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November 2013 VOL. 2 NO. 2

Go Green Breaks Ground

Valley Park Middle School is set to be-come a hub of the community and forge a sense of unity between the Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park neighbour-hoods. Its cricket field, which is part of the $1.9 million Valley Park Centre of Ex-cellence (VPCE), is currently under

construction and is expected to be com-pleted in summer 2014 for public use. Construction commenced on 4 October 2013. Initially called the Valley Park Go Green Cricket Field Project, the VPCE will be completed in two phases. Phase One includes a multi-sport cricket pitch

surrounded by two soccer fields, a base-ball diamond, cricket and baseball practice cages, an amphitheatre, a run-ning track, a bioswale, a wetland with a boardwalk, an urban forest, and a but-terfly meadow.

See GROUND BREAKING on P4

Construction begins in the back field of Valley Park MS. Photo: Noor Mah

by TAKHLIQ AMIR

Several of Garneau’s Grade 9 classes have an extra pair of helping hands thanks to JiaRui Pu and Lola Wazir’s newly founded initiative MGCI Mentors. The program was created to help ease the transition into high school for new students. These girls worked together to form an organization where Grade 11 and 12 students spend time every week working in Grade 9 classes. The relation-ships that mentors form go beyond the classroom as they do far more than help students understand math equations. Mentors are teaching students to com-municate and open up with one another; ultimately they want students to feel comfortable. And they’ve achieved just that. When speaking to students who have been mentored, all of them see the benefits of the program and the majority of them said that that it’s easier talking to men-tors than their teachers. Some even said that when they become seniors, they want to be mentors too. This program is still working to over-come their biggest obstacle: convinc-ing teachers to allow mentors into their

classrooms. Many teachers were hesi-tant about this pilot program but now mentors can be found in many Grade 9 classes. JiaRui said that “the teach-ers who have mentors assigned to their classrooms know the immense benefits of the program as they witness it every single day.” Ms. Tam, the program’s staff advisor, loves having mentors in her class. Men-tors allow students to get one-on-one attention when needed without taking time away from the entire class. Stu-dents don’t have to stay after school or come early; help is right there when they need it. Mentors also mean that a student doesn’t have to ask questions in front of the entire class, the environ-ment becomes more comfortable for stu-dents and teachers. When asked about why she supports the program, she said that “everyone has felt that in Grade 9, and maybe in every grade, that they need an extra friend or sense of community. I want everyone to feel welcome in our school because it’s scary coming into a new school without knowing anyone. It would be great for Grade 9s to have a re-

lationship with older students.” MGCI Mentors is not only helping Grade 9 students but it is giving seniors lead-ership and role modeling opportunities. Kashfi Manji, a Grade 12 student and mentor in Ms. Tam’s class, said that he got involved in the program because he felt the same way when he was in Grade 9. He said, “even though I came from across the street, there was a struggle. There’s only so much you can take from a teacher, but when you have extra help around you it helps you succeed. If I had that help, it would have been amazing.” This program is not without problems but the majority of them have been over-come due to the efforts of teachers and mentors. Ms. Tam commented: “It’s a huge undertaking because so many peo-ple are involved and I’m proud to see ev-eryone in Garneau pull together to sup-port the students.” Students who are interested in par-ticipating in the program should email mgcimentoring@gmail.com with their name, grade, and spare period. ■

Budding Mentorshipsby SABRINA BERTSCH

Step by Step

by DEIFILIA TO

Ella Plante and Jenna Wong represented MGCI at OFSAA Cross Country 2013. Photo courtesy of Jenna Wong.

Excitement and anticipation were buzzing through the air as high school students from all across the Toronto District School Board prepared for the Cross Country City Championships. On the morning of 23 October, students from Grades 9-12 gathered at Centen-nial Park to race. According to cross-country runner and Grade 11 student Ella Plante, the overall atmosphere of the meet was competitive but there was a lot of pos-itive support and team spirit. The stu-dents of Garneau “put their best efforts and had good races!” Of the twenty four that were on the cross country team, eight individuals from Marc Garneau qualified for the City Championships. However, only six competed. They were Faustin Obedi, Ella Plante, Shela Qiu, Ahmad Raaba, Eric Su, and Jenna Wong. Scholar Sun and Michael Shu qualified for the meet

