Left to Right: Alex Bateman, Scott Morency, Megan Robertson, Kyle Buffitt, Tyler Jones, Jessica Poole, Jake Robertson & Pierre-Yves Letellier.

Colton Gallichon is graduating with a Life Skills/Work Skills Education Certificate. Life Skills and Work Skills Education is a program that teaches students practical academic skills to enable them to live independently, and work skills that support them in their ability to find and main-tain successful and meaningful employment. Colton’s work experience over the past 2 years has been with the municipality of Gros Mecatina where he has accumulated over 1000 hours assisting our municipal inspector. Great job Colton!

Mecatina School’s Graduating Class of 2009

Special points of interest:

Our Graduates Away From Home

Fundraising for Carnival de Quebec

Kiddie Korner at St. Law-rence

What’s Happening at the Library?

Dove Sleepover for Self-Esteem

Karate Kenpo

Gros Mecatina Times

M E C A T I N A C O M M U N I T Y L E A R N I N G C E N T R E

Volume 3, Issue 2

June, 2009

Mecatina School Choir 3

Mecatina School Jumps High

6

Traveling Trunks

8

Learning Today for Tomorrow

10

A Small Group That Made a Big Impression!

12

Book Buddies 15

The 2008-2009 School Year

17

Inside this issue:

CONGRATULATIONS to all our graduates!

We are very proud of you and wish you all the best!

Mecatina School Staff

If you can imagine it you can cre-ate it. If you can dream it, you can become it. I began my vocational studies at Chateauguay Valley Ca-reer Education Centre on August 6th 2008 with a dream to become a carpenter. I knew leaving my hometown, family and friends be-hind would not be an easy chal-lenge, especially considering I was completely on my own and I was the only student coming from the Lower North Shore. However, I was ready to take on the challenge! At first, I found it extremely difficult to be living in an unfamiliar town and going to school everyday see-ing faces that I’ve never seen be-fore. As time went on, I met new people and learned new things, many of which I had no clue about prior to now. After ten months of

tough work and a lot of dedication, I am extremely proud to say that I am a 2009 graduate of the DEP carpen-try program. At my graduation I re-ceived the Govern-ing Board Award in recognition of the b e s t s t u d e n t throughout the en-tire school. I was awarded with a cheque of $250 and a beautiful plaque that will to always remind me of the accom-plishment I have made. Last of all, I know my dream would not have been possible without the loving support from all my family and friends. Thank you to everyone

that has helped make my dream a reality! A little advice you can al-ways take with you; when you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on! Submitted by Jamie Bobbitt & Charlene Gallichon

Our Graduates Away From Home

Page 2 Gros Mecatina Times

Matt Mckinnon

Baie Comeau High School

Malcolm Mckinnon

Baie Comeau High School

Samantha Mckinnon

University of Ottawa—June 13, 2009

Major: Criminology / Minor: Psychology

We have all heard the phrases ‘student success’ and it takes a

‘village to raise a child’, how-

ever in the case of Mecatina School in La Tabatiere, we have

an example this year of students

succeeding and people in the

village caring and supporting these students. This year’s

graduates are: Alex Bateman,

Kyle Buffitt, Jake Green-

Robertson, Tyler Jones, Pierre-Yves Letellier, Scott Morency,

Jessica Poole, Megan Robert-

son, and Colton Gallichon.

In the case of these students, some are going to Cegep, another to the

military, some to technical voca-

tional programs, and others out to work to learn if this is the work

they want to be doing in their life.

Whatever choices these grads of 2009 are making about their fu-ture, they are choices that have been supported by the whole com-munity. Whether the support has been in the form of giving the stu-dent a part-time job or compli-menting the students on a job well-done, or donating money to a fund-

raiser, or insisting that work is completed, or teaching the stu-dent a skill, or giving them the responsibility of following through on keeping their word; parents, teachers, and commu-nity members have all made a significant contribution to help-ing these students becoming suc-cessful as individuals and as members of our society.

