BOSS.COM Principal: George Voumvakis Superintendent of Schools: Daniel Wu Board Trustee: Allan Tam Volume 8, issue 2 June 2016 Principal Message elcome to this year’s final edition of the Bur Oak Secondary School newsletter. W Another school year has come to an end and what a great year it has been. It is my pleasure to share just some of its highlights.
Our ensembles competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto, where we received 5 First Place Awards (with 3 Platinum Ratings and 3 Gold Ratings), as well as 2 invitations to compete at the Provincial Finals for our Symphonic Band and Concert Choir. We also found success at York Region Music Alive Festival, where our groups received 6 Platinum Ratings, 1 Gold Rating and 7 invitations to the National Finals of MusicFest Canada. To finish off our year our Concert Choir received an Honourable Mention and our Grade 10 Symphonic Band was awarded Second Place in the province at the Provincial Finals.
The achievements continued at the Dragon Nest’s Competition. Our students competed against teams of grade 11 and 12 students from 4 different school boards, where they pitched their creative business ideas in front of the judges. After a round of intense questioning they qualified for Ryerson’s Launch Zone Summer Company and received a grant of $3000 to help kick start their businesses.
Bur Oak is the first secondary school in York Region to win the EQAO Dr. Bette M. Stephenson Recognition of Achievement Award. This Provincial award was presented to Bur Oak for our achievements in the Grade 9 EQAO test of mathematics. The school was invited to the prestigious ceremony on October 28, 2015, followed by the Learning Forum on October 29, to share the successes of the recognized schools. Please check out the school video and article on the EQAO website: www.eqao.com
Events this fall also included: the Bossilicious “Welcome Back to School” barbeque, the School Dance and the Winter Assembly. Grade 10 students had a wonderful opportunity to learn about possible future careers through our annual Careers Day. This year we had 23 professionals from the community come and talk to our students about their respective career journeys.
Table of contents
Principal Message ……………………………………………………………………p. 1‐3 White Pine Reading Club ..……………………………………………………...p. 19 Community Class …………………………..………………...……………………..p. 4‐6 Student Success & Alt ED… …………………………... ……..…………….….p. 20 Drama ……………………………………………………………………………………..p. 7 Business …………...... ……………………….………………………..…………….. p. 21 Visual Arts ……………………………...………… ……………….………………..p. 8‐10 Computer Studies…………………………………...……. …………...…..……..p. 22 English … ……………………………………………………………...…..…………… p. 11 Science …………………………………………………………………………………...p. 23 Moderns …………………………………………..…………………………………….p. 12 Physical Education & Health…………………..…………………….………....p. 24‐25 E.S.L. ……………………………………….…………………………..………………….p. 12 Music ……………………………………………………….……..…...……………….p. 26 E.L.L. ……………………………………….…………………………..………………….p. 13 Math ……………………………………………………….………………..……………p. 27 Guidance……………..…………………………….……………..…………………... p. 14‐15 Social Science & Humanities.…………………………………………..……….p. 27‐28 Equity Council………………………………………………………………………….p. 16 Co‐op ………………………………………………………………..………..…..….…p. 29 Global Action……………………..…………………….. ……………..…………… p. 17 History …………..…………… …….…………………………..………...…………... p. 30‐31 Library…………………………….……………………… ………………..…………… p. 18 Geography…………………………………………………………..………..…..….…p. 32
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Principal Message Cont’d In athletics, this year’s swim team accumulated the most accolades in BOSS history. Bur Oak swim team placed first in six events at the YRAA Championships at the Pan Am Pool in Markham. This year's badminton team did extremely well, getting our first OFSAA medal. Thanks to the generous support and dedication of our teaching staff.
This winter BOSS held its third annual Mental Health Day called “Unstuffed 3.0”. Students had the opportunity to attend both workshop and wellness sessions. Students chose workshops from a variety of topics including relationships, personal identity and family issues. Wellness sessions included: yoga, running, reading, music and art appreciation, mindfulness and broomball.
Our Special Needs class made a unique movie, entitled “Frankencrayon,” which featured youth who are living with challenges such as autism, developmental delays, and Down’s Syndrome with the help of Motus O Dance.
Our school was visited by the US Consulate General and the Director of the Board. The visit included a question period with our Politics and Law classes. We were also visited by Committee Members of Modern Learning team from the Board to see first hand how we have implemented modern learning into our curriculum through cross curricular learning.
Staff and students at BOSS continue to give generously of their time to support our local community with events like the Terry Fox Run, the Halloween Spookfest for younger children in our community, the Canadian Cancer Society Pink Ribbon day, Daffodil Drive, and the Winter Food Drive.
Graduation 2016 On June 29th, we hosted our annual Graduation ceremony to celebrate our 2016 graduating class. The 419 graduates included 255 Ontario Scholars and a number of scholarship recipients. It was truly an enjoyable evening and a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduating students. A special thank you goes to the Guidance Department and the front office staff for all their hard work that made graduation such a success.
Community partnerships….. Thank you to Michele deVries for her work with our community partner, the York Region Police and their joint photography club featuring BOSS student work. This year’s show, was once again held at the Community Safety Village a wonderful backdrop for the students' work.
We say goodbye to, Mr. Bonner, Mr. Byam, Ms. DiGennaro, Ms. Davis, Mr. Norris, Mr. Pardatscher, Ms. Pridie, Mr. Rass, Ms. Tsatsos and we wish them well in their future endeavours.
I would like to wish a happy retirement to a very special person at Bur Oak. Ms. Gosse has been in the main office at Bur Oak since the opening of the school and we will all be very sorry to see her leave. She has contributed much to the school life at Bur Oak in her nine years.
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Principal Message Cont’d
Mr. Angus will be transferring to Bill Crothers Secondary School this September. Mr. Angus came to Bur Oak in September 2013. He has contributed much to the school life at Bur Oak in his three years here. Mr. Angus has actively supported students through his work on Staffing and Timetabling, Registration, Graduation, School Dances, Clubs and many other students events. We will all miss you very much and wish him well at Bill Crothers Secondary School.
We would also like to thank the following long term occasional teachers for their support of our students: Reanna Baboolal, Amanda Bell, Amanda Brinder, Amanda Brutto, Eunice Chow, Kam Ip, Matthew Law, Azelia Liu, Jennifer Rueckert, Peter Chris Tsioros and Kristine Zver.
