Mar. 10th, 2011 – Upcoming dates & events

YMCA Academy Events, Updates

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Just a few reminders about upcoming events/important dates:

  • Friday, March 11th is the last day of classes before we break for Mid-Winter Break (March Break) – students are expected to be in school on Friday and attendance calls/e-mails will be made if students are not here.
  • Monday, March 21st is Teacher Professional Day (no school for students)
  • The first day of classes back is Tuesday, March 22nd
  • Thursday, March 31st is the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test day.  A separate e-mail had been sent home earlier with more details.

Should you have any questions about any of the above, please don’t hesitate to contact us at the Academy.

Mar. 7th, 2011 – Our Health Our Future Launch

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community

The official launch of the Our Health Our Future: A National Dialogue on Healthy Weights Website took place at Metro Central YMCA today. Academy students were present during the live demonstration and had the opportunity to meet Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and YMCA Canada CEO Scott Haldane.

“This site is an interactive forum that lets Federal, Provincial and Territorial governments get input from citizens, communities, industry and other stakeholders across the country to start thinking about ways to reduce childhood overweight and obesity. It also allows Canadians across the country to connect with each other to share their ideas about how to promote healthy weights for children and youth.”

Academy students during the launch of the Our Health Our Future Website.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq speaking about the new Website.
Academy students with YMCA Canada CEO Scott Haldane and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Visit the Our Health Our Future Website

Check out the rest of the pictures on our Facebook Page!

Mar. 7th, 2011 – Virtual class exploration via Skype

YMCA Academy English and Humanities, Experiential Learning, Student Spotlight

In order to explore the effects of technology on communication, the grade 11 Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology class held a ‘virtual class’ today using webcams and Skype. The students presented their findings of their technological deprivation experiments, during which each student gave up a favourite piece of technology for three days to study the effects on their personal lives.

While there were a few bumps getting everyone up and running, students Ben, Raquel, Max and Jessie seemed happy with the overall results of having a discussion online.

Raquel said, “We now know that we are able to have a discussion over the internet, so if anyone is sick they can use this technology to get their work done.”

In regards to the possible downsides of having a virtual classroom, Ben said, “I felt weird during the discussion. This was because I felt like I was not really talking to people but more talking at people. For me it was hard to understand the others, this was mostly due to the fact that the internet was not very stable or fast. When I talked I did not know if I was being listened to, I could not make eye contact with people or see them respond to what I was saying.”

While the focus today was on group discussion, possible applications for the future include learning activities and presentations, and perhaps ‘Skyping’ in a guest speaker who otherwise wouldn’t be able to visit the school. Any volunteers?

YMCA Academy student participating in a Skype discussion.

Mar. 4th, 2011 – Summer plans getting started!

YMCA Academy Updates

Yesterday at our monthly VOICES assembly the Academy staff and students gathered to share ideas about summer plans and opportunities. Here are the highlights:

1) Get started on your 40 hours of community service…

Bonita shared the info now available on our website.
Visit the “LEARN” tab under “community service” and all necessary information and forms can be uploaded.
Or just Click Here

2) Think about a summer 2012 Eco-internships through the YMCA of Greater Toronto

Keep your eye on application deadlines for next year!
For more info visit The Academy website under the “LEARN” tab there is a summer jobs page.
Or just Click Here

3) Are you a Grad? Thinking about an internship before college?

Think about FYPSIP; the YMCA’s paid internship within the federal sector (government offices).
Deadlines are firm and posted on the FYPSIP Website

4) Are you presently in grade 10? Think you want to attend college?  Think about Scholarships!

The CIBC scholarship has been awarded to one of our own Academy students. Deadlines are in February.
For more information speak to Alexi
Or visit the CIBC Scholarship Website

5) Looking for summer or post grad adventure. Check out : Katimavik

This volunteer organization connects Canadians to long term volunteer positions within our wonderful nation.
Katimavik Website

6) Thinking about a gap year after The Academy and before college or the workplace.

Look at opportunities with:
Canada World Youth
Youth Challenge International

7) Summer employment

Need resume assistance? Speak to Malcolm anytime. Sooner is always better than Later…..
Looking for a summer job – use the Academy’s job crawler Here.

Mar. 4th, 2011 – Student Job Crawler Launched!

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Updates

To provide students with multiple, easy to use resources for finding part-time employment, the Academy has developed a “Student Jobs” Portal. Students can find a wealth of information in this portal including including:

  • an employment handbook
  • a list of employment websites
  • information on internships
  • volunteer opportunities
  • a “real-time” GTA job crawler

Students can check this page daily to see the most recent job postings broken down by category.

Check out the Student Jobs page!