Waterloo Region has long been a basketball hotbed, and with the recent success and stardom of Kitchener’s newly-crowned NBA Champion Jamal Murray, you can expect more youth than ever before will want to take up the game.

For 16 years, St. Benedict CSS in Cambridge has had the privilege of running the annual Family of Schools Basketball Spring Basketball League for boys and girls in grades four to eight.

Founded by John Malnerich, St. Benedict’s past senior boys basketball coach, the program provides members of the St. Benedict community and its family of schools a transition activity for students who will eventually attend St. Benedict.

The St. Benedict family of schools is comprised of:

• Christ the King
• Our Lady of Fatima
• St. Elizabeth
• St. Gabriel
• St. Joseph (C)
• St. Margaret
• St. Michael
• St. Peter
• St. Teresa of Calcutta

This popular community program is run by current players in the St. Benedict basketball program who are interested in taking on a leadership role within the school community.

These student leaders are responsible for assisting in the delivery of the program as well as coaching their own team. This provides future Saints the opportunity to meet current students as well as get familiar with the facility.

For the current group of student coaches, it provides them the opportunity to enhance their leadership skills and give back to the community.

The program requires NO basketball experience.

The school promotes the program and encourages players to come to the league with a positive mindset, eagerness to learn, openness to meet new people and make new friends, and to gain confidence to try out for extracurricular activities when they reach high school in order to be more connected with the school and its community.

The overriding goal is not only to enhance the skills of each player but also help students feel more comfortable about their transition to St. Benedict in the future and to have an immediate sense of belonging within a school community.

What makes this program so special is that many athletes who grew up attending the program have now cycled through and have become coaches helping to run it.

This speaks to the positive experience that these students had at a young age, and the special place this program holds in their hearts.

The St. Benedict Family of Schools Basketball Spring Basketball League is a shining example of what it means to be the heart of the community, where success for each is possible and there is always a place for all!!

The 2023 Skills Canada National Competition was held from May 24-27, 2023 at the RBC Convention Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Grace Nakazi, and Luke De Sousa, two Monsignor Doyle CSS students, represented the Waterloo Catholic DSB as part of Team Ontario at #SCNC2023!

Luke De Sousa took home a SILVER medal in the Secondary Cabinetmaking contest, testing his skills in the safe operation of woodworking machines, portable power tools and hand tools.

Competitors were tasked to use the provided drawings to demonstrate hard work, machining skills, sanding and assembly techniques to build their project to a professional standard.

Luke’s focus and passion over the two-day competition was unmatched. He was coached for this contest by Monsignor Doyle Teacher, Julie McNab.

Congratulations to both Luke and Ms. McNab on this outstanding achievement!

Grace Nakazi engaged the audience on Day 1 of the Secondary Public Speaking Contest, answering the question: How can people be enticed to enter skilled trades and technology careers?

The second day of the competition saw Grace delivering an impromptu speech, with only 2 minutes to prepare and 3 minutes to present. Her ability to capture an audience and to preform under immense pressure, established her as a contender in a tight race to the podium.

Grace earned 6^th place in Canada, with abundant praise from the judges, her peers, and mentors about both her speeches. Grace was coached by professional public speaker, Alyssa “Twist” Light, and Pathways and Placement Officer, Solange Saraiva.

Congratulations to Grace, Twist, and Ms. Saraiva on this performance on the national stage.

As a Province, Ontario brought home a total of 39 medals (15 Gold, 14 Silver, 10 Bronze) in 45 competition areas, representing six sectors: construction, employment, information technology, manufacturing & engineering, and transportation.

To view the 2023 Skills Canada National Competition highlight reel, check out Skills Canada on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq17qoOBj_s

(Waterloo, ON) April 4, 2023 – The medals and pins being handed out at the upcoming 2023 Skills Ontario Competition are inspired by youth for youth.

After hundreds of entries into the Skills Ontario Pin & Medal Design Contest, Skills Ontario is pleased to announce two designs have been chosen.

This year, the winning pin design was created by second year student, Jian Bin Su of Centennial College.

The winning medal design was inspired by Grade 11 student, Reese Lombardi of Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School from the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

Started in 1992, the Skills Ontario Pin & Medal Design Contest takes place each September and encourage custom design submissions from youth who attend high school (grades 9-12) or college/training delivery agent in Ontario.

Students are invited to submit their custom designs by the deadline for a chance build their resume, win prize money and be recognized as the provincial winner. Winning designs for both pin and medal are immortalized in metal and reproduced by the thousands for the Skills Ontario Competition.

Both designs by Bin Su and Lombardi are the inspiration for the 2023 pin and medals which will be handed out during the 2023 Skills Ontario Competition on May 1 –

May 2 at the Toronto Congress Centre.