To students and staff, I extend my appreciation and thanks for your tremendous efforts which allowed us to be so successful this school year. I wish everyone a safe and happy summer. I look forward to seeing every‐ one in September rested, recharged and ready for the year ahead.
The administration welcome the following staff to Bur Oak next year: Scot Angus Vice Principal
Laura Hogan Department Head of Special Education We would also like to welcome back the following teachers:
Gillian Anderson Interim Department Head of Science Louisa Sorflaten English Department Laura Upton English Department Kassandra Young English Department
By, G. Voumvakis Principal
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Community Class
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Community Class
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Community Class
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Drama.
his year was an exciting one for the Bur Oak Drama department. Our senior show “Swan Song” T made it all the way to Sears Provincials and won multiple awards. Our director Justine Wong won a coveted Mira Award for her direction as well as our ensemble and designers and stage manager won awards. For Provincials, we went downtown for 5 days and participated in exciting workshops, events and shows. It was an exciting week of theatre and I could not have been any prouder of my students!
Another wonderful show that took place was the Community Drama Class’ production of Frankencrayon. This production involved an exciting collaboration with Motus O Dance theatre and was performed to a full audience. These kids sure know how to rock the stage and entertain an audience!
I am proud to say that one of our very own drammies (and our senior production lead) will be one of two elected school council presidents next year. This goes to show what a strong foundation drama can give students. It improves their confidence, their presentation skills and helps make them engaging and charismatic.
An exciting opportunity arose for two of our students when a Hollywood production came to film at BOSS and two of the drama students, who have both been accepted into film school, were given the opportunity to shadow the filming. They were able to meet some celebrities, but more importantly they were able to see what a thriving and exciting field the film making business is.
Another notable accomplishment was that one of our grade 9 drama students auditioned and was selected to be in a professional dance theatre’s junior company. That’s right, you will soon be able to purchase tickets to see Hannah Durance perform at 19 on the Park in Stouffville with Motus O Dance Theatre.
Our little drama family at BOSS had a fantastic year and we are already making plans for next year’s show. Stay tuned and have a great summer!
By, C. Ferguson Head of Dramatic Arts
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Visual Art Department
Vinyl Installation This year Bur Oak saw it’s very first art installation. Designed by Grade 11 student Chris Lee, the layered composition depicts the life cycle of plastic bottles and the need to protect our environment through recycling. Spanning nine windows this piece is a beautiful example of the remarkable talent we have here at Bur Oak.
Spanish Adventure! During the March Break, the Art and History Departments lead a successful international trip to beautiful Spain. They experienced the incredible landscape, food, music, art and history the country had to offer. Highlights included the Sagrada Familia and Prado Museum as well as several walled castles, churches and flamenco dancing found in the smaller medieval towns. We hope this cultural experience encourages our students to continue to explore and travel throughout their lifetime.
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Visual Art Department
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Photography Club
he Bur Oak Photography Club held its eighth annual year end show in June at the Community T Safety Village in Stouffville. An impressive collection of photographs, taken throughout the community showcased the impressive skills of our students. A collaborative program between ten schools in both the Public and Catholic Boards and the York Region Police allowed students to hone their technical and creative skills while building relationships with everyone involved. Thank you to all those who came out to the show in support of our kids!
Photographer: Donald Bennet Photographer: Jameel Slowly
Photographer: Manya Bhaumik Photographer: Godwin Lau
By, M. deVries Head of the Visual Arts Department
Photographer: Isaiah Fogah
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The Benefits of Summertime Reading
any parents ask me how students can improve their achievement in English. I tell them that the M best way for students to improve and develop their reading, writing and thinking skills is by reading fiction. Parents are often not aware that reading fiction improves reading, writing and thinking skills in all subject areas. Any kind of reading is beneficial; however, reading fiction, especially novels, reaps the most benefits.
Novels are usually divided into several chapters, engaging with a novel involuntarily forces a student to use certain reading strategies and thinking skills to make sense of the content. For example, students must often go back and re‐read sections of a novel so that the novel continues to make sense moving forward. Going back in a text to re‐read sections is a good reading strategy that students should practice. Along with this, they may make notes or flag certain “important” pages as they go. Note‐taking and flagging are excellent reading strategies that students should get used to doing. The best way to do this is by using sticky notes. Students can write bits of information, reminders, word definitions and questions on these notes and then stick them in the novel on key pages. Students then develop thinking skills by going back and revisiting these notes as they try to piece together plot details, uncover implicit ideas and answer their previous questions.
Some parents ask if students will improve their writing skills by completing grammar worksheets. While such worksheets may initially help students learn the rules of grammar, they have limited to no bearing on a student’s ability to write in context. The sentences used to demonstrate errors on worksheets do not resemble the kinds of sentences that students write in their own assignments. The sentences in worksheets are isolated examples that lack context. Therefore, correcting errors in sentences that were not written by the student does not ensure that the student will not make the same kind of errors when they are writing their own reports, essays and stories. Reading fiction is the best way to improve writing because it is a contextualized activity that develops vocabulary and presents a model of how a variety of sentences should be written and how a variety of words should be used. Sentences in fiction demonstrate proper grammar, punctuation and usage.
Though parents may assume that students should read only the classics, I would argue that students should read the fiction they enjoy in addition to what they have to read for school. Students can choose novels from various genres including science fiction, adventure, mystery and social realism. We offer students such choices as part of our rigorous reading program that uses a book club model.
In book club, students read and analyze their chosen novel with members of a small group. These members convene formally with the teacher three times to discuss their reading experience. Of course, students must bring their notes to these meetings so that they are prepared to share their ideas and questions. If a student has done a lot of reading outside of school, he or she is more likely able to make varied and complex connections between the book club novel and the other novels he/she has read. Making connections between texts is an important skill that teachers assess during the book club experience.
The English teachers at Bur Oak look forward to finding out what our students have read during the summer!
By, P. Belmonte Head of the English Department
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Moderns
onjour! B The Department of Modern Languages enjoyed great success this past semester with a cross‐curricular experiential learning excursion, in collaboration with the Geography of Food course. In April, Madame Sharma and Madame Tsatsos accompanied our Grade 10 French students on a scavenger hunt at St. Lawrence Market followed by a luncheon at The Marché Restaurant. Our students were eager to order their meals and converse with the wait staff in French! Bon effort mes amis!