but were unable to attend. Mr. Pearce and Ms. Tharshan were the coaches of the team, and very impressed with MGCI’s performance at the meet. “This has been a remarkable year for cross country,” said Mr. Pearce, “We’ve had the biggest cross country team that we’ve had for years, and the best race re-sults at the city championships.” Though all the competitors put up a good effort, Jenna Wong and Ella Plante placed remarkably well. Jenna, in Grade 9, came in 7th place and Ella came in 19th place in the City Championships. The two competed in the province- wide Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) meet in Sudbury, Ontario on 2 November. With a course length of 3.1 kilometers, Jenna came in 58th place. The senior girl’s race was 5.21 kilometers long, and Ella fin-ished in 154th place. ■

On the week of 28 October 2013, stu-dents at Marc Garneau participated in the Key Club Change Drive. Members of Key Club visited classes every morning to collect donations for The Eliminate Project. The Eliminate Project is an interna-tional mission with a goal to raise $100 million US. The aim is to help eradicate maternal and neonatal tetanus, which is a disease that kills a baby every 9 min-utes. Mona Adib, co-president of Key Club, remarked “It only takes $1.80 to vacci-nate the mother and protect all her chil-dren, so why shouldn’t we help? Why shouldn’t we give infants the chance to live?” The disease is contracted from tetanus spores that come in close contact with open wounds, and is prevalent in under-developed countries. It affects women and babies during childbirth, by render-ing newborns sensitive to light, sound, and touch. “The bond between a mother and her child is irreplaceable; but this disease is slowly taking that way from them,” com-

mented Joyce Cheng, Eliminate Chair of Key Club. “It is an extremely painful pro-cess, for both the mother and the baby.” Joyce, whose goal is to promote the Eliminate campaign, organized the change drive in hopes that students would “donate their change to create change.” The event lasted for 3 days during the week, with an initial goal of $100. In the end, the project exceeded expectations by raising a total of $404. “The amount of support we’ve had from the school has completely shocked me,” said Joyce. “Classes worked ex-tremely hard, teachers helped out by reminding their students and explaining more about the disease, and in the end, we had some pretty great results.” Mr. Alexander’s class raised the most money, with Mr. White’s class coming in a close second. Both classes were awarded treats for their dedication and efforts. The Key Club Change Drive will likely become a yearly fundraiser, so students can look forward to contributing to the project in future years. ■

Change for Changeby SHELA QIU

On Saturday 19 October, forty students from Marc Garneau gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre at 6:45 am to prepare for the CN Tower Climb for United Way. The climb brought together about four thousand people this year, who each raised a minimum of $35 to support a good cause. United Way managed to raise more than $2.4 million through last year’s climb, and set a goal of $2.5 million this year. “The money raised from this annual event will go to help more than 200 mem-ber agencies associated with United Way that provide essential services to create a stronger community in Toronto,” said JiaRui Pu, president of Marc Garneau’s United Way Club.

Marc Garneau was able to raise $1600 for this year’s climb thanks to all those who participated. Grade 11 student Sean Purcell raised the largest amount of $185 and said, “I sent emails to family friends and relatives to gain support.” Conquering the 1776 steps to reach the top of the tower proved to be quite an ex-hausting task—especially for ambitious climbers looking to obtain a fast time. Many students realized after starting the climb how cramped and desolate the stairwells looked. Wide enough to fit two people standing side by side, it’s hard to move past people without a little bit of butting through. But after reaching the top, they were rewarded with a spectac-ular view of the city that gives the feeling

of being on top of the world. It takes the average climber 30 minutes to finish the climb. Michael Shu clocked in at a blazing 11 minutes which was the fastest climb time from MGCI. The fast-est climb ever was set in 1989 by Bren-dan Keenoy who reached the top in 7 minutes and 52 seconds. When Mr. Hillman, the supervisor for the trip, reflected on how the day went, he said, “incredible, I loved to see every-body’s smiling faces at the bottom and then at the top... with a little bit more sweat. It was exhilarating—everyone challenged themselves and made it to the top.” ■

MGCI’s CN Tower Climb participants. Photo courtesy of Henry He.

