Notre Dame High School

12 Malvern Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M4E 3E1 Main: 416-393-5501 Guidance: 416-397-6177 Fax: 416-393-5631

Principal: Jolanta Hickey Superintendent: John Shanahan 416-222-8282 Ext. 5371 Trustee: Angela Kennedy (Ward 11) 416-512-3411 Parish: St. John’s Catholic Church 790 Kingston Rd. Toronto, ON M4E 1R7 (416) 698-1105 CSPC Chair: Rosa Morphy 416-222-8282 Ext.88501

CPIC (Parent Engagement – TCDSB) www.tcdsb.org/cpic OAPCE Toronto (Provincial Voice for Parents) www.tcdsb.org/oapce-toronto Enrollment: 670

Thank you to everyone who made 2017-18 yet another fantastic year at Notre Dame! Whether finishing your first year in high school or your last, all can feel that something meaningful has been accomplished. There have been so many great events and accom-plishments throughout the course of this year that no single event can be singled out! We continue our commitment to community regularly through our Christmas Basket Pro-gram and our fundraising efforts for those less fortunate. As we continued through the semester, we witnessed great success both in and out of the classroom. Thank you to all students who put in the time, effort, interest and energy to represent our school from ath-letics, to academics, to technology and the arts. In the pages of this Newsletter you will read about these many successes. We will also be saying goodbye to Ms. Marguerite Jack as she retires and moves on to new and exciting possibilities. Additionally to Mr. Mirenzi, Ms. Jarosz, and Ms. Lingard as they move on with their journey of learning to new positions in our Board. We will miss their expertise, their willingness to help and their warmth! And as always - to everyone that is part of the Notre Dame family, thank you for continu-ing to support Notre Dame and for making it such a welcoming community. Keep family and friends close throughout the summer while you rest, relax and rejuvenate.

God Bless,

Mrs. Jolanta Hickey

Principal, Notre Dame High School

June 2018 TCDSB

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 2

It has been a busy, but very rewarding semester in the French Department. This semester our students in Grade 9 participated in an interactive cooking class with Chef Suzanne Lefebvre. They cooked delicious raspberry tarts together while listening to traditional Acadian French music. Our Grade 10 students partook in a stage combat workshop with Ni-colas Van Burek where they put their acting and speaking skills to the stage.

Several of our students participated and shone at the Con-cours d’art oratoire where they presented a speech in French and responded with confidence to the judges’ questions. Patricia Hafeez Ahmed-Gomez earned a bronze medal in the Grade 9 Core French level competition for her speech about finding happiness, while Tatiana Wun in the Grade 12 University French level competition took a bronze medal for her speech about social media and crea-tivity on YouTube. Congratulations also go out to Christelle Arciaga and Carina Colmenares for their excellent partici-pation in the Concours d’art oratoire. It has been a busy, but very rewarding semester for all

students and teachers in the French Department.

Seven of Notre Dame’s top Visual Arts students accepted an invitation to

display their work at the annual EDGE: Youth Art Show at Artscape Young-

place. Organized by Arts Etobicoke, this annual exhibit is an opportunity for

talented student artists from high schools across the city to showcase their

strongest achievement in a professional art gallery environment. This year

the seven day show ran from February 28th to March 6th. The exhibition in-

cluded 20 schools and displayed the work of over 125 students. Congratula-

tions to our participating grade 11 and 12 students Maxine Raomos, Alexia

Rodrigues, Leilani Panelo, Alliah Villa, Mungaba Ng’uni, Stephanie Persaud

and Hanjia Zhang.

On May 24th, Notre Dame Band Students performed at Canada's Wonderland Festival of Music. The stu-dents performed "Let's Get Loud" and a medley from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." The group received many positive comments from the music adjudicator at the festival. The judge was im-pressed with how the students supported each other in the ensemble and their strong community spirit.

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 3

Notre Dame cooperative education students successfully participated in the cooperative education program this semester. Stu-dents explored career areas of their choice and gained invaluable work experience. They were also able to develop skills needed to succeed in the 21st century such as interpersonal skills, team work, initiative, responsibility, and organization skills. Students gained hands-on experience in a variety of careers in Nursing, Teaching, Baking, Banking, Daycare, Retail, medical re-search, working with people with disabilities, and placements that support our SHSM – Women In Technology in Graphic Design, Interior Design, Architecture and Photography.

