Message from the Principal
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I am not certain if we are supposed to have a ‘favourite’, but the first Sunday of Advent – HOPE – is hands-down, my favourite of the four. Those that know me well might say that it is related to my inability to remember the precise sequence of the candles and their various meanings, or perhaps it is because my wife’s name literally translates to “hope” and that’s why I remember it. Though I cannot deny that there is
some truth to both of these facts, they are not the reason why I am particularly partial to the meaning behind this first candle that is lit.
Simply stated, it is because the season of Advent is the harbinger of renewed hope and the expectation of great things to come. It is the hope we have for our families, friends, and those we encounter in our life. It is the hope for a better tomorrow for ourselves and everyone, everywhere. It is the hope that we are a better version of ourselves tomorrow than we are today. It is the hope that each one of us has the courage to stand in solidarity with those marginalized with poverty and injustice. It is the hope that we can all celebrate the value and dignity of each person.
At the school level, the start of this holy seasons coincides with the period immediately following the distribution of our Term 1 Report Cards and our fall Parent-Teacher Interviews. This is a time where students and our staff are able to hit a ‘reset’ button and recalculate the academic GPS that we have independently set for ourselves before we hit ‘pause’ and head away for the Christmas Break. Students who were able to get off to a good start are able to readjust the benchmarks and goals that they established at the beginning of the school year to see where further improvements can be made. Equally important, it also affords those who did not get off to the start that they had hoped for to be able to wipe the slate off and begin anew.
The impending Christmas Break is the tonic that many need at this point in the school year. It is a chance for all of us to reconnect with those people and things we love most. It also affords us a chance to rest-up and recharge our energies for that long stretch of hard work that we all know awaits from early January through to the middle of March.
On behalf of the STMC faculty and staff, I would like to wish all of our families a joy-filled and blessed Advent and Christmas. May God keep you and guide you!
Kind Regards,
Mr. Steve Garland
STMC Principal
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Message from the President
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There is a saying attributed to that wise sage – Charlie Brown (!) –
It’s not what is under the Christmas tree that matters, it’s who is around it.
For most of us, we are blessed with family and friends who will join us for numerous Christmas celebrations. We gather for meals, for Midnight Mass, for games nights, for outdoor adventures. We revel in the traditions and memories of Christmas past. We will complain that we’re tired or over-ate!
Unfortunately, that is not true for everyone. At Christmas, there is a heightened sense of loneliness and loss, a sense of not belonging, a sense of isolation. Perhaps their family lives far away or they are new immigrants. Perhaps they have had a change in their financial situation. Perhaps there is something going on in their lives that they are keeping a secret.
Is it time to start a new tradition – to have a heightened awareness of those people around us who might want to be
around a Christmas tree this year? Offer to drive someone to Christmas Mass. Invite someone you know who will be alone at Christmas to join in one of your celebrations. Carry extra gloves and socks with you to gift them to anyone who might cross your path who could use the warmth. Visit shut-ins at home or at your local seniors’ home. There are many gestures of Christian hospitality and love that would make a difference in someone’s life this year.
May God bless you and your family with a happy and holy Christmas.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts … forever.
Mrs. Neysa M. Finnie
STMC President
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Our Knights Annual Fund 2018/19 campaign is off to a great start this year. A heartfelt thank you to STMC families, board, staff, and friends who have already made a pledge or gift, or are giving on a monthly basis to the fund. We are putting your financial gifts to work right away by implementing technology upgrades in our classrooms, which benefit every current student. These upgrades are among the Knights Annual Fund priorities this year. More updates to share in the January Family Bulletin.
If you have yet to give or are already considering making a gift to STMC before the year ends, the STMC Advancement team is here to assist you. A 2018 tax receipt will be issued for gifts received and postage stamped (if using Canada Post) by December 31, 2018. As the school will be closed after December 20
th, a convenient way to give before the year ends is by giving online:
KNIGHTS ANNUAL FUND. You will receive an electronic tax receipt as soon as you complete your gift transaction.
Every gift is important to our school and is greatly appreciated. In giving to STMC, you can be assured you are making a difference in the every day learning experience and environment for our Knights. Thank you very much. May God bless you and your family this holy Advent Season!
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December
6-8:
Senior Girls Chancellor Basketball Tournament
10:
Parents Association Meeting
13-15:
Grade 8/9 Boys and Girls Chancellor Basketball Tournament
17-19:
Christmas Spirit Week
18:
Toy Drive
20:
Advent Mass
21:
Christmas Break begins NO CLASSES
January 7:
School re-opens
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ADVENT MAS
S -
Thursday, December 20, 2018
@ 10:45 AM, STMC Gym
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WOODWORKING
We have an enthusiastic group of students this year building the guitar of their dreams. With a combination of great tone woods, state of the art electronics and skilled handcrafting these guitars are sure to be high performance winners.
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SCIENCES
LHC International Data Day
On November 13th, a group of our students from the Modern Physics Club took part in the Large Hadron Collider's (LHC) World Wide Data Day.
