Newsletter Feb 2018.Pdf

Suelyn Cheong, Principal Website www.yrdsb.ca/schools/unionville.hs April 2018 Accomplishments, Challenges and Success As Principal of Unionville High School, I’m excited to co-learn with the community, students, and staff. I am over- whelmed by our students’ desire to innovate, create, and achieve over the past semester. We have over 40 clubs created and run by our student body, and an energetic Student Council always eager to build school spirit and provide students with opportunities to have fun and get involved! Some of these activities include spirit days, fashion shows, drama and music productions, fundraising and awareness to our most pressing world issues. The Arts Unionville staff continues to grow our dynamic program with pioneering opportunities for our AU students to showcase their artistry. Exceptional student performances that parallel Broadway productions included: “Crazy for You” in January and “Alchemy” in March, which is a collaboration of all four disciplines. Our Music department participated in over a dozen local and provincial music festi- vals between February and April! This Spring UHS embarked upon Wellness Wednesdays with St. John’s Ambulance therapy dogs and by the Buddha Meditation Center offering student meditation sessions on love and kindness. Our students work hard and we are excited to offer them a chance to relax and be mindful of their mental and physical health. UHS students continue to excel in both the academics and extracurricular areas. This year, our Senior Girls Volleyball Team attended OFSSA for a second year in a row and won YRAA silver medalists. Congratulations to Nick Lu and Sabrina Lu who were voted as YRAA All Stars for volleyball. Boys swimming relay finished 4th at OFSAA. Our outdoor education class went dog sledding, cross country skiing, an overnight canoe trip, fat biking, and outdoor rocking climbing! The UHS Skills Team earned 12 medals. Congratulations to the entire UHS Skills team for representing UHS at the 29th annual Skills On- tario competition this year. UHS won the most medals (including the most Gold) by a high school, a record held by UHS for the past 5 years. We were the only secondary school to receive Bronze medals in 2D Character Animation, IT Office Software Applications, Electron- ics and finishing off in Silver place in Web Design & Development. Our students continue to excel in all areas and we are proud of all of their achievements. Thank you to our staff and students for your commitment and school spirit. Message from our Trustee—Mr. Billy Pang With report cards coming home, this is a good time of year to review your child’s progress and to set goals for the rest of the school year. As trustees, our goals are set out in the Board Multi-Year Plan. In the coming months, trustees will be reviewing and updating this plan. This process will include opportunities for public input, and trustees will be out in the communities talking about this. More information will be shared about this in the spring. Developing and reviewing the Multi-Year Plan is just one of our responsibilities as publicly elected officials. Trustee responsibilities also include hiring the Director of Education, setting Board policies and the annual budget, and communicating with the public. This is a good time to learn more about the role of trustees with the next municipal election taking place later this year on October 22, 2018. York Region District School Board has 12 trustees, elected by ratepayers. As a trustee, listening and communicating with families is an important part of my role. Students, families and members of the public are welcome to attend and observe any public Board, Advisory or Board Committee meetings and to share their views with us on policy and Board governance. As we move into the second half of the year, I hope that you are seeing evidence of your child’s learning and progress, and finding opportunities to get involved in their learning and the life of the school. I wish you all the best for a successful second term. Happy Retirement… Very warm wishes for a Happy retirement to, Deborah Burt and James Lynch. Welcome…. Busuyi Afe Anncy Varughese Elizabeth Hawkley James Tizzard Mantelos Georgina VISUAL ARTS On September 18th, 19th and 20th the Arts Unionville (AU) Visual Art students attended our program’s first biannual retreat to Taylor Statten Camp. Four amazing guest artists specializing in encaustics, fused glass, Indigenous woodland painting and photography provided the students with advanced instruction. Indigenous (FNMI) First Nation, Métis and Inuit storytellers and knowledge keepers compliment students’ understanding of In- digenous Ways of Knowing during the evening programing while surrounded by the natural beauty of the Algonquin landscape. The artwork produced by the students were on display at the Markham Civic Centre in November. In October, senior students presented two acts during the annual Arts Unionville Info Night presented at the Markham Theatre. The sand illustration performance