From the Principal

While we are welcoming spring here at Denis Morris, we are also welcoming all the activity that comes with it. It is the halfway point of the second semester and your child’s Mid-Term Report will be sent home on May 3. Please review the report with your son/daughter and address any concerns that you may have with the teacher of record for that particular course.

March brought us the OSSLT and the OSSLT Practice Test. Later on in June, our Grade 9 students will be participating in the EQAO Grade 9 Math assessment. Literacy and numeracy preparation are a regular part of our learning practices across the curriculum and we look forward to the academic challenges ahead of us. These large- scale assessments are not the only reasons our semester will be busy.

We welcome to Denis Morris Mrs. Dawn Currie. Mrs. Currie will be teaching Business courses in the absence of Mr. Greg Hassim who is on a leave. We wish Mrs. Currie the best with her teaching assignment at

Dennis Morris and wish Mr. Hassim all the best during his leave.

From April 26 to 28, the students of Denis Morris presented an incredible interpretation of “You Can’t Take It With You” in the Alumni Theater. We were incredibly impressed by the talent and the positive response to the play was overwhelming. Of course, it goes without saying, thank you to our drama coaches, support volunteers and student performers and technicians for months of hard work. The final shows highlighted the power and influence of the Arts.

We are busy with after school practices for many of our spring teams including soccer, track and field, baseball, lacrosse, rowing and squash. I am always happy to see a strong and vibrant co-curricular program because, as we all know, these activities and their coaches and volunteers have a significant influence on shaping character and preparing students for the real world.

Lent is a season of reflection and renewal. We refocus our spiritual energy from the repentance of Lent to the promises of the Resurrection. Thank you to those staff, particularly our Religion teachers, who worked with our students on Reconciliation and understanding the religious life and vocations. Our celebration of Stations of the Cross was beautifully poignant and inspirational. Our students were well prepared for Easter.

This year Catholic Education Week will be celebrated from May 6 to 11; this year’s theme is “Renewing the Promise.” We will be celebrating Catholic Education Week with many activities. Our school-wide Masses will be celebrated on May 9. Denis Morris will also be hosting Catch the Spirit on May 7 at St. Julia Church. On May 11 the Niagara Catholic District School Board will once again be recognizing distinguished alumni; we are very pleased that Robert Morningstar, Denis Morris Class of 1989, has been selected

Students from Denis Morris feeder schools awaiting the presentation of Denis Morris’ school play “You Can’t take it With You”

Arts Department

From the Principalto receive the honour of Distinguished Alumni. On behalf of all of us here at Denis Morris congratulations go out to Mr. Morningstar.

As the tradition continues, we will be concluding our Catholic Education Week activities with our annual Starvathon on May 11. Currently, teachers and students are planning awareness activities, assemblies and motivational exercises to ensure our participants are ready to live up to the promise of, “Let Your Light Shine.” We are inspired by the challenge offered to us by Pope Francis who calls us to embrace “a daring desire to see change in the world.” The Starvathon

is a rich tradition here at Denis Morris, one that we are proud of and honored to uphold. Thank you to all our staff and students who bring the Starvathon to life.

If you are the parent of a Grade 12 student preparing for graduation, please note that Grad pictures were scheduled from April 18 to May 1. On May 17, our graduates will be attending the Board-wide graduation celebration at the Gale Center in Niagara Falls. This year the keynote speaker will be Father Tony Ricard. This graduating class had the privilege to hear Father Tony at their Grade 7 Faith Festival. The Catholic Graduation Ceremony

will take place on June 28 at Brock University.As an active community, we continue to “build steam” to help us through the demands of May and June. May and June will be even busier than April with Catholic Education Week, student appreciation days, final masses, exams and graduation. I guess we’ll have to wait until July to catch our collective breaths as we continue to catch the spirit.Danny Di LorenzoPrincipal

Not even an ice storm could damp-en the energy of the cast and crew of this year’s play, “You Can’t Take It With You.” Audiences were delighted by the hilarious goings-on in the Sycamore household, engaged by Tony and Al-ice’s will-they-won’t-they relationship, and inspired by Grandpa Sycamore’s

words of wisdom. Despite having to move our final performance from a Saturday evening to the following Tuesday, the performances just kept getting better and better.

