Saturday Hallowe’ens Are The Best!

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If you know anyone in the elementary teaching profession, the day of the week on which Hallowe’en falls can make a huge difference in what gets accomplished in a classroom for the first few days of November.

This year (Saturday Hallowe’en) is the perfect setup. Costumes, assemblies and parties take place on the Friday but there isn’t the huge excitement of the actual day of Hallowe’en yet because the trick-or-treating happens on Saturday night. Students who stay up later and eat more candy than usual are usually not the most focussed individuals on their spelling lesson the next morning but with a Saturday Hallowe’en, there is a good 36 hours before everyone is back in school. This holiday will be way scarier for teachers and students in 2016, however. Hallowe’en falls on a Monday and we will need the whole week to get our sleep schedules (and sugar levels) back to normal!

Tomorrow will be lots of fun as usual and Monday will see everyone back in the swing of things for the first of two short weeks (Mid-Autumn Holiday November 6-9).

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

PS: Don’t forget to turn your clocks back on Sunday morning! We appreciate punctuality in our students, but getting to school an hour early on Monday morning would not be a great way to start the week!

A Lot Of Traffic On Memory Lane This Time Of Year

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I have been a bit nostalgic this week.

It started when a school from Scotland was visiting the Mentor high school and we played both “O Canada” and “God Save the Queen” at 8:45. I remember that “Opening Exercises for me as far back as kindergarten at Hickson Central (just north of Woodstock) included both these anthems, the Lord’s Prayer and even a workout to something called “Rhythmics” (exercising to the latest pop hits like “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”.

When I look at this week’s calendar of events, I remember my own schooling fondly and regret that I have lost touch with some of the things that I found interesting earlier in my life. Two groups were off campus learning about how to take better photographs; I remembered inheriting a Brownie camera from a relative and the best photo it ever took would be instantly deleted from even the worst camera phone. Mentor and TEAM are in the midst of their Grade 7/8 touch football practices; I remember the only time I got into a fight was over a bully continually throwing my NFL football into a puddle at recess (and how my Mom had to come retrieve me from the office and pretend that she wasn’t the one who told me to do it!).

I see Photo Retake Day tomorrow and I remember that I had to think very carefully about what to wear that day (a stressor that our students are spared). The Grade 7 and 8s have their first immunization clinic of the year coming up and I remember the boys unsuccessfully trying to look brave for the girls and the girls being just as unconvincing in their over-reactions of being scared.

I also remember that Hallowe’en was a REALLY big deal at school (and it still is!) with decorations and assemblies and I seem to recall that everyone dressed up at high school right up to Grade 13. At night on October 31st, we would get driven to the closest neighbours (I lived in the country) and then we would go to town to find the street with the closest concentration of doorways so we could maximize our candy haul. Ahh, to be young again!

Have a wonderful weekend. As for me, I think I will put together my costume and start scouting out the most candy-lucrative townhouse complexes. Hopefully the chocolate bars are still the same size as they were in the 70s!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

What We Are All About

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Just prior to the graduation ceremony for the Mentor/TSS Grade 12 Class of 2015 last Thursday, one of our high school teachers was putting on his gown and hood and made the (paraphrased, and I say that because it doesn’t sound like proper English) comment, “This is the day that we are all about”.

Indeed, Grade 12 graduation is the day we are all about as a school that prepares its students for post-secondary success. The students were brimming with excitement about their first month of school and told their teachers that they had so much confidence in their own abilities after seeing what their skill level was in comparison to many of their classmates.

