Volume 2 / Issue 2 / February 2018

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THE EAGLE EXPRESS THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF LOUISE ARBOUR SECONDARY SCHOOL

Social Justice Club students spread holiday joy at Brampton hospital

Members of the Louise Arbour Social Justice Club hosted their third annual holiday visit to the paediatric unit at Brampton Civic Hospital. Each year the club visits the hospital to share the joy of the holidays with the patients in the paediatric unit. The members of the club worked tirelessly to fundraise and collect donations for the children, ranging from birth to age 18. The visit consists of members of the club donating holiday gifts to the youth patients as well as passing on a little memento of holiday spirit. Josie Parnis, the Child Life Worker at Bramtpon Civic who is very supportive of the annual visits, said, “The Christmas season has always been, and continues to be, a very busy and exciting time on our unit. Without your support, it just wouldn’t be the same.” For the past two years, this holiday visit has run in conjunction with LASS’s annual Charity Day, an annual event where homeforms are encouraged to get involved ant fundraise for a charity or organization in need. Parnis went on to comment that “as you may know, the Child Life Program runs a number of recreational programs and special events and activities and relies greatly on the community to help lift the spirits of our small patients. Your visit and donation has certainly done so.” Over the past two years, Louise Arbour has worked hard to raise over $2,000 for the Child Life Program at Brampton Civic through Charity Day, which runs solely on the generous donation of community members. This is in support of the club’s philosophy, give where you live. The students hope to make a positive impact in their community and give back where they can.

Arriving to School On Time This is a reminder that students are expected to be in class by 8:38 a.m. each morning. This means that all students should plan to be at LASS by 8:30 a.m., so they have enough time to get to their locker and into their homeform classes at 8:38 a.m. Parents who drop off their children are asked to make sure that they have them here before 8:30 a.m. each day because the drop off areas become very congested with traffic in the morning, which can cause delays. Another option would be to encourage your children to walk to school if you live close-by, making sure your kids leave the house in enough time to arrive here by 8:30 a.m. When a student is late for class, he or she will miss the beginning of the instruction for that day, which puts them at a significant academic disadvantage.

Upcoming Events

Feb. 19: Family Day

March 8: Progress Report Cards Distributed

March 12-16: March Break March 30: Good Friday April 2: Easter Monday

April 10: OSSLT April 20: Early Release Day April 24: Mid-Term Report

Cards Distributed May 3: Parent-Guardian

Interviews (6-8 p.m.)

Volume 2 / Issue 2 / February 2018

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Three ways to prepare for OSSLT at LASS

This year, the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is on Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The successful completion of the test is a graduation requirement for students. Here are 3 ways in which we can prepare for the OSSLT: 1. Practice multiple questions online. Students can do short practice questions anytime. The answers will be marked upon completion. You can access the practice tests and additional resources from school or home using Desire2Learn. 1. Visit the BYOD page (http://byod.peelschools.org) and login 2. Click the Desire2Learn button 3. Open the course called, “OSSLT Practice - Louise Arbour Secondary School” *Students have unlimited attempts at the quizzes. 2. Attend our free writing workshop series (6 classes). Students will learn and practice the components of the literacy test every Thursday after school from 3:30-4:30 p.m. with a teacher. Classes will start on Thursday, Feb. 15 and run until Thursday, April 5 . A snack will be provided. Please sign up at the guidance office with Ms. Ladwa to reserve a spot. 3. Attend our OSSLT preparation series (2 classes) Students will review the components of the test such as multiple choice questions, short answers, news report and essay writing. The workshops will be held after school on Tuesday March 27th & Tuesday April 3rd in room 101. No sign up is necessary. Attend 1 or both workshops.

LASS hosts Green and Black tournament On Jan. 12, Louise Arbour hosted its annual Green and Black wrestling tournament. Thirteen high schools from across Peel Region attended and almost 200 wrestlers participated in the tournament. The Louise Arbour Eagles wrestling team continues to grow and become more successful. Coaches Mr. Price and Mr. Cedrone are proud of the team's commitment and work ethic. Our team's results at the Green and Black included:

• Gold medals for Sagar Syal and Rebecca Boateng • Silver medals for Anjli Sharma, Sarpartap Lally

and Mozamell Safi • Bronze medals for Sahib Kundi and Emad

Mahmood Many teachers and students from Louise Arbour helped to make the tournament a great success. A special thanks to Ms. St. Aubyn and the more than 20 student volunteers who helped to organize and manage the tournament and a special thanks to Mr. McKinstry, Ms. Musial and the hospitality program who provided food for the event. The Green and Black tournament has become an important event to help prepare Peel wrestlers for the regional and provincial competitions in February. The Eagles wrestling team looks forward to more hard work and more success.

