A GREAT START

I would like to begin by thanking the entire Saint Mi-chael Commu-nity, staff, and students for welcoming me to this most ex-cellent school.

We have had a great start to the school year and I look forward to many of the exciting events that we have planned for our students for the 2018-2019 school year.I would also like to thank this year’s Student Council. I have been in-credibly impressed with the dedi-cation, love and commitment that these student leaders have for their high school. Many of the events and ideas that happen here at Saint Michael are their ideas and vision. The leadership they have shown has been exceptional.As a school we had an excellent start up and we are currently popu-lation-wise as big as we have ever been here at Saint Michael. This was very evident at our annual Pil-

grimage. We had over 400 students travel to Saint Paul High School to help raise money for Rwanda. It was a fantastic day and our school spirit and pride was on full display.Athletically we have had a great start to the year. Several of our teams have done very well. Our Senior Boys football team made the playoffs in a very competitive league. Senior girls basketball had many successful tournaments and our volleyball and wrestling teams have had a great start to the year. We hosted our future Mustangs at our Grade 8 Day in November and the response was spectacular. All of our feeder schools came in and were treated to a dodgeball tourna-ment, lunch, games and activities. We look forward to additional tran-sition activities with our Grade 8’s as they begin their transition to High School.Our future Grade 9 Open House was another great event that took place on November 22nd. The school was put on full display and we were able to showcase our building, staff and programs to the entire Niagara Falls community. In short, it was a packed house and we have several registrations to review and contact in the new year. Special thanks to

all staff and students who helped highlight all of the great things that STM has to offer!Our STM Family has been busy this semester hosting two very suc-cessful events. In October we held our annual Pasta Night. Just this past week we hosted our 1st ever Christmas Bazaar! We had over 23 vendors in the school and by all ac-counts it was a great event.So in addition to the new website, cell phone charging stations and crew neck hoodies we have been very busy here at Saint Michael. As parents, it is my hope that you check out our website and follow us on all of our social media platforms. Following us on these platforms will give you a great idea about the life, spirit and feel of Saint Michael High School. Thank You to everyone for a great start of the year. We have big things in store for STM.

Stay Classy ☺

Mr. Gifford

8699 McLeod Rd.Niagara Falls, Ontario, L2H 0Z2Phone: (905) 356-5155Fax: (905) 356-6626

Summer 2018OUR FAMILY OF SCHOOLSFather Hennepin Catholic Elementary School Loretto Catholic Elementary School Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Elementary SchoolSacred Heart Catholic Elementary School

Saint Michael Catholic High School

December 2018

RELIGION DEPARTMENT

Students and parents are reminded that Community Service hours are due by December 21. A “Completion Form” must be filled out and signed by the appropriate supervisor/Religion teacher. Grade 8 students entering Grade 9 are permitted to complete hours during the summer with no pre-approval necessary. Forms can be found

in the main office, through Mr. DeCicco or on-line on our website. www.saintmichaelmustangs.com

Grade Eleven Religion classes have recently completed their retreats. The retreats focused on “Inter-faith Dialogue” which directly correlated with their curriculum based on World Religions. The majority of the retreat focused on learning to accept and tolerate other major Religions and their customs, beliefs, and traditions.

The TUNNEL OF TERROR is Niagara’s Biggest Halloween Charity Home Haunt. The Religion Department helped raise funds for Violet Smith, a local child with cancer, and collected donations of nonperishable food items for our local food bank, Project SHARE. Students received Community Service Volunteer Hours for assisting with set-up, tear-down, acting etc. We hope to continue our partnership with this charitable event.

CHAPLAINMustang Round Up:We welcomed our new Mustangs to St. Mikes with our Mustang Round Up. We have over 85 students from different countries, cities, and school boards joining us this year. We also welcomed our new Principal, Mr. Gifford to the Mustang Family!

Grade 9 Retreats:All of our grade 9’s Mustangs attended a retreat at Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre. They learned about themselves, their classmates and Saint Mike’s.

