Annual Cedar Glen Trip

Zareh Demirdji Community, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning No Comments

The 2019 voyage to Cedar Glen was one of the largest ones to date with 53 students making the trek up to the beloved outdoor education center. The maroon and navy squad buses made their way up on a beautiful and sunny Monday and arrived just after 11:00 am. After unpacking the buses, a quick welcome, and a lunch of meatball subs, staff and students heading towards Cedar Glen’s farm to give 64 pairs of helping hands to fulfil our yearly environmental stewardship duty. With glorious weather gracing our first day, the students and staff participated in fire building workshops, a skill needed for the culmination of the next day’s Academy Games, spent time in their advisory groups to increase group cohesion and solidarity, followed by a bit of free-time before dinner. The evening included the customary campfire and optional night hike to round of a great first day.

Day two was not so kind in terms of the weather, but was not as bad as what we have seen in past years. After breakfast, the two squads learned that their respective flags had been taken, with only a ransom note as a clue to what to do next. And thus began the morning’s first activity, a mystery game. After about 2 hours of sifting through clues and ciphers, the maroon squad ended up finding their flag first, shortly followed by the navy squad. After lunch, the second annual Academy games began with the maroon squad looking to defend its title. After all was said and done, the navy squad took the title away from maroon, who was disqualified on a technicality. Upon filling bellies with food, students enjoyed a bit of free time, followed by the evening’s programming of team challenges, followed by a Halloween and Cold Cuts themed dance party.

The last day was full of familiarity as students headed down into the valley after breakfast to partake in our traditional third day events. Groups alternated between animal survival, a game where staff and students simulate a forest ecosystem’s food chain, as well as archery and atlatl. With rain coming down during the last part of the activities, students walked back for a last lunch meal, after which we packed the buses and headed back to school, another successful trip in the record books.

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

Album One | Album Two | Album Three

The new Fresh & Fiery Academy Hot Sauce!

Dayna Dann Community, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning, Healthy Living No Comments

On November 11th, the Grade 7/8 class accepted the challenge to make a new and improved Academy Hot Sauce! Learning from last years’ experience and the reviews from our loyal customers the students made several changes to our secret recipe.

This year’s goal was to lower the acidity and vinegar taste of the hot sauce, while trying to keep its ability to last the same, some of the changes that were implemented include:

  • Changing from apple cider vinegar to regular vinegar
  • Lowering the vinegar amount
  • Adding carrots for sweetness

With several stations’ setup, the class made quick work of defrosting the frozen hot peppers which were harvested at the end of summer from out rooftop garden. We then proceeded to chop and sauté the peppers, while adding onions and tomatoes. Eventually boiling it all down and blending the fiery mix into our new and improved hot sauce mix, canned into mason jars and ready for sale for $7 each or 2 for $12 and all profits will go back to the garden fund.

This was a fun activity that had many curriculum connections. These connections were:

  • Math: Measurement and Volume
  • English: Blogs, read and writing the instructions
  • Science: PH levels
  • Business: Marketing, Brand management and Advertising

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

Feast of Thanks Celebration

Katie Freeland Community, English and Humanities, Events No Comments

On Tuesday, October 15th, our whole school attended the YMCA Academy’s annual Feast of Thanks in the school cafeteria. The feast was an opportunity to hear presentations from students and guests as well as to eat a lot of delicious food, generously donated by students and families!

Our class, a Grade 11 English class focused on Indigenous voices, led the organization and created posters, artwork, and presentations, while Brandon’s drama class set up the space, and Rein’s food and nutrition class took charge of heating up and setting out the food. In our presentations, people learned about some of the background to Thanksgiving and about Indigenous traditions related to gratitude and the harvest. Students and staff also heard about Indigenous storytelling, and listened to a story that a student had written about being thankful.

We were also joined by two staff from the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, who talked a bit about what the centre does, and then opened the feast with a smudge and a prayer of thanks. While the smudging shell, filled with fragrant, smoking sage, made its way up and down the long tables of students, a few volunteers, led by our guests, put together a “spirit plate” with food and an offering of tobacco for the ancestors. Eventually, the hungry students were also able to fill their plates with savoury food, which was soon followed by dessert.