Garneau Climbs to the Topby ERIC SU

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November 2013P2 VOL. 2 NO. 2

LIFESelf-Inflictedby ANANNA RAFA

I’m a stuffed mouse from IKEA, and I’m feeling really lonely at home. I want to find another mouse so I can reproduce, but it turns out IKEA has stopped selling stuffed animals of my type. Help please! What do I do?- Mr. Wuddles

Mr. Wuddles, your struggle is not unique. Through-out history, we have been faced with the loneliness that comes with the discontinuation of product. Take Frankenstein’s monster, for example, loveless and seeking a wife after Dr. Frankenstein ceased produc-tion of monsters of that kind. Perhaps an even more apt example is Adam, lonely as God stopped manu-facturing humans. In both instances, the solution is as simple as the problem: find a way to make more. In your case, this is a relatively easy task. No ribs to remove nor human body parts to scavenge for you. A quick trip down to Spadina for grey felt will do. As for your concerns regarding reproduction, just be your-self and everything else will follow in due course.

What are some tips to reduce stress?- Stressed out student

We all know how horrible stress is. It feels like way too many things need to be done within an insuffi-cient amount of time. All the work on your to-do list can drag you down like a rainy cloud hanging above your head. However, do not despair! While you can’t completely eliminate stress, you can learn to manage it. The best thing you can do for yourself in times of stress is remain positive. Never weigh yourself down even further by thinking negatively; life has enough obstacles without you adding on to them. So tell yourself that you can survive the massive wave of homework, that you will do your best, and that you are capable of being successful. Moreover, do not neglect your body! You should ex-ercise and reserve a certain amount of time for your-self every single day. I know what you’re thinking—This is crazy. I barely have enough time as it is, and now you want me to exercise AND relax?! But before you stop reading, consider the following facts science has given us: your body handles stress better when it is healthy, and it’s easier to focus when you are less stressed out. How do you keep your body healthy? You exercise and eat nutritious food on a regular ba-sis. Your body is your vehicle through life, and the better condition your body is in, the more capable you will be of handling all types of problems. Finally, I recommend learning how to manage your time well. This means don’t multitask. We all know that multitasking is: “doing homework” and being logged in to Facebook at the same time. As much as you love chatting with your friends and socializ-ing, this can seriously impede your productivity. Set aside a few minutes daily to dedicate yourself to the task at hand, and you won’t be left scrambling in the end. I’ve heard people say that you can only get two of the three S’s: sleep, a social life, or studies. However, I beg to differ. I believe that if you manage your time well, you can balance your life and control stress. It might take some time to adjust your habits but you will eventually reap the benefits of a stress-free life (or as close to stress-free as we can get). So good luck with whatever is stressing you out, and remember that you’re definitely not alone.

I like this girl, but she has a boyfriend. What do I do?- Fate

There are really a lot of approaches you can go with here. Perhaps we can take a lesson from nature. The Superb Bird of Paradise shares a similar struggle with you. The species has an unusually low number of females, making the competition among males for a mate hot, fierce, and difficult. Their mating ritual displays an uncanny bridge between animal and hu-man behaviour. The males first prepare a dance floor, scrubbing the dirt with twigs and leaves. Then they make themselves look impressive, bringing out their black feather cape and blue-green breast shield. Then they dance. It’s a really great technique that you can use too. In all honesty though, the best thing to do is just to be a good friend and wait. If you really like her, you’d want her to be happy. Any underhanded manoeuvers will just complicate a relationship, and expose you as a scoundrel and a cad. You want to show yourself to be a good guy. All you can do is unfold your black feather cape, puff up your breast shield, and dance.

If you seek counsel from The Reckoner like the indi-viduals above, send us a question at

