Leaders in Action
Our grade 12 leadership class has had a very busy semester providing many opportunities for our students to get involved and to show their school spirit.
September began with a class effort in organizing the annual Terry Fox Run. Grade 7 through 12 students walked or ran around our track, raising $3629 for the Terry Fox Foundation.
October saw a lot of action with individual projects. The annual North Dundas Food Drive allowed classes to compete for prizes as they donated non-perishable food items for our local food banks. Grade winners were: Miss Vandermeer’s class who collected a whopping total of 147 items, Mr. Wilson’s gr. 9 math class, Mrs. Wilson’s 11-12 drama class, and Mr. Deighton’s grade 10 civics class. Thank you to all students and families who contributed.
In mid-October the teachers competed against our students in softball. The teachers won a close game scoring 3 runs to our student’s 2.
Inside Ride was a tremendous success again this year, surpassing last’s years generous donation total. Participants worked very hard as they collected pledges and cycled for childhood cancers. The gym was rockin’ with excitement during this fun activity as cyclists and volunteers raised a total of $5580. Top fundraisers included Tara DeJong, Evan Corbett-White, and intermediate students Jamie Quinton, Jessi Zandbelt, Sawyer VandenBosch and River Johnston.
Halloween witnessed our first Punkin’ Chuckin’ event which proved to be a school favourite. Students purchased pumpkins to place in the Hail Mary Punkin Chuckin catapault, and were then able to release a lever which launched their pumpkin across our field. Thank you to Mr. Bert Doornward for donating the pumpkins, the catapault and his time.
Grade 7 and 8 students enjoyed two school dances this fall in our multi-purpose room organized by our leadership students, including a spooky Halloween dance and a Christmas dance. They boogied to some popular music and had lots of fun.
December saw the true spirit of Christmas come alive as our annual Angel Tree project got underway. This was another very successful event as more than $600 in gifts being given to local families, and more than 25 girls and boys ages 13-18 receiving gifts. Our students demonstrated that Christmas is all about giving.
Cookies for Coats provided delicious cookies to purchase with proceeds going to the UCDSB Champions for Kids Foundation.
Audience for the Arts allowed North Dundas’ drama students the opportunity to share their talents with peers and with the public. More than seventy people enjoyed “This Phone Will Explode at the Tone” and “THS PHNE 2.0”.
Leadership students “worked” through the holidays as they ran our 2nd Annual Ryan Williams’ CHEO hockey tournament at the Winchester arena. Four teams made up of area firefighters, and the OPP along with players from our girls’ and boys’ school hockey teams competed in the round robin tournament and raised $800 for CHEO.
Members of our boys’ hockey team also competed in a hard fought game against ND teachers on February 2nd. With the game tied at 6 at the end of the third, and forced into a shoot out, the students prevailed with their peers cheering them on.
Upcoming events include Hoops for Heart on February 7th as well as Hockey for Heart in May.
Our events are always a tremendous success due in part to our school families’ generosity and the willingness of our students to participate in such events. A huge thank you to all.