Submitted by Juel Chouinard

Pedagogical

Consultant

Page 3

It Takes A Community

Mecatina School Choir 2008/09 The Christmas Choir has been ongoing for several years now. Just before Christmas adults and children gathered together to practice songs for the Christmas church cele-brations in La Tablature. It was great fun and always a success. This year we took the choir idea a little further. We thought, why limit the choir to being just a Christmas Choir. The children are so talented and just love to per-form. The idea was brought forth at a CLC meeting, and with Molly’s support, things were soon underway. The choir gathered in a classroom every Tuesday at 3:00 for an hour of singing fun. Throughout the year the choir performed at

a number of community events, such as the lighting of the memory tree, St. Andrew’s and St. Joseph’s Christ-mas celebration, at the Easter and Mother’s day celebration in St. Joseph’s church. The Choir accompanied by Tony Gallichon, even took to the big stage at a talent show at the community hall organized by the French for the Future group. They did a fabulous job!

Continued on page 5…...

This year has been very busy at Me-catina School as a group of students from grade 5 to secondary 4 has worked at fundraising in order to go to the “ Carnaval de Québec” in Feb-ruary 2010. The fundraising activities began in November as we set our goal at 10 thousand dollars for this school year. Amazingly, through a variety of activities and events, we have reached our goal !!! It is important to realize that a lot of cooperation went on in our school and community to make this possible. Students, parents, staff, community members and organiza-tions have worked very hard all year. Here are a variety of events that have went on:

A video games night. Thanks to Ashley’s restaurant for the donation of burgers. They were delicious!!!

Ticket sales on a round trip for two anywhere Air Labrador flies graciously donated be Air Labrador. Thanks again Lorelee!

A movie night. Thanks again Ian Morency for the burgers.

Sale of tickets on a basket during the Christmas talent show

thanks to the CDLS’ generos-ity.

Sale of tickets on a beautiful quilt put together by Jenny Mar-coux and Jean Willcott. Each square was arranged by the students and their families. Good job!

Sale of products such as coffees, teas, spices, bars, etc. from a fundraising company called Humeur. Each family was given a bag of products to sell. Thanks Hydro for your sup-port.

Sale of re-usable bags. Thanks to the stores and restaurants for helping us.

Canteen during the volleyball tour-nament. Thanks Fay for the good suggestion. Thanks a million Meva Jones for orga-nizing it all!

A spring talent show which was a huge success. Our village has very talented people. Thanks everyone who came and en-joyed the show. Big thanks to the performers!!!

Sale of tickets on a baby quilt do-nated by Grace Gallichon.

Sale of tickets on a bouquet of fresh flowers that were do-

nated by Karen Robertson and John Vatcher.

A huge thanks to St-Joseph parish for the generous donation.

A huge thanks to The Memory Tree group for the generous donation.

I would like to conclude by thanking some of our senior students, Alex, Kyle, Pierre-Yves and Jessica for assist-ing at different times during the year when events took place and their help was needed. Our school secretary, Jean McKinnon is always so eager to help

when the need is there.

She always does a wonderful job! Also, a big thanks to the school staff and sup-port staff who helped by being there at our different events and helping with the fundraising. Fundraising will con-tinue in the fall. By working together we can accomplish so much… It is amazing to see our students working so hard to reach their dream of going to the “Carnaval de Québec” . They cer-tainly deserve it !

Submitted by Josée Perrier

FSL Teacher

Fundraising for Carnival de Quebec

“Fundraising is the gentle art of

teaching the joy of giving.”

-Hank Rosso

Page 4 Gros Mecatina Times

The final choir gathering was held on Tuesday, June 3rd. What a memorable event! Pierre-Yves Letellier and Alex Bateman joined us for the full hour. There was lots of great music, singing and dancing, and even an autograph signing! It was like an up close and personal rock concert. It was the perfect way to end the choir year. We hope to have the same success in the next school year!

Submitted by Tanya Bateman & Jolene Bateman

Choir Members: Natasha Nadeau, Chloe Anderson, Hannah Organ, Marianne Monger,

Delaney Collier, Ocean Organ, Amy Willcott, Madison Morency, Lakin Marcoux, Tanya

Bateman, Jolene Bateman, Alex Bateman & Carol Monger.

Mecatina School Choir 2008/09 contd….

Page 5

Talent Show Photo Gallery

These photos depict a small

sample of some of the fabulous

local talent that participated in

the Quebec Carnival fundrais-

ing Talent Show. A great time

was had by all who attended!

Mecatina School held another

very successful Jump Rope for

Heart event. All thirty-five pri-

mary students participated in

the event. They raised a whop-

ping $2820.57. A huge thank

you goes out to all the spon-

sors. Your generosity is won-

derful. Together we are mak-

ing a difference to a very im-

portant issue – Healthy Hearts!

