Sep. 13th, 2013 – The Academy’s first Spirit Day!

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom

This past Friday, YMCA Academy students transformed into construction workers, outdoor adventurers, cartoon characters, historical warriors, baseball superstars, cool crooners, and animals of every shape and size. Yes, on Friday we wore many hats — literally, I mean, since we were celebrating “Wear Fun(ny) Hats or Headgear Day,” our first Spirit Day of the school year.

The event was a big success: students turned up in all kinds of cranial adornments, and we had a student-run hat-making station in the reception area for anyone in need of some last-minute headgear. Best of all, it was a chance for our new students to engage further in our school community. And there’s more where that came from; the day before Hat Day (Hat Eve, if you will), we brainstormed during TAPS — our monthly small-group sessions that run as part of the Academy’s dedication to Mindfulness practices — and came up with a plethora of fantastic ideas for spirit days to come. Stay tuned!

— Todd Harrison

Graduation and End of Year

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Student Spotlight, Values Awards

Our annual YMCA Academy Graduation and End of Year Celebration was a huge success!  The food spread was amazing, the decorations were spectacular and the energy and excitement was fantastic.  A highlight of the evening was the Academy’s first ever “dance”, a dream that was set to motion by our student Dakota, which featured the acclaimed DJ El Machetero on the turntables.  Congratulations to Cato, Jamie, Tristan, Joseph, Hannah and Lexie, our Values Awards winners; Yasin, the winner of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Volunteering and Alex, the YMCA Academy Community Involvement Award.  And of course, we would like to extend a huge congratulations to our graduates, Ahmed, Yasin, Alex, Diana and Michael.  We wish you all the best in your future, and hope you come back to visit often!

 

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

June 16th, 2013 – Students on Mindfulness

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community

The Academy wrapped up it’s third year of Mindfulness programming.The school implemented this program with the support of Mindfulness without Borders.

Along with bi-weekly direct instruction on mindfulness awareness, our students benefit from a daily breathing & meditative practice called Tuza.  Our school has embraced the mindfulness practice into our daily lives and Tuza is just one of the skills we have found purposeful and beneficial.

The Grade 11 Math class decided to try to quantified our Tuza practice. Here’s what was discovered:

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June 15th, 2013 – Academy course vote

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Updates

The Academy tries it’s best to accommodate student voice in timetable choices. The timetable for 2013-2014 was solidified after students provided input into their optional course preferences.

The Grade 11 Math class formalized the process through a school-wide survey and data-analysis project. Here are just some of the results from this year’s survey.

optional_courses

June 10th, 2013 – Global Awareness Team

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom

The Academy formed a Global Awareness team this year.

Shayna a lovely YMCA staff member from the YMCA’s International Department came and introduced a number of Global Awareness issues to our school over a very well attended lunch hour session on May 23rd, 2013. A number of Academy students have elected to join the team. They will gather regularly to discuss Global issues and implement cross-curricular programming at the school.

The Global Awareness team’s first event will be held on Tuesday June 18th, 2013 here at The Academy. They will be hosting youth visitors from YMCAs across Columbia. The school will gather in a circle discussion to get to know the visiting youth, share their various experiences and exchange life- stories.

Stay tuned!

global_awareness