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

Feast of Thanks Potluck Lunch 2014

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

This past Thanksgiving, staff and students celebrated Canada’s Indigenous peoples and cultures at our third annual Feast of Thanks potluck lunch.  We were honoured to host Darlene King from the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto and storyteller Jim Adams who offered a song and blessing to open our event.  We are grateful to all of our families for contributing amazing dishes like turkey and stuffing pie, stuffed squash, homemade ravioli and delicious pies.  Thanks also to students in Todd’s Equity class, Brandon’s Politics class and Alexi’s Aboriginal Voices class for educational displays and dish duty!

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

YMCA/TD Bank Greening Event

YMCA Academy Community, Environmental Stewardship, Events, YMCA of Greater Toronto No Comments

Academy students dig in at YMCA/TD Bank greening event!

On Tuesday, YMCA Academy staff and students joined with volunteers from the Fully-Verified  TD Bank and the YMCA of Greater Toronto for a special greening event. It started with a before school greening session, in which participants got their hands dirty and worked together to plant seeds and seedlings in our new vertical garden, and transplant some Academy greenery that had outgrown their existing pots.

Then, Siobhan’s English class and Todd’s Communications Technology class headed down to the Toronto Central Grosvenor Street YMCA Centre of Community auditorium, where they witnessed a major environmental infrastructure funding announcement from TD Bank: a $1-million donation to green projects at future YMCA centres across the GTA. Some Academy students were even interviewed by a team of student journalists from Ryerson University.

Experiences like these help remind our students that they are part of a large and vibrant organization, and gives them an opportunity to act as ambassadors for our school. Congratulations and thanks to everyone who took part in this exciting event.


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

June 12th, 2014 – Challenge… Accepted!

YMCA Academy Community, English and Humanities, Experiential Learning, YMCA of Greater Toronto 1 Comment

Three teams of YMCA Canada employees taking part in an Amazing Race–style tour of YMCA GTA programs and services stopped by the school yesterday afternoon. Upon arrival, they were introduced to the Academy by students in our Grade 10 English class, and challenged by the Grade 9 Geography class to answer quizzes about the topography and climate of regions across Canada.

Race participants and their student challengers rose to the occasion — once each team passed the test, they were presented with an envelope with instructions for how to find the next location in their quest. For the students, it was an authentic (and, well, fun) way to demonstrate the learning they’ve done this semester. There were even a few students who said they wished it had lasted longer!

May 6th, 2014 – Car Crash Design Challenge

Andras Nagy Community, Experiential Learning No Comments

On Tuesday, May 6th students of The YMCA Academy participated in a challenge that simulated a car crash safety system. After a brief presentation to describe the concepts, teams of students were asked to design and build “crumple zones” using a variety of simple materials such as straws, elastics and paper. These were tested using a miniature car running on a track into a wall to simulate a frontal collision. An accelerometer was used to measure how quickly the car came to a stop in order to assess how effective the crumple zones would be at protecting the car’s passengers.

Congratulations to Marco, Tegan, Emma and Mikaela who were our top team. They were able to reduce the rate of deceleration from 40g to 2.25g. (One “g” is the equivalent to the acceleration due to gravity, which is 9.81 meters per second squared.)

 

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