Feast of Thanks Celebration

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community, Native Studies No Comments

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We enjoyed yet another hugely successful Feast of Thanks today at the Academy in honour of Canada’s Indigenous people. We welcomed Darlene as our special guest from the Native Women’s Resource Center in Toronto. A big thanks goes out to everyone who contributed and especially our amazing staff, students and volunteers who did everything from oven heating duty to photography to set up and clean up. We are grateful for our harvest, our friends and family and especially our Y community. Happy fall!

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Jim Adams Visits the Academy

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community, Native Studies No Comments

Jim Adams YMCA Academy

On Monday, September 21, Jim Adams came and told us stories while we were sitting in the library at our school.

Jim is a Native story teller and singer. He comes to our school once a year to share his stories about lessons and history. Jim comes to the Academy to teach us about different types of cultures, so we can know about the world a little more.

I like hearing his stories. It wasn’t like other stories that I normally listen to.

By a Gr. 9 YMCA Academy student

Celebrating Black History Month

YMCA Academy Arts, Beyond the Classroom, Community, Experiential Learning, YMCA of Greater Toronto No Comments

Happy Black History Month from the YMCA Academy! We’ve been busy celebrating, learning and participating in many exciting events the last couple of weeks. The senior art class took a trip to the AGO to see the artworks of the infamous New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. “Now’s the Time” is the first retrospective of Basquiat to ever hit a Canadian gallery!

Several Academy students also participated in the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s first ever Black History Month Youth Committee event. Keynote speakers, education workshops and a tasty Caribbean lunch brought together many youth from organizations around the GTA. A huge thanks and congratulations to the following students for their performances and assistance: Tristan A, Alex, Emily, Mahadir, Evan, Quinn and Lindsey.

Lastly, UMOJA, a group of multi-talented dancers, writers and educators, came all the way from Montreal to perform and share the history and meaning of a dance called “stepping.” They had a Black History Month quiz, moving and inspirational spoken word performances, and even invited us all to move our chairs out of the way and try a few moves. To echo Steev from UMOJA, WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL.

 

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White Ribbon Voices Session

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community No Comments

The YMCA Academy welcomed Jeff Perera, Community Engagement Manager for the White Ribbon Campaign, for our first VOICES event of the new year.  The White Ribbon Campaign is the world’s largest effort to engage men in ending violence against women, and Jeff had some very interesting food for thought about how men of all ages can help redefine masculinity in a healthier way.  We are very excited at the prospect of continuing our work with Jeff through the “Make the Call” program in connection with the Toronto Argonauts.  Make The Call empowers and inspire students to engage their peers and communities in becoming aware of and ending all forms of violence against women and girls.  Thanks Jeff, and we’ll see you soon!

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Upcoming LD & ADHD Workshop

YMCA Academy Community, Events No Comments

ADHD and LD Naturally

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Guest Speaker: Dr. Joseph Steyr

Do you want to know more about natural treatments for ADHD and Learning Disabilities? Dr. Steyr is a Naturopathic Doctor and also has been diagnosed with a Learning Disability since he was a young child. His talk will start with a short introduction to what is Naturopathic Medicine and continue to a discussion of the biology of ADHD/LD. Using that foundation of understanding we will then go over ideas of how nutrition, herbal and homeopathic medicine is used to help support and treat people living with ADHD or LD.

Date: Thursday January 15th, 2015
Time: 7:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Location: The YMCA Academy
Fee: $5.00

RSVP by phone 416-928-0124 Ext 0 OR email: reception@ymcaacademy.org