was inspired by Indigenous teachings acquired during the Algonquin retreat, while the interactive animated projection illustrated the challenges of the AU program as a parody of a 1980s video game. Arts Unionville students from Dance, Music, Drama and Visual Art collaborated in the design of this year’s Alchemy show, performed on Wednesday, March 6th at the Markham Theatre. Visual art students explored the theme of student voice through costume design, video projects and soundscapes. Students posing with their completed watercolour portraits The grade 10 Arts Unionville students recently participated in the Memory Project. Stu- dents created and donated portraits to 28 youth from Haiti who have faced substantial challenges such as neglect, abuse, the loss of their parents or extreme poverty. Youth in challenging situations often have few personal items, and the portraits will provide the children with meaningful mementos. VISUAL ARTS Cont. Unionville H.S. is one of five Ontario schools participating in the Memory Project this year. The project allows students to learn kindness and global awareness while enhanc- ing their portraiture skills . Arts Unionville is an intensive art program lasting all four years of high school that students must audition for in eighth grade. Thus, the students participating in the Memory Project are highly qualified and enthusiastic. The art teacher in charge of this project, Ms. Gardham, estimates it will take the average student about 10 hours to complete each portrait, and her class intends to mail off the portraits on March 29th. Students at Unionville HS are creating and donating portraits to 28 youth from Haiti who have faced substantial challenges, such as neglect, abuse, the loss of their parents or extreme poverty. https://twitter.com/yrdsb/status/978323331056324609?s=12 https://markhamreview.com/unionville-students-paint-portraits-of-kindness/ The Due North exhibit hosted by the Markham Mu- seum invited English language learners (ELLs) and in- ternational students to share their experiences arriving and adjusting to life in the GTA. Grade 12 AU Visual arts students partnered with the newcomers to create a multimedia interactive art exhibit exploring individ- ual experiences of arriving. These experiences are visually represented through fused glass and metal forms combined with recorded personal reflections using the Board’s phone system. Twenty-six sculptures unpack the experiences of our ELLs, forming a narra- tive about changing perspectives on self-identity charted against moments of departure and arrival. Example of fused glass and metal artwork Artists: Ryan Ma & Tony Wand Dial: 905 910 0035 ext. 15 to hear the artist statement. VISUAL ARTS Cont. For information about the Due North Project: Myseum Intersections: http://www.myseumoftoronto.com/programming/due-north/ Markham Museum: https://bit.ly/2GDftEj The City of Markham regularly invites Visual Art students from UHS to participate in nu- merous public art projects. This year, students from Unionville and Middlefield high school are collaborating with Indigenous Anishinaabe artist and Ontario College of Art and Design University graduate, Tessa Shank, on two large murals for the newly con- structed Aaniin Community Centre. The two plasma cut metal murals will embody the students’ understanding of the An- ishinaabe (Ojibway) Seven Grandfather Teachings: seven guiding principles commonly used as moral stepping stones and as the cultural foundation central to the spirit of community. Traditionally represented through seven animals and/or the form of seven figures, the teachings include respect, wisdom, humility, honesty, courage, love and truth. VISUAL ARTS Cont. The designs are now complete and ready for fabrication. Concept rendering of the proposed Aaniin Community Centre murals Top Mural: 55’ by 6’ Lower Mural: 30’ by 7’ Students in the school’s STEAM club, an interdisciplinary approach to art making con- necting science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, are currently in the process of designing vinyl wraps for ten traffic control boxes that envision the City of Mark- ham’s next 150 years. This project is a continuation of last year’s inspired designs that celebrated Canada 150. This club is also designing the vertical light post banners located in the Civic Centre’s parking lot and those located along Town Centre Blvd. These are but a fraction of the opportunities presented to our students during the 2017/2018 school year. On behalf of the Visual Arts Department, we thank the parents and guardians of the students for their support and encouragement in all of our department’s artistic endeavours and adventures. Please direct questions to Mr. Clodd (Visual Arts Dept. Head) [email protected] DRAMA The first semester was a busy one for the drama department. Of course, the whole year started with Kinark, the annual trip to Minden, the place where everyone learns what it really means to be part of the drama program.

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