The Modern Languages Department will be bidding a fond farewell to Madame Tsatsos as she moves on to a new position and school in the Board. We will also be welcoming back Madame Goodridge and Madame Donaldson, from a long overdue hiatus from French teaching duties. Both these fantastic teachers are look‐ ing forward to interacting with our students in French again next school year.
Finally, we hope that you will encourage your child to continue his/her study of French Language and Culture next school year and beyond. With your support we can continue to excel at developing exciting programs in French Language Learning.
By, Mrs. R. Sharma‐Mohan (Head of Modern Languages Department)
Learning a Language One Step at a Time
his semester started off with a great celebration in the ESL department. The students had a chance T to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a celebration lunch. Later in May, we went to Ashbridges Bay with Markville Secondary School. The students had opportunities for team building games and time to meet new English language learners from Markville. It was truly a celebration of all the hard work they accomplished this year.
In the classroom, students continued to develop their English skills. They spent time reading stories, poems and novels. One new graphic text that ESLB and ESLC students read this semester was called Anya’s Ghost. In writing, students continued to practice English structures. Students spent a lot of time developing their oral English skills through book club groups and presentations.
Since the summer is a great time to continue to develop English, the ESL department challenges the stu‐ dents to go to the community library, choose something that you would like read, and read it. The more we read, the more vocabulary we learn and the better our writing becomes. We also challenge the students to speak as much English as they can, by visiting local shops and restaurants. The more time we use English, the more comfortable we become with it.
This semester we had 20 students graduate from the ESL program. Congratulations! Have a wonderful summer! We look forward to seeing you in September!
By, K. Brown Head of the ESL Department
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English Language Learners and STEP (Steps to English Proficiency)
LL Leadership Team is made up of Administrators, ESL Consultant, Guidance, Student Success, ESL E Head and teachers, and other interested staff members. It is an open invitation. We meet on a regular basis after school to discuss supports and programming for our ELL students. We have the community support of our Settlement Worker every Thursday in the school who has over 75 one‐on‐one meetings and over 200 student contacts and the Immigrant Youth Centre quarterly with new community programming and events support with Take Our Kid to Work day. ELL STEP was introduced to the ELL Leadership Team as a support to students and teachers and we were excited to visit other classrooms and developing Learner Profiles. Thank you to the teachers who worked well beyond the five half day sessions provided: Mandy Lau, Carly Donaldson, Ainsley Hatanaka, Anthoula Di Gennaro, Kathy Brown, Kelly Davis and Tiina Krabi. ELL STEP was introduced at a February staff meeting where we saw a video of a student and we practiced moderating the marking on the STEP. The June staff meeting continued our work with STEP for accountability and we collaborated by placing students on their STEP. Teachers were encouraged to make a note of which assessment in their class demonstrated that student placement. An exemplar to the staff noted a discrepancy between a History and ESL entry. Differences of opinion and risk taking were encouraged. We continue to work toward excellence as we work with our students.
ELL Grade 8 Orientation The 15 Grade 8 ELL students and 7 teachers and parents appreciated your BOSS Welcome! Thanks to Mr. Voumvakis, Ms. Dodham, Ms. Brown, and Ms. Krabi for their support. The orientation was successful due to the ISA and student support. Thanks to the Carnival lunches, school tour and scavenger hunts our Grade 8 ELLs had a great day.
Newcomers Network: Cultural Mosaic English Language Learners and English speaking students have joined together in the Newcomer Network. They have experienced team building activities and decided on their Peer Leaders for the Multicultural Showcase. Components of the Cultural Mosaic included: 1. Display Boards 2. Food Samples 3. Traditional Costumes 4. Traditional performance (Dance/ Music) 5. Artifact display & significance Let's celebrate our diversity! Way to go Bulldogs! Thank you to Ms. Hina Shah, our BOSS Settlement and Education Partner, Ms. Brown and Ms. Krabi for their support in this initiative. Free Peer Tutoring was offered Wednesdays and Thursdays 3:00 ‐ 3:45 pm in room 2005, the Student Suc‐ cess Room. The blue "BOSS Peer Tutoring Registration for Tutees" is in the Guidance Office. Students who are helping others are eligible to earn Community Involvement Hours. Thank you to all the staff who provide support to students outside of class time and especially those who supervised this September to June extra‐ curricular service: Ms. E. Bellavance, Ms. C. Goodridge, Ms. K. Kedey, Ms. A. Wan, Ms. L. Harrison, Ms. G. Baik, Mr. S. Manocha, and Ms. T. Krabi. By, T. Krabi Guidance Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
Guidance at Bur Oak
he Bur Oak Guidance department is an incredibly busy place and provides ongoing support for close T to 1700 students. Our counselor's goals include: ∙ a) making information and resources readily available to students and their families ∙ b) keeping track of student’s academic progress to enable them to graduate ∙ c) celebrating success through special events and incentives ∙ d) making connections to support student’s personal and academic needs, and ∙ e) helping students to engage in individual pathway planning.
We encourage families and students to connect with us online, to read our regular updates in the weekly Parent Newsletter, to contact us in person and to attend Parent Sessions.
Connecting with the Community: Volunteering in the summer Students are encouraged to be involved in the community during the summer months. It is important that students participate in eligible activities. To count towards the 40 hour graduation requirement, volunteer opportunities should be with “not for profit” organizations and should not include activities that should be paid employment. If in doubt, check the eligibility on the board website. Current grade 9 students should try to finish and submit their 40 hours by mid‐September to receive a “40‐9ers Club” certificate in October. Grade 10 and 11 students should investigate opportunities which will increase their potential employability skills and references for upcoming scholarship applications. We encourage upcoming grade 12 students to finish their hours before September.
“Put Yourself in the Driver’s Seat”: Expanding on Individual Pathway Planning (IPP) Students and parents are encouraged to complete the Individual Pathway Planning activities which are available through Career Cruising. All students are encouraged to review and revise their IPP twice a year. This past year we have embedded activities for grades 9 to 11 during their targeted events and around course selection time. The grade 11 classes participated in a workshop on post secondary planning in April. We will continue to develop our programming to encourage students to link their IPP to their courses, interests and planning for their future.