On Tuesday, we christened the new field at the Main Campus with a rugby match against a school from Scotland. Kevin Vertkas was the first Mentor player out onto the field and he went to the centre logo, sat down, ran his hands across the turf and looked up into the sky as if to say “Finally!”. Kevin was a student at the Primary Campus when the idea of an artificial turf field was first proposed to Mr. Philbrook, Mr. Macdonald and I so watching that little scene made me think that after all the issues with permits and delays, this is the day we are all about.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

University-Minded & University-Bound

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Last night, our Grade 12 students and parents (along with some Grade 10 and 11 families) got the exclusive opportunity to meet with over 40 Canadian colleges and universities at our annual University Fair. The Grade 12 students were a mixture of excitement and terror … excited about all of the options open to them but scared that they will make the wrong decision. I even overheard one student say that she was even torn about last night. “Should I be here finding out the courses and marks I need or should I have stayed at home to study in order to get the mark in the course I need?”

Having graduated from Goderich DCI (a small rural-ish high school), I did not experience any of these things. If there was a university fair somewhere, I didn’t hear about it and only a handful of universities held information sessions at our school. I never worried too much about my marks (to my mother’s chagrin) and neither have I ever questioned my decision to accept Wilfrid Laurier University’s offer over Western and Waterloo.

If this year’s Grade 12s could only come to Commencement tonight and speak with the Class of 2015, they would get re-assurance from these post-secondary “veterans” (they have been away for 5 whole weeks after all!) that everything will work out just fine. They would hear that being a TSS/Mentor grad does not mean that you are immune from all the distractions of university but that when you move your stuff into residence, you will also be bringing with you a unique skill set that allows you to balance the fun part of post-secondary life with the academic side. In other words, you have the academic background and work ethic from your years here that will allow you to be just as involved in extra-curricular life as you were in your high school years!

Have a wonderful long weekend, everyone!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

A Great Year Can Be Even Better!

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Findlay L.With a new school year underway, I know that many students have set goals to make honour roll, to earn a spot on a sports team, or to receive an academic award or athletic award this year. These are worthy goals, and if you are determined to put in the grit and the stick-to-it-ness required to achieve these goals, know that your teachers and coaches are here to help you.

But the new school year resolution I want you to achieve has nothing to do with making honour roll. It has nothing to do with earning high marks. It has nothing to do with being selected most valuable player on a sports team. It has nothing to do with receiving an academic or an athletic award at the end of this school year.

The new school year resolution I want you to achieve this year will outlast any award or medal you will ever receive. It will remain with you for a lifetime. And unlike an award or medal, you will be able to carry this achievement with you wherever you go. Everyone will be able to see it.

This year, make your new school resolution to be better person.

Let’s start with a few examples.

Perhaps we sometimes get caught up in gossip or spread unkind stories about others – about our classmates or about our teachers – through word-of-mouth or through social media. Perhaps we are quick to judge others, critical of the way they act – for what they do or for what they don’t do. Through our unkind words, by our laughing at them, or even by ignoring them, we put them down. And let’s not kid ourselves into believing they don’t notice, because they do and it hurts.

Here’s another example: perhaps we give up easily, get frustrated when things don’t go our way, or when we don’t succeed the first or even the tenth time we try to do something. Perhaps we have a difficult time accepting and learning from our disappointments. We may have outgrown the temper tantrums we had when we were toddlers, but we still can’t handle not getting what we want, when we want it.

Have you ever noticed that those who can’t handle not getting what they want usually blame others? It is either a classmate’s fault, or the teacher’s fault, or the coach’s fault.

I want you to be honest with yourself. I want you to talk to your parents and get advice from your teachers, and I want you to write down in your agenda your own new school year resolution that if achieved, will make you a better person.

Achieving your new school year resolution won’t be easy. Setting a goal is one thing, but achieving it will require self-control, in some cases courage, and what I call, stick-to-it-ness. It will require patience, humility, a lot of humour, forgiveness, and good old fashion grit.

Flash forward to June 17, the last day of this school year and imagine how proud you will be with yourself for accomplishing your goal to be a better person. Imagine over hearing a classmate, a teacher, a parent in the hall speaking about you and having observed your actions throughout the year, describing you not as someone who won an award, but as someone who always makes others feel good about themselves – who has grit – who never gives up. Someone who is the kind of person we’d all like to be.

Now go out and be that person.

Lori Findlay
Principal
Intermediate Division