www.thereckoner.ca/ask-thereckoner

ASKTHE

RECKONER

1. My mother says, “Pick your battles,” which is a powerful idea, but can also be an excuse for complacency. I don’t know how to make the distinction between caring too much and not caring enough. 2. In elementary school, she was expected to do good deeds. This in-cluded sweeping floors at the local military training field, helping strang-ers unload their luggage at the train station, and also killing rats and flies. The latter was done to improve sanitation – although what good it did for hygiene is contestable, since students were encouraged to bring proof of their kills back to the classroom. Children collected dead flies and rat tails in boxes, and guarded them carefully lest someone stole their hard earned work. “It was disgusting,” she says, with a laugh. Nearly every el-ementary student living in China at the time must have done this. What else don’t I know? 3. I budget sleep by whether or not I’ll need to be functional the next day. I know that my friends are doing the same. Sometimes, I feel guilty if I do sleep, because I know they won’t.I once cut a pomegranate in half, without breaking any of the seeds as I pried it apart. Later, I picked out all the seeds and crushed them individ-ually against the walls of a white bowl, eating the crunchy pit. Pressing out all the juice took an hour. It was the sweetest juice I’d ever drink. 4. I read somewhere that depression was linked to creativity. Hey, just look at van Gogh. Darwin. Half, or more, probably, of the list of literary figures we study. According to one study, after doing some intelligence/creativity tests, subjects in an experiment scored higher on the “depres-sion scale.” Whatever that means. I don’t know if I’m skeptical because of the sketchy grounds for causality, or because I just don’t want to be-lieve it. It’s possible to think deeply, feel deeply and be happy at the same time. Isn’t it? 5. I don’t have time to draw anymore. I feel this loss in my fingertips, in my lungs, behind my tired eyelids. Is it true that the things I “don’t have time for” are simply things I don’t really want to do? 6. I’ve stopped thinking about the future, beyond a sort of nebulous ideal I know is becoming less and less likely. I like, and dislike intro-spection. I recognize that it involves a fair amount of pretentiousness. It makes me think that life is more significant. It also makes me really sad. Turmoil is necessary for change, and, on a purely conceptual level, change is a good thing. I think we are all just hoping we can pull our-selves through the storm intact. 7. Everything is a trade-off now, and decisions aren’t going to come any easier. That’s not pessimistic, though. That’s just life; we negotiate our own lives. ■

Leaves spun through the air in red and gold flurries, falling into damp clumps on the ground. It was colder than what he’d expected; he could see his breath come out in small, foggy puffs. A distinctive, musky smell hung languidly in the air, most likely from the previous night’s rain. He rubbed his hands together, blew into them carefully, adjusted his fishing hat to the side of his face, and squinted past the morning sun-light. Then he sighed for the…tenth? Twentieth? time that day and asked, “Jim, are you sure about this?” Jim glanced up, continuing to poke a writhing worm through a rusty hook, and flashed him a yel-low, crooked smile. “Mike, I told you already. It’s perfectly fine. Besides, you need to get out more. Look! Isn’t the weather magnificent today?” He looked down and shrugged, dirt crusted hands continuing to fiddle with the worm and the hook. Mike heard a squishing sound and flinched as he watched the worm ooze an odd brown substance from its gut. “Come on,” Jim announced as he straightened up and wiped his hands on his stained trousers. “The fish ain’t waiting and neither are we. Up and at ‘em!” He picked up his worn out rod and passed another one to his friend, ignoring the dis-gusted look directed at him. “Don’t worry,” he assured him, “I already ‘wormed’ it for you.” The two made their way to the river shore, and Mike could see some dark shapes that darted around and swam in circles. The sunlight gave the water a bright gleam and hid most of the fish from view. He blinked a few times and then looked away, trying to ignore the glare of the sparkling water. It didn’t take long for Jim to catch a one. “It’s a big one!” He said, with a manic look in his eyes. “Get the net and help me with this okay?” Mike waded carefully to the wrig-gling dark shape under the water – hesitated – then reached down and scooped it up. He let out a grunt as he lugged the fish back towards the shore and gratefully set it down on the muddy ground. It was about forty pounds, mea-sured almost a metre in length, and was writhing on the sand. Its gills