The public will be able to see the winning pin design up close during the event, while the medals will be handed out to the finalists at the Skills Ontario Competition during a closing ceremony on the morning of May 3.

Skills Ontario thanks all youth who have submitted a design for the 2023 Pin & Medal Design Contest and congratulate the winners!

Started in 1989, the Skills Ontario Competition is the largest skilled trades and technology event in Canada, featuring over 75 contests for elementary, secondary, post-secondary students and apprentices in Ontario. This event is free for the public to attend. More information about the 2023 Skills Ontario Competition can be found at skillsontario.com/competition-visitors.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board supports a range of initiatives to facilitate student success in secondary schools — and in the transition to secondary schools — with the understanding that every student learns in their own way.

Ontario’s high schools – including our own St. David CSS, Resurrection CSS, St. Benedict CSS, Monsignor Doyle CSS and St. Mary’s H.S. (with the support of our St. Louis Adult Learning & Continuing Education Centres and St. Don Bosco CSS) — are working with communities, employers, colleges, universities and training centers to offer more ways than ever to help students focus on their interests and support their learning.

The goal is to meet the needs, interests and strengths of all students and provide equitable opportunities and positive outcomes that engage students in their learning and better prepare them for graduation and a post-secondary destination — be it an apprenticeship in a skilled trade, college, community supported living, university, or the workplace.

And the WCDSB’s Experiential Learning programs which support that vital goal, are among the most robust in all of Ontario!

Here are some facts and stats about the various available WCDSB Experiential Learning and skill-building options:

Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) 

• Fifty-one sector-specific Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) programs accommodated 1,282 students in 2021-22.
• The board’s total SHSM footprint is 33% – which remains one of the highest footprints in the province.
• Students enrolled in the Specialist High Skills Major program have a higher 4-year graduation rate than their peers who are not in SHSM.

Cooperative Education (Co-op) Program & Apprenticeship 

Through Co-op our students continue to:

• Participate in a learning experience connected to a community.
• Reflect on the experience to derive meaning from it.
• Apply their learning to influence their decisions and actions in various aspects of their lives.

Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)

• WCDSB has a strong community partnership with the Business & Education Partnership of Waterloo Region (BEP), which continues to collaborate with the board in evolving OYAP into a strong regional brand – and we are proud to have an ongoing affiliation with the Ontario Council for Technology Education (OCTE), Skills Ontario, and the Ontario Cooperative Education Association (OCEA).
• In 2021-22 the WCDSB had 206 OYAP participants — and there were 11 Registered Training Agreements for OYAP Apprentices.

Dual Credit

• The goal of Dual Credit Programs is to support students in the achievement of their OSSD and to provide a successful transition to a college and/or apprenticeship program. In partnership with the School College Work Initiative (SCWI) and Conestoga College, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board offers five Dual Credit programs. Each of these programs include experiential learning and in particular, Cooperative Education.
• In 2021-22, Dual Credit programs were offered face-to-face on Conestoga College campuses or fully online for portions of the school year. The four WCDSB Dual Credit Teachers supported 59 students in their 103 Dual Credit courses.
• The overall success rate in these college courses was 92% and the graduation rate for this group of students was 81%.

The wide variety of technology programs available to students at St. Mary’s High School (SMH) provide an excellent illustration of the WCDSB’s student success initiatives in action.

There are 1,675 students enrolled in the various SMH technology programs – an average of approximately 24 students per program section.

Importantly, there is an intentional focus on providing the required staff support and physical resources necessary to ensure equitable access for Multilingual Learner (ML) or Multilingual Language Learner (MLL) students and students with special needs.

The programs focus on the following disciplines – providing practical trades skills and theoretical learning related to each program:

• Construction (9 sections)
• Transportation (9 sections)
• Cosmetology (7 sections)
• Health Care Technology (7 sections)
• Hospitality – Culinary (7 sections)
• Hospitality – Baking (6 sections)
• Computer Engineering (5 sections)
• Grade 9 Integrated Technology (5 sections)
• Custom Woodworking (4 sections)
• Manufacturing (4 sections)
• Technological Design (4 sections)
• Communication Technology (4 sections)
• Robotics (2 sections)
• Fashion Design (2 sections)
• Animation (1 section)
• Child and Elder Care (1 section)
• Green Industries (1 section)

 Among the practical skills learned in the various programs are:

• Trim and Framing Carpentry
• Electrical Wiring and Plumbing
• Automotive Service Technician
• Welding, Precision Machining, and Millwrighting
• Film-making and Animation
• Sewing
• Culinary Essentials and Baking
• Electronics
• Hairstyling, Barbering and Makeup

And the programs continue to grow. Two additional teachers have been hired in the past three years, beyond the needed replacements for retirees.

