Welcome to Southgard!

Welcome to Southgard, a land of fantasy adventure, swords and sorcery, and political intrigue. Our brave group of adventurers hunt for ancient treasures that unlock incredible powers from an extremely advanced ancient civilization. These lost technologies and magic are the key to power and wealth in the world of Southgard.

Even through online course delivery, and physical distancing, Academy students are still getting together to engage in shared creative story writing, and role-play gaming. In the Academy’s Play-by-Post Role Play Club, students take control of the story of a character they have created, and write their share of an adventure that unfolds before their very eyes.

Each week the players face new challenges as the Game Master introduces new narratives to which students write their character’s reactions. Through back and forth posting, students develop compelling characters, build engaging interactions, and make exciting choices. The Play-by-Post Role Play Club combines the literary outlet of Creative Writing, and the excitement of Role Play Gaming.

Take a look into the world of Southgard!:

GM Post:
“This is it. Here we enter the Bulgar Swamp. Don’t stray off the path that I walk on. There are false trails, pitfalls, and hidden bogs just underfoot everywhere.” Hilda, the dwarf woods-guide picked her way carefully under the arch of the twisted trees, occasionally prodding the ground with the butt of her spear.

The sounds of the party seemed to be muffled or swallowed by the damp air, and though there were the croaks of frogs, and the sound of small splashes nearby, the travelers could tell that sounds from further than a few yards simply weren’t reaching them. At that moment, the spongy peat moss under Nax’s feet gave way. He slipped up to his neck into cold waters. He could feel the roots of weeds and trees just under the false ground that had dropped him, and when he reached his hands up, he couldn’t push them up through the moss. The harder he pushed, the further down his head was forced, until he disappeared below the thick mat of vegetation. Trapped below the surface.

“Quick now! You’ll have to work together, and fast to get him free. Don’t lose the spot where he went under!”

Player Post – Nax the Dragonborm:
Nax clearly gasped as he fell under, keeping his eyes and mouth closed he focused. He may be what most would consider a scumbag, but he wasn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t die here, that was sure. He pointed his finger up, and starting firing his invisible missile spell off, trying to at least send them a signal as to where he was. Hoping they manage to save him…

GM Post:
In the moment Nax slipped below the surface of the Peat Moss floor of the path, Hilda leapt to where he had fallen. Just as she leaned over the spot he had gone under a burst of water, moss, and plant matter shot up into her face. A blast of pain cracked through her head.

Completely unconscious, Hilda tipped backwards, falling to her back like a stiff log.

A small round opening in the false ground, about the size of a coin, showed a pool of murky water.

~**Nax is still trapped underwater below the layer of peat moss, and now Hilda is unconscious**~

Player Post – Muffy the Human:
muffy, runs over to Hilda and grabs her spear. “Bonnie you come help me pull up nax, the rest of you tend to Hilda!” muffy barked. he carefully moved to around the area that nax fell in testing the ground with the spear like Hilda did. once sure it safe muffy yelled at the hole nax fell in “im putting down the back of the spear for you to grab onto no more magic okay! Bonnie once he grabs on help me pull him out!”

Doodles & Giggles

 

In our inaugural meeting last Wednesday, the Boardgame Club had 10 students drop in for an hour of doodles and a lot of laughs as we played a game called Drawful 2. The game involves a group of people each of whom are given a different prompt to draw. After everyone draws their prompt, the group takes turns guessing each players’ prompt and points are awarded for the correct guess as well as answers the group considers to be correct or worthy of a vote. We had a lot of laughs and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the hour. We can’t wait until next week’s game.

Grade 11 Travel & Tourism – Dream Destinations

 

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the world that we know has changed dramatically. This includes schools which have been closed since the beginning of March Break. Luckily, we live in a time and society that allows us to quickly improvise and adapt. Since the closure of schools, YMCA Academy has been hard at work to transition to a long-distance learning program. It has been a quick turnaround received well by students, parents, and staff alike.

In Travel and Tourism, we are not allowing the pandemic to slow us down. Although we are currently undergoing isolation and social distancing, our class is making travel plans to our dream destinations. Students are working on a long-term project that tasks them with developing a comprehensive travel itinerary to a place of their choice. Over the course of the project, they will have designed and planned the following:

  • Country and city profile poster
  • Top tourist attractions presentation
  • Travel details including length of trip, type of trip, and budget
  • Booking flight tickets, accommodation, car rental (which you could look here to find out the services), etc.
  • Detailed day-to-day itinerary

As students work through the project, they will have to take into account a variety of factors. For example, they will have to consider the price for everything they do to ensure they stay within their budget. Additionally, they will have to map out their every move and plan realistic journeys. Students will also examine each of the attractions they visit and understand the importance of conservation and sustainability. At the end of the project, students will share their masterpieces so that everyone has access to different travel itineraries. Sooner or later, my hope is that each student will be able to put their planning into practice and have an opportunity to visit their dream destination.

Grade 11 Biology Unit 3 – Genetics

Jumping back into the thick of things after our break, the new virtual biology classroom delved into the brand new unit of genetics. We began the unit by discussing the structure of DNA and built up to what genes are and how they are expressed. Once we were comfortable with the structure and expression of DNA we looked at the process of how it replicates itself and then moved on to looking at the processes of mitosis and meiosis. Next we ventured into the world of genetic disorders, focusing more on the different types of disorders and looking at a few examples of each and how they manifest.

As the unit came to a close, we explored various reproductive technologies and their links to genetics and ended the unit by discussing the various ethical, social and legal issues related to genetics, genetics research and technology. This set up students to start thinking about genetic disorders and the various issues related to them, which is what their unit research project was centered around.

Grade 9 Science Unit 3 – Space Exploration

As schools and students have moved to online learning, the grade 9 science class is fortunate to have had the opportunity to do so with a fresh start on a new unit called Space Exploration. In this unit we started off by discussing the history of astronomical discovery and the important roles it has played in the evolution of our societies. We then moved on to exploring our own backyard by cataloging some of the characteristics of the planets in our solar system by exploring NASA’s planetary website.

After we were done in our own backyard, we ventured farther and father out into the universe, looking at all of the vast structures it has to offer. Eventually we spent an entire class talking about stars, their characteristics and how they live and end their ‘lives’. Upon learning about stars, we went back into deep space and learned about various astronomical phenomena, from those close to us such as solar and lunar eclipses, to the more exotic ones such as black holes, quasars, and pulsars. We ended the unit by discussing the various challenges of exploring space which prepared students for their mission to Mars assignment.