This was an outreach program run by the US organization Quarknet and the International Particle Physics Outreach Group. Students spent time analyzing data from the Atlas Detector of the LHC and looking for muons created during proton collisions. They measured the angles at which the muons left the collision point.
They uploaded their data into the global pool of 77 schools from 19 countries around the world. As the only Canadian school taking part, our Knights were excited to represent their country. The students video-conferenced with scientists at CERN (Switzerland), Purdue University and another student group in Florida. In the video conference, they discussed the value of collecting large data sets; how particle accelerators function and how physicists interpret the same data the students used, to expand our understanding of subatomic particles. It was a unique educational experience for these students, as they came to a deep understanding of a modern physics topic that falls outside the regular curriculum.
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UBC’s Outer Space Institute Conference
Five of our astronomy-loving students travelled to UBC on November 16
th
to take part in the Outer Space Institute’s inaugural conference. The students engaged in panel discussions on space debris, space mining and space exploration. The conference included an interesting mix of space science and government policy and had speakers ranging from NASA scientists, to a former head of the Canadian Space Agency to commercial aerospace engineers.
Grade 12 student Mackenzie Pereira writes: "It was extremely neat to hear from experts in the field, people who had dedicated their lives to space exploration. They were all excited about their careers and contributions, and were both personable and knowledgeable. Truly eye-opening!"
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TRIUMF Field Trip
On November 20
th
, students in our Modern Physics Club travelled to UBC to take a tour of TRIUMF – the world’s largest cyclotron facility. During the 1 hour and 45 minute tour, they learned the physics behind a cyclotron’s operations (from accelerating of protons to how the beam is bent using powerful magnets) and the many avenues of research done at the facility – from particle physics, materials science and medical isotopes. They had the chance to see a cosmic ray detector in action; see experiments that are searching for the types of nucleosynthesis reactions that take place in stars and find out how the facility is used to create medical isotopes for PET scans.
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Kwantlen Science Challenge
Junior and senior Knights represented the school at the 2018 edition of the Kwantlen Science Challenge, held on November 24 at KPU’s Richmond campus. The teams competed biology, chemistry, design, geology, jeopardy, math & physics challenges. The junior team built a sail boat that had to harness the energy of a cross wind, and the seniors were tasked to build a hovercraft. The junior team had the better finish on the day, finishing 8
th
out of 30 teams.
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Engineering Leadership Breakfast
Grade 12 student Christine De Guzman was selected to represent the school at UBC’s Future Leader’s Breakfast, hosted by their Engineering Program. She had the following to share about her experience:
“I was honoured to be invited to the UBC future leaders’ breakfast. I was able to converse with many engineering professors and students who shared their insights on this field. Talking with them allowed me to see the wonderful work engineers do and the numerous paths open to students at UBC. The open house also showed me creations of engineers and the different tasks related to each branch of engineering. The various categories of engineers, such as chemical, biomedical, and engineering physics, displayed interesting information about the work they do. I learned a great amount from the students and professors at the open house, and was fortunate enough to explore a chemical and biomedical engineer lab. My experience at the breakfast and the open house was invigorating, as it inspired and interested me even more to pursue the field of engineering.”
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MATHEMATICS
In mid-November, all of our grade 8 mathematics students and our enriched 9 and 10 mathematics students wrote the University of Waterloo's Beaver Computing Challenge. This contest focuses on mathematical concepts that have applications in computer science. Students only have 45 minutes to complete the challenge questions.
Congratulations to
Cameron DeWith
(grade 9) on his
PERFECT SCORE
on the grade 9/10 contest!
The following students also made the contest Honour Roll published by the University of Waterloo:
Grade 9/10 contest
William Kong - 88/90
Howard Cheng - 86/90
Derin Ozdemir - 84/90
Rhoswen The - 84/90
Grade 8 contest
Jenna Rizzo - 86/90
Additionally, students who achieve in the top 25% of participants at STMC are awarded a Certificate of Distinction. For the grade 9/10 contest, certificates are awarded to Adarsh Bajaj, Alicia Bremer, Daryl Chung, Jonas Del Rio, Stephanie Ho, Ryan Huang, Jovian Kuntjoro, Joshua Largo, Logan McIntyre, Ryan Osmond, Beatrice Pang, Joshua Refol, Natalia Sawyer, Hannah Van Spaendonk, Ryan Wang, Aiden Yu, Eric Zhang, and Megan Zimmerman.
For the grade 8 contest, certificates are awarded to Aoife Carolan, Jon Castro, Kairo Chiang, Denver Chow, Elisabeth Chu, Chloe Da Silva, Kayden De Jesus, Brandon De Lazzari, Tyra Gunara, Lucas Hernandez, George Ioannidis, Samaya Joshi, Andrei Koo, Vanessa Lau, Shaira Lazaro, Nicholas MacKinnon, Abelard Meneses, Tea Mocnik, Kevin Nicklin, Mattea Pavan, Jemma Sin, Jack Sutherland, Matteo Vigini, Amy Wang, Kassius Warne, Helen Xu, and Fidel Yonathan.
