Annual Cedar Glen Trip

Ada Miller Community, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning No Comments

Another year, another trip to Cedar Glen. The much beloved three day, two night trip was a resounding success. The weather was a mix of cool, wet weather, and beautiful snow of the course of the 17th, 18th, and 19th of October. This did not stop the students and staff from enjoying the great outdoors.

As has become tradition, the school’s environmental stewardship was spent working on the on-site farm. This year the staff and students helped to plant garlic, and blackberries as well as helping to prepare the farm for the winter. Despite the cold, perseverance was paramount, as the campfire and night hike were overwhelmingly popular activities.

Overnight a thin blanket of snow covered the ground as the first annual Academy Games kicked off. These events had teams of staff and students going from station to station doing a variety of activities such as trivia, archery, and fire-building. Excitement was high as the teams made their way back to enjoy a nice meal, and afterwards, a dance party!

Time wore on, giving way to a mixture of excitement and sadness, excitement for getting back to the routine of daily life, yet a longing to remain in such a fun and beautiful place. Such is the nature of the trip, and it gives us something to look forward to next fall.

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

Album One | Album Two | Album Three

Academy partners with Digital Literacy + Coding pilot!

Don Adams Community, In the News, Student Spotlight, Technology, YMCA of Greater Toronto No Comments

The YMCA Academy has always leveraged computer technology in the service of student learning. Laptop-based assistive technologies are at the heart of the supports we provide to a wide range of learning styles. Thus, when we had an opportunity to partner with the Brookfield Institute in their “Digital Literacy + Coding” pilot project“, we jumped at the chance.

The Academy has committed to running eight 12-week sessions to introduce youth in the GTA to the logic and practice of coding. We see this pilot as providing our students with additional expertise and knowledge that will be hugely important in the job markets they will face when they graduate. These sessions are free of charge, and laptops are provided.

By introducing Digital Literacy + Coding to a wide variety of youth, including youth who are underrepresented in this growing field, The Academy hopes to help shape the future.

The program will introduce youth to a variety of activities leading to a final project that each participant has chosen. They will be “remixing” websites, games, and other web-based applications to get a better understanding of how they work, and how elements of the code affect the final product.

The Digital Literacy + Coding pilot will focus on several languages, particularly HTML, CSS, and a brief introduction to JavaScript. These are the languages that are the backbone to complex and engaging web pages. This program is an excellent way to help youth begin the journey of sparking passion for STEM-related fields by learning the basics of the coding languages of the web.

 

Announcing our Grade 7 & 8 Program

Don Adams Community, Head of School, In the News No Comments

Spring Open House Promo

As Head of School at The Academy, I get many opportunities to speak with the parents and guardians of prospective students. Each caregiver has a slightly different story to tell: of their child’s learning challenges, of the supports they might need, and of their previous experience in other schools. In every case, their stories speak of anticipation — their child is moving to a new educational environment, one which is rich in resources to support a wide variety of different learning challenges.

The supports we are able to offer, whether it be laptops available for each student, assistive technologies designed for their specific learning challenges, Certified teachers with Special Education qualifications, and/or our counselor on site, are impressive. The program is so well designed that families often comment to the effect that “we wish all this was available to us in earlier grades!” Such comments have caused us to re-examine our program in this connection.

We are very pleased to announce that we are, therefore, expanding The Academy program to Grades 7 and 8! Earlier introduction to the supports that will enable lifelong learning for each of our students is clearly something to be desired. We feel that we can successfully prepare students in Grades 7 and 8 for success throughout high school and beyond.

To learn more about our program, and to apply for admission, please join us on Saturday, April 28, 2018 from 11 am to 2 pm for our Open House!

Food and Nutrition Class Potluck

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community, Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Living No Comments

On Friday, March 2nd, The Food and Nutrition Class had a potluck. We had this potluck so we could learn how to cook and bring in our meals to show to the class. The whole class was there and some of the other teachers outside of class like Dayna, Zoe, Luka, Andres, Zee and others came to try our food. Everyone enjoyed it. It was exciting to see what other people had made and to try everyone’s meals and to bond as a class and watch a movie while eating. Some of the meals that people brought in included:

  • Mac And Cheese (Rosie)
  • Crusty French Bread (Charlotte)
  • Pizza Rolls (Owen)
  • Pizza (Logan)
  • Grilled Cheese with Ham (Adrian)
  • Beef Stir-fry and rice (Spencer)
  • Addie brought some delicious mac and cheese It Was LIIIIIIT.

After having a huge buffet, I think everyone was stuffed at the end! There were leftovers and we ate them at home over the weekend. We are really looking forward to the next potluck, in April. Yum yum!

Blog post written by: Students of the Food and Nutrition Class

Relationship building with the OPP

Susan Couprie Beyond the Classroom, Community, Experiential Learning No Comments

On November 1, 2017, three senior YMCA Academy students visited the OPP- Queen’s Park Division to learn about all the employment opportunities within the department. We heard the personal stories of several officers about how their interests and training led them to their current jobs.  Some started as volunteers, others in the public sector, but all had one thing in common, they all agreed that having the skill and the love of communicating with the public was the most important skill to have.

We learned about the history and the current responsibilities of the OPP.  Did you know that the first motorized vehicles that the OPP used was the motorcycle?  Did you know that the first female officer joined the forces in 1974?  Neither did we, but we also did not know what different roles the OPP played in rural versus urban regions in Ontario, but we do now.  We also now know that sign language is a skill that is being encouraged in the OPP.  There are more people now with hearing related difficulties and as I said earlier, communication is a key skill in this job.

Fortunately we were able to witness several demonstrations.  We had a canine demonstration by Constable Hick and his partner “Cash” who is an Italian Sheppard named after Johnny Cash.  Other demonstrations included a Conducted Electrical Weapons (taser) and an O.C. Spray (Pepper Spray).  Safety was the primary focus with stress placed on understanding that there are clear guidelines about what situations warrant considering their use.

Since then, the OPP officers have reached out to our YMCA community several times.  They have hung out with us during lunchtimes, become members of our Dungeon & Dragon club and have been seen shooting hoops with our students in the basketball club.  This Thursday, they will be joining us in several discussion including internet safety, situation safety and nutrition & physical fitness.  In the coming months they will be our guests in:

  • Careers class to discuss career options
  • Physical Education classes to show the students what the physical training is like for their job
  • History class to discuss tactics of different societies and time periods (an expectation of the course)

I am very happy with the ongoing relationship we are developing with the OPP.  And I look forward to expanding their presence in our school as they are truly interested in the youth of this community.