Congratulations to the cast and crew of this excellent production on the cul-

mination of all their hard work. Many thanks to Mrs. Diamond-Mulé, Mrs. Ostaszewicz, Mrs. Leighton, Mr. Pilote, Miss Parr and all of our many other as-sistants and supporters. You make the impossible, possible and allow all of our performers to shine brightly. Well done!

Business/Technology Department

NCDSB Skills Competition

The staff and students of Denis Morris would like to extend their congratulations to all the students who represented our school in the Niagara Catholic Technological Skills Competition, held at the Scotia Center in Niagara Falls this week.

Good luck to those winners who are moving on to the provincial level!

Cody Crumb - moves on to Provincials in Brick Masonry

Tyler Krakolovich - moves on to Provincials in Heating Systems Technician

Yaman Abuibaid - moves on to Provincials in Website Development.

PJ Miller - goes directly to the Provincial Competition for precision machining.

Sursajan Thiara - Individual Carpentry.

Alex LeBlanc - Welding

Evan Sawatsky and Adam Arca - 2D Character Animation

Ben Brown, Liam Vantsone, Ferney Fandino Cruz and Ethan Leroux - Home Building Team of Four

Jessica Bondoc - Graphic Design

Samantha McIlravey - Welding

GOLD SILVER BRONZE

Student s

2852 NEWSLETTER SPARKING INTEREST, IGNITING IMAGINATION MARCH 2018 ISSUE 5

PROVINICALS RESULTS DM High Voltage was excited to compete at the Ontario District Championships, April 12-14 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga with success. Team 2852 was placed in the Science Division which lead us to compete against 40 of the best teams in Ontario maybe even Canada. During our qualify schedule we clawed our way through the 12 matches and proved our capabilities. As the competition moved into the eliminations, 2852 was chosen as a first pick of the 8th alliance which we graciously accepted.

Our alliance faced off against the #1 alliance in the division. A tough battle was fought against the best team in Canada, when the dust settled we came away with a quarterfinal finish and an 8th place finish overall. Unfortunately, we were one round short of making it to

the World Championships. We are so proud of our performance.

2852 SEASON RECAP Georgian College Event: Quarterfinalist 5th Overall Imagery Award Winner University of Waterloo Event: Semifinalist 4th Overall Imagery Award Winner (not a misprint!) Ontario Provincial Championships: Quarterfinalist 8th Overall in Science Division Team Spirit Award Winner The whole team should be proud of what was accomplished during this 10th anniversary season of DM High Voltage.

KEEP IT GOING!! Even if Team 2852 isn’t moving onto the World Championship our season isn’t done yet. Plans are already underway to make improvements and prepare for the next FRC season. We are also planning a Team Appreciation Night for all members, sponsors, and parents to celebrate our season; a date will be released in the near future. Of course we be on the road promoting STEM within the community and participating in community outreach initiatives.

Tenth Anniversary Fun Fact!!

The 2015 season, Recycle Rush, was an amazing season for 2852. Here is a breakdown of how we did: Toronto East Regional: Winners, Won Creativity Award NY Tech Regional: Semi Finalist Windsor Regional: Semi Finalist World Champs: Quarter Finalist 2015 Overall Season: Ranked 38th in World out of 2900 teams, Ranked 4th in Canada. We would say 2015 was a good year!! Thank you to all of our generous

sponsors for supporting us

Business/Technology Department

Mathematics Department

Grade 9 EQAO

On February 27th, 2018 our grade 9, 10 and 11 students competed in the University of Waterloo Pascal (grade 9), Cayley (Grade 10) and Fermat (grade 11) Math Contests. These contests were written by over 65,000 students from over 1,600 schools across Canada.

We are very proud of the following grade 9 and 11 students that finished in the top 25% of all contestants in their respective grades: Darren McLeish, Lucas DiPietro, Ryan Drapeau, Jessica Berg and Logan Ciancio. Also, congratulations goes out to our grade 10 students, Josh DiFrancesco and Keagan McNeil; they tied for the first place amongst our grade 10 competitors.