Create Your Own Road Map: Post‐Secondary Information for Students and Parents One of the biggest concerns is how to finance schooling after high school. We offer scholarship and OSAP workshops in the second semester to assist students in financial awareness.
During the fall, there will be a number of college and university fairs as well as tours available. We encourage parents and students to start investigating the many options available after high school to ensure that all of the possibilities are fully explored. In semester one, Bur Oak will be hosting visits from a number of colleges and universities. Skills Canada usually visits the school and the cooperative education department can discuss apprenticeship details.
We will be creating some workshop opportunities for parents and guardians to understand the tools available to gather information. We will be sending out information for parents to participate. Our Student Voice group have asked that we expand our Coach Guidance postings for grade 9 to grade 11 to help par‐ ents to be aware of opportunities to understand life after high school.
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Guidance at Bur Oak Cont’d
Choose Once, Choose Wisely: Course Change Requests in September This is always a concern. We provide a number of opportunities during the spring for students to indicate that they wish to change their course selections made in February. Unfortunately, in September it is very difficult to make changes since the timetable has already been established based on student selection in the spring. Therefore, it is important for students to understand that requests for course changes in September are generally only made for academic reasons such as level of difficulty or academic pathways. Not all requests for changes will be possible.
Stay Up‐to‐date with Guidance! Guidance is on Twitter! Parents and students are invited to follow us @bossguidance for current information about scholarships, post‐secondary information, volunteer opportunities, upcoming deadlines and events and course information.
The guidance website is updated and ready to go! Find information about course offering and prerequisites, counselor contact information, financial aid and OSAP, post‐secondary school visits, and relevant student resources. Find us at: http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/buroak.ss/guidance/Pages/default.aspx.
Keeping up with Guidance ‐ Opportunities, School Happenings and Deadlines A lot happens in and outside Bur Oak S.S. and students don’t want to miss any of it. Guidance offers a voluntary service where students can receive text messages and/or emails regarding important deadlines, scholarship information, upcoming opportunities and workshops and information items. There is no cost to sign‐up. If students do not have a cellular text messaging plan, we recommend they check with their cellular service provider regarding any text messaging service charges. Interested? Grade 12 students should text “@bossgu” to 289‐277‐0545 and/or send an empty email to [email protected].
Grade 11 students should text “@boss11” to 289‐277‐0545 and/or send an empty email to [email protected].
Grade 9 and 10 students should text “@boss910” to 289‐277‐0545 and/or send an empty email to [email protected].
Enjoy a safe and healthy summer! We hope to be “in touch” with students and their families throughout their high school experience.
By L. Dodham Head of Guidance Department
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Equity Council
quity Council is a student group at BOSS that works to promote the fair, inclusive, and respectful E treatment of all people. In June, the students on our Equity Council held a “Pink LemonAid” sale to raise awareness and donations for Plan International’s “Because I Am A Girl” initiative. “Because I Am a Girl” is a campaign to help empower girls in an effort to break the cycle of poverty for themselves and their communities. Members of Equity Council baked & iced cupcakes and chilled & poured lemonade to raise more than $200 for this worthwhile cause. Great work Bulldogs!
By, S. McCombes Equity Council Supervisor
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The Fire to Inspire: Global Action Ignites Desire for Change
he 30 member strong Global Action Council has had an extremely impactful year in the areas of T fundraising, awareness and education. We meet on a weekly basis and are led by two student co‐directors and a solid group of committed students. This year we say goodbye to our grade 12’s and thank, in particular, our co‐directors for this year: Janvi Patel and Monisaa Rajeswaran.
GA works closely with Free The Children and 15 students attended We Day in September with Ms Donaldson. This is always an inspirational day that helps to kick start our efforts for the year. This year we: Gave $1,400.00 to Shannen’s Dream (an organization supporting improved education for Ontario’s Aboriginal youth)
Gave $500.00 to the Red Cross for earthquake relief in Equador
Gave $200.00 to Free The Children for education efforts through “We Bake For Change”
Gave $500.00 to Free The Children to support Food Sustainability in Equador
Learned about the educational disparities between Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal youth in Canada
Learned about the need for viable food sustainability practices in Equador
Learned about fair wage practices through the rafiki program
Wrote letters of support to the youth of Attawapiskat after a rash of suicides in that community
Held a book drive and sent several boxes of high quality used children’s books to the Philippines There’s lots more that we could share, but we’re already busy planning for next year! Suffice to say that we made a difference this year ‐ locally and globally ‐ through our learning, our actions and our financial contri‐ butions.
Listen for announcement in the fall if you’re interested in joining our council. Have a restful summer,
By, K. Kostandoff and C. Donaldson Global Action Supervisors
Global Action @ Our June Social
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Library Learning Commons Invites You To Take The 1 Book Challenge
ecause it’s summer and time seems to stretch a little wider in these hot, lazy days, we want to B encourage everyone in the BOSS Community to READ. The benefits of reading are so many they can’t be encapsulated here; instead, we offer one of the best recent articles on the benefits of reading here: http://bit.ly/1TVD7ak The science continues to pile up to confirm that reading both fiction and non‐fiction is hugely beneficial for our brains.
But what to do now that the BOSS Library is closed for the summer? Check out your local community library of course! Commit to reading at least one book.
Yup.
Just 1 book.
Then, once you’ve read 1 book, and if you’d like to win a $25 gift card to Chapters, send an email to [email protected] to enter. Include your first and last name, the title of the book you read and a one sentence review.
We will announce the winner in September.
Happy Summer Reading!
By, K. Kostandoff Head of the Library Department
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White Pine Readers
atching hundreds of young adults cheer for their favorite authors and their books just like they’re W rock stars is a powerful thing. Clearly, loads of people read and follow writers and books as they would an NBA team on a winning streak. Our group from BOSS was sitting in the front row of the outdoor amphitheatre at Harbourfront when this year’s White Pine winner was announced ‐ in fact, we were sitting in front of the very proud Mom of writer Jeyn Roberts! Jeyn won this prestigious award for her novel The Bodies We Wear. The cheers were deafening!
Prior to the awards celebration in May, students at BOSS read the 10 nominated titles and debated their merits. Students from grades 9 ‐ 12 earned prizes and enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the books with fellow readers both staff and students. 19 students managed to read all 10 nominees with a total of 40 students reading 2 or more books from White Pine this year. Special congratulations to Ms McCardle who also managed to read all 10 titles and will participate on the provincial selection committee this year.