Ironically, while COVID-19 had undeniably negative impacts on a number of areas of learning, the pandemic actually helped INCREASE student interest in technology programs — as essential worker and hands-on skills and hobbies (like sewing and woodworking, as well as health care) got promotion and exposure and people discovered cooking and baking at home.

In the end, the WCDSB’s Experiential Learning programs play a critical role in the school board’s quest to provide a quality, inclusive, faith-based education that promotes success for each and creates a place for all students as they explore the pathways of their lives.

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While St. Boniface Catholic Elementary School in the rapidly growing community of Breslau is the Waterloo Catholic District School Board’s newest school, it is also the school with the longest history.

According to a detailed history of the School Sisters of Notre Dame’s Canadian Province, in 1836 the settlers of what was then New Germany (now Maryhill) established a church / school – “a very small log structure which was replaced in 1848 by a sturdy stone building fifty by sixty feet dedicated to St. Boniface”.

The school didn’t receive electricity until 1937!

Today, when you step inside the bright and airy “new” St. Boniface, it’s hard to imagine those long-ago, candle-lit days.

The school – currently home to 275 students, and growing quickly — is a beehive of activity, with the school’s Learning Commons a key knowledge hub for all grades.

On a recent February morning, a group of intermediate grade students was gathered in the commons, working on a variety of Science / Technology / Engineering / Math (STEM) challenges.

In one part of the room, students were intently focused on studying a variety of specimens under microscopes, while in another corner, students worked in teams, racing a clock to see which group could successfully engineer and build a weight-bearing structure within a time limit.

Meanwhile, throughout the Learning Commons, the floor was filled with multi-coloured Spheros whizzing here and there.

Spheros are programmable tennis ball-sized robots that help introduce students to fundamental STEM concepts (such as coding) via play-based learning. Students program the Spheros to follow a pre-determined path on the ground (the same principle as a self-driving car).

And in yet another area of the Learning Commons, students worked on robotics tasks.

What’s notable here, is these activities are not just happening at St. Boniface because it is a NEW school.

All WCDSB schools and all WCDSB students have access to the same Quality, Inclusive, Faith-based education – which animates a key pillar of our Multi-year Strategic Plan (“Strengthen to Become”) which works to ensure “Every student reaches their full potential” and “Staff see their impact on student achievement”.

Whether 1836 or 1937 or 2023 — learning was, is and will always be a collaborative process.

And for almost 19 decades, our #WCDSBAwesome schools have placed offering “Success for Each” and creating “A Place for All” at the heart of all we do.

Just as the founders of our very first schools would have wanted it!

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On February 21, 2023, WCDSB Vice-Principal Lorraine Harris was present at the Ontario Legislature where she accepted a special certificate of recognition for development of “My Place in this World”, a new Ontario school curriculum that celebrates Black Heritage.

It is recognized as the first year-round Black Heritage Curriculum that is aligned with Provincial standards.

The Guelph Black Heritage Society – led by WCDSB’s Denise Francis – -was an integral collaborator/ contributor, especially in doing research for the project.

The award sponsored and presented by Cambridge MPP Brian Riddell.

Following presentation of the certificate, Lorraine was honoured to meet with Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce.

The Ministry of Education will be reviewing the curriculum to decide the next steps in bringing this resource to more schools in the Province.

About My Place in this World

My Place in this World celebrates Black Heritage. Rather than starting and ending with the slavery narrative and oppression, this innovative curriculum provides a wealth of information, activities, assignments, and assessments that recognize the vast contributions of people from the mother continent.

My Place in this World is for all students, but particularly for our Black students in Canada.  It disrupts the negative effects of post-traumatic slavery syndrome plaguing Black youth and it fosters pride, a sense of belonging, and most importantly, hope.

My Place in this World:

• Celebrates Black Heritage;
• Ends the slavery narrative and oppression;
• Disrupts the negative effects of post-traumatic slavery syndrome plaguing Black youth;
• Is an innovative curriculum;
• Provides a wealth of information, activities, assignments, and assessments that recognizes the vast contributions of people from the mother continent Africa; and,
• Fosters pride, a sense of belonging, and most importantly, hope.

My Place in this World +++++++> VIDEO

www.myplaceinthisworld.ca

Twitter: @MyplaceinthisW1

Instagram: @myplaceinthisworld

Email: lorraine@myplaceinthisworld.ca

Why should we use a Black curriculum in schools?

In Ontario, nearly one out of every 15 young Black men experienced jail time, compared to one out of 70 young White men — THAT is a disparity of more than four times.