Thanks to all the help-

ers, sponsors and especially the students who sought out

sponsors.

Melinda Gallichon

Event Coordinator

Mecatina School Jumps High!

Page 6 Gros Mecatina Times

Cycle 2 Cooks Up a Storm! As part of our Science and Technology class, we worked on healthy living. The students’ final project was to plan a healthy balanced meal that they would prepare and serve to their classmates.

There were three groups and

they served up nutritious and

delicious breakfasts to all of us.

They certainly know what

makes a great meal.

Congratulations to all the chefs and their assistants! You did a great job.

Submitted by Melinda Gallichon

Cycle 2 Teacher

On Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 the students of St. Law-rence School held a reading session for the little ones in their community. The event gave the children an opportu-nity to engage in reading with peers. Aiden Buffitt, pre-school, read Animal Peek-a-book written by Eric Hill. Then the children created an

octopus craft.. Paige Buffitt, grade 3, read Babette Cole’s The Hairy Book then each child created a hairy fruit. Tyanna Bobbitt, grade 2, read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archam-bault. After the reading, the children created a coconut al-phabet tree picture. The event was very successful and many

thanks to all the participants.

Submitted by Tina Leon

Teacher

Page 7

Kiddie Korner at St. Lawrence

Each Community Learning Cen-

tre has created individualized

programs and services using the

traveling book trunks as an in-

centive to get people into the

library and reading! This is what

Mecatina has been doing…...

The Centre for Literacy Book Trunks have provided the Me-catina school students and community at large, with ac-cess to a greater variety of reading material. In addition, this collection is being used to provide a ‘Books on Wheels’ service to community mem-bers, seniors in particular, who are not able to visit the library in person. Paula Ev-ans, library animator, delivers books each Wednesday after-noon, and these visits are highly anticipated. The ‘Book Trunks’ and ‘Books on Wheels’ programs have al-lowed us to develop the school library into a lively commu-nity library. Adult member-ships have increased and the love of reading is catching on …!

Mecatina School and Commu-nity Learning Centre extend a huge THANK YOU to all the partners involved; Centre for Literacy, Air Labrador, Neta-gamiou, St. Paul’s and Gaspé CLCs, for supporting this won-derful initiative!

Submitted by Molly Organ

CLC Coordinator

(some parts taken from ‘’Traveling Trunks: The

Love of Literature Soars with the Spirit of Flight’’)

The successful partnership be-

tween the Centre for Literacy of

Quebec, Air Labrador, and the

Community Learning Centres of

Gaspé, St. Paul’s, Netagamiou, & Mecatina has provided increased

accessibility to interesting and

current literacy resources that

meet the specific needs of each

CLC library. The Centre for Lit-

eracy has assembled trunks of

books selected in consultation

with the user groups, which are

being loaned for six-month peri-

ods to the participating CLC li-

braries. At the end of each loan

period the trunks are located to

one of the other sites, thus pro-

viding fresh materials at regular

intervals. Air Labrador has pro-

vided free shipping of the trunks

of books between Chevery, St.

Paul’s and La Tabatiere. This can

cost more than $125.00 per site—

per rotation. This support is in-

strumental to the program’s suc-

cess.

Page 8 Gros Mecatina Times

Travelling Trunks

Library animator, Paula Evans, prepared

to visit seniors with a basket of books for

our ’Books on Wheels’ program.

’Books on Wheels’ program participant,

Meda Mckinnon, browsing through the

book basket delivered to her home.

I am very pleased to say since the library has opened to the public back in April, a lot has been taking place. It is great to see all the new members joining the library. Our new members are enjoying having access to the library and we hope that we can keep them satisfied. We are working hard to upgrade the library to meet all of our members’ needs. We have a “Books on Wheels” program started, where each Wednesday afternoon I have the chance to visit with our senior members. I go to their homes with books and they get the chance to pick and sign out a book(s) from the library for two weeks. It seems like they all are enjoying this ser-vice. Anyone who is interested in this program can join at anytime.

Thursday nights at the library have been very busy. Thursdays are Theme Nights which means we have activities for everyone from age 0 & up. These include; a Read-ing Circle for children ages 0-4 and their parents with youth and senior

volunteers, a Book Bug Club for K- Gr 3 and their families, a Book Chat Club for Gr 4-Gr 6 and their families, and a Teen Night for Sec 1-5, each group meets once a month. During the summer there will be some afternoon activities tak-ing place, for ages 5-12. Also the library has a Summer Reading Challenge program for ages 5 & up. The person who reads the most books during the challenge will win a prize.