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LINK Crew keeping Grade 9 students busy

This semester, LINK Crew Leaders hosted various activities and events for our grade 9 students! On the first day of school, LINK Leaders welcomed our grade 9 students for a day of fun-filled team-building activities! We started off with a whole group presentation which included the many extra-curricular clubs and teams that our grade 9s could join this year. LINK Leaders then held breakout sessions by homeroom classes and facilitated a number of activities to help our grade 9s get to know their classmates and their school. Our school administration also spoke to them about expectations here at LASS in a code of conduct assembly. After a delicious pizza lunch, guest speaker Jonathan Hood, a former Toronto Argonauts football player, spoke to our grade 9s about what it takes to be successful and encouraged them to be positive members of the school community and get involved in school life. During the semester, LINK Leaders conducted a series of homeroom visits, where they spent a short time working with our grade 9 students, doing check-ins to see how things were going for them and continued to run activities that fostered community and team-building. It’s been a great start to life at LASS for our grade 9 students and we hope they continue to be positive, contributing members of our school community. We also hope that they too think about becoming LINK Leaders themselves one day!

LINK Leaders also hosted one major event each month this semester in which all grade 9 students participated: September – Amazing Race Students had to complete a number of challenges, in a sequence, in order to be entered into a draw for some great prizes! October – Halloween Students navigated a spooky maze of Halloween fun in the cafeteria! November – MakerSpace Team Challenges Students worked in teams to complete a series of challenges in which they had to build things or solve puzzles! December- Gingerbread House Decorating Contest Students worked in teams to build a gingerbread house and LINK Leaders chose the top three houses and awarded prizes!

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Polar Express: Re-Visited By Mr. St. Clair We were so happy we had the opportunity to share our production of “Polar Express: Re-Visited” this year with over 500 people within our family of schools. Our feeder schools loved the show and the performance really brought holiday joy to future LASSers. Also, the in-school sign up was sold out with close to 500 audience members. This student written adaptation brought smiles and laughter to all involved. With dynamic and exciting dance numbers like, “Hot Chocolate” and festive music numbers kept the audience wanting more! With multiple drama, dance, music and visual art classes and clubs involved this production, “The Polar Express: Revisited” was a great way to close out 2017 as we look forward to an exciting year ahead for the Arts in 2018!

SAC Hosts Fantastic Holiday Food Drive and Spirit Week

By Arman Ghag

In hopes of giving back to the community, the Louise Arbour Secondary School Student Activities Council (SAC) hosted their first Holiday Food Drive. They encouraged staff and students to bring in as many canned and non-perishable food items as they could, by offering a pizza lunch to the winning homeroom class. Each homeroom was to bring a minimum of 10 food items to be considered for the pizza prize, and the class with the most would win it. SAC was able to motivate the school to bring in over 100 food items for the food drive, making it a successful first year. The food drive ran from Dec. 4-15, giving students two weeks to bring in as many items as they could. Many homeroom classes brought in at least 4-5 items, ranging from canned vegetables, pasta, noodles, rice, sauces, soups, and more. However, the top three homerooms included Ms. Bell, Ms. Grant, and Mr. Sandhu’s, as they managed to bring in the highest total of items. Ms. Bell’s class brought in 13 items, Ms. Grant’s class brought in 27 items, and Mr. Sandhu’s winning class brought in a whopping total of 40 food drive items. On the last running day of the food drive, SAC members went to each class to collect the food items. These items were then packed up and dropped off to Knights Table by Ms. Grewal. Knights Table is a food bank located in Brampton that helps resolve issues regarding poverty as well as feed the members of the community that are facing homelessness or poverty. SAC would like to thank the students and staff for bringing in food items and taking that step to help the community. To volunteer at or learn more about Knights Table, visit www.knightstable.org.

