Annual Cedar Glen Trip

Zareh Demirdji Beyond the Classroom, Community, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning No Comments

Ah the yearly Cedar Glen overnight trip. The three day, two night trip the Academy gleefully looks forward to every year during the latter part of October. This year, from October 18th to the 20th, students and staff made the annual pilgrimage with a bit more excitement than most years based on the splendid weather forecast promised by meteorologists. During the three day trip, everyone was delighted that they were not lied to by the weather experts, as we enjoyed three days beautiful, sunny, and warm weather.

During our first day, students participated in several new experiences. First, they participated in their second Insight Global Education simulation (this time about equity and resource allocation). Later that evening after dinner, students partook in an Aboriginal quilt activity where they learned about and discussed about the trials and tribulations the indigenous peoples of Canada endured at the hands of European settlers. After an eventful first day, students shared a campfire at night before heading to bed.

After breakfast, our second day saw students lending helping hands at Cedar Glen’s farm, doing various tasks such as mulching, de-weeding, and harvesting of crops. Upon completing their farming tasks, students were given a workshop on mapping and orienteering, a skill which they would need for their afternoon challenge! When the afternoon rolled around, six student teams competed against one another in the Academy’s Cedar Glen Amazing race, where they implemented their mapping and orienteering skills for the ultimate glory of boasting supremacy should they win the race. The evening saw students participate in a variety of indoor games, capped off by a night hike, game of dungeons and dragons, or watching a movie (whichever option tickled their fancy).

On our last day, we went down into Cedar Glen’s valley and participated in our traditional teachers vs. students animal survival game as well as archery. Our memories filled yet again of familiar activities (new ones as well), and of delicious food, we ate our last lunch and headed back to school. We impatiently wait for our return next year!

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!

Album One | Album Two | Album Three

Fostering global citizens with Insight Global Edu.

Zareh Demirdji English and Humanities, Experiential Learning No Comments

Insight Global Education (Insight) is a Vancouver based organization that’s dedicated to fostering global citizens. The YMCA Academy has partnered with Insight to deliver 4 different experiences to foster better understanding of global citizenship so that students can learn to think globally, and act locally. Each experience takes 2 hours and is delivered in successive Thursday Assemblies. Students are put through a simulation the first week, and then partake in smaller group discussions the following week to make sense of the simulation, what it demonstrated, and what its implications are on the global and local stage.

This simulation models “the Scramble for Africa,” a historical event that took place in the late1800s by Western powers in order to procure resources. The simulation allows students to see how the Western powers controlled and exploited African resources and people. They participated in the activity without the knowledge that they were re-enacting the Berlin Conference of 1884, which carved up the map of Africa. Once the simulation was over, students were brought up to speed on what they just experienced in order to prepare them for the more in-depth analysis and discussion to follow.

Check out more photos from this event on our Facebook page!

Biochemical Compounds in Food Samples

Zareh Demirdji Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments

There are four broad classes of macromolecules that can be found in living systems. Each type of macromolecule has a characteristic structure and function in living organisms. You can use your knowledge of the basic structure of each macromolecule to perform tests in the lab that detect the presence or absence of key functional groups or overall characteristics in various substances through the use of indicators.

Students were given a scenario in which they had to play the role of scientists at a Canadian Food and Drug Administration Center for Nutrient Analysis where they test various food items for protein, lipid and carbohydrate content. In the face of an impending zombie epidemic, they must use their knowledge and understanding of biochemical compounds to determine which food substances could be used to quell the zombie epidemic. To do this they must analyse a variety of foods to determine which has the highest levels of complex carbohydrates and proteins which have been found to kill the zombie’s brain cells.

Skating Trip at Nathan Phillips Square

Zareh Demirdji Community, Events No Comments

On Friday February the 10th the YMCA Academy embarked on its yearly walk to Nathan Phillips Square in order to partake in our annual skating trip. With skates and helmets secure, the students hit the ice. Skaters of all experience levels enjoyed gliding on the ice. This year’s major difference from years past was the amount of snow that fell throughout the entire event.

As always, after a fair amount of skating was done both staff and students enjoyed their traditional consumption hot chocolate and Timbits from Tim Hortons. This yearly experience, now in its sixth year, affords staff and students to enjoy an afternoon of fun for both skaters and non skaters. We can’t wait to see what next year’s trip will be like.

Check out more photos from this event on our Facebook page!

Annual Cedar Glen Trip

Zareh Demirdji Community, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning, YMCA of Greater Toronto No Comments

October is that time of year where the leaves turn red, orange, and yellow, presenting us with a breathtaking display of the best of nature. It is also the time of year where Academy staff and students gear up for one of the year’s most anticipated and loved events, our annual trip to Cedar Glen. Whereas most years our pilgrimage to Cedar Glen is around the middle of October, this year’s excursion was at the end of the month, the latest we have ever gone. As such, we experienced a much colder experience this time around.

For the second year in a row, in lieu of our tree planting as our school’s means of environmental stewardship we spent the first day at Cedar Glen working their on site farm. This year’s farm was much more advanced than last years, which gave our staff and students the opportunity to try their hands at many new farming activities. On our second day the weather decided to test us and turned cold, overcast and gave us intermittent rain.

Not to be intimidated by cold or precipitation, more than half of the staff and students chose to be outside for programming, while the remaining minority settled for warmth and board games indoors. Our last day was one with a bright blue sky and beautiful weather (which we wished would have made an appearance the day before) and as always, a bit of excitement about going home to our own beds, as well as sadness for having to leave a place that we love visiting. We impatiently wait until our next year’s visit.

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!

Album One | Album Two | Album Three