Happy Summer Reading!

The library has just received

some new books from the Centre for Literacy travelling trunks pro-gram; we have something for eve-ryone, so drop by and check them out.

The library will be closed for the month of August, but please keep your eye out for the fall schedule. Looking forward to seeing all our members again in the fall.

Submitted by Paula Evans

Library Animator

***Please check local businesses for the July library schedule, or pick one up at the library.

Thanks to the Municipality of Gros Mecatina for their part-nership in this initiative. Their support has provided us with the means to develop the school library into a vibrant community library!

Molly Organ (CLC coordinator)

“What is more important in a library

than anything else—than everything

else– is the fact that it exists.’’

-Archibauld MacLeish

Page 9

Whats Happening at the Library?

Book Chat Club (grades 4—6) discussing

history (theme of the month) with volunteer

Jenni Wellman.

Reading Circle for ages 0—4 and families with

youth volunteers, Joshua Vatcher & Melanie

Robertson.

Reading Circle Craft time with senior vol-

unteer, Marilyn Collier.

This article is about students, par-ents, teachers, the CLC, and the school administration working to-gether to support students’ literacy learning.

When we think about learning at school most of the time we are told what we will learn and how we will learn it. The same is true for the word ‘literacy’. When we hear that word we immediately think about reading and writing. In the spring of 2008, a secondary four student came to the governing board and proposed a new course for Mecatina School. The course was the construction skills course that took place this year and re-sulted in the building of a fishing hut. What was special about the course was students learned con-struction skills and important liter-acy skills. These were not the liter-acy skills of actually reading and writing but the skill of learning how to express yourself, how to convince someone else about your point of view, and how to draw a picture of what you want to do and then ex-plain the steps in your words.

You might be asking your-self right now what is so special about convincing others about your point of view or learning how to express yourself? Well today, all of us who work in education or have children in the education system are experiencing a big shift in what we learn and how we learn.

First, more and more learn-ing is hands-on. In other words, teachers try to give students practi-cal ways to practice what they are learning. Second, learning today involves talking, not talking about what you did last night, but talking about what you are learning. Where there is talking, there needs to be listening. Third, students begin to learn how to listen. Learning to lis-ten is hard and something we prac-tice to be good at throughout our lives. It can be especially hard for some teens especially when they wish others would go along with them and not ask questions. Fourth, in today’s education system, ques-tioning is important because it shows we are thinking, we are being curious, and we are showing by our questions that there is more than one way to do something and be successful at it. So when the secon-dary students became involved in the construction skills course there was literacy learning in talking, lis-tening, and questioning.

The other part that made this course special is that it be-longed to everyone, not only the teacher, carpenter teacher, and stu-dents. Parents who were teachers of some of the students had encour-aged their teenagers to go to the principal and ask for the course. Once the course was going other students talked to family members to find out how to build a fishing hut. The teacher and carpentry

Learning Today For Tomorrow

Page 10 Gros Mecatina Times

teacher organized the mate-rials and thought a lot about how they were going to work with the students. The principal according to the ministry guidelines assigned credits to the course.

As a result most of the stu-dents learned valuable carpentry, teamwork, and self-expression skills. These are the skills the graduating students will use in their future work-place or when they own their own home or do a family project around the home. The students have gained some valuable literacy learning for today and tomorrows society.

Submitted by Juel Chouinard

Pedagogical Consultant

On Saturday, June 13th 2009 a

group of 9 girls, ages 7 to 17, and

3 parents; Jennifer Wellman, Ade-

line Anderson (guest) any myself,

Kathy Green held our first Dove

sleepover. The event was cen-

tered on promoting self-esteem.

The Dove sleepovers were devel-

oped to make real change in the

way women and young girls per-

ceive and embrace beauty. Its

purpose is to free the next genera-

tion from beauty stereotypes.

Our evening included games (Self

Esteem Truth or Dare, etc...), a

movie (Return to the Secret Gar-

den), and discussion on the way

we feel and who we are. We

started the night with a visit with

girls from Chevery by videocon-

ference. Together we shared

things we were good at and spent

time finding out more about each

other. We made new friends and

visited with some old ones. The

sleepover took place in the VCN

room at Mecatina School where

everyone slept very well.