Thanks to our staff readers who brought their A game to the book battles as they defended the titles they read: Ms Grossman; Ms deVries; Ms Donaldson; Ms. Dodham; Mr. Ebisuzaki; Mr. Kumar; Ms Tsatsos; Ms Musselman; Ms Ferguson; Ms McCardle and Ms DiGennaro. There are several students who have been committed White Pine readers who are now graduating. We wish Michelle Guo, Winfield So, Joseph So, Michael Wang and Gosalan Velautham, Thaaniya Nanthakuma, Janet Lin, Eric Lee, all the best as they pursue post secondary pathways.
White Pine 2016‐17 nominees will be announced in October so stay tuned for the start of another great year.
By, K. Kostandoff, R. Marinelli and S. McCombes White Pine Supervisors
White Pine Readers 2015
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Success in Personalized Ways “All in all, being in this class has inspired me to live better and think better”‐‐Student in Personalized Alternative Education, Semester 2, 2016
If you want things said best, it will often come from students themselves. As this student shows, the community of room 2005 often see the intersection of modern learning and wellness come to life.
In partnership with staff and administration, students in the Health for Life course gave input into Exam Wellness Activities and developed the promotional materials using digital tools like the cartoon below.
This semester dozens of students learned to knit as part of their course or on their lunch period as a tool for mindfulness and well‐being.
We would also like to take this opportunity to celebrate the workplaces which have allowed students to work and earn credits this semester. Learning through working improves workplace skills, literacy and authentic problem solving.
Our sincere appreciation goes out to our employer partners who help students develop their essential skills every day: Tim Horton’s (Markham Road) Food for Tots Bliss Nail Bar Symposium Cafe (Markham & Oak Ridges locations) CICS Immigrant Youth Centre Salvation Army Thrift Store Boston Pizza (Markham Road) Mr. Sub (Bathurst Street) Walmart (Stouffville & Copper Creek locations) For more information about Student Success, please speak to Ms. Goodridge by email at [email protected]. For more information about Personalized Alternative Education, please contact Ms. Kedey by email at [email protected] . By, K. Kedey Head of the Alt. Education Department
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Business
nother day at the office … except, where is the office? Business continues to maintain its clear A movement towards the real world our students will be exposed to upon graduation. The department was able to repurpose an under‐utilized space into an Innovation Lab where our Marketing Courses were held. Here, we turned mirrors into white boards, installed a new Smart Board and continued to create prototypes with a 3D printer. Students surveyed, told us that the space was one of the best parts of the learning as it allowed them to get away from the traditional rows of desks and learn in a more relaxed environment.
The space became the new home for the Entrepreneurship Club where students from all subject areas were able to join together after school to create, innovate, and ideate their passions and see if they could generate a new business idea with the help of students with different but needed skills. Many of these students participated in entrepreneurial movement that is sweeping the country by joining a 2 day boot camp on innovation. 2 of the 12 finalist teams were from Bur Oak.
In a similar vein, 2 teams from our Grade 9 Introduction to Business Course were finalists in the Dragons Nest. Dragon’s Nest is a program where students become entrepreneurs right in the classroom! The program is supported by business mentors, teachers and companies. Students are guided to create, develop and launch a real venture in class. Our teams’ videos were selected from over 50 competitors and faced the panel at the Dragon’s Nest Finale. The students were given prizes of free attendance to Base camp, the innovation summer camp held at Ryerson.
Our faculty held a Financial Literacy Workshop for Grade 12s in conjunction with TD Bank. TD Bank paired up with ABC Canada to facilitate a workshop to educate grade 12’s here at BOSS on how to manage money, earn credit and save for the future. The business department will continue to run this workshop next year for younger grades as well since it was beneficial and popular with students in their ever‐present needs for greater financial literacy.
As part of our Modern Learning initiative, the Business Department joined with the English Department to create a shared experience related to investment and finance and writing skills. The 2 groups of students and teachers created an exercise around mitigation of corporate scandal. The combination of Business and English in a “who dunnit” type of exercise captured the imagination of students and teachers alike.
Finally, the Business Department continues to look for opportunities to bring new and relevant learning to its students through Design Thinking and other forms of creative and critical thinking. We feel that these approaches will give our students the best opportunities for success in this ever‐changing landscape of the real world. And the office? Just down the hall … first app on the left!
By, C. Hainstock Head of the Business Department
Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
Computer Studies Department
he Computer Studies department enjoyed a wonderful year of learning. One of our new areas of growth T occurred this spring when Mr. Fernandes’ Grade 12 Computer Science class worked on a collaborative Modern Learning project with Ms. Pridie’s Grade 9 Geography class. The project was entitled “Canadian Climate Analysis” and presented an opportunity for both groups to engage in an authentic, technology‐driven learning experience. Over a five‐week period, the students met on a regular basis to create a variety of software tools that would help analyze the ‘big data’ repository stored at Climate Canada’s computer servers. Basically, around the country, every day, remote weather stations are feeding a database with all kinds of numerical data. The software tools that the students created leveraged this data and produced a means to analyze these raw values and display a variety of useful visualizations. Along the way, the mixed group of students learned about the importance of strong communication skills and teamwork. We are now hoping to utilize these software tools in future geography classes both here at BOSS and other schools across York Region.. Pictured below are a group from the Modern Learning collaboration. From left to right: Leo Zhu, Mr. Fernandes, Kitty Feng, Hooriya Arif, Ms. Pridie.
In extracurricular activities, the BOSS Computer Programming Team had another strong showing at the York Region Programming Championships. We had four teams participate in the day long event whereby each group was faced with the task of creating computer programs to solve a set of complex problems. At the end, our all‐female team placed second in their division. We look forward to continued success next year and encourage all students interested in computer science to join the BOSS Computer Programming Club. Pictured below are the members of the all‐female programming team. From left to right: Yoyo Tsui, Tiffany Ng, Rachel Theriault, Willa Kong and Mr. Fernandes. The Computer Studies department enjoyed a wonderful year of learning. One of our new areas of growth occurred this spring when Mr. Fernandes’ Grade 12 Computer Science class worked on a collaborative Modern Learning project with Ms. Pridie’s Grade 9 Geography class. The project was entitled “Canadian Climate Analysis” and presented an opportunity for both groups to engage in an authentic, technology‐driven learning experience. Over a five week period the students met on a regular basis to create a variety of software tools that would help analyze the ‘big data’ repository stored at Climate Canada’s computer servers. Basically, around the country, every day, remote weather stations are feeding a database with all kinds of numerical data. The software tools that the students created leveraged this data and produced a means to analyze these raw values and display a variety of useful visualizations. Along the way, the mixed group of students learned about the importance of strong communication skills and teamwork. We are now hoping to utilize these software tools in future geography classes both here at BOSS and other schools across York Region.. Pictured below are a group from the Modern Learning collaboration. From left to right: Leo Zhu, Mr. Fernandes, Kitty Feng, Hooriya Arif, Ms. Pridie.