Feast of Saint Michael Mass: W e

celebrated our faith as a school community for the first time on September 26. Fr. Greg Schmidt presided and commissioned our student council for the 2018-2019 school year.

Thanksgiving Food Drive:Mustangs donated over 700 non-perishable items to Projects Share and the YWCA with our Thanksgiving Food Drive.

Grad Retreat:Our grade 12’s had their grad retreat at Heartland Forest. They heard from three former alumni who shared their stories, challenges and successes after high school and they participated in team building activities.

Niagara Falls Prayer Luncheon:Chaplain’s Crew took up a table at this year’s Niagara Falls Prayer Luncheon. We had the privilege of hearing Charlie Duke Jr. speak. He is the youngest person to have ever walked on the moon.

Memorial Mass: Fr. Peter Rowe joined us to celebrate our Memorial Mass on November 7. We remembered all of our loved ones who have died,

especially those in the last year including Mr. Vince

Baldassarro.

Chaplain’s Crew Bracelet Making:Several Chaplain’s Crew members gathered at Betty’s Restaurant to make bracelets to support the efforts of Julianne Miszk and her family. Bracelets are on sale at B e t t y ’ s Restaurant and can be ordered at Saint Michael for $20.00. All proceeds go to Wellspring.

Development & Peace Workshop:Several students from Saint Michael attended the Development and Peace Workshop in Thorold. This year’s theme is Share The Journey. Students had the opportunity to learn about forced immigration and what people experience on their journey to other countries.

SPECIAL EDUCATION

We welcome three E.A.s to Saint Michael this year. Sarah D’Aprile, Bernadette Delville and Rachel A n a s t a c h i o have joined our Special Edu-cation class as they support our students to gain import-ant life skills, practice social

skills and access curric-ulum. Our Special Education class students attended Brock Uni-versity’s SNAP program on Novem-ber 22nd and are looking forward to attending the Saint Francis Christ-mas event on December 13th. Par-ents and students in the Special Education class are all encouraged to sign up for Remind messages to stay up to date on happenings.Letters of Accommodation regard-ing the OSSLT are also being sent home with this report card. Please contact Resource if you have any questions. Literacy Prep is in full swing with assemblies and literacy prep happening both at the school and classroom level. The OSSLT is scheduled for March 27th, 2019 for all participating students.Our new Student Services web-page, Twitter feed and Remind app messaging system are up and run-ning at STM. Please follow us on Twitter @STMStudentServ and on Remind @STMgrade12.

STUDENT SUCCESS

The Student Success teachers work with students to help them achieve credits in all areas. We of-fer a variety of supports to assist students with their studies. We also work closely with grade 10 students and others who need to complete the Ontario Secondary School Lit-

eracy Test to meet graduation re-quirements.Through the Student Success de-partment, students can arrange for tutoring help through the P3 Peer Tutoring Program. Students are connected with a peer tutor and monitored by staff while work-ing in the library with their tutor. Any student is able to obtain a tu-tor simply by speaking with their classroom teacher or calling the Student Success department.The P3 afterschool program takes place in the library, every day after school from 2:30 to 4:30. We of-fer a supervised study area where students can complete home-work, meet their tutor or prepare for tests and exams. A variety of subject area teachers are avail-able for additional one on one support. A small snack is provided for students to keep their energy levels up. We encourage all stu-dents to make use of the P3 after school study program. P3 is the place to be!Francesca Caruso-Leitch

Student Success Teacher ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

The English/Moderns/ESL De-partment is extremely excited about this year’s contingent of

ambitious students anxious to make their mark on Saint Michael Catholic High School tradition. Stu-dents in Mrs. Lambert’s class had the pleasure of visiting the CHIN broadcasting station in Toronto to accumulate insight into careers fea-turing multi-cultural platforms. In the English department, students in our publishing mentorship program are preparing their work for submis-sion to literary journals across the country. Predicated by the suc-cess of Writer’s Craft students who have gone on to publish poems in nationally acclaimed literary jour-nals like The Claremont Review, Saint Michael’s is establishing quite the literary tradition in the Niaga-ra Region. Eventually, we hope to reach the ultimate goal of publish-ing full length books written by Saint Michael alumni. As we inch closer and closer to the literacy test date in April 2019, preparation is already in full gear as grade ten students are immersed in week long preparation packages, mock tests and P3 af-ter school sessions. Finally, Saint Michael’s will once again assume a leadership role in the upcoming Writer’s Conference, which will host and introduce internationally fa-mous and award winning authors to our burgeoning writing students.