The event ended with plans for

next years’ sleepover and a deli-

cious continental breakfast of muf-

fins, fruit, yogurt and cereal. Yum!

It was amazing to see that saying

nice things can change how we

react with others and how others

react to you. Pass it on. The night

was a hit with everyone!

Submitted by Kathy Green

&

Jennifer Wellman

(Organizers)

Page 11

Dove Sleepover for Self-Esteem

‘’Never bend your head. Always

hold it high. Look the world

straight in the face.’’

-Helen Keller

Anyone who is familiar with volley-ball at all is probably aware that it requires a minimum of six players to make up a team. Well, this was not the case for this year's Mecatina School Team. This year our team consisted of five players only. Not having enough players to work with is usually both challenging and frus-trating for the coaches and the play-ers, but not in this case. This group was hardworking, dedicated, ex-tremely motivated and a pleasure to coach. They were a group of five with the spirits of 55!

In February, a volleyball meet was held in Chevery where the top play-ers from the coast were chosen to represent the LNS at the regional volleyball tournament in Baie Comeau. What an impression our group made! Our team of five lost only one game throughout the whole tournament. They played exception-ally well. It was a unanimous deci-sion that the five players from Me-catina School would make the re-gional team. Jessica made the girl's team, and Alex, Kyle, Tyler and Pi-erre-Yves, along with Henry Shattler

and Taylor Beaudoin from St. Augustine, Michael Strick-land from Kegaska and Kyle Jones from Harrington made up the boy's team. Everyone came home from Chevery very excited and eager to be-gin training for the regionals.

In March, Mecatina School hosted a participation volley-ball tournament with two objectives in mind. The first was to allow students to interact and have fun while playing volleyball. Teams were made up of students from secondary 1 to secondary 5, boys and girls from different schools. The second objective was to give the chosen regional teams an opportu-nity to play together before going to Baie Comeau. The tournament was a success and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Unfortunately the excitement turned to disappointment when we were informed that there weren't any other boy’s teams in the juvenile category registered in the regional tournament. Therefore the boy’s

team would not be going to Baie Comeau. Another disap-pointment fol-lowed when the girl’s team didn't make it to the tourna-ment due to bad weather.

After certain inquiries were made, things were beginning to look up. Due

to the fact that there was only one juvenile boys volleyball team in our region, they would automatically qualify for the provincials in Shaw-inigan. Arrangements were made and everything was set to go. How-ever, a few days prior to departure the team received a devastating blow. Contrary to what we were led to be-lieve, our team was never registered in the provincial tournament. The team's hopes were shattered, all their hard work and dedication seemed to be in vain. We were ready to give up, but thanks to a group of committed parents, teachers, caring community members and a supportive mayor, who all made our youth a priority and believed they should be given a fair chance, this news was considered unacceptable. A meeting was held with the mayor and some members of the sports committee. Calls and arrangements were made and thanks to everyone's help and support, the team was able to attend the provin-cial volleyball tournament. The boys represented us very well in Shawini-gan, and though they didn't win the tournament, they benefited greatly from the experience.

Continued on page 13…………..

A Small Group That Made A Big Impression!

Page 12 Gros Mecatina Times

Hello everyone! My name is Christine Porterfield, and I’ll be spending the summer in La Tabatiere as Quebec-Labrador Foundation’s Heritage and Com-munity Development Intern. While in La Tabatiere, I’ll be working within the community to help build cultural preservation and tourism programmes. I am originally from Guelph, Ontario, but I’ve spent most of the past three years studying Anthropology and World Religions at McGill University in Montreal. I’ve never been on the Lower North Shore, and I’m excited for this opportunity to experience life in La Tabatiere. I look forward to meeting and working with you all during my stay!

Christine Porterfield

QLF Heritage and Community Development Intern

away from this experience so much more than we gave. It was a year filled with excitements, a few upsets and many accomplishments and we would-n't trade it for anything. It is sad that you won't be with us for practice next year but we are very excited with the possibilities the future holds for all of you. If you head out into the world with as much intensity, determination and the same positive attitudes that you have shown us at volleyball, any-thing is within your reach. We wish every one of you the very best and we will miss you deeply.

