Academy staff and students enjoyed a crisp, sunny annual skating trip last week at Nathan Phillips Square. A few slips and falls were not enough to discourage fun, excitement and Timmy’s hot chocolate. We love this trip as a time to hang out with friends, get a breath of “fresh” air in downtown Toronto and enjoy some physical winter fitness (but we can’t lie, we are excited that spring is around the corner…)
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The YMCA Academy celebrated the holiday season with an annual talent show and party on the winter solstice. Zee’s Food and Nutrition Science class baked up a storm, and staff and students contributed exciting performances including the Academy guitar club’s inaugural performance, a smashing rendition of the classic “Whose On First” baseball comedy skit and a homemade lemonade demonstration (brought to you by “Cooking with Cato”). Celebrations continued after the show with some X-Box favourites, chilled out guitar jams and a craft corner where people made cards for family and friends. Good times were had by all!
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YMCA’s all around the world are celebrating peace this week in many different ways. The Central Y in downtown Toronto hosted its annual Peace Medallion Ceremony on Tuesday where the St. Jamestown Youth Council was recognized for their peace-building initiatives. The Academy’s own Keara and Dakota were the emcees for this prestigious event which drew quite a crowd to celebrate youth and peace. Special thanks goes out to Tristan, Omar, Allora, Yasin and Mikaela for helping the event run smoothly. Peace out!
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Today members of The Academy gathered to observe Remembrance Day. Students and staff shared personal reflections on peace and remembering as well as quotes and poems of peace. We took two minutes of silence to honour and remember those that have lost their lives or had their lives impacted by violence and war. We screened The Academy Peace Week video highlighting those peace promoting activities that the Academy students have participated in this school year. To close, all in attendance took a moment to create a written statement of peace, outlining how each of us could contribute to peace within ourselves, within our circle of friends and within our communities.
As a staff I am always so impressed by our student’s level of insight and compassion towards the world around them.
Peace.
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Bad Moon Rising. Redemption Song. I Will Walk 500 miles. These are a few of the songs that members of the Academy’s new Guitar Club have been working on lately. We meet a couple of times each week and practice chords, strumming and technique. We are very grateful to several YMCA of Greater Toronto employees, such as Gerry, Shayna, Brandon and Erin for donating and lending some guitars so that we can all enjoy the music. Stay “tuned” for news about the holiday talent show!!
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