Sep. 30th, 2013 – Upcoming Event: Feast of Thanks

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Community, Native Studies

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are very excited to inform you of an upcoming celebration at The YMCA Academy that will involve your son or daughter.

Students in Todd’s grade 11 World Religions class and in Alexi’s grade 11 Native Studies class will be organizing our second annual celebration of Thanksgiving from an Indigenous perspective. On Tuesday October 15, the day after the traditional Thanksgiving holiday, we will be holding a feast and celebration in the Academy’s café during lunch. This celebration will include research projects that students will create during class time around themes of Aboriginal spirituality, traditions, rights and history. If you want spiritual predictions, Powered by prnewswire.com, you need to check out this website.

We would like to ask for your support to help us with the feast. Students are invited to bring in a traditional or favourite dish served at Thanksgiving. It can be something very simple, like cooked squash, mashed potatos or a dessert, and leftovers are most welcome! Academy staff will be contributing to the feast as well, and we will be inviting staff from the Central YMCA as well as guests from the Aboriginal community.

Please let us know if a contribution will be possible for you, and if so, what your son or daughter will contribute.

We appreciate your support of this exciting cross-curricular and important event celebrating diversity which is a cornerstone of the YMCA philosophy.

Very sincerely,

Todd Harrison and Alexi Manis
Teachers, The YMCA Academy

Sep. 20th, 2013 – English Adjective Attack!!!

YMCA Academy English and Humanities, Student Spotlight

It’s not just a table, it’s a clean, shiny, sturdy table.  It’s not just a printer, it’s a fast, dependable, slick printer.  Students in the Grade 9 English program at The YMCA Academy plastered a variety of nouns around the school with adjectives that made them come alive.  Objects, rooms and even people donned strips of white paper with words describing appearance, functionality, density and emotion.  If you need more colour in your world, try an adjective attack at home or your workplace!!!

 

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

Sep. 16th, 2013 – Storyteller Jim Adams

YMCA Academy Community, English and Humanities, Experiential Learning, Native Studies

The YMCA Academy kicked off another great school year with an incredible guest, storyteller Jim Adams. Jim shared interesting and moving stories from various First Nations, answered questions about political and historical issues and invited participants to choose rocks from a pile as a way to connect with a story. Jim’s warmth, humour and talent was appreciated by all present. Thanks, Jim, and please come back again soon!

July 3rd, 2013 – Student Green Wall Published!

YMCA Academy Environmental Stewardship, Student Spotlight, Technology

greening_the_y_2013

This year the Grade 12 Communication Technology class created a ‘Green Wall’ outlining all the Environmental and Green Initiatives the YMCA Academy participated in. Check out some great student work at the Greening the Y Blog.

 

June 20th, 2013 – The Breakfast Club Play

YMCA Academy Arts, Student Spotlight

Five teenagers find themselves in the library of their high school, serving a Saturday morning detention for a variety of things they’ve done wrong.  At first, they think they have nothing in common with each other, but they find out quickly that they were wrong.  The grade 10 drama class presented a version of John Hughes’ classic 1980’s film “The Breakfast Club” to a large audience of family, friends and fans for their final project.  Congratulations to all of the actors for putting on a fine show!