On behalf of the volleyball team, we would like to give a big thanks to the following people for their sup-port. First of all Fay, for all your hard work and extra time. Everyone agrees that you did an outstanding job this year. To Josee, for going right to the source and getting the ball rolling. A big thanks to Mark Mckinnon, Chris Nadeau and Randy Jones for going out of your way without hesitation to offer us your support. It is because of people like you good things happen. Fi-nally, thanks to Mr. Weideman for all your participation and co-operation with the gym and the use of school facilities throughout the year and during the participation tournament.

To the volleyball team, Alex, Kyle, Tyler, Pierre-Yves and Jessica (Charlie). Our time spent with you was a great pleasure. We are taking

On a final note, we are currently work-ing with a new group of players who are showing great potential. We are confident that if they remain devoted Mecatina School will have another win-ning team!

The New Team Members: Fred Letel-lier, Currie Gallichon, Brandon Or-gan, Tristan Nadeau, Emilie Robert-son, Brandon Leon, Nico Organ, Loren Willcott, Cara Gallichon & Corey Mckinnon

We are looking forward to seeing you all, and hopefully others, on the volley-ball court next year!!

Submitted by: Jolene Bateman &

Kenneth Collier

A Small Group That Made a Big Impression! Contd…..

Page 13

QLF Intern in La Tabatiere

and Kyle Buffitt.

Students from grade 5 to secon-

dary 5 were

occupied en-

tirely with

strategizing

what their next

move would

be, in chess

that is. Volun-

teers, Frank

This year Mecatina School estab-

lished the House Team system

where the school was divided into

four teams; Red, Blue, Green and

Yellow. Each term there were a

number of activities and teams

accumulated points. A winner was

declared for each term. The win-

ners were treated to a special ac-

tivity at the end of the term. This

final term centered around two

activities and the accumulation of

’impact and behaviour’ tickets.

The results are:

Yellow Team 1235 points

Red Team 1015 points

Green Team 1015 points

Blue Team 1005 points

The house system was successful

this year in creating school spirit,

but more importantly in dramatically

reducing behavioural and discipline

issues at school. Our students are

polite and respectful, there were

very few detentions and only 1 sus-

pension for the whole year.

To all our students and staff—A job

well done!

Submitted by John Weideman

School Principal

Collier and Dylan

Vatcher proved to

be gallant knights

when it came to

helping our students plan their

moves.

Regardless of the game, there was

lots of fun, and learning, going on!

Submitted by

Molly Organ (CLC Coordinator)

Games & Chess Clubs

House Teams

It was all fun and games for stu-

dents at Mecatina during lunch

hour this year. That was after

they were done eating of course!

Students from grades 1 to 4 were

busy playing a variety of games

(checkers, sorry, etc…) each

week with the help of our won-

derful and playful volunteers;

Maureen Collier, Jessica Poole,

Page 14 Gros Mecatina Times

For the past year, Kindergar-ten, Cycle 1 and Cycle 3 have been meeting every Day 1 to part-take in some very inter-esting reading activities. Based on themes studied within each cycle, books were chosen by Cycle 3 students that promoted the selected theme, whether it was about characterization, humor, po-etry, or biographies of Cana-dian authors and then shared stories with the younger stu-dents. The younger students

loved this visit every day 1 and according to the reviews re-ceived from cycle 3 they en-joyed it too.

The last day of our Book Buddies was cele-brated on May 27, 2009 and the cycle 3 students presented the Cycle 1 with a 2 Read-ers Theater presenta-tions. The cycle 1 stu-dents then presented the cycle 3 students

with a homemade Thank you cards that expressed words of appreciation to the cycle 3 students for all their hard work. It was a lovely way to end a wonderful reading ex-perience.

Submitted by

Donna Robertson (Cycle 1 Teacher)

&

Tanya Poole (Cycle 3 Teacher)

‘’ The more that you read, the more things you

will know. The more that you learn, the more

places you’ll go. ’’

- Dr. Seuss

Page 15

Book Buddies

Graduate Scholarships Awarded To...

Karate Kenpo ended its year off with a supper at the Stage restau-rant, which was sponsored by CDLS. During the supper, four students were awarded with cer-tificates and belts as they had passed their belt tests on the pre-vious weekend. The following belts were awarded: Joshua Vatcher has moved to his orange belt. Dylan Vatcher has moved to his green belt. Currie Gallichon has moved to his blue belt. Tristan

Nadeau has moved to his blue belt. We also made draws for some t-shirts, sweatshirts and a Kenpo hat. Everyone seemed to have a great time at the supper. It was nice to sit together and talk as a group out of the dojo setting. Many other students will soon be ready to move to the next level of belts. I hope on my return in May of next year that we may start again. I encourage more students to join our Karate Kenpo team and thank the group of students this year for their dedication to the sport of karate. Have a great sum-mer everyone!