• 94% of Black youth aged 15 to 25 said that they would like to get a bachelor’s degree or higher; only 60% thought that they could.
• 53% of Black students were in academic programs as compared to 81% of White and 80% of other racialized students.
• Getting inside the “root” of the achievement and opportunity gap is how we begin to achieve equity for all.

What does the curriculum look like?

The activities are:

• Engaging and easy for teachers to follow;
• Cross-curricular ( math, language, science, history, drama skills, etc.);
• Linked to the Ontario curriculum and learning outcomes; and,
• Positive and support Mental Health and Wellness for all students, particularly Black students.

The students are:

• Immediately hooked by the videos, art, poetry, songs, essays, and discussion questions that are grade-level appropriate.
• Asked to make real world connections to current Black leaders and role-models as the curriculum progresses across grade levels.

The first thing a visitor to any WCDSB school notices when they walk through the door is the vast mosaic of races, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and languages represented by our students.

Indeed, our schools are home to students from almost 110 different countries, who speak more than 100 different languages.

So, it really is more than just a “saying” when we proudly state our schools truly do welcome the world!

In 2021-22, our Newcomer Reception Centre (NRC) welcomed 492 newcomer students to the WCDSB.

And between August and November 2022 alone we welcomed 294 newcomer students to our schools – including 24 students from Ukraine (who joined the 21 Ukrainian students who had already joined us between January and August, 2022).

Meanwhile, our St. Louis Adult Learning & Continuing Education campuses continue serving hundreds of students from dozens of families annually.

In 2021-22, St. Louis programs served the following:

• International Languages – Elementary – 1,695
• International Languages – Secondary – 117
• English as a Second Language (ESL) – 1,930 unique learners
• Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) – 960 unique learners

As the WCDSB moves toward more inclusive language, the school board is moving away from use of the terms English Literacy Development (ELD) learners and English as a Second Language (ESL) learners and is instead moving toward speaking in terms of Multilingual Learners (MLs) or Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs), which respects the linguistic backgrounds of our students without centering English as the only language in which one can learn.

We want to celebrate multilingualism as a gift — and celebrate as our students learn more than one and, often, multiple languages.

As we move toward the third decade of the 21^st century, multilingualism becomes an ever more valuable asset for our students.

While celebrating multilingualism is a daily occurrence in our schools, there is a particular, community needs-based emphasis in certain individual schools – among them, St. John CES and Resurrection CSS in Kitchener.

In the 1930s and 1940s St. John’s was home to students from numerous newcomer families. Those families – mainly from Eastern Europe – were attracted to the neighbourhood by the giant Dominion Tire plant (it eventually became Uniroyal) a short distance from the school.

The plant closed in 1993, and in the three decades since then the neighbourhood has transitioned to become home to families from many different countries.

The school is now home to students from more than two dozen different countries who speak more than two dozen languages other than English.

As significant number of newcomer families from Eritrea live within the St. John’s boundary which has made Tigrinya the most predominant language other than English spoken in the school.

St. John is part of the Resurrection CSS family of schools, which is a tremendous support for the MLs and MLLs attending St. John, since Resurrection CSS (along with St. Mary’s High School) both include fully-resourced ML/MLL Departments.

The department at Resurrection includes a department head and 11 teachers – along with a further 14 teachers who teach the school’s subject-adapted courses. They serve approximately 300 students, whose skills range from early English proficiency to those who are more proficient in English and simply require additional support and coaching to maintain their academic progress.

A small number of new students arrive to Canada lacking literacy skill in their own home language, with makes intensive support imperative.

In addition to the ML/MLL supports provided by the WCDSB, Resurrection also has an on-site Settlement Worker from the YMCA to assist newcomer families in navigating Canada’s complex immigration, health care and education sectors.

Like St. John’s, the most prominent language other than English spoken at Resurrection is Tigrinya. There are also a significant number of Spanish-speaking students. Other languages commonly heard in the hallways include Korean, Arabic, Chinese and Blin (a language spoken in Eritrea).

The ML/MLL program at Resurrection has been so successful that several students have volunteered to be language mentors for younger elementary school students. Part of this includes recording tutorial videos to assist students in leaning common English words.

In this video clip, students Azamit, Iledona and Selam translate the names of the days of the week from English to Tigrinya.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DVId8o_nYVXx8ew8GCpl4ReQUKKDPCcO/view

Waterloo Region’s Catholic schools are a true reflection of 21^st century Waterloo Region – which for a number of years has been among the top destinations for newcomers to Canada.

As our community has grown and become ever more diverse, so have we.

After 185 years of providing Quality, Inclusive, Faith-Based education, we remain as proud as ever to remain Heart of the Community: offering Success for Each and A Place for all.

Kindergarten registration is open NOW.

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