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‘Tis the season for giving and that is exactly what your STMC Book Club is doing! They are running a book drive to collect children’s books to donate to elementary schools. They will be donating all books to Edmonds Elementary School and 12 Avenue Elementary School. The books can be new or slightly used, all donations welcome! Collections will start immediately. Please drop off all books in collection bins found inside the library or outside the front office.
Thank you in advance for helping our STMC Book Club make a difference.
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STUDENT HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH
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On Wednesday November 14 I scaled the 165m tall tower of the Port Mann Bridge as a part of ‘
Bring Your Child to Work Day
.’ While on the top, I could feel the tower swaying as I surveyed the view. The Port Mann Bridge is the second longest cable-stayed bridge in North America and was the widest bridge in the world until the opening of the new Bay Bridge in California. Since my father works for the
Ministry of Transportation
, I was invited to this unique opportunity. This province-wide program helps Grade 9 students explore different career paths. This was interesting for me because I have been thinking of becoming an engineer. With so many different fields of engineering, I have found it hard to narrow down my focus. Take your child to work day was a good opportunity to explore a different field of engineering, specifically bridge engineering.
- Cameron Dewith, Class of 2022
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We'd love to hear about all the wonderful and exciting things
in which our Knights are engaged
! If you have something you would like to share on our social media feeds or in the monthly newsletter send an email to
communications@stmc.bc.ca
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St Thomas More Collegiate is hosting a two day Basketball Camp designed to introduce players to the fundamentals of shooting in a fun and competitive atmosphere. It is open to boys and girls currently in grades 3-7. Dates are January 2 and 3, 2019 from 9am until noon.
There are still space available, hurry to reserve a spot!
To download form click
here
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The football season has once again come to a conclusion. All three teams in our program unfortunately came to a similar ending - all losing in the playoffs to the eventual Provincial Champions. Our Grade 8 team made it the furthest losing in a hard fought battle to Vancouver College in the final by a score of 26 - 20. Our Junior Varsity team ended up losing in the wild-card game to Kelowna who ended up as Provincial Champions. Our Senior Varsity team made it to the quarter-final losing to eventual Provincial Champion - the Mount Douglas Rams.
Our entire program can definitely hold our heads high with all three teams having made it to the playoffs. As the smallest high school in population in the province competing at the AAA level, we are definitely proud of the season that was. A special thank you to our Grade 12 players who dedicated so much to the program over the past five years!
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The varsity volleyball team capped off a terrific weekend of action at the AA Provincial tournament Saturday night by defeating MEI to win a bronze medal. The team was led by provincial allstars Lauren Boddington, Sienna Mastromonaco, and fellow grade 12’s Mia Malinowski and Francesca Sandini. The future looks bright for the Knights as the team has many talented grade 10 and 11’s that made significant contributions during the tournament.
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News
We are pleased to announce the addition of 2 new members to our PA Executive Team:
- Mr. Charles Sin, who returns to his previously held role as the PA Treasurer
- Mrs. Nina Caspillo, who will be the new PA Communications Coordinator
Mrs. Marika Wasaznik and
Mrs. Susanne Bell will continue to sit on the PA Executive as Members-At-Large; Marika will also take on a new role as the official
Grad Committee Liaison.
Many thanks to the hundreds of parents and students who participated in this year's
Knights Christmas Market (KCM). Together, your tremendous teamwork and Christmas spirit led to a very successful event! If you enjoyed taking part in this year's market and would like to join the
KCM Planning Committee next year, please let us know--it's never too early to sign-up!
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Donations Request
Prizes/Donations for the Fu
ndraising Grad Pub Knight Silent Auction are greatly appreciated! Please contact
gradcommittee@stmc.bc.ca
to arran
ge pickup or these can be dropped at the front office (attention Grad Fundraiser).
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Knight Club Uniform Sale
SALE DATES:
January 10
February 7
(all sales take place after school until 4pm)
Christmas is just around the corner and time is running out to pick up the perfect stocking stuffers! Official STMC socks, lanyards, and cinch bags make great Christmas gifts! Come to the next sale or feel free to pre-order your purchase. Just fill out an order form and drop it off (with payment or credit card information) in the Knight Club mailbox (on the uniform store door). We will fill your order and have you paged at the end of the day to pick it up!!!! (Order forms are available in the front office, in the tray just below our mailbox, or by clicking
Knight Club Order Form
.)
If you have any uniform-related questions or concerns, please email
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Next Parent Association Meeting
Come out an join us at our next Parents Association meeting on Monday December 10 at 7:00 pm in the meeting room. New parents are welcome! Learn about the many things that your Parents Association does around STMC!
- Check your email for timely messages from the STMC Parents Association,
- Check out the STMC website for PA News and Volunteering Opportunities: https://stthomasmorecollegiate.ca/about/parents-association/pa/
- Send us an email and let us know how you'd like to help out at pavolunteers@stmc.bc.ca
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Hyatt Regency Gingerbread Lane
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Congratulations to the Mary Rice group on winning second place in the secondary schools category at the Hyatt Regency Gingerbread Lane. The Gingerbread Lane officially opens to the public on Friday November 29 and will run until Friday December 28. Please go down and see this beautiful masterpiece that the girls worked so hard at!!
Congratulations on a job well done!!
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