Arts Appreciation - June 3rd

We would like to invite you to join us on June 3rd for our Annual Arts Appreciation Evening. The event provides an opportunity for our students to showcase their talents and celebrate another year of hard work and creativity. This year we have expanded the event and hope that you can join us for all or part of the evening. The program is as follows;

·       6:00 pm - Philanthropy Group BBQ Fundraiser - Join us for burgers, hot dogs, and more in support of a great cause. Proceeds will go toward local projects as part of the 2015-16 granting season.

·       7:00 pm - Theatre Program Act 1 - Enjoy the Grade 7-8 band, a fashion show, some student made videos and the Grade 7-8 Choir.

·       7:45 pm - Gallery Walk - Enjoy a walk through all of the artistic achievements of our school this year. Industrial Arts, Visual Arts, School Clubs, and Perfomers will all be on display during this time.

·       8:15 pm - Theatre Program Act 2 - Enjoy the Senior Band as they close the show with some Disney classics.

Please come by and help us celebrate.

Otherness Workshop

Carman's Cultural Display

Carman Collegiate welcomed over 300 students from Elm Creek, Miami, St. Pauls, and St. Laurent Schools along with our Carman Collegiate students on Thursday, May 28.  All grade 9 to 11 students in the division gathered for this workshop titled "Otherness" to discuss cultural awareness.  The morning and afternoon sessions had keynote speaker Kevin Lamoureux, a professor at the University of Winnipeg, explain what culture, otherness, and how these concepts shape who we are.  At lunch, the students received lunch and then circulated the school looking at the cultural presentation displays each of the schools brought.  The afternoon then introduced students how to understand otherness, and to be accepting of differences.  The next step that the division wishes to pursue involves students interested in becoming part of a divisional student team on cultural awareness.  Surveys the students will complete this upcoming week will give them the opportunity to express their interest.

Kevin Lamoureux - breaking down otherness

MRA Crocus Award to Ms. Armstrong

The Manitoba Reading Association Crocus Award for Literacy Advocates has been awarded to our very own Ms. Heather Armstrong, Carman Collegiate Library Technician.  Ms. Armstrong was nominated for her firm belief in the need for literacy in the community, that she has taken on the role of being a literacy advocate, and has achieved significant results and made an impact on the advocacy of literacy in her community. 

While at Carman Collegiate, she has been designated as the division’s point person for distributing information to the other ten schools’ library staff. She has been responsible for professional development, offering workshops and sessions in areas of interest and need. Heather is also a technology wizard and has provided a prominent position on social media for the school library. She is always willing to assist with others’ technology issues. In addition, Heather has presented at the last two PERC (Pembina Escarpment Reading Council) in-services and also at the 3rd Adolescent Literacy Summit in 2015. She serves as a member of PERC and is an integral supporter of our goal to promote literacy in our southern Manitoba communities.

Ms. Armstrong is involved in facilitating a school radio club that assists students hosting an ongoing radio show for a local station, serving as the advisor for the annual yearbook committee, and co-facilitating a rock band club.  In addition she has been a co-leader and participant in a strum club for students and staff at Carman Collegiate. The rock band club hosts a Band-Aid concert at the Active Living Centre providing an opportunity for current and former students to perform. The concert is a fund-raiser for various initiatives in the school or community. They have supported renovations to the community theatre space, to support Haiti relief and to the Red Cross. Not only do the current members of the Rock Band perform, but also former students consistently return to perform which attests to the strength of the program.

Ms. Armstrong states that her greatest compliment is from students, “You always find me good books to read!” Her library space is very noticeably a place where students feel comfortable and definitely a space where students choose to “hang out”.  Ms. Armstrong will receive her award on Saturday, June 6.

"Otherness"

Kevin Lamoureux

On Thursday, May 28, Carman Collegiate will host 340 students from around the division to a cultural proficiency workshop on "Otherness".  All grade 9 to 11 students from Prairie Rose School Division (Elm Creek, Miami, St. Pauls, St. Laurent, and Carman) will converge on Carman on Thursday to become more aware what cultural diversity and proficiency mean, and what it looks like.  Mr. Kevin Lamoureux is a professor at the University of Winnipeg and will be our guest presenter and facilitator for the day.  He will challenge students to find what their "other" is, and help them to have an understanding and appreciation of the "other", as at some point in our lives, we may be the "other".  The different schools will also have made displays to showcase their culture for the students from the other schools to view.
Mr. Lamoureux is heavily invested in the Manitoba school system and has become a well-known professional development speaker for school divisions, government agencies and community groups. His expertise in building school climates where Aboriginal students and all non-traditional students will be successful is sought after in numerous keynote speaking engagements.
Mr. Lamoureux recently won the International Centre for Innovation in Education's Young Scholar Award in Ulm, Germany, as well as the University of New England's award for outstanding academic achievement in Graduate Studies. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of New England.