By, N. Fernandes Head of the Computer Studies Department
Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
This Spring, Science Was all About Competition
n February, a number of grade 10 students wrote the Michael Smith Challenge, a national science I contest. Out of 1781 students, our own William Li won a certificate for scoring in the top 10%. Outstanding!!
In April, students across Canada wrote the University of Toronto National Biology competition. Michael Wang, in grade 12, won a National Biology Scholar Certificate for scoring in the top 5% of 3195 competitors. Prodigious.
The Ontario Association of Physics Teachers grade 11 competition was held in May and out of 1100 students province‐wide writing the contest, Bur Oak’s Irina Zhu scored in the top 10 percentile. Impressive. On May 12th, a number of grade 12 students from Bur Oak wrote the University of Waterloo Chemistry contest. Congratulations to Eric Lee and Li Jiang for their outstanding achievements. Eric Lee displayed his amazing grasp of chemistry by scoring in the 93rd percentile which placed him in the top 10% of North American exam writers, for which he received a prize from University of Waterloo. Li Jiang scored in the 86th percentile and ranked in the top twenty percent of all the contestants. Wow.
On May 19th, students wrote the University of Waterloo’s Chemistry contest for grade 11. Congratulations to Jerry Zhang for scoring in the 96th percentile and receiving a prize from University of Waterloo. In addition the following students all received certificates of achievement for ranking in the top twenty percent of all contestants; Amanda Mac, Maggie Zhao, Thomas Kean, Irina Zhu, Iris Ma, Chris Lee, and Chinmayi Yathiraju. Amazing.
Also in May, a few students wrote the grade 12 University of Waterloo Sir Isaac Newton Exam (called the SIN exam!) known for its quirky and difficult questions. Richard Xie was BOSS’s top performer scoring in the top quartile. Remarkable.
In May, the Bur Oak Science Olympic team competed at York University against more than 60 other teams from other high schools in York Region. The competition was tough but we managed to win a Gold medal in the Senior Physics event, a Silver medal for the Overall Biology events and Bronze medals in both the Junior Physics and Senior Chemistry events. We are proud of all of our competitors. Congratulations to: Kitty Feng, Jessica Chang, Michelle Fung, David Yin, Shalizeh Minaee, Kalvin Chan, Bryan Yam, Niveetha Wijendran, Nausherwan Butt, Areeba Yousef, Corie Niu, Vishva Shah, Amanda Kwan, Eric Lee, Michael Wang, Chris Lee, Harmy Thakar, Kashfa Shaikh, Joyce Ma and Ricky Yue. Wonderful. The Science Club held a number of activities this semester including the synthesis of slime, the safe parachuting of premature chickens (i.e., eggs) and the dissection of sharks. Science Club kids also worked with the DD class kids to sell carnations to teachers and to students and managed to raise about $600 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Inspiring.
By, K. Odlum Head of the Science Department
Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
Athletics
he BOSS Bulldogs have had a great athletic year. We have had 25 teams competing in individual and T team competition within the York Region Athletic Association (YRAA). Here are some highlights from our spring season sports.
Track and Field Another successful Track and Field season for Bur Oak Athletes. 40 Bur Oak student athletes represented BOSS at 6 Track and Field meets. Special recognition goes to Dara Shae Tabry Salinas, Ray Budiwarman, Ahad Naim, Saif Rajaibi, Rachel Wang, and Sarah Chu. These 6 Athletes represented York Region at OFSAA Central's Track and Field meet. Further recognition goes to Ibadur Khan. Ibadur finished 1st and 2nd in Triple Jump and Long Jump at the York Region Meet. He then went on to finish second in Triple Jump at the Centrals meet. This qualified him to compete in Windsor for the Ontario High School Championship. Ibadur finished in 5th place. Swimming This year’s swim team accumulated the most accolades in BOSS history. Bur Oak placed first in six events at the YRAA Championships at the Pan Am Pool in Markham. Leading the team was Jun Sun winning a pair of gold medals and clocking in personal bests in the 100 meter Individual Medley and the 50 meter Butterfly events. Darren Tse also had impressive swims winning his two individual events in the 50 meter freestyle and the 50 meter butterfly. Abynanth Mathanaraj, Anson Wu and Jacob Hoang with the help of Jun and Darren, swam stellar relay times to help solidify their berth to Windsor in their final year at BOSS. It was the first time winning not one, but two gold medals in a relay for Bur Oak. While at the OFSAA Championships in Windsor this past March, the 4 x 100 freestyle relay came 7th and the 4x100 medley relay came short from making finals. Darren and June were able to pull out seconds swims in both their individual events earning an impressive fourth place and second place finish respectively. Badminton This year's badminton team did extremely well at both the junior and the senior level. A number of the team members advance to the 2nd round of YRAA competition. Special mention goes to Vania Wu and Cyrus Lo who came in second place at the Ontario High School Badminton Championships in North Bay. This is our first OFSAA Badminton medal. Ultimate Frisbee The Bur Oak Ultimate Frisbee team enjoyed sunny weather and little wind during the regular season. Our relatively young team honed their skills during the regular season finishing in the top 8 teams with a record of 6‐2. The Bulldogs played excellent defense throughout the playoffs but couldn't defeat arch rival Markville. A highlight of the season was our final game against Aurora where the team got inventive with new plays, strategies and the number of players in the field. Great season Bulldogs! Rugby This year BOSS had 27 grade 9 and 10 students come out and commit to playing 15 aside rugby. This is a full contact game that requires strength, speed, agility and desire. Our boys played with a tremendous amount of courage and determination throughout the season, never giving up. Special mention goes to our Most valuable player: Daniel Caicedo and our Most Improved Player: Angelo Carreon. Baseball The varsity baseball team had a huge increase in interest this year. The effect of the Blue Jays post season success was definitely felt here at BOSS. Over 40 students came out to the spring tryouts. The Baseball team finished the regular season with a very respectable record of 3 wins and 3 losses.
