Jan 29th, 2013 – The Cycle of Giving Continues …

In September 2012, the Grade 12 Environment and Resource class helped to co-ordinate the Academy’s school-wide participation in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. As a result of our participation in that event, the Academy received $50 that could be donated to any registered Canadian charity.

The decision as to where that money would be donated was turned into a class research project of Canadian environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). Research included not only an organization’s goals, activities, and success stories, but also required students to look at an NGO’s budget – including revenue, expenses and administrative costs.

After the presentations, the winner was chosen by class vote…Earth Rangers, an organization that focuses on educating children about the environment, was chosen as the donation recipient. But the giving still continued…thanks to others in our class who were inspired by a presentation on the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), that organization also received over $100 from independent donations from our class!

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Jun 5th, 2012 – Jackson Pollock Paintings

The casual onlooker might have assumed a group of hazardous materials experts were surveying the park outside the Central Y for dangerous goods, but a closer look would have revealed the grade 11 visual arts class engaging in a painting lesson borrowed from the great abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.  Students dripped, poured, splattered and threw paint at their canvases to create non-representational works that break the rules of conventional, image-based art.

May. 11th, 2012 – HPW3C, Preschoolers & Arctic

The YMCA Academy HPW3C (Living and Working with children) students had another wonderful visit from the preschool group.

This week the theme was THE ARCTIC. The group worked on readings about Arctic animals, Drawings and a collage of an Arctic food chain and games like: “Simon says” and “What time is it Mr.Wolf”.

Thanks to all for another wonderful morning.

Feb. 27th, 2012 – Students create map of Canada

The Geography class used their mapping skills to create their own wall-sized, giant map of Canada. The map has piqued the interest of many staff and students at the school – not just those in the Geography class! Those participating in the Canada Youth Exchange in April have dropped by to find out…just where is Oujé-Bougoumou? The map is now displayed in the Geography classroom and will continue to be used as a primary resource for the rest of the semester.

Feb. 2nd, 2012 – Academy Computer Lab Debut

The YMCA computer lab is now up and running! The creation of the digital media computer lab which is outfitted with industry standard image and video editing software suites was a joint endeavor of YMCA IT Specialist/Communication Technology teacher Andras Nagy and Academy student Alex Shynkarenko. The grade 11 Communications Technology class is currently creating their own Tumblr accounts as a means to showcase their course work this semester.