Fr. Garry LaBoucane, Metis priest of Sacred Heart Parish leads Mass on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation |
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Message from the President |
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What a joy it was on September 8 to welcome back our students, families and staff to the 2021-22 school year. I offer a particular welcome to our new families and hope you will take the opportunity to engage actively at STMC.
For over 18 months we have been limited in our ability to come together because of the ongoing COVID-19 challenges but the strong sense of community at STMC prevails! The beginning of the school year brings so much energy, hope and new adventures. Our Homecoming on September 11 and the Greater Knights Open Golf Tournament September 25, brought together students, staff, families, alumni, donors and friends to celebrate STMCs past, present and future. Great things happen when we unite together around a common purpose.
We will be relying on everyone, new or returning to keep the mission and spirit alive at STMC. I urge you to find ways to bring your time, interest and skills to contribute to the many curricular and extracurricular activities which give our students opportunities to LEARN, LEAD and SERVE. Seek to assist with coaching, speak to students about career opportunities, apply for positions on the STMC Board, Parent Association or Alumni Association, provide baked goods, decorate to reflect the season or an event, assist with planning events and graduation activities, attend performances and games. There are endless ways to contribute. Stay informed and connected by reading and responding to emails, social media posts, newsletters and discussions with staff and other parents. Together we will advance our VISION: “For every Knight to optimize their potential, serve others and create a just and caring world.”
The City of Burnaby will be initiating a process in the fall to get community input into a vision for the Edmonds Centre region of the City. This will give STMC an opportunity to bring forward our vision for the future of STMC and our goal to rebuild the school. The original buildings and subsequent major additions have served us well. However the limitation of our classroom size and common areas impede our ability to advance in some desired areas of teaching and learning AND we simply do not have the physical capacity to accept all the registrants who want to attend STMC. We need to create a plan for a redesigned school which will enable us to continue to provide excellence.
I leave you with these words from Alison Fallon:
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Dianne Doyle
President, STMC
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October
7: School photo Retake Day
11: Thanksgiving (school closed)
15: Jeans Day
22: Provincial Pro-D Day (no classes)
29: Halloween Assembly
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The cafeteria's completed look with new furnishings including new study and lounge areas |
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Dear STMC Community,
The Development & Community Relations Department has been hard at work since the start of the school year. We have received our list of priorities from Mr. Garland and will be communicating the needs to our community over the school year. Expect to see how your support will advance the level of education your students will receive.
Held on Sept 11th, Homecoming ‘21 was the perfect way to welcome our community back to the Home of the Knights. We had an incredible cross-section of our community including students, parents, staff, alumni, alumni parents and friends of STMC in attendance. Centered around a Varsity Knights football game on Power Field, attendees enjoyed attending the End Zone Beer & Wine Garden, BBQ’d sausages, Ms. Cirillo’s Tiramisu, watching replays on a 24 foot digital screen, and visiting the photo booth. Much gratitude to the Alumni Association, Students’ Council, and Parents’ Association for all of their efforts to make this event a success.
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Please consider setting up a recurring monthly contribution or making a one-time contribution to one of STMC’s Priority Areas of Support.
Live, Jesus in our Hearts... Forever.
Brent Christensen | Class of ‘89
Director of Development & Community Relations
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WELCOME NEW TEACHERS & STAFF
This year, we've got a number of new faces on the staff and faculty list here at STMC.
Mrs. Joanna Arcari has joined the French department. She is an experienced teacher of the French language and is trilingual, also speaking Italian and English, of course. She's travelled extensively and has a passion for service work.
Mrs. Dawn Borthistle will be taking over for Mrs. Emily McClary as she and her family are expecting the arrival of their second child sometime in November. To assist with this transition, Mrs. Borthistle will be joining us from the very beginning of the school-year. Mrs. Natasha Chinnapen, currently on leave after the birth of her daughter last fall, will be teaming up with Mrs. Borthistle in our Learning Assistance department when she returns in January.
Mr. Glyn Bough has succeeded Mr. Mike Kinal's position who is currently enjoying his first days of retirement after a career that spanned four decades. Mr. Glyn Bough is a Materials, Design and Technology teacher from Somerset in the U.K. Mr. Bough has been charged with helping us create a Materials Engineer and Design & Technology program at STMC.
Mrs. Jaime Bough, a Social Studies and English Language Arts teacher who is originally from the Niagara region of Ontario, comes to us from the U.K. Her experience in teaching in the International Baccalaureate programme – particularly her experience in assisting students with the research and writing of the Extended Essay – will be of massive benefit for our students and staff.