Students currently enrolled in a grade 9 Applied and Academic math courses will be taking the EQAO Mathematics Assessment on Thursday, June 14th and Friday, June 15th, 2018. Their responses will be marked by the classroom teacher as this assessment makes up 10% of the overall student grade. All booklets will then be marked by EQAO during the month of July and the official results will be released sometime next fall. For more information about this assessment, please visit www.eqao.com or speak to one of the teachers in the math department.

Waterloo Math Contests

Grade 9s: Ryan Drapeau, Darren McLeish and Lucas DiPietro

Grade 10s: Josh DiFrancesco and Keagan McNeil

Grade 11s: Logan Ciancio and Jessica Berg

Religion Department

The senior students in the religion department have been hard at work in their respective courses. The grade twelve politics students spent the past month on two separate activities. Individually, students explored job opportunities in the government sector. Students used their personal interests and talents to explore positions with VIA Rail, Canada Post, and National Parks. After finding openings in accounting, photography, broadcasting and many more areas, students investigated the program offerings at various universities and created mock resumes for their desired positions.

In groups, the grade twelves also debated a variety of controversial issues. Students explored topics like fracking, distracted driving and the rights of the Canadian Indigenous community to uphold traditional hunting and fishing practices. Within the framework of the Catholic Social teachings, students discussed the ethical, social, economic and political implications of issues facing our world leaders today.

Meanwhile, the grade eleven students in numerous classes furthered their understanding of Indigenous Spirituality through art. Students investigated the symbols used in cave drawings and petroglyphs by the Earth’s oldest cultures. Using natural items to paint and recreate symbols, students told stories and reflected the beliefs of various indigenous groups.

Students in the senior classes will finish off the semester exploring Eastern religions in the grade eleven classes and developing an understanding of the international relationships that maintain peace and support democracy around the world in the grade twelve classes. All students will continue to meet the Catholic graduate expectations and fulfill the Christian call to service through their community volunteer activities.

Science Department

Nicholas Carbonara doesn’t go to university until 2019, but as a Grade 11 student he will get his first taste of campus life in July, when he spends a month at the University of New Brunswick participating in the award-winning SHAD program.

SHAD is “an enrichment and entrepreneurship program and network that empowers exceptional high school students to recognize their vast potential.” Nicholas will be one of just 900 students from around the world who will participate in the month-long SHAD program at one of 16 campuses across Canada.

Nicholas will be in New Brunswick from July 1-27, working collaboratively with his program colleagues to find ways to make a difference in the world and develop an entrepreneurial mindset by creating innovative solutions to a complex issue. They then have the opportunity to compete against each other to see which school had the best solution to the problem.

The DM community wishes Nick good luck this summer and we look forward to hearing about his experiences upon his return to DM next semester.

SHAD: Uncommon Purpose4 th Annual Engineering Design & Building In early March, two DM senior science students teams competed in the 4th Annual Engineering Design & Build Competition held at Niagara College. The annual event is hosted by the Professional Engineers Ontario Niagara Chapter to promote National Engineering Month and engineering careers to senior students in the region. This year, students designed and built their own wind turbines that were tested in a wind tunnel built by college staff.

The Niagara Regional Science and Engineering Fair is a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to the encouragement of science in students within the Niagara Region. The fair is a prestigious annual science event within the region sponsored by local businesses, and held at either Brock University or Niagara College. Annually, DM Science teachers volunteer as judges for our local feeder school competitions to help decide which projects will progress to the Regional Competition. This year, teachers visited St. Theresa Catholic Elementary School to help judge a variety of innovative science fair projects. At the Regional Competition, in the Juvenile category, Karlee Sawatzky from St. Theresa Catholic won the Niagara Electrical Association Award for her Twirling Ballerina Testing 3 Different Batteries project. In the Junior category, honourable mentions go to Natalie Faraj for her physics entry titled, “Do communicating vessels and siphons work with different containers and liquids?” Congratulations to all competitors!

