STMC's 60th Celebration: the 80's! |
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Message from the President |
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It does not seem possible that we are already a month into 2021! Another school year is quickly advancing. In my message to you before Christmas I provided a link to my goals and priorities for 2021. I am happy to discuss these at any time.
Thanks to everyone who helped make the Virtual Open House such a success. Once again we have many more families wanting to register at STMC than we have capacity for. This reflects how much the community at large values the STMC family and the excellent curricular and extracurricular opportunities that promote Learning, Leading and Serving.
Recent world events and milestones, such as civil unrest, continued injustices based on colour, culture and religious beliefs, remind us of the importance of maintaining the legacy of Edmund Rice and acting on Essential Elements #3 and #5 which call us to action and advocacy for justice and the needs of the marginalized.
STMC is continuing the celebration of our 60th Birthday. Thanks to the parents who once again have decorated the lobby with memorabilia... this month from the 80s. I regret that the school is not open to everyone so that more of you can enjoy these trips down memory lane! During our 60 years many students, staff, alumni, parents, volunteers and donors have been positively impacted by their experiences at STMC. I hope you have been following some of the stories on social media and reconnecting with old friends.
The St. Thomas More Collegiate community will be celebrating 60 years of teaching, learning, and serving in a virtual event being held on May 15, 2021. Hosted by Yvonne Schalle (‘03) and produced by Winston Brown’s Digital Media and Design Class and Joe Lafleur (‘93), this will be a night to remember. We will be showcasing STMC at 60 and be inducting three members of our community into the STMC Hall of Fame.
We encourage you to take advantage of our complimentary registration below and please consider making a financial contribution. Funds generated from this event will finance two major projects:
Please share the invitation and encourage all friends of STMC to register.
As our COVID-19 impact continues, I encourage everyone to follow the public health protocols. There are positive signs that we are improving but we are not quite there yet. Getting through the pandemic with physical and psychological wellness will take ongoing patience, humor and support for each other. Please let us know if we can assist your family in any way.
Live Jesus in our Hearts... Forever
Dianne Doyle
President, STMC
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February
1-2: Knight Club Uniform Sale
8: Parents Association Meeting
11-12: School-based Pro-D Day - No Classes
15: Family Day - School Closed
25: "More" Family Jeans Day
26: "Rice" Family Jeans Day
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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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Dear STMC Community,
The Development Team hopes you’ve all had a wonderful start to your year. We’ve been very busy with the launch of the May 15th Gala, sending out invitations to our community, and producing a great evening for all to enjoy. Our Digital Media Class will be capturing much of the footage for the evening, by equipment purchased with contributions from our generous donors.
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The Knights Cross and Emerging Needs Fund guide the efforts of the Development Department. Our Gala will focus on raising funds for two of these areas. The Emerging Needs fund will finance the creation of a Student Commons and the renovation of our Cafe and our Academics Fund will finance moving all of our learning spaces towards becoming Active Learning Classrooms. Please consider supporting one of these fine initiatives.
We are grateful for our two Gala Sponsors, BlueSky Properties - A Bosa Family Company as well as the Bradford Family. Contributions from these two Alumni Families will help cover the expenses of the Gala. With expenses covered, we are proud to tell you that registration is complimentary to our community. Please visit the Gala Page to register.
We are also grateful to our generous donors for helping finance the sourcing of emergency kits for all of our learning spaces. Current parent Patricia Montagano is hard at work helping to fulfill our request... thank you! Donor funds also financed the Virtual Flythrough that showcases our beautiful campus for those who may not know what we offer or for those who may not have visited STMC lately. We have also been able to finance gym audio upgrades, live streaming equipment, and art room renos. All great projects that benefit our young Knights!
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Live Jesus in our Hearts...Forever!
Brent Christensen | Class of ‘89
Director of Development and Community Relations
brent.christensen@stmc.bc.ca
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The IT Department started 2021 with several new initiatives on the table. Moving our annual Open House to an entirely online format entailed a number of tech elements, all requiring completion in a timely manner. The end result was very effective, and we were proud to present so many aspects of our school via an online format.
Applications and registration have been totally updated this year. The new system is fully integrated with our PowerSchool platform, providing efficient and secure submission of important documents and information for school operations. This new system will be accessible in the PowerSchool Parent Portal in time for upcoming student registrations.
