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.

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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

June 9th, 2013 – Central Y Healthy Kids Day

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community, YMCA of Greater Toronto

Here are some pictures from the June 2nd Healthy Kids Day at the Central Y. What a big success! Over 600 came through the doors to participate!

A big thank you to all the staff who came out and supported – many of you on your day off!

And a HUGE thank you to our many volunteers who supported us all day long. We could not have done it without you!

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Think about joining us next year to earn volunteer hours!