The students and staff of Pius XII Catholic Elementary School, alongside staff and volunteers from Holy Redeemer Parish couldn’t have asked for better weather on November 3, 2015 as they all took part in the Pius Walk-a-Thon for NEO Kids. Jocelyne Bene from Holy Redeemer had approached the school a while back to see if they could partner up to support this local initiative. “The motto for Holy Redeemer Parish is Walk the Talk,” explained Bene. “This saying became more meaningful to them as they became the hands and feet of Jesus for other children in our community.” Students from grades 3-6 at Pius, including students from the Care and Development class arrived at the church at 9:45 a.m., and after a brief rundown of the day and prayer, the students began their two-hour trek around the church grounds under brilliant sunshine. Funds were collected through pledged donations and a total of over $1600.00 was raised to support the NEO Kids initiative.
“We have a really great relationship with Holy Redeemer Parish,” explained Laurie Zahra, principal of the school. “We are so proud of our students and staff for taking part in this most important initiative, and we also want to recognize and thank our parish partner for allowing us to join them in supporting NEO Kids.”
Theyre coming to a door near you!
Students who attend St. Paul, St. John, St. David, St. Raphael, St. Andrew, Pius and St. Bernadette Catholic elementary schools are out in full force this week. Their mission is to collect cans for its food drive in collaboration with St. Charles College.
Students from the seven schools are going door-to-door to collect cans and other non-perishable food items to help the Sudbury Food Bank stock its shelves over the cold winter months.
Every year, the feeder schools team up with St. Charles College, Q92 and KISS 105.3 to Stuff a Bus full of food. The radio stations also broadcast live from the school parking lot during the week. The food is then transported to the Sudbury Food Bank warehouse.
Student can collect a combination of canned foods and cash. Last year, they surpassed their goal by collecting more than 112 thousand cans.
The food drive began more than 25 years ago and its founder, former student Jim Szilva still takes part in the drive with his former high school.
Totals will be tabulated, with a wrap-up set for October 23rd.
Good Will is Blooming at Pius XII
Usually at the end of the school year, classes are winding down, and students are getting ready for summer vacation. Not so in the grade 6 class at Pius XII Catholic Elementary School. For the last week, the class has been quite busy organizing and packing over 114 boxes set to be delivered to Genevra House.
For student Grace Tilbury, learning about inspiring people like Craig Keilburger over the past few months, sparked an idea that she really wanted to make a difference too. After some research, and knowing that she really wanted to focus on helping women and children, Tilbury asked her friend Abigail MacDonald if she would like to help her out with an idea that she had. The two girls decided on creating “Bloomability Boxes” to donate to Genevra House. The boxes would contain basic toiletry items that the women and children would need at the shelter as many of them arrive with absolutely nothing. The term “bloomability” was inspired from a book with the same name that Grace had read. One of the characters is learning English, and connects the word bloomability with the word possibility. Grace liked this idea as she thought that the boxes would give these women and children some new possibilities in life.
After approaching her teacher Wendy Morin, the girls the girls got the go-ahead and recruited the rest of the class to begin collecting items and money donations. A letter was drafted by the girls and sent home and items began to come in. Word spread with the other teachers and classes at the school, and pretty soon the entire school was on-board. As a result, the girls had enough items to put together over 114 boxes to donate.
“Our original goal for the class was to get enough items for 14 boxes,” explained Tilbury. “Many of our friends gave up their free class time and computer time to help us out with this project. We are completely overwhelmed by the generosity of our classmates, our teacher, the other students, staff, our families and the Pius XII community!”
Teacher Wendy Morin is extremely proud of her students saying, “These two girls have inspired an entire school. They have worked extremely hard on this project and I am very proud of their commitment and determination with this social justice initiative!”
PIUS XII Deemed SCDSB School Conservation Challenge Champions
Pius XII Catholic School was proclaimed as the winner of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s 2006-2007 Conservation Challenge. Board Chair, Paula Peroni presented the Pius XII Catholic School students with a $500 cheque and a specially designed banner which will be displayed at the school for one year as part of the Grand Prize. The presentation was made during the last Board meeting before the summer break.
The School Conservation Challenge was created by the Sudbury Catholic District School Board to increase the participation in the Dearness Conservation Initiative that was introduced into all of the Board’s schools in 2001. Since the inception of the DC program, the Board has been able to achieve substantial utility savings by educating teachers, students and staff and providing them with the necessary resources through this program.
To help revitalize the program in 2006-2007, senior administration decided that a “Conservation Challenge” would be an excellent way to enhance the effectiveness of the program in addition to acknowledging the “Environmental Champions.”
The selection of the 2006-2007 School Conservation Champion involved a point system based on three categories; (i) an unannounced site visit by the SCDSB’s Facility Services Department, during the visit specific items were identified and reported with each school receiving a certain number of points (ii) an interview was conducted with the principal from each participating school. Based on the answers from the school principal, each school received points from the questionnaire (iii) In late May, schools were requested to submit reports dealing with Lifestyle Conservation Campaigns and other relevant materials such as videos/newsletters/announcements and presentations. Schools were awarded points based on their submitted materials. Pius XII Catholic School was chosen as the Grand Prize Winner based on the school that had accumulated highest total points in the three evaluations.
Pius XII Student, Fire Chief For The Day!
Congratulations to Emily Rabski, a Grade 4 student at Pius XII Catholic School for her first place finish in the Fire Chief For The Day Contest. As part of the winning package, Emily was picked up at her house by fire trucks, Aerial 1 and Pump 2 and transported to the
Van Horne Fire Station where she received a tour and proclaimed Chief For The Day!
Emily was later escorted back to the school by the Acting Fire Chief, Marc Leduc for the official Chief For The Day presentation in her classroom. The City of Greater Sudbury Fire Services also participated in a special ceremony honouring her as the first place winner of the 2006 Fire Chief For The Day Contest.
The Fire Chief For The Day Contest was open to all grade four students from the four school boards in the City of Greater Sudbury. Students were invited to participate in creating an escape plan of their home with the help of family members. In order to qualify to win, a contestant had to:
1. Indicate two ways out of each room
2. Identify the location of their smoke detectors
3. Indicate the meeting point outside of the home
4. Identify the emergency phone number
5. Complete and practice the Fire Safety Plan of him/her home
A total of 1,869 students from all four school boards were invited to participate in the Fire Chief For The Day Contest. This activity focused on ensuring that every family developed and practiced a home escape plan would help to save their lives in the event of a fire.