Students said that they really enjoyed the food, especially all the pie! Of course, there was plenty of cleaning up to do afterwards, and we are thankful for Todd’s civics class taking on most of the clean up duties. In the end, we hope that everyone who attended the Feast of Thanks has a better understanding of the historical aspects of Thanksgiving, Indigenous perspectives on Thanksgiving, and how we can show our gratitude every day.

– From Katie Freeland’s Grade 11 English class

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Global Climate Strike

Todd Harrison Beyond the Classroom, Community, Environmental Stewardship, Events No Comments

Last Friday, the school went to the climate march. The march began at 12pm at Queen’s Park and went along Wellesley Street, down Bay Street, along Queen Street past City Hall, and then back up University Avenue to Queen’s Park.

All the attendees were either students or adults that are concerned about the state of our planet/future. We were at the protest to tell our government that we are disappointed that they are not doing something to save our planet. We were there to also tell them that if they don’t do something now we will not have a future.

The event had a big impact. “It’s thousands of people marching down the street,” says Quinn. “I hope the government will listen because if they don’t, the human race will become extinct because of the amount of carbon in the air.”

For some students, the event was challenging. “I thought that it was very crowded,” says Claire. “There was so much cheering going on.”

But regardless, Friday’s Climate Strike made some clear connections to what our students are learning. “It demonstrated how people want to change the government,” explains Logan. “In Civics class, we talked about how important climate change is in relation to how it impacts people and society.”

By the Grade 10 Civics class

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Youth Exchange Canada: Tobique First Nation

Katie Clay Community, Events, YMCA of Greater Toronto No Comments

From May 18th to 24th, students and staff from the YMCA Academy shared in an amazing experience visiting Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick as part of the YMCA Youth Exchange Canada program. Many students felt that this trip was a highlight of their high school career and will always remember the fun and interesting activities they did and the wonderful people they met.

Our group met at the airport early Saturday morning, tired but excited for the adventure. After a short flight we arrived at the Fredericton airport and took a bus to Camp Wolostoq. We got a little lost on the way as Rein tried to direct the airport bus down an ATV trail, but we eventually made it, mostly in one piece! The camp was great, there was lots of open space and forested area. All of the cabins had been recently painted with artwork displaying animals that have a cultural significance. We were able to meet the artist who painted the cabins and she told us about why they are important to their culture.

The first night we had a chance to catch up with everyone who had visited us a month earlier in Toronto and also meet some of their friends and family. We settled into our cabins and had a campfire complete with hotdogs and s’mores.

The next day we visited Fredericton and went to the University of New Brunswick to learn about the history of Indigenous peoples through a pop up museum and also got to visit the Beaverton Art Gallery. We explored downtown Fredericton and then headed to Kingswood Entertainment Centre where we got to go bowling and play laser tag and arcade games.

The following day we hung out at the Wolostoq Education Initiative/Tobique Youth Centre and found out about the facilities available and activities they run. We had the option of going fiddlehead picking and were able to forage buckets full of the beloved young fern/vegetable, which we enjoyed for dinner a couple of days later. We also visited Hartland to walk across the longest covered bridge in the world!

The next day we toured the reserve and the local elementary school and helped out in a nearby community garden planting herbs and vegetables. Then many of us participated in a sweat lodge ceremony, which for some was a highlight of the week. The experience was 3 hours long, comprised of 5 themed sessions that allowed participants to share their thoughts and feelings, while in a hot, dark space in very close proximity to each other. It was a very special experience that we will treasure. After this it was a quick transition to Grand Falls for a chilly zip line across some spectacular waterfalls.

The next day we did many activities that taught us about the history and culture of Indigenous peoples. We chose from a variety of crafts, including basket-weaving, wood burning, rock painting, rattle making, and medicine bag making, and also had a chance to learn about the use of plants as medicine and go on a plant scavenger hunt. That evening there was a community potluck and drum and dance circle, which was a lot of fun.

Our last full day was spent at Camp Shiktehawk and we had perfect weather for all of the fun activities, including archery, human bowling, ropes courses and rock climbing. That night we had a friendly game of kickball, Toronto vs. Tobique, and then had many of Tobique youth come back to camp with us for the last night. In the morning we were certainly sad to see the week come to an end and to have to say good-bye to our friends, but we had such a great time and know that we will stay in touch and hopefully see them again soon.

Some words from our students:

“This exchange was one of the highlights of my high school experience and I would very much recommend it to other students.” -Seth

“It was a great trip, I wish it was longer!” -Peter

“I had the time of my life!” -Javier

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