It is difficult to believe that the school calendar has arrived at the mid-point for Semester Two.

Life at the school progresses at a rapid pace. The ongoing activities at the school likely creates such a tempo.

My personal service to the Power com-munity will soon come to a conclusion as I will be retiring at the end of the current school year. My five years at Power has gone by at a very quick pace. It seems that September, 2013 was just yesterday.

As the year progresses, it is necessary to address the uniform. It is an honour to be a member of the Power community and this reality should lead to pride in school and self. I would ask that you re-view this responsibility with your child. Power Pride is a very important attitude in order to receive maximum benefit from attendance at the school. A key area of focus should be for students to wear the correct sweater top. There are way too many competing hoodies. Students did

have significant input regarding the new school top introduced this past Septem-ber. A new school field should be complet-ed for this coming September. A new track with an artificial field should be the result. When the project is finished there will be great gains for the school. Stu-dents can finally play home games, physical education classes will have a better space to use and school spirit should be enhanced. There is excitement in the air.

Life at Power remains very busy with a good balance of academics, clubs, teams and activities. There is something availa-ble for everyone in the community. Spirit at Power is alive and well. Such a result does not happen by chance, but as the result of the amazing support of par-ents, staff and students. Thank you to everyone. God bless,

Joseph Brisbois

Grade 12 students are encouraged to bring in confirmation of completion of their 40 hours of community service. This is a graduation re-quirement and a requirement for both OUAC and OCAS applications.

Also, please make sure that you have regis-tered for graduation and completed your exit survey on My Blueprint. Be sure to frequently check the status of your application on OUAC and OCAS to make sure that your academic information is correct and when you are ready to accept an offer of admission, make sure you press "submit".

Principal’s Message

Guidance News

MPSJ Update A p r i l , 2 0 1 8

D a t e s f o r t h e C a l e n d a r :

April 26

Parent-Teacher Interviews

5:30 - 8:30 pm

April 27

Early Dismissal Staff Liturgy

April 27

Fashion Show

May 1

IB Exams begin

April 30 - May 4

Mental Health Awareness

Week

May 7 - May 11

Arts Week

May 14 - May 18

Student Council Election Week

May 16

Staff Learning Session

10 a.m. start

May 18

IB Exams end

May 25

Graduation Formal

May 30

CSAC meeting 7 pm

June 5

Athletic banquet

June 15

Exams begin

June 27

Graduation Mass / Luncheon

June 28

Graduation Ceremony

June 29

P A Day

Michael Power · St. Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School - 105 Eringate Drive, Toronto, Ontario, M9C 3Z7

P a g e 2

Mother Daughter Wellness Tea

M P S J U p d a t e

Michael Power St. Joseph C.S.S. hosted the 10th annual Mother Daughter Tea this year—our way of celebrating the well-being of wom-en in honor of International Women’s Day.

Together with over 280 guests, we enjoyed a wonderful evening filled with music, refresh-ments, and memories to last a lifetime. Every-one walked away knowing the im-portance of self-advocacy, self-esteem, and women’s empowerment.

We all hold the power and responsi-bility of working towards a world of equality, and that was seen strongly in the efforts of the committee, staff, and speakers who created an event meant to inspire the young ladies of today to do the same. To aid in that endeavor, the Mother-Daughter Wellness com-mittee will provide two scholarships for two female students who will pur-sue the study of mental, physical, spir-

itual, or emotional well-being at a post-secondary institution.

As John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, as long as you can”. A clarion call indeed to all of us to act.

'Because I Am a Girl' is an international movement run by the aid organization 'Plan International'. The goal of the campaign is to close the opportunity gap between girls and boys and bring millions of girls out of poverty. On Wednesday, March 28th the Michael Power St. Joseph community celebrated female empowerment and the power of education. Students participated in the Because I am a Girl, Games for Change Fundraiser in which teams competed in a day of games symbolizing chal-lenges girls may experience because of the op-portunity gap. Thanks to the help and contribu-tions of each participant, our community raised over $600 and was able to send two girls to

school for a year. MPSJ looks forward to starting a new tradi-tion within our school community. Thank you to all participants, teachers and the student lead-ership team who made this event possible. Specifically, thank you to Ms. Spadafora and Ms. Tarantino for their continued support and ad-vice throughout the semester. Thank you to Breana Dudemaine, Magda Milne, Liliya Molchanova, Dul-mi Wickremasinghe, Osayi Orumwense, Puru Ver-ma, Denise San Juan, Sarah Holowka for their dedi-cation and hard work throughout the year. Together, our community has come closer to closing the opportunity gap between women and men. Mulula Yousafzai highlights the importance of this effort in her statement: “There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.” Thanks to all who contributed for giving two girls the power to change their commu-nities just like we have changed ours.