Congratulations to the following students on their outstanding effort and enthusiasm: Victoria Acquaviva – Hospital for Sick Kids Mehuli Baugh – Still Images (SHSM) Rachel Cubellis – St. Richard Lianne Mae Deano – Mt Sinai Hospital Gelila Ezra – 401 Games (SHSM) Alyssia Fernandes – Variety Village Kiekie Morgan – BMO Kelly Morrison – Today’s Child, Tomorrow’s Future (OYAP) Lauren Newman Steward – Interior Design (SHSM) Ashley Newman Stewart – Bobbette & Belle Melora NImjan – Parkin Architects Ltd (SHSM) Bianca Louise Ortiz – Eli Lilly Canada Emily Penaherrera – Old Navy Kiara Reynolds – St. Dunstan

Thoughts from our Coop students:

“My coop experience has assisted me with making future career choices and plans.” Bianca Ortiz – Eli Lilly Canada “Overall, this coop placement was a new way for me to learn new things through more hands-on experi-ence.” Lianne Mae Deanno – Mt. Sinai Hospital “After completing my placement at Sick Kids, I am extremely eager to pursue my goal of entering the health care field.” Victoria Acquaviva -- Sick Kids Hospital “I have developed entrepreneurship skills by acting on new opportunities and being innovative, creative, versatile, and resourceful.” Ashley Nichols – Bobbette & Belle

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 4

The Math Department had a busy second semester at Notre Dame!

Our students enrolled in a grade 9 math class this semester received

weekly sessions of math support through our numeracy program to

prepare for the Provincial EQAO math assessment which was written

on June 12th and June 13th. Despite the heat, the girls were so

focused and determined to succeed and we are so very

proud of them for this accomplishment.

A special thank you to all the Grade 12 students who gave of

their time and energy to tutor and mentor our grade 9 students

in math whether during lunches or after school. The grade 9s

were so appreciative and will miss you terribly as you start a

new chapter in your educational journey after graduation.

On February 27, the Waterloo Math Contests were written for

the grades 9 (Pascal), 10 (Cayley), and 11 (Fermat) students

and on April 11 the grade 12 students wrote the Euclid contest.

Many of our students placed in the top 25% of overall success-

ful contest writers and were awarded a certificate or medal

from Waterloo University depending on their final score.

Congratulations to the Advanced Placement students who re-

cently wrote the Calculus AB exam in May. Students will be mailed

their results sometime in July but a huge congratulation goes out

to these dedicated students who completed the AP Math Pro-

gram in full at Notre Dame. A job well done!

Finally - updates from Math Council: we had a very successful,

fun, and exciting semester this year. From Pi day to lunchtime

competitions, Math Council has engaged many students to expe-

rience the love of math. This semester a 3-day giant Jenga com-

petition encouraged students to alleviate exam stress. Beginning

at 16 floors high, the winning team was almost able to double the

height of the structure at 33 floors high!

As this year comes to a close the Math Department would like to

say thank you to all of our members, tutors, students, and

teachers for all of their hard work, dedication, and support…and

remember: you have to be odd to be number one.

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 5

In this year’s Skills Ontario competition, Notre Dame students won in several categories at the TCDSB level, and went on to represent the TCDSB at the provincial level of competition. Thao Nguyen participated in the Graphic Design Presentation competition, Éadaoin Keane participated in the Photography competition, Flora Nwakobi and Julianne Uptegrove participat-ed in the TV/ Video production competition, and Ashley Nichols participated in the baking competition.

Our Grade 12 student Ashley Nicholas competed in the Skills Ontario competition in early May. She did us all proud as she shared the skills she developed through her Coop placement at Bobbette and Bell bakery.

Team TCDSB was comprised of approximately 40 students, and to have 5 of them be from Notre Dame is a credit to Notre Dame’s Technological Education courses and the dedicated coaches who supported the competitors. Congratulations go out to this year’s Skills competitors!

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 6

The God Squad wrapped up an amazing year with a beautiful Closing/Graduation Liturgy on June 8, 2018. We presented Sr. Jo Badali, CND, with $3500 raised by the school through our Lenten Fundraising initiatives and our Dance Off! 2018 proceeds. We also saw Mr. Mirenzi kiss the big juicy fish as a culmination to our Staff Kiss the Fish Lenten Fundraising competition. We held Jersey Day for Humboldt in April (raising over $1000) and fund-raised for "The Cure Foundation" in May (raising over $1300). Thank you to the entire school community for your generosity! We would like to thank all of our graduating God Squad members and wish them luck in their future endeavors, and look forward to 2018-2019!

Our Community Garden has been thriving this Spring. Our grade 9 students Emily Wellwood, Jade Holmes, and Gabriella Saroop have been planning, planting and watering our little plot. So far we have zucchinis, thyme, tomatoes and sunflowers. These students have had a lot of fun maintaining our garden and have even harvested a few tomatoes.

Another year has come to an end for our Breakfast program. Over 220 girls enjoyed a quick and healthy breakfast every morning. We have more and more students joining us for our nutritious and delicious breakfasts. We would like to thank Deb Lucas and the Hospitality students for being our tireless breakfast providers. We would also like to thank those parents who donated much needed financial support at the beginning of the year and the Angel Foundation for their financial and logistical support.

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 7

By Tehreem Fatima On Wednesday, May 2nd, delegates from over 20 Catholic schools in the GTA accompanied the Development and Peace campaign bus to Ottawa to personally deliver postcard petitions to the Prime Minister's office and to their respected Members of Parliament. Among them were four Notre Dame Students who met with MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith at Par-

liament Hill. “Seeing how much these MPs really listened to us and shared our concern for issues was so motivating”, ex-plains grade 12 student Brittney Lumanda. Lumanda and three other students from Notre Dame’s Girl Up club, helped collect over 900 of the total 20 000 petitions delivered. The trip to Ottawa follows on the heels of the “Women and Peace” Rally that took place at Nathan Phillips Square on April 25th. Over 500 people participated in this rally; 320 of which were Notre Dame Students. The purpose of the peti-tion was to urge the Canadian government to uphold their promise of investing 0.7% of our gross national income towards development assistance, and specifically towards female organizations working to build peace around the world. Statistics show that when women are involved in drafting peace agreements, there is a 35% greater chance of lasting at least 15 years. As Erskine-Smith points out “this is an Idea that tracks back to one of our best Prime Ministers we ever had - Lester B Pearson - he gave us this idea that we have to keep pushing forward on issues including peace and its incredible to have a room full of strong young women pushing that here in Ottawa and I hope to see this idea come through and to see these young people continue with advocacy in the future."

When asked what was most memorable of the day, Lumanda explained “One thing that was very important as teen activists was seeing all the oth-er teen activists fighting for social justice issues in their own community. Seeing other young people who care as much as we do reminds us that teen solidarity can be very powerful and able to bring about real change.”

On April 12, Notre Dame Catholic High School was honoured to lead a morning of reconcili-action. In response to those calls embedded in the Commission's report for Truth and Reconciliation, students and staff participated in curricular responses that have Indigenized teaching in an effort to both educate and begin the energetic move towards reconciliation within the school community. Under the direction of Ms. M Jack, students performed Minotatemiskatowin: A Jour-ney to Reconciliation.

After the performance, guests were welcomed to the school library for the opening of Notre Dame’s Truth & Reconciliation Space dedicated to the memory of the Residential School children who survived, and those who did not come home. Students are

invited to sit , read, and learn about FNMI culture & heritage through literature, art, and historical texts. In attendance were MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Bear Standing Tall, Elder Bob, TCDSB Director of Education Rory McGuckin, Nick D’Avella, Frank Pio and Vanessa Pinto from TCDSB Equity, Inclusion and Indigenous Education Department .