opened and closed as it took shal-low, rapid breaths. After a while,

its fins stopped moving, and it just lay there quietly with the sun-

light reflecting off its silver scales and glazed eyes. Jim trudged over, slightly out of breath, and inspected it from the side. “Not bad, not bad…” he muttered. “Say… do you want it?” Mike flinched in surprise and stut-tered, “W-what do you mean ‘do I want it’? Don’t you want it? You can’t possibly catch it, and, and not want it?” he gestured to the rusty hook embedded in its side and in-ternally cringed at the blood that ran in rivulets from the corner of its mouth. The fish wasn’t moving much any-more. No, he realized, it wasn’t mov-ing at all now, was it? He let out a gulp and looked away. Jim sighed and pulled out his pocket knife, proceeding to flick the blade out. Then in. Then out. “It’s just sport right? Listen, if you don’t want the fish-” “N-no no no, it’s fine, I-I’ll take the fish. No sense in letting it go to waste.” he said, laughing awkwardly. His friend shrugged, then grabbed a zip-lock bag, flicked his pocket knife blade out one more time and kneeled down to hover over the salmon. He started to squeeze its eggs out and into the bag. It made a weak attempt to resist but even-tually just gave up and lay there si-lently. Mike watched with mild hor-ror mixed with fascination. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Caviar is great to have… don’t you think so?” Yes, he agreed, caviar is great to have. But as he watched the salmon’s eyes grow blanker and blanker, he thought that maybe it wasn't as great after all. Jim looked up and smiled sympa-thetically. “Maybe you don’t want to watch this part.” Mike turned away but he still heard the sounds. Squish. Schhhhhhhhhulp. Squish. Somehow, he could sense its life draining away. He shuddered in dis-gust and covering his ears, walked quickly away. But even then, he still heard the noise.----------------------------------------- That night, they had salmon for dinner. Mike wasn't very hungry, he stared nauseously at the steaming plate set down in front of him. Then he went and threw up in the bathroom. ■

N egotiationby YANING TAN

Salmon Watchingby CINDY ZENG

illustration by JOY WANG

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EDITORIAL

November 2013 P3VOL. 2 NO. 2

Do you have a response to an article in this issue? Make your voice heard! Contact us at editor@thereckoner.ca.

The Reckonerof Marc Garneau C.I.

EDITOR IN CHIEFKASRA KOUSHAN

NEWS MANAGER &DEPUTY EDITOR IN CHIEF

SABRINA BERTSCH

LIFE MANAGERVASILI MANIKAS

EDITORIAL MANAGERALIE TEACHMAN

DIRECTOR OF PRINT DEVELOPMENT

SUSIE LIU

BUSINESS MANAGERLILY SONG

MEDIA MANAGERJACKIE HO

DIRECTOR OF WEB DEVELOPMENT

QUINCY LAM

STAFF MEMBERSABIGAIL CHAUANANNA RAFABOBBY CHIANG

BOSHEN CUICATHY ZHANG

CHRISTINA CHENCINDY CUI

CINDY ZENGCLAIRE HAMILTON

CLARENCE LAMDAVID HAO

DAVID TANGDEIFILIA TO

ERIC SUFAHIM MOSTAFA

FARZEEN SALEHEENFRIEDA RONG

GABRIEL IPHENRY HE

INDRANEEL SARKARJOY WANG

KAARTHIC PULOGARAJAHKAISHENG HUANG

KEVIN JIANGKHADIJA AZIZMARA GAGIU

MICHELLE YEUNGNAWAL ALIM

NICHOLAS BLAKENOOR MAHSHELA QIU

SOPHIA SONGTAKHLIQ AMIR

TIANYI MATOM WEI

VAIBHAV SINGHVALIANT CHAN

WANRU ZHANGYANING TAN

APPRENTICESADELA LAMCINDY ZENG

DAVID LIDAVID LU

EMMA WHEATONEVA LIU

JASON HUANGJENNA WONG

KASHIFA AHMEDMORRIS CHEN

NICHOLAS VADIVELUNISHAT KAZI

PARNIKA GODKHINDIREBECCA WONG

RILING CHENRYAN LIN

SHERRIE CHENGSOPHIA LIUTIANYU LU

UPAL RUSHDEE-HAQUEYILIN ZHU

It’s commonly accepted that grades will always carry some degree of uncertainty; teachers are essentially asked to summa-rize an entire semester’s worth of work with a single number. Many factors can affect that number making it impossible to claim that grades are an accurate way of measuring a student’s academic suc-cess, the most influential of which is subjectivity. All teachers are subjective in their marking - even within a single school teachers teaching the same course may mark with drastically different ex-pectations. That’s not to say that the current mark-ing system is entirely ineffective. Theo-retically, these small differences should only affect a student’s grades in a minor way. Although it may be difficult for stu-dents to admit, their grades will always be more a reflection of themselves than their teachers. And thankfully, a differ-ence of a few percentage points doesn’t even really matter. That is, unless you plan on using that grade to apply to uni-versity. Universities in Ontario follow the “Top Six” system, where students submit six courses as part of their student profile. Depending on the program, students may be required to submit specific pre-requisite courses. All this is done to help universities determine which students are best suited and most qualified for

