B.A. Grade 9 students get entrepreneur grant part two!

The word that several students and their teacher were waiting for came down at the beginning of the school year. Teacher Miss Isabelle Naud’s grade 9 students had last year applied for an Entrepreneurial grant from the 13th edition of the Quebec Entrepreneur Contest.

The application was to open up a supply store in the school where students could buy various supplies that are needed and often used during the school day, and about a few weeks into the new school year, the new school supply store was opened and it was called B.A.S.E. which means Beurling Academy Student Entrepreneurs.

This project was certified under the Valoris program, which its mission is to encourage entrepreneurial projects in Quebec’s elementary and secondary schools in disadvantaged areas in order to increase students’ self-esteem through action.

The program’s general objective is to enable the greatest number of young people in schools of these areas to have a meaningful experience by participating in entrepreneurial projects as often as possible during the time they spend in school.

Miss Naud’s students work in rotations of two students at various times during the day such as recess and lunch periods in their little store which is located at the back of the cafeteria and Miss Naud says they are great employees. “The students work with me for now, so I’m sure they are taught properly on how to do customer service,” said a happy Miss Naud in front of her store.

For BA Principal David Abracen, these type of grants help in getting basic experience for students. “There are many grants available that enable students to start up their own enterprises, naturally under the guidance of a teacher. Entrepreneurship grants, the kind that Mme. Naud used to start up our school store, are an excellent example, and they’re usually not that hard to get. The money that comes with them is just an extra, as it is the practical experience of starting something up and providing a service that is the real benefit to our students,” stated Mr. Abracen.

The grant they received helped to buy basic supplies up front such as: pencils, paper, erasers, and Bristol boards, and the prices are right as well. Bic and push-style pens are $0.75, duotangs go for $0.50, an 80-page spiral copy book is at $1.00 and two types of calculators go for 3 and 2 dollars respectively. Miss Naud tells us that one is your basic scientific type and the other is a ‘cute’ calculator, which the price list showed as an apple calculator.

We are also sure that the suits at l’Office de la Langue Francaise will be delighted to note that the students’ price list is unilingually in French satisfying Bill 101, which shouldn’t be a problem for BA students since the curriculum is at least 50/50. So with a little bit of luck, who knows, thanks to this experience, we just might have in our midst, the new owners of the next chain of Staples’ Superstores.

Last week also, the Annual Open House was held and the chance for people new to the Verdun area and surrounding communities of the southwest and for current Grade 6 students of local schools to tour the vast facilities in view of the 2012-13 school year.

Visitors were entertained first off by a neat slide show showing past events held at the school last year and showing off some of the programs in action. Following a welcome address and a guide at what visitors were going to see by Principal David Abracen and Junior VP Natasha Mentore, it was on to take a walk around by guided tour or on their own.

As usual, the arts’ areas were a hit from visual arts to the performing art disciplines of dance, drama, and music. The junior science lab was a hit with BA’s resident team of mad scientists made up of Kevin Lariviere, Fabio Lamberto and Ms. Papachronis.

Miss Jamaji’s martial arts and wrestling program has been gaining reputation during the last few years for turning out medal winners at GMAA meets so the mat room was attracting nice crowds, along with another option course that’s becoming another big hit. The Woodworking and Robotics Room had on display several cool projects.

A new area this year was the IPad lab with teacher Miss Sandra Reynard where visitors had the chance to go on a cyber scavenger hunt with IPods and IPads. Some folks still haven’t figured it out as of yet. So another successful Open House has come and gone.

BA SPORTS.

This could be a banner fall season for the school’s sports teams. Three of the four soccer teams have locked down spots for the playoffs. Both juvenile teams and the bantam boys’ team will see post season action, and the girls’ juvie team is undefeated in 5 starts having tied this past Tuesday Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramps 3-3 on the strength of two goals from Krysti Skoda.

The juvie boys’ squad defeated St. George’s 3-1 and they finished the season with a 3-1-2 record and the boys’ bantam squad tied St.George’s this week 1-1 and with one game remaining next week, they stand at 4-1-2.

The bantam girls’ volleyball team will be hosting the next tournament this coming Tuesday at 4 pm in both the upper and lower gyms.

The boys’ touch football teams are also winding down action for the season. The division 3 squad is having a rough season having just won their first game last Thursday in 5 starts by defeating Laurenval 16-6. They finish off their season and 1 and 5 with a loss this week to James Lyng.

The division one team led by BA’s superstar athlete Treyvon Grant will be post-season action as all teams are playoff bound with the top 3 teams out of 5 getting a bye into the semis.

RIVERVIEW CLC

If you’re reading this in time, the CLC Open House and Fall Festival is on Thursday from 4:30 to 7 pm with a little something for everyone. There will be booths representing organizations such as libraries, food safety, citizens and tenants’ rights groups, and sports organizations.

There will be a fall market featuring autumn delights such as apples and squash and the ever popular pumpkin patch. Seeing it will be almost the supper hour, they’ve taken care of that as well with a tasty harvest soup and baked goodies to be had along with coffee and hot chocolate

To top things off, there will be face painting for the kids and for 5 dollars; families will be able to pose for family photos, just in time for the Christmas picture taking season. So a lot happening at the Riverview CLC Open House! The school is located at 971 Riverview in Verdun.