Because I am a Girl, Games for Change Fundraiser

IB Program Updates P a g e 3

Our grade 9 pre-IB students participated in a fun and informative day at eZone, orga-

nized by our IB executive team. Students played games and bonded with their peers, all while learning more about the IB program from our senior students. It was a fantastic day that we hope will become an IB tradition. Our IB team is now hard at work organizing our grade 10 IB conference which will take place at the end of May. This conference, also a tradition here at MPSJ, will be a full day of activities aimed at preparing our students for Year One.

We wish to expend our prayers and best wishes to our Year Two students who will be starting their IB exams on Tuesday, May 1st. Students are asked to be in the exam room at 8:30 a.m. for morning exams and 12:00 p.m. for afternoon exams. The IB exam schedule is published in our school agen-da and students should refer to their agenda should they have any questions regarding the exam schedule.

Congratulations to Mr. Fanning, Mr.

Macdonald and the drumline who

were featured in a Volkswagon adver-

tisement along with music teachers

from across the province. In thanks,

VW made a significant donation for

the purchase of instruments for the

school. You can see the video using

this link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-iur23pbt68

Tuesday May 8

Wednesday May 9

Thursday May 10

Friday May 11

Powerful Visions

Visual Arts Gala

Spring Concert

7 p.m.

Featuring:

Junior Concert Band,

Junior Strings,

Drum Line,

Special Strings

and

Orchestra

School Play 7:30 p.m.

Tom, Dick and Harry by Ray Cooney

This is a fast-paced farce that will keep you laughing all evening with wildly interesting characters! Performed in the drama studio over two evenings, this play celebrates Arts week and dramatic talent in the school!

Tickets are 6 dollars in advance, 7 at the door. Tickets are on sale during lunch hours beginning on May 1st. The public can reserve tickets with Ms Giancola at Jennifer.giancola@tcdsb.org See you all there!"

MP

SJ A

rts

Wee

k

ARTS NEWS On May 25, for the second year the

Arts Department will be hosting a special

day for incoming grade 7 feeder school

students. We will engage them in creative

workshops, giving them the opportunity

of participating in the lively arts/tech de-

partments. Visual Arts, Comm. Tech, dra-

ma and music are very much alive in our

hallways.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-iur23pbt68https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-iur23pbt68mailto:Jennifer.giancola@tcdsb.org

Cheer Team Winter Sports

What do you call it when MPSJ takes first, second, & third place at the TDCAA Rec Championships? Well you call it a SWEEP! You could also say we stoned the competition!

Team Alexandra Tzanova, Alexandra Marriott, Ellie Dal-Bianco with all star Skip Alexandra Scully, delivered stones of glory and took home the gold and the pendant.

Power 9’ers and newbies to curling this year Julia Vec-chiarelli & Rebecca Hon teamed up with veteran skip Erica Migas and put the hammer down to grab the silver.

Team Lauren Davies, Nicole Hosein, Maya Stojovic, Katie Allen-Hallam had the best record of every team in tourna-ment play and only succumbed to Power’s own Team Scul-ly to take bronze and finish the sweep.

Despite a point tie to the championship team the Power boys, Michael Beg, Adam MacFarlan, Jonny Li, & Constanti-

no Oller were inched out of the finals by a mere tie-breaking techni-cality.

Last year was the first year that Power had ever put togeth-er a curling team and the Boys

brought home the championship pennant. This year the girls rocked the house!

Swim Team The team competed in the Toronto District finals in

February and brought home two pennants from for

Open Boys and Senior Girls bringing MPSJ’s drive for 500

championships that much closer. These pennants are on

top of the top 3 overall finish in our entire school board

and association. The team also qualified 17 swimmers

for Provincial finals in Windsor, Ontario.

OFSAA saw multiple top ten finishes but we are espe-

cially proud of the Senior Girls and Boys relay teams who

brought home OFSAA Silver medals for their respective

relays. The coaches would like to thank all of our team

for their hard work this past year and look forward to

another year of competition and success.

Curlers win Gold, Silver & Bronze!

Slope Stars Win GOLD! Power snowboarders mined all the precious metal on the slopes at the 2018 TDCAA championships! Their necks are sore from the weight of all the hardware.

Top Female individual Boarder Ana Nesterovic, the fastest girl in the TDCAA’s, took Gold with sisters Audrey and Ayana Stuart rounding off the top three Power finishers.

Individual male snowboarder Curtis Phillips was the fastest dude on the slopes and brought home gold. Steven Huang took Silver and Andrew Kanarek missed out of bronze and the complete Power sweep by mere tenths of seconds. Both male and female boarder teams advanced to OFSAA’s riding a fun time with per-sonal bests! What unbelievable dominance by Power!

The MPSJ cheerleading team competed April 14th and 15th at the National Cheerleading Celebration in Brampton. After a long season of early morning practices mul-tiple times per week, their hard work and dedication finally paid off as they cheered their way to the top spot in their category. A win this year was completely unexpected but it will be what drives the team looking forward to next year! A huge thank you to the MPSJ school community for all their love and support.

Senior Boys

Relay Team

OFSAA

Silver Medalists