Submitted by Fay Collier

Sensei

Karate Kenpo

Page 16 Gros Mecatina Times

Alex Bateman: Volunteering in School and Community $100.00 (Coasters Association)

Kyle Buffitt: Congeniality $100.00 (LNSFA)

Colton Gallichon Perseverance $25.00 (Mecatina School)

Jake Green-Robertson: Effort and Perseverance $150.00 (Realm)

Tyler Jones Volunteering in School and Community $50.00 (Coasters Association)

Best Represents Sports and Leisure $100.00 (CDLS)

Continued on page 17……….

Graduation always marks the end

of a school year and Mecatina

School held its graduation cere-

monies on Saturday, June 20th,

2009. Nine students will move on

to the next phase of their life jour-

ney and many scholarships will

help in this transition.

In all this was a really good school

year. There were many activities,

a number of school wide projects,

a strong physical program, a great

variety of courses for students, a

calm and supportive school envi-

ronment and student success.

A good school year is the product

of many factors all of which played

an important role this year. The

school had parents support in

terms of homework, discipline and

in many cases volunteer work.

Teachers were not only involved

in class instruction, but provided

remedial help, 1 on 1 assistance,

support activities and sound

teaching and evaluation practices.

Homework assistants supported

students in class and after school

teaching homework techniques

and helping students understand

expectations. Support staff han-

dled many administrative and

maintenance functions that keep

the school running smoothly. The

governing board keeps us all on

track.

The CLC continued to enhance

learning activities, develop pro-

jects, reach out to the community,

support teachers and volunteers,

and look for new and innovative

ways to do these important things.

Yes, it was a really good school

year, but it was only made possi-

ble because we all worked to-

gether. We supported and en-

couraged each other. We col-

laborated with each other, we

communicated our needs and con-

cerns and we were open to new

ideas and directions. Everyone

did their job, but they also helped

others. Mecatina School is a team

of staff, students, volunteers, com-

munity partners, parents, and or-

ganizations. Thank you all for

your support. We are building a

better community as a result.

Submitted by John Weideman

School Principal

Pierre-Yves Letellier: Community & School Involvement $100.00 (Mecatina CLC)

Highest Average in FSL $125.00 (CSL)

Community Involvement $350.00 (LNSETA)

Scott Morency: Academic Achievement Return trip to Sept-Iles (Air Lab)

Jessica Poole (Valedictorian): Highest Average in ELA $125.00 (CSL)

Hard Work and Dedication $200.00 (MGM)

Highest Academic Average $150.00 (Governing Board)

Megan Robertson: Multi-Media Award $150.00 (GIDC)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Graduate Scholarships Awarded To...

Page 17

The 2008 - 2009 School Year

You Make a Difference

There are many who go the ’’second mile’’

And greet each day’s tasks with a smile;

Who spend their lives serving others

And look upon all men as brothers.

Who work for all children everywhere,

When there’s a need—they are there.

Their time and talents freely dedicate

Serving in places small and great.

These are the ones we honor today

And to you we wish to say -

This world is now a better place

Because it looked upon your face.

- Anonymous

Mecatina School and Community Learning Centre

wishes to thank all those who contributed their

time and talents to make 2008-09 an enjoyable

and successful school year for our students!

Mecatina Community Learning Centre

Molly Organ MCLC Coordinator 2 Rue Cove Sud La Tabatiere, Qc. G0G 1T0

Phone: 418-773-2430 Fax: 418-773-2255 E-mail: mclc_morgan@live.ca

To encourage life-long learning by providing sustainable, safe, and motivating opportunities in collaboration with contributing partners, thereby maintaining and improving quality of life within the community.

A Message from Mecatina CLC

Thank you to everyone who submitted an

article for this issue of the Gros Mecatina

Times. The next issue will be published in

December, 2009, and your stories, ideas,

& suggestions would be very welcome.

Molly Organ

MCLC Coordinator

To All Our Volunteers

Hands That Give

Hearts That Care

Wishing Everyone a Wonderful...