Mr. Shubham Da Costa is filling in the void left behind by Mrs. Fane Wong who much like Mr. Kinal, is also enjoying her first days of her retirement. Mr. Shubham Da Costa, a recent MBA graduate with experience in the Financial Services field joins our Business Development Office and will be providing coverage and assistance for Mrs. Silveira.
Mr. Ray Faoro will be replacing Mr. Ethan Shoemaker as our Band Director this year as Mr. Ethan Shoemaker joins the Admin Team. Mr. Faoro comes to us after a 30+ year stellar career as a Band Director with the Coquitlam School District, Crofton House, and elsewhere. Mr. Faoro has extensive experience teaching at both the Elementary, Middle, and High School levels.
Mrs. Danielle Lachasseur has joined our staff as our new English Language Arts teacher. Mrs. Lachasseur comes to us from Southpointe Academy in Tsawwassen. Prior to that she was a member of the staff at Archbishop Carney Regional High School in Port Coquitlam. Similar to Mrs. Bough, Mrs. Lachasseur work in the I.B. programme will also be something that we will be leaning heavily on over the course of this school year.
Dr. Kelly MacDonald has joined our Learning Assistance team and will be supporting a number of our Sr. students in the Learning Centre with their math and sciences courses.
Mr. Archel Mesa (STMC Class of ’13) is welcomed into a new position at STMC. Mr. Mesa is our new I.T. Support-Desk Technologist and will be providing frontline technology supports to our students and staff.
Mr. Mark Zielonko is replacing Mr. Andy Beadon who was hired in July to be the new Director of Information Technology at the King David School in Vancouver. Mr. Zielonko began his career as a Computer Engineer – an industry he was in before he acted on his call to teach. Mr. Zielonko has ventured out west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to take on the role as our ADST 8/9, Robotics, and Computer Science teacher.
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ROBOTICS
The advanced robotics class has sprinted out of the gate, using the talents of the entire team to build the largest robot that STMC students have ever made!
Designing a massive structure comes with an additional layer of challenges - but with constant communication and a positive attitude, the team members have been able to creatively solve each new challenge that they have encountered.
Drop by the robotics room (221) to take a look at the design and build progress!
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Design Engineering
Grade 10/11/12 Design Engineering students have begun carrying out some model making for their gas station of the future project.
The students have investigated a variety of environment design theories, user trends and the impact, or potential impact of battery powered vehicles.
They will use these models to investigate anthropometrics, ergonomics and biomechanical considerations in the design and application of the electric 'charging; station.
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FRENCH
Calling all Scrabble boards!! If you have a Scrabble board game that your family no longer uses, the French dept would love to receive your boards for use in our classrooms. It doesn't matter if you are missing some of the letter tiles or if your board has seen better days. If your game isn't getting any use at home, perhaps we can give it a new and improved life at STMC (plus make some room in your closet!). All boards can be dropped off at the front office. Thanks for your consideration and your donations!
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CROSS COUNTRY
Twenty-nine students with heart, grit and determination began working out in earnest on September 13 under the direction of grade 12 student Cameron DeWith as lead coach. Ten days later, eleven of these students competed in their first meet against other Burnaby secondary schools at Central Park (Sept. 29). In true STMC fashion, the teammates cheered each other on and celebrated a great start to the season.
All athletes competed well and can be very proud of their results! Several finished within the top fifteen of their respective races: Cameron DeWith (3rd Place) Emilio Garcia (5th Place) and Alejandra Jonasson (7th Place), Hannah VanSpaendonk (11th Place), Annette Yu (12th Place), Michael Grindlay (12th Place) and Matias Garcia (14th Place).
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Following the very wet Terry Fox Run, the cross country team did a strength training indoor workout. |
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GIRLS BASKETBALL PRE-SEASON CAMP & WORKOUTS
All girls interested in playing basketball this year are invited to a pre-season camp that is happening on Sundays from 6-8 pm. Please refer to the attached poster on the right for more information.
For more information, please see Mr. Winston Brown or Ms. Cassie Lauang for more details.
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CHOIR
Last school year, we were unable to attend in person festivals or have any in person concerts, BUT the choir was still able to perform virtually at MusicFest Canada and earned gold rankings for the Chamber Choir and the Jazz Choir. Arwen Recalde (GRAD 2022) and Denzil Chung (GRAD 2021) earned awards for their musicianship at the festival. Here is a playlist to all of the choir performances from 2020/2021:
We look forward to being able to perform in person again in accordance to public health orders. More to follow...
