Message from the Principal
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A Hope and a Dream:
I have little doubt that no matter where you are in the world, the start of each school year is inherently associated with new beginnings and ginormous expectations. It truly is a magical time to be associated with any school as is the precise moment in time when hopes and dreams intersect. Its real gift, however, is that it presents each of us – students and faculty alike – with a glorious opportunity to begin anew. For every one of our students, the start of classes in September was a chance to hit the “reset button” and to establish both new academic and personal goals for the year ahead. For our faculty, the advent of each fall also provides teachers a bit blank slate and the ability to begin implementing the (literally) thousand-and-one ideas for lessons and activities that have been percolating in our brains even long before the previous school year has ended.
In keeping with the Essential Elements of a Blessed Edmund Rice Education we implore all of our students to pursue excellence in ALL of their endeavours. And while we ask them to be honest and realistic in their goal-setting, we also encourage them to shoot for the moon! Have the courage and the confidence to utilize the many gifts that they have been blessed with to challenge themselves, to test their limits, and to take their very own moonshot.
Moonshot thinking
is what great teaching and learning is all about. It is a belief and a way of thinking that can change the world. At the very least, such thinking has the ability to change the path that we ourselves began to forge. Please encourage your daughters and sons to not settle for less than what they are capable of achieving! They not only cheat themselves of tremendous opportunities and experiences, but they rob all of those within our broader school community the chance to witness the many gifts and talents that God has given them.
I pray that the year ahead is extraordinarily rewarding for every single person who is associated with St. Thomas More Collegiate!
Saint Thomas More… Pray for us!
Blessed Edmund Rice… Pray for us!
Live Jesus in our hearts… Forever!
Blessings,
Steve Garland – Principal, STMC
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Message from the President
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This is my first opportunity as President to say hello to all of the STMC family. It is a privilege for me to have stepped into this role. I thank former President, Neysa Finnie for her leadership and commitment to STMC and I am eager to continue to build on her work. As the saying goes “We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.”
It has been a delight to meet many of you and I appreciate your warm welcome. There are still many of you whom I have not met. Please stop by to say hello, or leave me an email or phone call. I have posted some information on the board outside my office for those of you who may not be familiar with the role of President and are curious about what it is I focus on.
Since starting in August, I have been truly inspired by the wonderful culture that is so alive here at STMC. The Essential Elements of an Edmund Rice Christian Brother Education are evident in so much that I have witnessed here. The teaching staff under the leadership of Mr. Garland as well as the administrative and support staff, are all passionate about what they do, and compassionate in their interactions with others. They are excellent role models for our commitment to social justice. Even as they were preparing to welcome our students back the first week of September, I witnessed so many staff providing service in the downtown east side to those in need.
What excitement and energy that comes with the arrival of our students! I want to give a big welcome to all the new students and families and extend best wishes for a successful year to them and our returning students and families. I am already in awe of the many interests, talents and achievements of our students; and their desire to make the most of their experience at STMC. I know that the time at STMC will impact their lives forever. I am reminded of a saying that was posted in a classroom when I was a student. “What you are to be, you are now becoming.” I am confident that we are helping to shape individuals who will apply their learnings from STMC and be leaders and positive citizens within their communities.
I am grateful to the parents who value and support an education within the Catholic tradition. Thank you for giving us the privilege of teaching and learning with your children, and thanks for the support you provide to make STMC such a special place. We could not do it without you.
Live Jesus in our hearts…forever
Dianne Doyle - President, STMC
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Walkway of Angels plaque in recognition of the generous gift from the Kully Family, in memory of Coach Kully
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Did You Know?