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Eagles athletics making strides Cross Country The LASS cross-country team had a great season last fall. Team members competed in 4 meets including the Bruin Bulldog Invitational Meet, the Marcellinus Bagpipe Classic, the Heart Lake Invitational and the ROPSSAA Championships at Heart Lake. Congratulations go out to our top runners in each division: Jasjot Benipal in midget boys, Jubari Waite in the Para division, Amanpreet Karara in the senior girls division and Manraj Tutt in the senior boys division. Special congratulations go out to Jubari Waite and Alden Brooks who placed 2nd and 3rd in the Para Division at the ROPSSAA Championships. Wrestling The boys and girls wrestling team continued their winning ways this semester with a total of 28 medals being won by school wrestlers in tournaments at Heart Lake, St. Francis Xavier, Fletcher's Meadow, and Turner Fenton. Sagar Syal and Rebecca Boateng have been regular gold medal winners with five gold medals between them. Silver and bronze medals have been won by Anjli Sharma, Emad Mahmood, Mozamell Safi, Sahib Kundi, Sarpartap Lally, Geena Verma, Harshita Bhayana, Sayeed Ahmed, and Gagan Basra. The team also successfully hosted its own tournament here at LASS, the Black and Green Invitational, which saw fierce competition from schools across Peel. The team is presently continuing its solid work ethic preparing for the ROPSSAA Junior and Open wrestling tournaments later this month, as well as the Ontario Championships occurring in Windsor on March 4-5. Rugby 7s – Seniors We played strong Tier 1 teams and although didn’t get the W we did compete at a high level which leaves us in a good spot leading into 15s. Rugby 7s – Juniors We took a group of students who didn’t know anything about the game and by the end of the season were winning games and playing quality ball. 15s should be exciting this year! Rugby 7s – Girls Playing mostly Tier 1 teams, we were competitive and played well. Some more experience and confidence, we are well on our way to being a dominating team. Golf Team (Fall) Vaijayanti Bharkhada won ROPSSAA Bronze and 20th overall at OFSAA in North Bay.

Volume 2 / Issue 2 / February 2018

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Valuable resources for parents, students when choosing high school courses

Choosing courses for the upcoming school year can be an exciting time for students. There are several helpful resources available in order to assist students and parents/guardians with pathway planning. One of the most important things to remember is that courses should be selected based on a combination of student strengths and post-secondary goals. Keep in mind, there are many paths to get to the same destination. There are many helpful websites to assist with planning, below is a list of these websites and how they can assist you. Remember, all post-secondary programs will have admission requirements; the more informed students are, the easier the transition will be.

• Trades and apprenticeship information can be found at: www.collegeoftrades.ca

• College information can be found at: www.ontariocolleges.ca

• University information about school locations and programs offered can be found at: www.electronicinfo.ca

If you are looking for specific course details, they can be found on the Louise Arbour website. Departments explain what to expect in each course offered at LASS: http://schools.peelschools.org/sec/ louisearbour then click “DEPARTMENTS” tab to explore the course information sheets. Parents can encourage their teens to use their My Blueprint account to help explore career opportunities they may be interested in pursuing. There is a plethora of information available: from current job market statistics to admission requirements for post-secondary programs. Students access this account through their Peel BYOD login. LASS guidance counsellors are happy to meet with students and parents/guardians to discuss pathway options. You’re always welcome to call or book an appointment if you would like further details on how to support your teen through this process.

SAC hosts Spirit Week Aside from the food drive, December was a very special month for SAC as they hosted a spirit week, bake sale, and a Christmas Caf Jam! During the week prior to holiday break, from Dec. 18-22, SAC hosted Pyjama Week. Students were encouraged to wear their pyjamas to school to help welcome the festive and cozy season. On Dec. 19, a bake sale was held where cookies, cupcakes, brownies, and samosas were sold. Students enjoyed and appreciated the treats and showed their gratitude by supporting the sale. The Caf Jam was held on the last day before the break, where there was an ugly sweater contest, karaoke, and holiday music. Candy canes were given out to students in their PJs and ugly sweaters, as well as to students that went up on stage to sing karaoke songs. Congratulations to the office staff for winning this years' ugly sweater contest! Overall, December was a month of giving, festivity, and joy for the students at LASS. SAC wishes all our students, staff, and parents/guardians a very Happy New Year!