Fence Building 40S

Our grade 12 Woodworking students with their teacher Mr. Lang learned the fine art of fence building this week.  The class travelled over to Parkview Manor and assisted in putting up the fence.

Course Selection Evening

Families of our current grade 8 to 11 students are invited to our annual Course Registration Information Evening in the Carman Collegiate Community Theatre.  Two sessions will be held, the first starting at 6:30 pm for students and their parents entering grade 9.  This session will discuss the credit system, requirements for graduation, and course offerings.  The second session will begin at 7:30 pm for students and their parents entering grade 10 to 12.  This session will deal more with course selections and course required for post-secondary plans.  Information pages will be distributed to all parents present with information on how to register for courses online.
Carman Collegiate is changing the format of their timetable for the 2015-2016 school year, and this will also be unveiled at this presentation.  Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Pritchard will be available after presentations for any questions parents may have.

Cancer Care Quilt Raffle

Tickets are now available for the 7th annual charity quilt raffle. Tickets are $1.00 each and available from Mrs. Phillips. All proceeds go to support Cancer Care Manitoba. Stop by room 15 to check it out!"

Boyne Regional Library Expansion Project

A number of our animation students were honoured at a special reception at the Boyne Regional Library on Monday May 11. The students produced a video called "Positioning for the Future" outlining plans by library staff and the library expansion committee to renovate and expand the library building. The video also features interviews with community leaders and fellow students about the importance of literacy and library spaces. Dale Owen, one of the library board members who approached club supervisor and Carman Collegiate librarian Heather Armstrong about producing the video said she the committee members were "awed" by the students' work and said the video was an integral part in gaining approval from both the Town and Rural Municipal councils to go forward with fundraising for the project. The expansion project will see an additional 5,000 square feet of usable space added to the building as a a two-storey addition. The expansion will allow for an accessible front entrance, an elevator, meeting space, additional space for computer/technology use and instruction, a storage space and an a greatly expanded children's section. Congratulations to our students for a job well done. The students involved were Grade 11 students Allan D, Matthew K, Jordan P, and Dawson E with student interviews provided by Grade 9 students Jeff H, Keegan G and Geoff H. Student Director for the project, Allan D, graciously accepted a $300 cheque from the Boyne Regional Library Board as an honorarium for the students' work. Our animation club also recently completed a Safe Work video for which they were awarded a $2,000 grant and plan to use that money as well as the Boyne Regional Library funding to purchase a 3D printer for use by animation and multimedia students.

MADD Canada Presentation

On Monday, May 4, all of our students had the opportunity to watch the MADD Canada presentation of "AfterMath".  The 45 minute video presentation let our students see the aftermath of a fatal car accident on the deceased family and friends.  The main character does a video reflection diary of how he, his parents, younger sister, and a couple of friends are handling the death, and the levels of responsibility and anger that they all feel for their involvement, or lack of involvement.  The MADD Canada representative then discussed with our students about stats in Canada for the issues with impaired and distracted driving, and the issues with risky behaviors.  

Students visit RRC for Information Technology

Grade 9 Animation students visited Red River College yesterday to take part in “Day in The Life of An IT Student”.  During the morning session students had a chance to practice logic skills needed to create good computer code by trying to break tasks into the smallest number of steps possible. They also learned how binary numbers make up code. After a pizza lunch, students made bulletin board websites that included movable sticky notes, photos and links to YouTube videos. The day was organized by the Business Information Technology department as a way to encourage students to study and consider careers in Information Technology. Students also had a chance to tour the Princess Street campus and hear from former students about their experiences working in the IT field.

Advancing to the Envirothon Provincials

Carman Collegiate had three teams of 5 students each competed at the regional Envirothon competition at Spruce Woods on April 22.  Two of our teams have qualified for the Envirothon provincial competition from May 21 to 23 in Winnipeg.  The one team qualified as a top three qualifier, and the other team qualified as a wildcard based on their total points compared to other teams in the province.  Our thanks to the La Salle Redboine Conservation district for their continued support of our teams in this event.