Submitted by Emily Cameron
May was Pip and Topsoil Petitions’ month at the Pen. Many Bruce Peninsula District School (BPDS) initiatives brought staff and students outdoors and into nature. In fact, BPDS has had another year of EcoSchools success!
We have been part of the EcoSchools organization since 2014, completing projects and showing our care for the climate and for the environment in order to gain a certification level based on the number of initiatives that we complete in a year. This year, BPDS was once again successful in achieving PLATINUM STATUS as an EcoSchool! We earned 119.75 points out of a required 101 points to achieve that status.
We do such a great job of incorporating environmental learning into our regular classes that we actually had more points than we needed, and we didn’t even include all of our projects! From participating in Envirothon to composting, to the incredible Earth Day Climate Challenge event, Panthers should be so proud of the things they have done this year. Congratulations to everyone!
BPDS also continues to participate in the UNESCO ASPnet schools organization. Through our actions in promoting human rights and global citizenship, indigenous learning, and understanding and implementing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, we encourage our students to learn about the world around us and to work to make positive change in the way we treat one another and the environment around us. It’s important to make sure that our students, from a tiny part of the world, understand that they can still make a difference.
Some of the activities that we completed as part of our EcoSchools project were connected to Project 2050: Climate-friendly habits to change the world. This national movement, powered by Earth Rangers in partnership with EcoSchools Canada, is about connecting youth with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle climate change. Because we completed at least three activities associated with this project, we were awarded a special badge to recognize our efforts.
The entire Secondary student body spent three wonderful days at the National Park participating in our annual Footprints Conference. Students engaged in a variety of activities linked to our Specialist High Skills major in the Environment including nature art and photography, knots and shelters, Indigenous trapping and cooking, canoeing, nature walks, and more! Students were treated to a camp sing along – music provided by Dave Nixon – as well as ice cream and pizza in Tobermory on the last day. We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all our community donors for making this event possible and 100% free for our secondary students.
The Green Industries and Business Leadership classes finished off their Plant Buddies projects with several great environmentally based projects. They visited Peninsula Out of Doors, finished building, painting, and planting their tire gardens – and creating pollinator gardens around the school – as well as created a mini-putt golf course out of sod. What a fun way to incorporate aspects of business and horticulture.
Our athletes also spent a lot of time outdoors this spring. Pictured above are several of the secondary overall winners from the athletic assembly.
Moreover, many of our secondary and elementary track and field athletes were successful at regional competitions this year. In fact, James and Grace Wheeler made it all the way to OFSAA and both achieved top 10 finishes. Trish Preston submitted the following update about Elementary Track and Field:
On June 6, students in Grades 3 to 8 spent the day outside taking part in our annual track and field meet. The conditions were perfect and the athletes ran, jumped and threw to personal bests. After the day was complete, points were tabulated and the following athletes won top honours for their age group.
Grade 3/4 Girls
-Mabel Cameron
-Marin Harper
-Paisley Cameron
Grade 3/4 Boys
-T.A. Hofstrand
-Trent Lyle
-Emmett Stewart
Grade 5/6 Girls
-Avery Sachs
-Tamara Thompson
-Georgia Myles and Ryder Anderson-Burley
Grade 5/6 Boys
-Cougen Cameron
-J.T. Burbridge
-Nash Lisk
Grade 7/8 Girls
-Alexis Liverance
-Lena Hofstrand
-Isis Brooks
Grade 7/8 Boys
-Travis Vanderkooy
-Deven Connolly
-Lane Cameron and Cole Catley
On June 12, top finishers at the BPDS meet, in Grades 5 – 8, travelled to the Davidson Centre in Kincardine to compete in the BESC West Regional meet. This is the first time in 10 years BPDS has competed in a regional meet. The athletes competed hard in cold, rainy conditions against the best athletes in the region. The following athletes placed in the top 6 in their events.
