphabet.