“There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book.” – Frank Serafini Over the summer, Gordon Graydon’s Ma-nasa Guntaka and Amanda Jiang created The Book Project, a non-profit organization that aims to im-prove literacy among homeless youth. Both Manasa and Amanda have a strong love for books and are very dedicated to reading. They want to convey their love of books to those who do not have the

opportunity to read. The inspiration for this idea came to Amanda during the summer, when she found flyers asking people to donate books to kids in newer communities in the north. She and Manasa decided to start their own version of the campaign, and started collecting books to donate to local shel-ters in Peel and the Greater Toronto Area. The Book Project’s initiative and commitment reflects how stu-dents at Graydon always strive to make the world a better place. (Full interview on Page 2)

The Graydon Girls bas-ketball team started their season off with a disappointing defeat at the hands of Glenforest. The home team was convincing in their play, and it reflected on the score-line as they beat the Hawks

by a margin of 36 points to 13. This loss was a blow to the team’s confidence but it was pleasing to see how the girls stuck together and moved forward with the next game in mind. The team had been taken under the wing of

Mrs. Moretti who, with her phi-losophy, aimed to guide a reju-venated set of players into a suc-cessful season.

(Full Story on Page 4)

Graydon Girls ReboundBy: Yatin Kapur

Fall Issue: November X, 2014

One Book at a TimeBy: Soumya Ananth

SPORTS:Boys Vollyball

Results PAGE 4

Entertainment:

Halloween SpookFest

PAGE 7

Advice:

Meet Gordon

PAGE 9

Editorial:NAnowrimo: A writer’s challenge

PAGE 6

Exclusive:

Coverage; or it Didn’t Happen.

White Pine Teacher Reviews

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Header Design by Moaaz Waheed

One Book at a TimeBy: Soumya Ananth

The Book Project is a non-profit organization run by two grade 11 Gordon Graydon students. To help spread the word about the Book Project, reporters from The Gray-don Post interviewed Amanda Jiang and Manasa Guntaka, the co-founders of The Book Project.

How would you describe the book project?

MG - The Book Project is a non-profit project, and what we do is we collect books and donate them to local youth and homeless shelters. We started off with just youth shel-ters but then we got in contact with Blue Door. They have women and children who have been abandoned living there and they wanted books for empowerment. So what we’ve done is we’ve first started off in schools and by the end of the semester, we’re hoping to have donation boxes in ten differ-ent schools [to benefit these shelters]. Why did you decide to start this organization?

AJ- Well because a lot of people are focusing [on] third world problems; which are very important, but we aren’t do-ing that much about our local issues. So we thought, maybe we could start something [locally] that we could do that would be helpful.

MG - And, it’s important for us to help other[s]. I mean, what more do we have than that. And while there are a lot of problems in third world countries, there’s also a lot of prob-lems in our own community that we kind of overlook.We think Canada’s kind of perfect, but there are a lot of people who aren’t having the happiest time, and we wanted to help them out.

How do you think this will change their lives?

AJ - Well, [reading] really opens up your mind. It really gives [homeless youth] something to do, [and] something to look forward to. Because, a lot of the time, if you are stuck in one place, and you don’t really want to leave, you don’t have much to do. It’s not to change someone’s life, it’s to improve someone’s life.

MG - Most of [the people living in shelters] come from troubled pasts. They’ve been abused, or they’re runaways, homeless, or orphans. The thing on their mind is not to go out into the world and get a book. They’ve become shy, [even] reclusive.

So, it’s important to help them build that confidence. They are amazing people, I am sure they all are. Their priori-ties aren’t to leave the shelter, [as] they finally have a home. A lot of them don’t end up going to libraries; that’s why we are bringing the books to them.

News

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When will the books be donated?

MG - We are going to do our first donation the week of No-vember 2nd to November 9th. We are in the process of pack-ing books right now; sorting them out, which one goes to where, putting them in their boxes. We are going to be driv-ing personally, to the shelters, to meet with the kids we are going to be working with, meet with the women, and hand over books. Because, it’s important to have a personal rela-tionship with the people you are helping out.

AJ - We are going to take a lot of pictures, and we are going to try to document everything. What kinds of books do you accept?

AJ – Pretty much any kind of book. We have youth books and mature reads, but we are also accepting things like board games, school supplies, and things like that, [so] it’s not just books. We are just called The Book Project because we are mainly focusing on books.

MG - We want books, but if you feel like there is something you have to donate that will help them educationally, then go ahead, we are all for it. We are focusing on [general] literacy. So far, the pair has collected over 165 books and are working with 5 shelters, in and around the GTA. Manasa and Amanda are hoping to work with other schools in Peel and the surounding community in the near future. By the end of this semester, they want to be working with 10 schools and 7 – 10 shelters. Their main goal is to promote literacy and help the less fortunate with their literacy skills, because in today’s fast paced world, these skills are vital. If you would like to donate, the main donation box is outside the library.

Amanda and Manasa sorting theur current donations

News

Photos taken by Noor Abdel-Baset

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Graydon Girls ReboundBy Yatin Kapur

(Con’d from Front Page)

After a hard week of training, the motivated team faced against T.L. Kennedy (TLK) who looked shaky af-ter their previous game against Port Credit. The girls had the home advantage this time around and it all came together as the team collectively swept aside a sluggish TLK team by a score of 21-13. Saruka Thavaseelan played an instru-mental role in this win, as she individu-ally scored 13 points and led the line of attack to take advantage of TLK’s vulnerable defense.

The girls looked to have finally have settled in, but they were faced with another hiccup as they lost their next game to Rick Hansen. Having won their previous two games, Rick Hansen was full of confidence, and they chal-lenged our girls to give it their all. The

girls came back fighting but were un-able to turn the game

around in their favour. This game proved to be a big blow to the team as they went on and lost their next two games against Mentor College and St. Joseph. Having played 3 games in 10 days, it is fair to say that the lack of results can be attributed to the increas-

ing fatigue and injuries of the squad. The girls’ moved for-ward with a positive attitude and took everything in stride as they bounced back against Woodlands’ struggling team. The girls persevered through-out the game and came out on top with a resounding score of 25-15. When asked about how she felt about the losses prior to this sweet victory, Captain Sherry Wang replied: “The most important part was how

we all stuck through it together and learned from the experience,

and the girls should be immensely proud of all the effort they’ve put in this season.”

Graydon’s Girls Basketball TeamPhotos contributed by SAA

Sports

By Yatin Kapur

The Senior Boys volleyball team was full of confidence as they be-gan their season against a very impres-sive Glenforest team. The Hawks were unable to win, and unfortunately this form carried onto their next game, as they lost to St. Paul Secondary School, creating an unfortunate losing streak.

With a shameful record of 0-0-6, the team was disheartened, and at

tempted to work overtime during training; ultimately sorting themselves out. The school was starting to question the team’s capability, however the boys silenced their critics as the energized set of players won their next game ver-sus Applewood. The game was a tight but necessary win, as the boys won all three sets with narrow margins.

As the games rolled by, the

Hawks were soon put up against Cawthra. It was a game that was ex-tremely important for both schools; where any slip-ups would be magni-fied. It was amazing to see how many Graydon students attended this match, and the boys were uplifted to see such

strong school spirit. In the end, the Hawks overtook the Cawthra team with a very respectable score of 2-1. The boys carried this form into their next, and last, matchup of the season where they beat Mentor College in an intense affair. The Hawks turned their season around as they went from 0-0-6 to a final record of 7-0-8.

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Bumping up Graydon’s Game

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Editorial

“I like that it pushes my limits as an author.” Irena Cernea, a grade 11 student, is one of many participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this Novem-ber. It’s a worldwide competition with a promise of being published as the top prize, the only rule being that your en-tire novel must be written within the month.

“It’s a great time to consume an insane amount of coffee, and get behind in sleep.” Matthew Loconte pointed out; highlighting the fact that writing a novel in its entirety is no easy task. It’s a fantastic opportunity for all writers – aspiring, amateur and professional alike – to try their hand at writing characters you’re bound to fall in love with and plots that don’t fall apart. There’s an astounding sense of accom-plishment that comes with finishing a novel, whether it takes a month or a year, and though the task may seem daunting, writing a novel is on a surprising amount of bucket lists.

Past winner, Larry Deibert, said he felt no different than the rest of us before he wrote his winning manuscript. “I never thought I would be able to create a novel in 30 days, but I did.” Anna Hoyer, a 2013 winner, told reporteres “It was the second best thing that happened to me last year, only to be topped by my graduation,” With such glowing reviews from winners and participants, National Novel Writ-ing Month has had a clear impact on the international writ-ing community. Statistics show that all published authors started with the first word, so put your pens to paper, get ready… get set, and let’s write a novel!

30 Days, 50 000 Words, and 24 Metric Tons of CoffeeBy Rachel Shadoff

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Entertainment

Halloween!To celebrate Halloween, Graydon held it’s “spooktacular” Spook Fest on October 31. Between the dance floor and the many other Halloween-themed activities, there was plenty of fun to go around. It had to end eventually, however with such high levels of school sprit many costumes stood out amongst the crowd. The Graydon Post compiled some of our favourites to share with you!

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Halloween! Photos taken by Noor Abdel-Baset, Aamer Seth, and Moaaz Waheed

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Exclusive

John Wilson, an author nominated multiple times for the White Pine Forest of Reading awards, will be visit-ing Gordon Graydon on November 11th to take part in our Remembrance Day assembly. Mr. Wilson is fascinated by history and writes books about “war and how young peo-ple, trapped in events they can barely comprehend, [deal] with the horrors of conflict on a local and global scale,” a highly relevant topic for Remembrance Day. His book Shot at Dawn, the third book in the I Am Canada series, features eyewitness accounts of key moments in Canadian history, namely in the First World War. On Tuesday, Mr. Wilson will bring his passion for history to Graydon students and share his insights on the experiences of young people in war. Af-ter the assembly, Mr. Wilson will be available to sign book for students in a meet and greet in the library at lunch. Mr. Wilson would also like to invite Graydon students to buy his books, if you place an order by Friday, November 7th, he can even bring your pre-ordered book with him.

Remembrance Day Guest Speaker John WilsonBy: Mahnoor Hamid

White Pine Teacher ReviewsAudacious by Gabrielle Prendergast

“This book has a very unique writing style, and addresses impor-tant contemporary

themes. The relevant topics are a welcome change.” - Mr Smith

Rush by Eve Silver

“This book is defi-nitely on par with

the past standard [of White Pine nomi-

nees], and is a good contender. However,

it is book one of a series.”

- Mrs. Tijanic

The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley by Jan Andrews

“It was definatly an interesting read. I liked [the book] but it was hard to follow because of the different perspectives used.”

-Mrs.Seeback

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Dear Gordon,I’ve always been a hardworking student, but lately I’ve been finding myself losing focus and procrastinating a lot. I’ve been trying to be productive, but it’s just not working. What should I do?- Procrastinator

Hey Procrastinator, Believe me when I say I know exactly how you feel. Highschool students have many things on their minds, what with all the homework on top of extra-curricular activities and volunteer work. The key to productivity is staying fo-cused, but it can be difficult if you try to cram everything in one go. To increase your level of productivity, I’d sug-gest you use the Pomodoro Technique. The name may sound unfamiliar but I’m sure you’ve heard of the method. When you start studying or working, set a timer and take a 5 min-ute break between 25 minute intervals. Every four intervals, take a longer half-hour break. Created by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, the Pomodoro technique is proven to improve focus, as taking breaks between periods of study help to keep the brain refreshed and reduce mental fatigue. Try it out, and see if your productivity increases.

Hey Gordon,I used to love going to school, but nowadays it just stresses me out. I really need help coping with it all. Do you have any advice?- Stress Ball

Dear Stress Ball, While I’m dismayed that you’re stressed, I’m glad that you decided to ask for help. That is the first step to deal-ing with your issues. School is a cause of stress for many students, but the good news is that there are ways to help you cope. For one, I would suggest you try stress-relieving exercises. Try running or yoga; anything that helps you clear your mind and relieve tension. Another technique you could try is managing your time wisely. Set a reasonable timeline for yourself and commit to it. Often the cause of stress is work overload, but by prioritizing and organizing your load, you can avoid last minute hassles. I realize that sometimes stress can become overbearing, and in such a case, I would suggest you take a time out. I don’t mean the kind of time out your parents gave you when you were little, but one that you set for yourself. Remove yourself from the stressful situation for a while. Go for a walk, read a book, pick up a hobby, and then come back to the issue. Even a few minutes away can help you to see the problem from a new, less stressful per-spective. In any case, I would encourage you to talk about your stress with your family, friends or peers. There are peo-ple who are always happy to help you, and talking can some-times relieve stress. Experiment with these strategies, and if the problem persists, you can always make an appointment with your guidance counsellor.

Advice

ASK Gordon!

Hey Graydon! My name is Gordon, and I’m the giver of advice around here at the Graydon Post. Make sure to check out what I have to say!

Paper Layout and Gordon Design by Sinclaire Bruin

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