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg.8

Dance Off! 2018 was held on April 20, 2018, and was a huge success. 16 teams from across the TCDSB competed, including ND's own Avidity (who took an amazing 4th place). Featured were also Toronto rappers LB and Ching, our premiere judging panel and hype DJ Triple J. Thank you to the God Squad, Ms. Jack, Mr. Hathway and the Tech Crew for running the show, and to Ms. Lawson and the Hospitality students for the refreshments and the NDHS staff for such amazing support! A special thank you to Ms. Mc Manus and Avidity for representing us so well! Together, we raised over $900 for the work of our CND Sisters in Education in Cameroon and Honduras, and for our school sponsor child, Aminata.

We are happy to announce that Notre Dame will be offering an-other international trip during March Break 2019. This time the students will travel to London for 4 days, before a short stop over in Belgium to see famous Canadian war memorials, and complete the tour with 4 days in Paris. During this trip students will see castles, palaces, museums and monuments all while ex-periencing the culture of two world famous cities. If you require more information please contact Mr. Smith at evan.smith@tcdsb.org. We would love to have your daughter travel with us on this wonderful educational experience in 2019.

Bongiorno from Italy! This past March Break Notre Dame traveled to Europe for a 10 day “Grand Tour of Italy”. The twenty one students started their trip in Venice before spending time in Florence, Pisa, Assisi, Sorrento and ending in Rome. During this time several UNESCO World Heritage sites were visited, pizza and gelato was consumed, and memories that will last a lifetime were made.

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 9

Notre Dame High School was chosen among 20 schools in the GTA to partici-pate in the Fashion Impact Challenge. This competition was organized by Fash-ion Takes Action, an organization whose goal is to educate the community about the negative social and environmental consequences of "Fast Fashion". Ms. Storto's Fashion class worked on numerous initiatives to help reduce tex-tile waste, most notably a school-wide clothing drive and clothing swap. Over 302 clothing items and 185 were swapped and found new homes. Bag2School, a charitable organization dedicated to reducing textile waste by repurposing and recycling textile items came to pick up the final donations today and our contribution weighed in at approximately 440 lbs! That amount of textile waste diverted from landfill is equivalent to 61.6 cars being off the road for a day. Notre Dame's total contribution to the project, including swapped and up-cycled items is equivalent to 102 cars being off the road for a day (CO2 emissions). Among the 20 participating schools, Notre Dame’s contributions made up 20% of the total and will earn Notre Dame second place! LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 7Rs OF FASHION AND HOW YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE: https://fashiontakesaction.com/the-7-rs-for-fashion-lovers/ For more information on the initiative, visit https://fashiontakesaction.com/education/fashion- impacts-challenge/

On June 6, 2018 Notre Dame High School held its 5th annual Film Fest at The Fox Theatre. Film Fest is a showcase of the year’s work in film-making by the Communications Technology students and features music videos, film trailers, commercials, short films, and stop-motion animation. Students and guests had the chance to walk the red carpet, complete with photos from Notre Dame “paparazzi”. Various genres of films were highlighted this year including horror, comedy, and drama. The audi-ence had the opportunity to vote for their favourite Grade 10, 11, and 12 films. It was apparent by how close the votes were that the audience was thoroughly impressed by the work of all of the talented Communications Technology students. The award for Best Grade 10 Film went to “Festive Things” by Marlee Machado, Megan Quitoriano, Sophie Segundo, and Kyla Barrera; Best Grade 11 Film went to “The Heist” by Erika Alajar, Sara Kahandani, Flora Nwakobi, and Alexia Rodrigues; Best Grade 12 Film went to “It’s Just a Game” by Lauryn Prummel and Madison Strasman. This year a new award, the Alumnae Award for Animation was won by Alexia V. Rodrigues and Sandra Ponce Paredes for their animation “Slip”. Congratulations go out to all the Communications Technology students, whose hard work, creativity, and dedication culminated in an unfor-gettable evening. Thank you to 401 Games who sponsored our door prize.

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 10

On May 23rd 2018, Notre Dame host-ed its annual Athletic Banquet. The banquet celebrated all of our student athletes and sport teams for their terrific seasons and achievements. Congratulations to this year’s special award winners: Emily De Melo - Senior Athlete of the Year, Zoe Doreenspleet –

Junior Athlete of the Year, Grace Titus – Bantam Athlete of the Year, Alicom Ochere – Spirit Award, Leah Hickey – Most Dedi-cated Athlete and Sasha Misick – Manager of the Year! “IF you can dream it, you can do it!”