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Athletics Cont’d
Special Note - Athletes of the Year Most Promising Grade 9 - Female: Aggie Ao Most Promising Grade 9 - Male: Jacob Tran Junior Athlete of the Year - Female: Sarah Chu Junior Athlete of the Year - Male: Ray Budiwarman
Senior Female Athlete of the Year - Becky Liang
Senior Male Athlete of the Year - Gavin Sum
Outstanding Contribution to Athletics - Prachi Ray
By, A. Ebisuzaki Head of the Phys‐Ed Department
Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
A Note from the Music Department
hat a great year this has been for the Bur Oak Music Department! W There have been numerous events organized by the Music Council, from the Music Social Night in the fall through to the awards banquet just a few weeks ago and they have all been extremely successful. Our two main concerts this year (Winter Melodies and Spring Rhapsody) were both sold out events and the audiences praised the efforts of our fine musicians. Many thanks and congratulations go to our music council, led by Sybil Chan and Mai‐ ura Muralitharan, for their hard work and dedication to the department. Next year, our music council will be headed up by Sam Lee and Michelle Li, and we look forward to providing our music students with many more memorable experiences!
This year, all of our ensembles garnered outstanding results in their festival appearances. Beginning in February, our ensembles competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto, where we received 5 First Place Awards (with 3 Platinum Ratings and 3 Gold Ratings), as well as 2 invitations to compete at the Provincial Finals for our Symphonic Band and Concert Choir. Following on the heels of this success were our entries in the York Region Music Alive Festival, where our groups received 6 Platinum Ratings, 1 Gold Rating and 7 invitations to the National Finals of MusicFest Canada. The year was capped off with our results from the Provincial Finals where our Concert Choir received an Honourable Mention and our Grade 10 Symphonic Band was awarded Second Place in the province. We are extremely pleased and proud of all of our performing ensembles and look forward to continuing our successes next year.
It has been a year of change and a year of growth for students and staff alike in the Bur Oak Music Department. In my short time here, I have learned that Bur Oak is an exceptional place to work, learn and create and I look forward to many more years of success in the Bur Oak Music Department.
Bur Oak Music Department Award Winners 2015 ‐ 2016
Best Brass‐ Jodie Zhao Best Woodwind ‐ Michelle Lau Best Percussion ‐ Sunny Yang Best Vocalist ‐ Fernando Kong Best Musician ‐ Ryan Tram
By, L. Corrigan Head of the Music Department
Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
Math is alive and doing very well
tudents have taken advantage of our enrichment programs provided through the Junior and Senior S Math Clubs, as well as the opportunities to participate in the writing of various contests sponsored by the University of Waterloo. We are especially proud to share that our students placed 7th internationally out of 1471 schools that participated in the University of Waterloo Euclid Math contest. This contest is for senior level students. The top 2 students from BOSS placed among the top 60 students worldwide out of a total of 19,197 students. WOW, what an achievement! Recently, The University of Waterloo visited our school to present scholarships to five of our outstanding students who were accepted into their Mathematics and Computer Science Faculty. What an honor for these students, their families and everyone at BOSS! In addition, we are pleased to be running a pre‐Advanced Placement math course in grade 11 for the 2016‐2017 school year.
By, Bhakti Merchant Head of the Math Department
Social Sciences and Humanities – Family Studies
Grade 9 Modern Learning Project
n May 9, two family studies classes and two visual art classes got together in O the cafeteria to collaborate on a modern learning project. The family studies students shared their research findings in hopes of helping the art students choose an object for their course culminating project. Many of the family studies students enjoyed both getting feedback from their peers and meeting new people. We had a busy semester with many other projects including food labs, pajama pants, sock monkeys, egg babies and dream bedrooms.
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Social Sciences and Humanities – Family Studies Cont’d
Grade 12 Nutrition and Health Production Assignment The grade 12’s are always a bit nervous and excited about the production assignment in the Nutrition and Health class. They need to produce 30 servings of their own unique product to sell after school. They go through a series of food labs to try out recipes, conduct surveys and do market research in order to improve and price their products. We are happy to announce that we made $235 dollars profit which was donated to Yellow Brick House. Here are a few of our final products!
Bur Oak’s Closet A big thank‐you goes out to Ms. Baboolal and her Grade 12 Fashion class who organized and inventoried 150 dresses, 50 accessories and 100 gifts to prepare for our first ever Bur Oak’s Closet. Bur Oak’s Closet is an event where students with financial difficulties can come to our school from other YRDSB schools to choose a dress for grade 8 graduation or for grade 12 prom. The students created an open and welcoming environment for the 16 girls that visited Bur Oak’s Closet for dresses. The class worked for 2 weeks straight to prepare for this event. Thank you to the Bayview Glen Drycleaners off Bur Oak Avenue for donating the dry cleaning bags in which we stored the dresses for next year.
Healthy Schools Committee Mrs. Hatanaka would like to thank Maathari Senthillmohan and Tiffany Yeung for all their assistance with the Healthy Schools Committee. They helped organize the Big Crunch event in March where 1700 apples were distributed to students and staff. We celebrated nutrition month when the whole school made a “big crunch”!! Ms. Bell’s grade 12 Challenge and Change class even took a break from their test to all bite into an apple together!!
By, A. Hatanaka Head of the Family Studies Department
Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
Co-Operative Education: The Real Facts
Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM
HISTORY HAPPENINGS
n May 18, Gr. 10 Civics students visited the Legislative O Assembly of Ontario, better known as Queen’s Park, to see our provincial government in action. Students attended Question Period and had the opportunity to see and hear our Members of Provincial Parliament discuss and debate issues and concerns important to all citizens of Ontario. At the end of our visit, students met with our M.P.P. Dr. Helena Jaczek and were encouraged to continue their journey to becoming informed citizens!