Grade 7/8 Girls
-Acadia Parent: 100 m run – 1st, 200 m run – 2nd, Long Jump – 1st
-Lena Hofstrand: Shot Put – 6th
Grade 7/8 Boys
-Deven Connolly: 100 m run – 6th
Grade 5/6 Girls
-Ryder Anderson-Burley: 200 m run – 6th
-Tamara Thompson: 1500 m run – 4th, 800 m run – 6th
Grade 5/6 Boys
-Cougen Cameron: Long Jump – 2nd
-J.T Burbridge: 800 m – 5th
All BPDS athletes should be proud of their performances and for being excellent representatives of our school and community. Way to go Panthers! We would like to thank the Tobermory Legion and the Ladies Auxiliary – Branch 290 for sponsoring our team, helping to pay a portion of the bus cost to get us to this prestigious event. Without these generous donations, this special event would not have been possible.
At the beginning of June, it was hard for staff to believe that summer was almost here, but even after a full year of amazing accomplishments we weren’t quite done achieving great things yet because June was ‘Indigenous People and Pride Partnerships’ month and we spent the month participating in a variety of community initiatives.
On June 1st, elementary students at BPDS participated in our annual Jump Rope for Heart event, a fundraiser for the Heart a Stroke Foundation. Our students raised over $4,400 and spent the afternoon engaging in heart healthy physical activities. The school receives a small portion of proceeds from the fundraiser to purchase new gym/recess equipment. A huge thank you to the community for always being an avid supporter of this fundraiser.
On June 8 many students participated in a pride march and walked the hallways of the school in support of equality for all. Over 100 staff and students marched through the halls wearing bright colours and dancing to fun tunes. We encourage all Panthers to continue being caring humans and ambassadors of equality. Sarah Peacock thanks the Tobermory Press for the donation of the rainbow Pride Progress flags.
On June 7, the grade 7/8 and the Natural Disasters classes worked with the Bruce Peninsula Environment Group to complete a road clean up on the stretch of road from Ferndale to the LCBO. We are all doing our part to keep the Bruce clean.
The grade 7 and 8’s also finished the year off with their trip to Celtic. Everyone had a great time and many memories were made.
A small group of grade 4-8 elementary students have taken on a leadership role for planning, planting and taking care of the garden beds at our school- and it has been a blast! It all began by discussing reasons for why we want to grow our own food, such as cutting down on transportation costs, enjoying the great taste of homegrown food and sharing harvest with locals in need.
Back in March, the students carefully planned their assigned garden beds on paper, considering what they would actually want to eat, what would grow well together and how much space the seeds needed. Once the ground thawed, the hard work began! Our group spent a lot of time weeding, adding nutrients to the soil and turning the beds over. Some of us really liked getting our hands dirty!
Of course, our favourite part has been the month of June. Students have now planted their own garden beds and are quite proud of the sprouts so far. We have cantaloupe, carrots, kale, peas, spinach, brussels sprouts, lettuce, squash, green onion, radishes and herbs all coming up beautifully. Our only job now is to make sure they get lots of water in this summer heat! We can’t wait to enjoy some harvest before the end of the school year, but we are hopeful the beds will continue to offer some harvest this fall too.
The garden beds will continue to get looked after this summer, so if you are walking by, take a moment to admire the hard work! If you are interested in volunteering in support of our school gardens in the 2023-24 school year (sharing your knowledge, watering or weeding, donating supplies), you can email rachel_mclay@bwdsb.on.ca. Our group would like to thank the fire department for keeping our water tanks full. Happy gardening everyone!
Prom 2023 was a beautiful event! We were thankful for a sunny day and there were 70+ students in attendance, all looking fabulous. Music was provided by Mike and Patty Stevenson. Many thanks to Carla Hellyer for her generous donations of lights, greenery and food. Also, thank you to the Municipality for providing use of the Rotary Hall for this special event.
June is always an exciting time, as we all look forward to a much-needed break. However, it is also a sad time when we say goodbye to some of our friends. We wish all of our grade 12 graduates the best in their future endeavors. We hope they take their Panther pride and love of the outdoors with them to whatever lies ahead.
We are also sad to say goodbye to one of our long time Panthers, Jodi Naves. She is headed to Northport to start her journey as a full-time Vice Principal. We are thankful for all her many years of friendship, guidance, time coaching, and expertise in the classroom. We know she will be a great addition to any staff.
We will welcome back Breanna Heels in September and know she will continue to help us achieve our Eco schools’ goals.
There will be one more article in the near future featuring the graduates, but this is the last BPDS monthly article until September. We are wishing all our BPDS and St Edmunds families a safe and happy summer. See you in the fall.
