Seasons’Greetings to all from the local school scene

It seems just like yesterday that we were starting out another school year and here we are already during this magical time of the year, when families gather around their beautifully decorated Christmas trees.

But it’s also a time when we must count our blessings and think of those who might be alone at this time of the year or those that lost loved ones. So to all in the Verdun community and in cyber land, I would like to take this opportunity to everybody the merriest of Christmases and happiness for 2012; the year of the Mayans!

Our two local elementary schools were busy. At Verdun Elementary, they had their annual senior musical which delighted all in attendance. At Riverview, a highlight for the little ones was the annual turkey lunch provided by the good folks at Share the Warmth and organized that day by the newly formed PPO.

Beurling Academy

At BA, it was a beehive of events and plenty of good news. First off, teachers Jeff Dort and Trevor Cooper recently got good news that they were awarded $1,000 in the Ultimate Dream Job Contest. The contest is for Grade 9 students in Canadian public schools where students are asked to submit photos of their dream job along with a short description of why it would be their ‘dream job’. BA was amongst the top 5 schools who submitted the most entries, so kudos to all.

Some recent community initiatives for the less fortunate came to fruition with great results. The school recently held a Penny Wars and it was a wild week especially between the junior grades and the grade 11 students, who won it by a landslide. There were jars and containers of pennies all over the place and the result was a whopping $1,900 worth of those little brown coins. The Missing Children’s Network was the recipient of this wonderful campaign and the Sec 5 student earned a free dress down day. So congrats to all involved.

From ERC teacher Miss Isabelle Naud, we hear about another successful “Socks for Pops” collection. Although a bit down from past year, the total collected this year was a little over 300 pairs of socks. Again, this year, I was privileged to lend a helping hand as our good friends at McGregor Socks Canada came through with another donation of McGregor and Calvin Klein socks. So a big thank you goes out to the folks at McGregor.

Also part of the campaign was the collection of slightly used winter coats and the total here was an amazing 40 coats, which was an awesome result considering it was the first time the campaign was held.

All the socks and coats will be handed over to Dans la Rue which helps out homeless teens. The new warm socks and coats will undoubtedly come in handy during the cold winter months. Also, the Annual food drive for families in need came to an end last Friday with the winning class getting a pizza lunch and here it was Mr. Jeff Dort’s class taking the honors with an amazing 28 boxes of non-perishables. Miss Naud’s classes were also in a battle to grab a pizza lunch. We have been asked to thank the good folks at Woodland Restaurant for their wonderful assistance in providing the pizzas.

The Grad classes of 2011 are currently selling 2012 calendars at $10 a copy and are available until the end of January. So if you know a graduating student, why not order one from them or you can drop by the school during regular hours to purchase a copy or two and show your support for the class of 2012.

On the entertainment front, the Grade 9 drama students put on a wonderful version of West Side Story which went on to become a movie and win a ton of Academy awards in 1961. Best actress, the late Natalie Wood, would have been proud of these student actors.

And depending when you’re reading this, it will most likely be after the Annual Christmas concert under the direction of the one and only Gary Linder and a major Canadian recording star having accepted our invitation to open the show. We’ll fill you in on our next issue.

BA Sports

Going into the Christmas break, all teams are firmly into their schedules. The boys’ juvie wrestling team is at 3 wins and two losses having split decisions last week at home against Loyola and Westmount High.

The boys’ juvenile indoor soccer season is underway and they lost their first game 6-1 to Marymount last week but came back for a squeaker by edging out Laurenval 3-2 this past Wednesday.

In basketball action, the midget boys’ team won their second game in a row last Thursday defeating St. George’s 46-43 to bring their record to 2 and 3.The juvie boys’ squad is off to a rough start at 1 and 4 but keeping things close in all 4 losses. The girls’ juvie team’s record stands at 2 and 2 with their last victory last Thursday over Sacred Heart by a score of 54-33.Superstar Meagan Delany led the way with 21 points. The bantam girls’ team stands at 1 and 5. See you all in 2012.