On May 25, Gr. 11 World History students visited the Royal Ontario Museum and participated on a guided tour of museum highlights. For many students, this was the first time they had visited the ROM and there was much to see and learn. Students engaged with our guide in conversations about the afterlife in Ancient Egypt, dinosaur fossils found throughout Canada, and contemporary cultural artifacts from around the world. It was a great day of learning and all students, especially our international students, were incredibly impressed with what the Royal Ontario Museum had to offer! Finally, the grade 11 and 12 Philosophy students joined senior English students on a trip to see the animated feature adaptation of Antoine de Saint‐Exupér novella The Little Prince. The students enjoyed the modern take on the tale and were able to make many meaningful connections to philosophical themes.
TRAVEL INTO HISTORY
SPAIN MARCH 2016
In March, 20 of Bur Oak’s finest teamed up with students from Markham District High School to travel to beautiful Spain. Students spent their March Break travelling from Madrid to Barce‐ lona and discovering Spain’s incredible history and diverse culture. In Madrid, the group had the opportunity to explore the Royal Palace, the world famous Prado Museum, and be a part of an authentic Flamenco show. After leaving Ma‐ drid, our tour continued on to Toledo (the city of three cultures), Segovia and Burgos ‐ home to leg‐ endary swordsmen, and Bilbao, which houses the Guggenheim Museum. After leaving the North, we travelled to San Sebastian and even had the opportunity to eat Macarons in the city where they were created (San Jean de Luz). In Barcelona, we explored the city on bikes and even got to take a dip in the Mediterranean. This was an incredible and truly memora‐ ble trip made even better by the amazing group of travelers. Looking forward to our next big adventure.
UPCOMING TRIP OPPORTUNITY
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HISTORY HAPPENINGS CONT’D
Vimy Ridge, France Spring 2017: In 2017, in partnership with YRDSB high schools, Bur Oak SS students will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to France for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Students will have the chance to relive Canada’s past in historic event tours as they visit London, Normandy, Vimy Ridge and Paris. They will have every opportunity to gain new perspectives about Canadian History and commemorate the achievements and sacrifices made by Canadians a century ago. Students will meet Canadian war veterans, participate in exclusive ceremonies and walk the very same steps of Canadian soldiers from both World Wars. Finally, students will join thousands of other Canadians from across the country for the 100th anniversary celebration at Vimy Ridge‐‐ an event attended by Canada’s political elite, Canadian celebrities and members of the Royal Family. Do not miss this incredible chance to be a part of Canadian History! For more information, please contact Ms. Musselman in the History Department.
VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE HISTORY CLASSROOM This semester in Gr. 11 World History, future historians engaged with ancient history using the tools of virtual reality. With the help of Mr. Jim Jamieson, students participated in a small pilot project experimenting with virtual reality and travelled to the ruins of Ancient Rome, ‘walked’ through the Colosseum, and participated in an inquiry about what life was like for the citizens of Rome thousands of years ago. The History Department is hoping to continue exploring how best to incorporate virtual reality in our classrooms to further support student engagement.
By, A. MacInnes Head of the History Department
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Moving Forward
eography, by its nature, is an exploration of motion and change. This year the Department of Geography and G Environmental Studies at Bur Oak Secondary School has continued to provide students with innovative and refreshing options for exploring our world. Last year, in line with changes in the Ontario Curriculum, we rebooted our Grade 9 course (Issues in Canadian Geography: CGC 1D/1P) by taking a stronger issue‐based, analysis‐focused approach to studying geography in Canada. The course focuses more on the concept of geographical community and encourages students to become more aware of the neighborhoods and regions in which they live. Students learn the geographical inquiry process (formulate questions, gather and organize data, interpret and analyse, evaluate and draw conclusions and communicate) to enhance their critical thinking capacities. This allows students to explore local challenging geographical questions such as does Markham need another hospital, and if so, where should it be located to provide optimal service for the community? Next year, we are excited that two courses have returned to our senior students: Spatial Technologies in Action (Geomatics: CGO 4M) and Forces of Nature (Physical processes and Disasters: CGF 3M). These courses are typically offered on alternating years and it has been a while since they have had enough student interest to run. We will also be offering Travel and Tourism (CGR 3O) and our premier course World Issues (Geopolitics: CGW 4U). Geography of Food (Regional Geography: CGD 3M) continues to be a popular offering to students. This is exciting for us because the course was developed at Bur Oak Secondary School and is now offered in schools across Ontario. The course focuses on the journey that food takes from production through processing, packaging, marketing, consumption and finally disposal. The goal is for students to become more aware of the local food system. To this end, one course assignment that runs for the entire course is called the Tastery. This assignment promotes taste education by offering students contrasting foods – one processed and one simple – to try. This assignment can have a profound impact on students as is captured by the reflections below: Honestly, the tastery assignment was one of the best assignments I’ve ever had as it forced me to really understand the importance of analyzing my food. After all of these tasteries, I have come to the realization that the only way that I will find food desirable is by preparing it myself. While it might be time consuming and rather tedious, the idea of hiving total control of the components of the dish that I create is incredible…. After seeing all of the tasteries you have done for us through the semester, I have come to realize that there is this sense of pride a person feels when the create food for themselves. Cooking will be an intelligent hobby that I will pick up this summer. The most important thing that I learned from this assignment is that processed food is never that much cheaper than making it yourself. After taking this course, I’ve been going out to buy groceries and ingredients more often than buying all the junk food I would usually buy. I think this assignment taught me a lot about tasting and examining the foods. It also taught me that simple local foods are considerably better in taste, texture, and quality. Simple foods have the ability to be really good… All the tasteries that have taught me how to make a certain food inspired me to cook for myself instead of eating the junk I usually eat. These tasteries include the lemonade, french fries, butter, whipped cream, ice cream, and the chocolate chip cookies tastery. I have started to avoid heavily processed foods and turned towards slow foods or homemade foods.
Finally, it is with heavy heart that the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies (along with the entire school community), says good bye to two of its members. Mr. Pardatscher will be teaching Physical and Health Education at Markham District Secondary School and Ms. Pridie has accepted a position of responsibility at Stouffville Secondary School. She will be the new Subject Head of Geography and Environmental Studies at her new school. Both have been excellent teachers and contributors to the first class academic and social culture at Bur Oak Secondary School and will be missed! Stay tuned to Geography to hear about the amazing new modern learning projects that will be implemented in the Fall. By, K. Hurlington Head of the Geography Department Volume 8, issue 2 BOSS.COM