Niagara Regional Science and Engineering Fair Winners

Student Services Department

Pay Online using School Cash Online by visiting

https://ncdsb.schoolcashon-line.com

and click “Get Started Today”. If you pay online, a receipt can be printed. We strongly en-courage the use of this feature as it will greatly streamline the fee collection process.

Graduation

Graduation this year is Thursday, June 28th, 2018. Grads must have the following requirements completed in order to participate in the graduation ceremony and receive their diploma.

1.30 CREDITS - Including the compulsory courses completed by June 25th.2.40 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE - Completed and on record by May 17th3.SUCCESSFUL COMPLETED The ONTARIO LITERACY TEST or LITERACY COURSE.

Graduation fees were due April 20th, 2018.

Board Wide Graduation Celebration at Gale Centre is Thursday, May 17, 2018.(Please see the Graduation Information tab on the school website for more information.)

College / University offers

Please ensure you have confirmed your offers of acceptance online at either the OUAC or OCAS site before they expire.

N.B. It is still possible to apply to College or University for programs that are not yet full. Applicable fees are still required. Please see your Guidance Counsellor for details.

If you have any questions regarding the above information, please contact Student Services at ext. 2130.

Are you artistic? Do you love fashion? Do you also have a passion for social justice issues? The Denis Morris Arts department is rebranding its Fashion Course for 2018-2019.

The course will be focusing on community outreach with such activities as knitting scarves for the homeless, jewellery making for cancer patients, sewing dresses for Dress for a Girl online charity as well as the Recycled Dress competition to support stewardship of the Earth. The course will also be including its usual lessons on the History of Fashion and Elements and Principles of Fashion Design. If interested in taking this course, please contact student services before June.

Reds Sports

DM Reds Swim Team

Congratulations on a successful swim season for our Reds Swim Team. 14 students moved on to SOSSA and many students ribboned in various divisions.

Jr Girls Medley Relay: Stacey Alves, Sarah Olszewski, Rachel Bergie and Sarah Smith placed 4th overall. Rachel Bergie also placed 6th in the 100 meter Individual Medley.

Charley Crane had two 6th place finished in the 200 Meter IM and 100 Meter IM races.

Jessica Dekker placed 6th in the senior girls 50 Meter Freestyle.

Briar Paugh placed 2nd overall in her 50 Meter Freestyle and 5th overall in her 100 Meter Freestyle.

Briar Paugh, Charley Crane, Jessica Dekker and Clare Flynn placed 5th overall for their 400 Meter Freestyle Relay.

Congratulations to all of our swim team who consistently dropped time and set personal goals for the season. Looking forward to new members joining in October!

Around DM

Eco Club NewsAt the starting of the year, the Eco Club set a goal to start an Organics Recycling Program at DM. To make this idea a reality, this group of dedicated students met with interns from Niagara Region to set a plan in motion to implement this program. The first step was to prepare and present an educational assembly to the student body. After months, of planning and preparation, the Eco Club successfully held their student-led, interactive Eco Assembly in the theatre on March 1st, and have now strategically placed the green bins throughout the school in the cafeteria, foyer and various science, art and the food and nutrition classrooms.

On March 23rd, Denis Morris, along with all of the other schools in the Niagara Catholic District School Board, participated in the Earth Hour Challenge. During second period, the lights were reduced or turned off in the halls, offices and classrooms to show our support for the global Earth Hour movement on Saturday March 24th to help shine a light on climate action!

On Wednesday, April 18th, members of the Eco club travelled to Stevensville Conservation Area to participate in the Niagara Regional Envirothon Workshop. This environmental education workshop involved hands-on activities in the areas of soil, forestry, water quality, wildlife and climate change. The team is now prepared for the Regional Envirothon Competition in early May.The Eco Club has also recently launched their Rain Barrel Fundraiser Sale to raise funds for next year’s eco-initiatives. Please support our Rain Barrel Fundraiser by ordering your rain barrel online at www.rainbarrel.ca/denismorris. By purchasing a rain barrel, you will not only be supporting our fundraiser but you will be helping the environment and saving money too! The DM Eco Club thanks you for your support!