B U S I N E S S / T E C H N O L O G Y DEPARTMENT

Fall is here, the classes are full and the tech students are covering events so it must be the start of the school year. The technology department would like to congratulate Mr. Beatty in acquiring his contract and taking over as the Communications and Animation teacher. Construction has seen some changes too with Mr. Bobyk teaching Electrical and this year Mrs. Etzle is teaching child studies. With Engineering we are already

had a busy start first with the Skills Presentation held here at the school to introduce the Grade 9 students to the field of technology and then went to CHIN Radio in Toronto with his Communications Technology class to show them what an actual production studio functions. Welcome Back Techies.~Mr. Mayer

ARTS DEPARTMENT

SANTA CLAUS PARADEThe Saint Michael Mustangs par-ticipated in the annual Santa Claus Parade on Saturday November 17, 2018. We had 143 students who braved the cold weather and spread Christmas cheer all along the pa-rade route in downtown Niagara Falls. Congratulations to our Mus-tangs on another wonderful Santa

Claus Parade! See you next year!

Students from Art Club, Devin Brzozowski-Greenwood and Molly Madigan are show here, working on items for our float for the Niagara falls Santa Claus parade on Satur-day November 17. They have been a huge help in getting ready for our event!

-Ms. Yablo

troubleshooting equipment, circuits and building a VR lab. Mr. Hunter in Transportation is prepping to launch a new grade 10 class next semester and Chef Scozzafava in Culinary is getting booked to cater events around the school and for the board office. Last year’s Yearbook came in and what a wonderful job Mrs. Imre and her class did. Looking at this year they have started to cover events around the school. Mr. Schmal is looking forward to training his students for the annual Skills

Niagara competition in Horticulture and finally Mr. Girardo is in a new classrooms with his Business class and also keeping busy as a football coach. Curricular events are always a wonderful way to introduce students to experiential learning. This year the tech department has already been out to a number of events. Mrs. Etzle took a number of students out to the Skills Ontario Women’s Career Exploration. A diverse range of women with careers in the skilled trades and technologies field were there to mentor and help student learn how to make connections and informed decisions regarding their futures. Mr. Mayer was out at the Prayer Luncheon where we were fortunate the meet Charles Duke, the 10th man to walk on the moon. The SMTV crew produced a video to celebrate student life at Saint Michael and also took photos of the event. Finally, Mr. Beatty

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

Well another school year is up and running and your Saint Michael Catholic music department has been very busy with numerous per-formances!!

Our school year began with our Choir and House Band perform-ing at our Opening School Mass where their voices and instruments filled the gym with uplifting music with a positive message. A special highlight of the mass was the song “Limitless” which had a great mes-

sage of power and strength in your abilities with the help of God. Our students also had the opportunity to perform this song at the AmeriCana for the Ontario Student Leadership Conference which was hosted by Niagara Catholic and attended by students from across Ontario. The students had a great time and rep-resented Saint Michael very well!

Our students then worked on per-forming our Pilgrimage Anthem “All These Things That I Have Done” by the Killers! The students did an excellent job singing amazing har-monies! Special mention to Chris-tine Tolentino and Emma James for singing lead vocals on this inspiring song!

From this success we then moved onto our Memorial Mass which had the choir start and end the mass with some beautiful 3 part harmo-nies acapella (no music). We are so proud of our wonderfully talented singers and look forward to our up-coming performances!

Finally, we capped of this busy start with a performance on the San-ta Claus Parade this past week-end. Our House Band worked on three Christmas songs and did an incredible job playing in the cold and snow! Special mention to our lead vocalists Sammy Koabel and Emma James for their great work on our songs!