Giving to St. Thomas More Collegiate has never been easier. In our
Support STMC’s Ways to Give
page you have the option to sign up as a monthly donor through Canada Helps - STMC’s secure online giving platform provider. Monthly gift donors are vital contributors to the sustainability of St. Thomas More Collegiate. As a monthly donor, you sign up once for pre-authorized payments through credit card or through PayPal and receive a consolidated tax receipt at the end of the calendar year. If you prefer to give monthly through pre-authorized electronic funds transfer (EFT), please contact our Advancement Office for assistance. To set up a monthly online gift:
STMC Online Monthly Giving Page
Our online donation page is also set up for
memorial or tribute giving
- a wonderful way to honour or remember someone and make a difference at STMC at the same time. Celebrate occasions such as birthdays and graduations, or express sympathy or a thank you by making a memorial or tribute gift to STMC. When you make a gift, you may request STMC Advancement to send an electronic or printed card to notify a person that a gift has been made in their honour or in their loved one’s memory. To make a memorial or tribute gift:
STMC Memorial/Tribute Giving
A friendly reminder that our
Knights Annual Fund
campaign for 2019/2020 school year is set to go out soon. Thank you to those that have given generously in the past years. We look forward to your continued generosity. Great things happen at STMC when the whole community joins together in support of our school and our Knights.
STMC Advancement Contacts:
Alice Roder
Thank you for supporting STMC!
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September
26:
Grad 2020 Parent Knight
October
1:
Japanese exchange students arrive
2:
UBC Information Night
3:
Knight Club uniform sale
10:
Thanksgiving Mass @ 10:45am
14:
Thanksgiving - School Closed
18:
Jeans Day
23:
Installation of the New President
25:
Provincial Pro-D Day
31:
Halloween Dress up
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Email is a primary mode of communication at STMC, and the IT Department is always looking at ways to improve the reliability and security of email systems at the school.
Accurate contact information is the most important element when it comes to reliably communicating via email, so please be sure to keep your email contact information up-to-date. Changes may be sent to
Caitlin.Jensen@stmc.bc.ca
for prompt account updates. If you wish to send an email to any staff or faculty member at the school, you can easily do so by selecting the ‘Contact’ link on the school website, at
https://stthomasmorecollegiate.ca/contact/.
Please be sure to include a valid email address when using the contact form!
Security around electronic communications is a global concern, and improved technologies are being implemented at our school to both improve filtering of incoming email for spam messages, and to configure outgoing email to avoid being blocked as spam by external systems. Legitimate emails to and from the school may occasionally be blocked, however. If you suspect that you have not received an email from STMC, or that an email you sent to the school has not been received, please let us know by telephone at 604-521-1801 ext 117, or by email:
support@stmc.bc.ca.
Ken Olson, Director of IT
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A MESSAGE FROM YOUR ACADEMIC COUNSELLORS!
In the next few months, there will be numerous Academic Events taking place at STMC and in the greater community. Here is a sampling of some events coming up in the near future.
Mr. Bouwman and Mr. Spanjers
STUDY AND GO ABROAD FAIR - Sunday, September 29
Vancouver Convention Center
Pre-register for this fair. It is free but you save yourself a lot of time by doing it ahead of time online. Go to
Study and
Go Abroad Fair Pre-Register.
Numerous international schools are represented!
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LOWER MAINLAND PUBLIC EVENT - Tuesday, October 8 @ 6:00pm-8:30pm
Delta Hotels Burnaby Conference Centre
Connect with over 45 university representatives from across Canada and learn more about your post-secondary options! Students, parents or anyone else interested in exploring Canadian post-secondary options are welcome. This is your chance to collect materials, discuss admissions and learn about the next steps on the path to higher education.
Admission:
Free!
Register online
to put a reminder in your calendar, get directions and all of the event details.
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UBC Engineering and Architecture Open House -
Sat, Nov 29 @ 10:00am - 4:00pm
Fred Kaiser Building, 2332 Main Mall, Vancouver
All Senior Students and their parents are invited! Grades 10, 11 or 12!
UBC representatives will be in attendance to offer information about UBC admissions and their programs. A must-attend event for any student contemplating heading to UBC.
