In This Edition
- Message from your Trustee
- Lego Man goes to space and back
- Red Maple reading celebration
- SickKids TeleLink partnership
- Equity and social justice action fair
- Celebrating Earth Day
Message from your Trustee
Dear Scarborough–Rouge River Residents,
It is back-to-school time once again at the Toronto District School Board. I hope you enjoyed your summer and are looking forward to an exciting school year.
Last December, I was deeply humbled and honoured to be elected as Vice Chair of the Board. In this role, I have chaired meetings of the Trustees, represented the TDSB at system-wide events, and acted as a spokesperson for the Board.
The TDSB has grappled with a number of difficult decisions around this year's budget, as well as ensuring the most efficient and effective use of taxpayer funding.
Trustees managed to approve a balanced budget for 2012-2013 in part through staffing reductions and the consolidation of central senior administrative positions.
Moving forward, the TDSB is working with PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct a deep operational review of its facilities department to find cost-savings and ensure accountability.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of any assistance.
Sincerely,
Shaun Chen
Vice Chair and Trustee
Ward 21, Scarborough–Rouge River
Lego Man goes to space and back
Agincourt CI students capture stunning images of Earth using creativity and ingenuity
17-year-olds Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad began the school year at Agincourt Collegiate Institute like any other grade twelve students.
They graduated their senior year as the international newsmakers who sent Lego Man proudly with his Canadian flag on a 97-minute journey into near space and back.
Attached to Lego Man were four cameras that captured breathtaking video and images, which have inspired the imaginations of viewers around the world.
"We had no idea the results would be that fantastic. For some reason, our images were stunning," says Ho.
The idea stemmed from an online video that Ho saw two years ago of a balloon launched by university students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After recruiting his friend, Muhammad, to the project, the pair assembled a Styrofoam box with holes carved out for cameras and attached a mobile phone enabled with GPS to track the location of their contraption.
Using an $85 weather balloon and $160 worth of helium, they launched Lego Man from a Newmarket soccer field on a mild Saturday morning in January.
It was history in the making. Lego Man travelled 24 kilometres into the stratosphere, capturing 1,500 digital photographs taken at 20-second intervals.
The balloon burst just over an hour into Lego Man's journey, initiating his descent.
Using Ho's iPad, the students tracked Lego Man as he travelled at an average speed of 26 kilometres per hour back onto Earth, eventually landing on a field in Rice Lake, located 122 kilometres from where he was launched.
The remarkable images and video of Lego Man's adventure into sub-zero temperatures in the far reaches of the Earth's atmosphere were posted online and attracted international attention.
Ho and Muhammad were soon bombarded with interview requests from media around the world. Their story even helped make #Lego a popular trend on Twitter.
In the months ahead, they would speak at the TEDxWaterloo conference for engineering undergrads, visit schools and an aviation program facility, and receive congratulatory messages from Lego and Canon.
On March 6, Trustee Shaun Chen honoured Ho and Muhammad at the TDSB headquarters, where they received a standing ovation from the board and senior staff.
"You have done the incredible through your achievement and ingenuity. I congratulate you for your amazing accomplishment," said Chen, TDSB Vice Chair.
So now that they have conquered space, what is next for the two bright Agincourt graduates?
Both are headed off to post-secondary studies after gaining earthly acceptance into their first choices.
Ho is studying business at the University of British Columbia, and Muhammad is in the aviation technician and aircraft maintenance program at Centennial College.
Red Maple reading celebration
Ward 21 students pitch marketing campaigns for 2012 Red Maple-nominated books
The first-ever NE4 Red Maple reading celebration on April 24 brought together students from seven Ward 21 elementary schools to pitch their marketing campaigns for books nominated in this year's Ontario Library Association (OLA) Red Maple program.
"The students certainly were enthusiastic and proud to present their book trailers and campaigns to the other reading club members," says Lana Peck, Brookside Public School's teacher-librarian who worked with her students on Jill MacLean's Home Truths, a novel about bullying and abuse.
Judges Adrian Kailanof marketing firm Pumped! Inc. and OLA's Meredith Tutching and Carla Wintersgill were "fantastic," says event organizer and teacher-librarian Diana Maliszewski. "They gave descriptive feedback to each and every team," she adds.
SickKids TeleLink partnership
TDSB and SickKids team up to support children's mental health and well-being
On April 27, TDSB Director of Education Dr. Chris Spence and Vice Chair and Trustee Shaun Chen announced a unique first-ever partnership with The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in support of children's mental health.
"This new initiative provides students with the supports they need, where and when they need them," says Spence. The TeleLink partnership allows students to meet with a psychiatrist or other mental health professional through a videoconferencing system at one of six sites across the city.
"Through increased awareness, early recognition and intervention, SickKids and the Toronto schools will together foster healthy learning environments for students with mental health needs," says Mary Jo Haddad, President and CEO of SickKids.
Equity and social justice action fair
Malvern students showcase work on equity and social justice at FUTURES conference
At this year's social justice action fair held during the TDSB FUTURES Conference on May 4, a team of grade six students from Malvern Junior Public School showcased the many equity-seeking initiatives at their school.
12-year-olds Shaima Motala, Jasleen Panesar and Aquib Syed spent many hours creating a display board to highlight such projects as a food drive that collected over 300 items for families in need, and a 'no talking' day held at their school to raise awareness on people around the world who are silenced.
A message on their board sums up what they learned: "From examining various issues during class instruction and activities to holding school wide events which invite the local community to join us, we have learned about one another, learned from one another, and grown together."
Celebrating Earth Day
North Agincourt marks Earth Day with opening of new natural habitat
By Sashini Mahadurage and Joseph Jiang
Grade 5 Students, North Agincourt Junior Public School
Today we officially opened the North Agincourt natural habitat area. This natural habitat area has really pretty flowers in it, as well as some trees.
The art club has painted some very nice wooden fish that are going to be put in a wave pattern along the fence beside the ravine. We had a lovely performance by the school choir. They sang Sakura and Donkey Riding.
Our Trustee, Mr. Chen spoke about how we should always be "green" and how lucky we are at North Agincourt to have a habitat area to enjoy and play in.
Year by year, we'll get more flowers and fish to admire, and the trees will grow bigger and bigger to make our habitat area really wonderful and beautiful.
After the ceremony, we had a community cleanup which everyone participated in. In the end, our school yard was looking spotless.
We are really proud to be in a school that has a natural habitat and has amazing students who enjoy keeping our school area clean.
Please come and visit our natural habitat area whenever you can, to admire all of these amazing things!