Our House Band and Choir are now setting their sights on working on our upcoming Christmas Roadshow and Concert which will take place on the week of December 10th. We will be taking our music on tour to our feeder schools which will culmi-nate with a night time performance at Saint Michael on December 13th in the Theatre. Start time is 7pm. All we ask is for a non-perishable food donation with proceeds going to Project Share. Come out and see some amazing talent!

Mr. Mancuso and Mr. De Angelis would like to remind students that anyone can enroll in a Grade 9 or 10 Music course with NO PREVI-OUS MUSICAL EXPERIENCE. We will teach you the basics and hope-fully develop in you a love of mu-sic that you will have for the rest of your life! If you have any questions about music courses, or about join-ing House Band or Choir, please do not hesitate to come to see us!!

~ Mr. F. Mancuso & Mr. S. DeAngelis

MATH DEPARTMENT

It’s hard to believe we have arrived at midterms already! Students who

have mathematics first semester should begin to think about re-viewing for final examinations. If your midterm mark is not where you would like it to be or where is needs to be, help is available daily in P3. A math teacher is available every day from 2:30pm to 4:30pm. In addition, if you require more sup-port, Mrs. Caruso-Leitch can as-sign a peer tutor to help you with your math course. Please do not get over stressed. Speak to your math teacher for support. Those students that are exceling in math class are encouraged to volunteer to peer tutor next semester. This is a great way to keep up with your skills.

A heads up to mathematics stu-dents that would like to write the Waterloo math contests – the Pas-cal (grade 9), Cayley (Grade 10) and Fermat (Grade 11) contests will be written in February 2019 and the Euclid contest (grade 12) will be written in April 2019. Listen to the announcements for details.

Finally, a warm welcome goes out to Mr. Roach and Mr. Pietrangelo who have joined our math depart-ment this September. You are both excellent additions to the Saint Mi-chael Catholic Math team.

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

The science department is pleased to welcome Mrs. Schoonings, Mrs. Sohmer and Mr. Kinney to the Saint Michael Science. We are excited to have you all join our team.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Jr Boys Volleyball

The Junior Boys Volleyball team had a solid season this fall. With only three grade tens and a crop of nine inexperienced grade nines, it was a season of rebuilding and the boys quickly came together as a team. Practicing four and five days a week, the skills of the boys rapidly improved.

Playing the seven Catholic schools of the NCAA and participating in the annual tournament at Jean Vanier French Catholic High School, the team made great gains in their knowledge of the game, including s w i t c h i n g , rotation and t rans i t i on ing . Our passing and serving improved game by game and culminated in an exciting zone semi-final loss to cross town rivals, the Saint Paul Patriots.

Congratulations to all the members of the team for their dedication to the sport and intensity on the court. I look forward to building on our successes next year.

Coach Kinney

Sr Boys Volleyball

With a couple of returning players and a few new faces, the Senior Boys Volleyball team was excited to

hit the court this year. The Boys

The school year is zooming by and sciences students are busy in the lab. The grade 11 biology classes and grade 10 science classes recently completed their body systems units, and completed dissections as their culminating activities. Students have a choice of completing the physical dissection lab, or they can take advantage of variety of digital tools to complete the assessment.The grade 12 chemistry class prepared esters as part of their organic chemistry unit of study. They made great smelling orange and banana scents in order to complete their study of organic reactions.Any student who is interested in exploring the world of engineering is invited to participate in The Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) Design and Build completion. This year’s completion will include students from grade 9-11 and takes place in the early spring. Previous competitions have seen students building bridges, designing batteries, and testing windmills. If you are interested in taking part, please listen for announcements in January for registration dates or speak to a science teacher.

CO-OP

With the first semester well underway, our Saint Michael Cooperative Education students have found a home in their placements, and have been contributing a great deal of time and effort to the various businesses where they are employed. The students have received sound training, have been made to feel welcome, and have gained much experience in their chosen field in the time that they have been at the workplace. The Cooperative Education Department would like to

welcome back former employers as well as a number of new employers for the students.