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UBC Info Evening -
Wednesday, October 2 @ 7:00pm – 8:00pm
STMC Cafeteria
All Senior Students and their parents are invited! Grades 10, 11 or 12! UBC representatives will be in attendance to offer information about UBC admissions and their programs. A must-attend event for any student contemplating heading to UBC.
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Post-Secondary Institution Fair - Mon, Nov 25 @ 6:15pm - 8:30pm
STMC
Schools from throughout the province of BC will be in attendance to promote
their institutions!
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SCIENCES
From August 4th to 17th, Mr. Muise attended CERN's International Teacher Weeks (ITW) Programme in Geneva. He was one of 47 teachers from 38 countries selected to attend the two week immersive workshop on adding particle physics to high school curricula.
This two week workshop included lectures from world-class physicists, and close looks at the facilities of the world's largest and most complex experiment. CERN's goal in running its international teacher workshops is to get the information of modern discovery out to teachers so that they can share it with their students. The hope is that this will help attract students to the field of physics, and overall build a more scientifically informed population. "Current high school physics courses really focus on classical physics, and older discoveries" writes Mr. Muise. "This program gives teachers content knowledge and ideas of how to work particle physics into existing content."
The international group of teachers spent their time attending lectures on particle physics; the design of accelerators and detectors; data analysis and computing at CERN; and had workshops on how to weave these topics into their teaching. They toured the CMS and ALICE detectors - two of the four main experiments running on the Large Hadron Collider. They also had the opportunity to visit CERN's cryogenic facilities, anti-matter factory and the control centre for the AMS experiment - currently running on the International Space Station.
The workshop also gave the teachers a chance to build a network of teaching contacts around the world. "In addition to the fantastic physics learned on this trip, I had the chance to develop connections with like-minded teachers from around the world," writes Mr. Muise. "Everyone was excited to share their ideas on how to teach physics, and initiate some international collaborations for the future." Mr. Muise was impressed with the level of science being conducted. "This experience was inspirational, and I'm already looking in to ways I can go back with students!"
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Many of our extra-curricular science activities have started up - students interested in finding out about opportunities should join the Google classroom used to distribute information (code: 5fe63n). This will be the main source of information for science events throughout the year.
Anyone interested in the fall 2020 edition of Students on the Beamlines (research trip to the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) have until October 7th to complete their application. Students hoping to compete in the 2020 edition of our ESA CanSat competition have until October 15th to apply.
The Modern Physics Club has also started preparations for the coming year, with a trip to LIGO planned along with taking part in a series of global science initiatives. Interested students should join the corresponding Google classroom (code: vjfh0z).
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Grade 8 Football Schedule
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Varsity Football Schedule
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Chamber Choir Takes Silver at Nationals
Congratulations to the Chamber Choir for coming in 2nd place at the National Music Festival of Canada! A job well done to our young vocalists and choir director Mr. Lui.
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On Thursday, September 20th, our Grade 12's and 8's came together for the annual Grade 8 & 12 Mixer. It was a fun evening that introduced our newest Knights to our graduating Knights. We also welcomed our exchange students from Stella Maris in Uruguay! Thank you to our Student Council for planning and setting up the evening for us and a huge shout out to Justin Tecson (Grad '18) for being our resident DJ.
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Spring Break 2020 - A Week Without Walls - Spain, Portugal, and Morocco
Come join us this March as we tour Barcelona, Madrid, Andalusia, Morocco, and Portugal. Leaving Saturday, March 14th and returning Wednesday, March 25th, the tour is full of history and culture. Tour information can be found at
explorica.ca/Borthistle-4727
.
Here are just a few reasons why it's a great experience for students to travel during Spring Break:
1. Encourages their willingness to learn and explore
2. Increases their confidence and independence
3. Provides educational experiences out of the classroom in a hands-on environment
4. Helps them learn to adapt to new situations
5. Increases cultural awareness
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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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