As is our tradition, the Notre Dame Athletic Council is busy organizing our Annual Walkathon scheduled for October 11th 2018 (rain date October 12th, 2018). This event is held to raise funds for the various needs of the school and the Athletic program at Notre Dame benefiting all students at Notre Dame.

It was a very successful year for the Notre Dame Track team. We started training in October and began our competition schedule with two indoor meets at York University in February and March. It was at these two meets that we began to see the payoff from the effort that the girls had been putting in during training sessions. We continued training and began our outdoor season which led up to the TDCAA championships where we competed against all of the other Catholic schools as well as some French and pri-vate schools. At the TDCAA championship meet almost every team member ran at least one personal best time, a very impressive feat. We were able to score the 7th most team points in the girls division and placed 12th overall! With these results over 50% of our team qualified to compete at the Metro Championships against all Toronto schools and a further 20% qualified for OFSAA where they competed against the best runners in Ontario. The team is looking forward to a bit of rest in the summer and then getting back to training to be ready for cross country season in the fall and another successful track season in 2019!

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 11

The prom committee has worked very hard all year long to ensure a beautiful event on Thursday June 21, 2018. The theme for our night was "A walk in the woods", which featured a hype DJ, quality food, beautiful décor and a stunning crowd, at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex! A very special thank you to the prom committee for their dedica-tion to making this night a special and memorable one for all!

We are honoured to have had 165 young women graduate on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 and are proud of our graduating class who exemplifies the best of Notre Dame. These Notre Dame graduates have enriched our school with their participation in academic, athletic and extra-curricular activities. It is our hope that these young ladies continue to exemplify Marguerite Bourgeoys’ princi-ples of faith, perseverance, integrity, creativity and generosity. Congratulations and good luck in all future endeavours.

Ms. Lawson & Ms. Sachs-Pepe

June 2018 Notre Dame High School Pg. 12

Research shows there is a strong correlation between student mental health and life-long success. When students are preoccupied with social-emotional concerns they cannot be fully available for learning. Schools offer the perfect setting through which to enhance the skills, attitudes, knowledge and habits surrounding and in support of mental health and well-being for ALL students. This year Notre Dame High School’s Safe Schools Ambassadors initiated a social-emotional learning program entitled Student Well-Being. The program was comprised of a series of presentations entitled DAME TALKS aimed at helping students develop five critical competencies; self-awareness, self-management, social aware-ness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making - skills that have been deemed essential to one’s succeed in school, career and life while protecting students from negative out-comes. On April 17th, Notre Dame High School was honoured with a TCDSB Innovative Exemplary Practice Award for our Safe Schools initiative, this annual award recognizes staff and school commu-nities for projects that support the goals of TCDSB’s Multi-Year Strategic Plan. Congratulations to our 2017-18 Safe Schools Ambassadors; Natalie Abbate, Rhea Carlisle, Emily De Melo, Maddy De Melo, Riley Dugwell, Tehreem Fatima, Fiona Fleury, Paris Gajdacs, Wintana Gebreab, Samantha Impiana, Charlmayne Lee-Durmasal, Maria Patrick, Grace Simone, and Toni Solmito for your dedication, commitment, unwavering enthusiasm, and for initiating a new teaching-learning partnership here at Notre Dame High School.

TCDSB SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR 2018-2019

Labour Day September 3, 2018

First Instructional Day September 4, 2018

Thanksgiving Day October 8, 2018

Christmas Break December 24, 2018–January 4, 2019

Start of second semester secondary schools February 4, 2019

Family Day February 18, 2019

Mid-Winter Break March 11–15, 2019

Good Friday April 19, 2019

Easter Monday April 22, 2019

Victoria Day May 20, 2019

Last day of classes for elementary students June 27, 2019 Seven (7) Professional Activity (PA) Days for SECONDARY schools:

October 5, 2018

November 16, 2018

December 7, 2018

February 15, 2019

June 26, 27, 28, 2019

Secondary schools, in consultation with their Local School Staffing Advisory Committee, may schedule a Professional Activity Day to align with the day following one of the Parent-