There are many students this semester that will be signing their Ontario Youth Apprenticeship papers. When a student signs their OYAP papers, they are then assigned a number from the provincial government that stays with them until they become a certified trade person in their chosen field. The hours that they complete during their coop placements, count toward completion of their apprenticeship hours. Mr. Kelly would like to personally thank all of our employers in the community for their willingness to take on a coop student. Your time and dedication to train our youth is much appreciated.

INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES

French Cuisine

Grade 12 students prepared French pastries and breads to celebrate French Cuisine and the importance French Cuisine has on the world and it’s pivotal in the study of French Language.

La Patisserie and La Boulangerie

finished league play with a 7-1 record and competed in the 3rd Annual Brock Invitational Tournament, where they were able to work on developing their strategic play as they faced many of the top volleyball teams in the region.

The Senior Mustangs are continuing to work on keeping their game strategy simple, as well as develop more consistency at the net and with their service game. The Mustangs have advanced to the Zone Finals were they face E.L. Crossley to

determine who heads to SOSSA.

Best of luck Mustangs!

Football

The 2018 Senior Football Team completed another successful campaign. The season began with a preseason trip to Peterborough, where the Mustangs participated in controlled scrimmages. They were able to compete against teams from the Ottawa and Peterborough regions in preparation for the NCAA football schedule. The season was also highlighted by great

team performances against Saint Francis, Denis Morris and Lakeshore Catholic Throughout the season the Mustangs faced many challenges, but were able to make it to the NCAA semi finals against Notre Dame. Congratulations goes to Riley Hart

for his commitment to the Queens University football program. Your Team mates and Coaches are proud of your accomplishment! The Senior Mustangs look forward to next season.

Golf

Mr Carter’s PPL-3Om Physical Education class went to Chippawa golf course to play 9 holes this fall. Students had the opportunity to learn how to play a game that can become a lifelong game. The weather co-operated and students enjoyed being outside with friends and the natural environment. Joe Ruggi demonstrates his technique during the 3rd hole.

Drum fit

Mrs Benoit’s PAR2Of and PAR4O classes went to the Acro Academy and were taught by Ashley Gauthier. They took part in DrumFit which is a full body workout where each participant gets a set of drumsticks (specially made for the workout and called “rip sticks.”) and follow a high-intensity interval workout that incorporates rhythmic movements to get the class literally pounding the floor as they sweat. A great time was had by all students.

Bowling

Mr Carter PPL-30M and Mrs Keegan - Jones Physical Education classes went to Cataract bowling lanes to enjoy two game. The students searched for the rare “turkey” while they played. Even though no one found a “turkey “, they all enjoyed getting into the community bowling with friends. Chloe Zupan and Ashly VanDyke are seen here posing in-between shots.

M u s t a n g Cheerleaders Take Gold at Fall Classic

The Saint Michael Cheerleading Squad has become a prominent group within our community. In the fall they cheered on the Saint Michael Senior Football team at its games, and in the winter they were involved in the Niagara Falls Santa Claus Parade and performed at the annual Saint Michael Open House.

The highlight of their season, however, was competing at the Fall Classic Cheer Competition, in Mississauga, On November 10, 2018. After a quick warm-up of their stunts and tumbling, and one run on the practice mat, the girls took to the competition floor where they were able to showcase their skills. A clean routine earned our

Mustangs a first place banner in the Senior Intermediate School Division. Special thanks goes out to this year`s captains Lauren Durham, Elyse Croteau, Lily Susin, Natasha

Spirit weeks, lunchtime challenges and activities, a Pep Rally and athletic buy out, and Halloween costume contest and dance are just some of the great activities Student Council has organized in the first half of Semester 1 for Saint Michael Students. Coming up next: “Mustangs Got Talent” taking place Friday, December 21st; auditions to be held in the first week of December.