Ken Olson,
Director of IT
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The Math department would like to give a shout-out to Alicia Bremer (Grade 12) who scored in the top 25% of all participants in this year's Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest. Congratulations also to Natasha Lowe (Grade 8), Thea Lee (Grade 8), and David Ting (Grade 9) for placing in the top 25% of all participants in this past fall's Beaver Computing Challenge. |
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Michael Smith Challenge (Grades 9 & 10)
Any student interested in taking part in the Michael Smith Challenge should contact Mr. Muise ASAP. This written contest is for grade 10 students (or younger). It emphasizes logical thinking and covers material in the science curriculum common to all provinces. More details on the contest are available at:
The 2021 Challenge will be run entirely online – students may write the challenge either at school or at home. The date of the competition is Wednesday, February 24th.
Students on the Beamlines - 2021 nearing completion as work on 2022 begins! Our 2021 Students on the Beamlines group has been hard at work the past few months getting things ready to run their experiment at Canada's national synchrotron. They will doing work on the IDEAS and Brockhouse beamlines in early February, to be followed by heavy analysis of their results and a presentation later in the month. They are studying the chemical composition and crystaline structure of beeswax. Stay tuned for details!
Any students interested in taking part in the 2022 edition of this program are encouraged to talk to Mr. Muise. Applications are now open via Google form (https://forms.gle/6FaP9KVsakPdKcMNA) and close on Friday, February 26th.
Beamline for Schools
Work has begun on an application for CERN's prestigious Beamline for Schools program. There is a full roster working on the project, but if other students are interested in being involved there are still possible ways to participate. Interested students should see Mr. Muise.
Particle Physics in Physics 12
On Wednesday, January 27th some of our Physics 12 students participated in a video conference with Dr. Claire Lee - a neutrino researcher who works at CERN. She spent over an hour answering student questions on topics ranging from microscopic black holes, to the ongoing hunt for dark matter to career tips for students looking to go on in STEM. Mackenzie Pereira (class of 2019) is currently on a co-op term at CERN also joined the call and spoke about her journey from STMC to the world's largest particle accelerator.
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Learning Commons
Because of Covid-19 travel restrictions, travel over the Christmas break looked different for STMC students & faculty this year! They were encouraged to Travel Around the World Through Books. Any student or staff who completed three books from three different continents could enter into a draw for an Indigo Gift Card. Congratulations to Alicia B, Madison D. and Ryan S!
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Earning House Points Through Book Reviews
To date, students & staff have earned a collective 15,600 points toward their houses by reading books and writing a review in our STMC Library Catalog! Keep those reviews coming. Let’s see if we can earn 20,000 points by Spring Break.
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Growing the Board of Directors
A message from Dan Eisner, Chair
Greetings to all members of the STMC community,
As part of ongoing succession planning, the Board of St. Thomas More Collegiate is actively looking for inspired and talented individuals interested in serving on the board or a board committee. We are looking for individuals who believe in our mission and are willing to be active participants in helping STMC achieve greater success.
It should be noted that doing the board's work is serious business. Operating a private educational institution in today's economic and political climate is no easy task. The board is ultimately responsible for ensuring STMC's ongoing success and long-term sustainability. For that reason, it is extremely important that our collective members possess the variety of skill sets and expertise required to ensure effective governance. It is also important that our makeup reflect the diversity of the community that we represent. It takes all kinds of skill sets, personalities, backgrounds, and experience to make for an effective and highly functioning board.
If you are ready to share your time and talents to make STMC a better place, we would like to hear from you. Download the application form, fill it out and send it to board@stmc.bc.ca to help us better understand what you could bring to the board and your potential fit. All applications will be reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted for further discussion and to answer any questions that you may have. We are limited to how many new members we take on at one time. However, as other needs arise from time to time, it is good to have additional qualified candidates available. The board has found it especially effective to have interested candidates gain experience on a board committee prior to joining the board as a Director.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Dan Eisner
STMC Board Chair
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The Heart of Teaching
Mr. Dave Ruzycki is currently working on a series of podcasts called "The Heart of Teaching" with STMC grade 11 student Nathan Rivers. The episodes deal with topical issues related to teaching, current events , career guidance, mental health, substance abuse as well as interviews with staff and other professionals. In one the latest episode, "The Teacher and Psychiatrist", some great advice, resources and coping strategies are given to support families during the Pandemic. The episodes can be found on Spotify or Google Podcast.
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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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