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BAND
Our Grade 8, Junior and Senior Concert Bands, as well as our Jazz Bands A and B, are well under way and progressing well on their new pieces. Here are some of the highlights:
- The Gr. 9/10 Junior Band has been memorizing their "March to Buckingham Palace" and will soon try marching to it out on the field!
- The Senior Band has especially been working on Ravel's famous "Bolero" and most students will be recording themselves performing some of it individually.
- The Grade 8 Band will be excited to start learning their first official extended band arrangements this week.
- Jazz Band B has been busy perfecting "Gospel" and "Sentimental Journey", while Jazz A has been working on "Moanin", "Watermelon Man" and Bruno Mars's "Runaway Baby". Both bands can use more trumpet players; please see Mr. Faoro if you're interested!
As the new band director this year, it is my great pleasure and honour to be working with these fine young musicians at this amazing school and I look forward to seeing you at our future performances!
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Plant-A-Row/Grow-a-Row
Fresh, garden grown and store bought food is being collected every Sunday morning, 8:30- 9:15am, over the growing season, ending on October 3rd (the week before Thanksgiving). Please join members of our gardening community in dropping off food donations: fresh fruits, vegetables and non-perishable food.
Our community outreach project has had tremendous success over the years and new volunteers are always welcome to help share in the fun and spread the love.
Our annual Spring Gardeners’ Party, with garden experts including Claude LeDoux and Brian Minter, (held in March at the school) has been cancelled for the past two years due to COVID-19. Instead, we held a very successful ‘Drive-by’ event this past spring in the St Thomas More Parking lot to promote ‘Plant a row Sunday’ and to thank everyone for their support with free seeds, veggie transplants and garden supplies!
We would love to welcome you to ‘Plant a row Sunday’ which is ending for the season on Sunday, October 3rd. Your food donations will go directly to meal programs right here in Burnaby. This is one way that we can help everyone have a happier Thanksgiving!
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GKO - Greater Knight Open |
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2021 GKO Champions with their Red Jackets
Roger Cummings '87, Dave Dallazanna '86, Kevin O'Flynn '87, Gabe Apelo-Cruz '87
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The STMC Alumni Association was able to host our 21st Annual Greater Knight Open (GKO) at the Surrey Golf Club on Saturday, September 25th. This event sold out well in advance with 132 golfers made up of STMC friends, staff and alumni dating back to 1967. It was a great mix of young and old Knights. We were honoured to be able to celebrate the life of 1991 Grad Shane Van Vliet who sadly passed away three years ago. The proceeds made from the GKO go directly to the Shane Van Vliet Memorial Bursary which supports STMC families in financial need. Register early if you're interested in joining next year's event, it will sell out fast.
Go Knights,
Dominic Zimmermann
Director of Alumni
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BEEKEEPING
The STMC Beekeeping Club has some honey to sell to support its ongoing apiary activities. We have had a nice response from the community and only have a few of dozen jars left. If you would like to support our Beekeeping Club, and receive some delicious honey, please contact Mr. Dawson (dave.dawson@stmc.bc.ca) and he will put aside some honey for you. We are selling each jar for $10 and have some light coloured, early season honey and some dark coloured, late season honey for sale.
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STUDENT VOTE
September 20 marked a federal election held within schools across the country through "Student Vote", an organization that provides youth with an opportunity to experience the voting process firsthand and to build the habits of active and engaged citizenship. 800,000 votes were cast in 5,900 schools, including STMC. At the end of the day, the grade 8 ADST Information Technology class applied their IT skills to count the ballots, create spreadsheets and use formulas to record results. A huge thank you also goes to Alex McPhee and Joseph Au for preparing all the ballots to distribute into the classes.
THE RESULTS: studentvote.ca/results/canada2021
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TERRY FOX RUN
Terry Fox dragged himself out of his van at 4 am every morning, had breakfast and ran until he couldn't run anymore. So, despite a torrential downpour, our students walked and ran to commemorate his legacy and memory. In total, our community raised $2500 for the Terry Fox Foundation. Thank you to all our families for your support.
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KNIGHTING CEREMONY
This year's Knighting Ceremony was held outside on our field! Our Student Council knighted the new members of our community including our Grade 8's, new students in Grades 9-12, and our new staff. As we return to somewhat of a normal school year, we remember the importance of tradition and community and welcome all new families to the greater STMC family as well!
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CLUB FAIR
Today, we held a club fair in our front foyer! STMC has a number of clubs to offer: Green Team, Blessed Edmund Rice Team, Modern & Experimental Physics Club, Movie Club and more. Thank you to all our club presidents who organized their clubs and recruited new members. If you have any questions, please contact the club presidents or contact Ms. Cassie Lauang ( cassie.lauang@stmc.bc.ca).
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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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