Citizen of the Year Award

A huge congratulation goes out to our Grade Eleven STM student Danna Dahoui. She is the recipient of the Youth Citizen of the Year award. The Chamber of Commerce Niagara Falls’ award is the Chamber’s way of recognizing and celebrating a student who exhibits excellence, is involved in the community, and contributes to the local business culture.

On Pilgrimage Sunday, we joined with Saint Paul High School to celebrate Mass with Father Paul McNeil and hundreds of students from both schools. Our 11Km walk throughout the city of Niagara Falls provided a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our mission. We are thankful for all of the members of the Saint Michael Family who helped us with us by acting as crossing guards, handing out pizza and stamping passports. We are truly grateful.

We hope to see an even greater

turnout for Pilgrimage 2019!

Student Council

The Mustang Council has been active in providing students opportunities to participate in the vibrant school culture of Saint Michael. Students have taken advantage of the Mustang Opportunity Card fundraiser to support their school and to reap the rewards of being a MOC member such as exclusive out of uniform days, reduced ticket sales for school events, and free entrance to the school dance. In other exciting news: the Grade 9 class has elected its two grade representatives to Student Council. Pioneering an electronic voting platform, Student Council is proud to announce the successfully candidates from an outstanding group of Grade 9 students who put their name forward in the campaign. Congratulations and welcome to Akash Verma and Janice Wang!

Buenaventura and Kayla Wall. With over half of the team being in grades 9 and 10, Head Coach Ms. Cormier is looking forward to seeing how far this team can go in the upcoming years.

36th Annual McDonald’s Girls Hockey Tournament

Once again this year, the annual McDonald’s tournament was a great preseason success. The tournament has served each year as a kickoff point for the regular season of girls high school hockey in the Niagara Region. 16 teams participated in 3 divisions during an action-packed and fun filled day. Our Mustang ladies had a strong showing and were able to advance to the final where they came up just short and placed 2nd. We look forward to building on that momentum through the year. The girls begin the season with a home stand against Denis Morris and have the Patriot Invitational tournament coming up after the Christmas break.

Pilgrimage 2018

On October 28th 2018, hundreds of Saint Michael Mustangs braved the cold temperatures and the drizzle to participate in our annual Pilgrimage. This year our theme was “Hope Lives Here”. Together, Mustangs are spreading the message that through our efforts we are making real change for students in Rwanda and helping to provide hope for a brighter future. Our school supports a charity called Hope for Rwanda’s Children, which assists Rwandan youth with scholarships and tuition. We were overwhelmed with the support of our Mustang community. Together, we had 417 students participate in the Pilgrimage and our Mustangs raised almost $22,000 for our charity.

BPSN

Click the link to read each article.

http://www.bpsportsniagara.ca/hart-of-queens/

http://www.bpsportsniagara.ca/saint-michaels-hoops-heart-and-soul/

http://www.bpsportsniagara.ca/mustangs-qb-sparks-team/

SEAC Report

The Special Education Advisory Committee (S.E.A.C) of the Niagara Catholic District School Board is made up of local association representatives and Trustees whose role is to support students with special education needs and their families. The Committee may make recommendations to the Board with regards to any matter relating to the establishment, development and

delivery of special education programs and services for exceptional pupils of the Board.

All parents are welcome to attend the monthly meetings and learn about different programs and supports that are available in special education.

Meetings are held at the Catholic Education Centre, 427 Rice Road, Welland, Ontario at 7:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month. Please refer to the Niagara Catholic School Year Calendar located on our Board website, www.niagaracatholic.ca for a list of meeting dates.

Further information about the SEAC can be located on our website under Programs, Special Education, Special Education Advisory Committee or contact your Catholic School Principal who will provide you with a list of representatives and their contact information.

The Niagara Catholic Special Education Plan, Building Bridges to Services 2018 and Beyond, serves as a resource for parents and can be located on the Board website under Programs, Special Education, Special Education Plan.

For further information there are two links: The Special Education Advisory Committee website; www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/seac and the Ministry of Education Special Education website www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/speced.html .

Thank you for providing this information about SEAC to our Catholic school communities.