admission. There are some programs which may require a supplementary ap-plication, but those are few and far be-tween. In most cases, the only thing dis-tinguishing you from thousands of other potential applicants is that average of six marks. And suddenly those few percent-age points really start to make a differ-ence. The margin of error inherent in mark-ing means that students simply can’t be fairly represented by a single number. Aside from that, there are many other factors that affect a student’s suitability and are completely ignored in the cur-rent system. Take, for example, the jour-nalism program at Carleton University. The only prerequisite course is Grade 12 English, and there is no supplementary application required. Should your in-ternship at a broadcasting company not give you an advantage over other candi-dates? At the very least you clearly have a passion for the field, which you could demonstrate in your supplementary es-say – if it existed, that is. Canadian universities could mitigate the subjectivity of marking by adopting a system similar to that of the Common Application, used widely in the United States and several other countries. This type of universal supplementary appli-cation provides much more information to universities, shifting the focus away

from grades and towards the student as a whole. Universities would see stu-dents as more than just an average of six grades; they would be able to look at extracurricular activities, and they could

read an essay or two in order to better understand applicants as students and as people. Until that happens, students will be left hoping that the numbers work out

in their favour. Good luck, Grade 12’s. You’ll need it. ■

Making the Gradeby KEVIN JIANG

Illustration: Mara Gagiu

When was the last time you saw a dunce cap in school? In the classroom of the 21st century, it’s all but impossible to find one of these ridiculous relics of the past. Public shaming is making a come-back, however, this time in the form of announcements. Since the office began to issue attendance reminders and call attendance-avoiding teachers by name last year, there’s not been a single day in which classes — both morning and afternoon — haven’t been inexcusably interrupted by pleas to “excuse the in-terruption”. I hate attendance; always have, al-ways will. For a paragon of unpunctual-ity such as myself, a strange day is one in which I show up to school on time. Needless to say, announcements about the attendance annoy me. As biased as I may be, I’m not the only one who has expressed distaste for the twice-daily interruption of classes for the sake of petty housekeeping. We are all familiar with the groans of students as the list of teachers is read aloud, and even teachers sigh as they are forced to put their lesson on hold.

Don’t get me wrong, the teachers themselves are partly to blame as well; if they were consistent in sending in their attendance every day last year, the office would never have implemented such a ridiculous means of punishment. Now, we’re left to wonder if the announce-ments would stop even if all the atten-dance sheets were to be handed in on time. We’re left with teachers so afraid to hear their name over the PA that they hand in the attendance as soon as class begins so latecomers are simply marked absent. Still, somebody had to have come up with the idea of disruptive daily atten-dance announcements. Surely the office has less disruptive ways to make sure attendance gets downstairs on time. Why not impose a penalty on atten-dance-avoiding teachers in private? Or perhaps page just the offending teachers without interrupting every other class? In response to my issues with the at-tendance, the office administration has said that since the implementation of attendance announcements, the number of teachers who send their attendance

sheets late has dropped dramatically: “Teachers don’t like hearing their name over the PA; reading their names over the announcements has been very effec-tive as a deterrent and a lot of schools are doing it now.” Ignoring the desperate defence that a multitude of other schools also humil-iate their teachers over the PA, the ad-ministrators make a fair point, and most people would be happy to end the debate right there. Even so, I can’t help but won-der if the same “effective deterrent” ar-gument could be used to defend the use of dunce caps. Having said all that, Ms. Liebster has stated that she and the other administra-tors are always happy to take any sugges-tions. So if anybody has a less unusual (and preferably constitutional) propo-sition for how the attendance should be collected, or just want to make a sugges-tion based on anything else that ‘a lot of other schools do’, don’t be afraid to make your way down to the office and make your ideas heard; I promise you won’t be forced to stand in the corner wearing a triangle hat. ■

Please Excuse the Interruptionby TOM WEI

Photo: Sabrina Bertsch

www.thereckoner.ca Please recycle

November 2013VOL. 2 NO. 2P4

NEWS

The idea for the grassroots project, run by a non-profit entity called the Val-ley Park Community Association, formed in March 2010. “When I met with my colleague, Nick Stefanoff, he told me of three teachers at Valley Park that wanted a butterfly garden. One of our colleagues, Shompa Hai, suggested the idea of rain-water harvesting off the school roof-top. Jason Haider, Valley Park’s former vice-principal and cricket coach, men-tioned that cricket was very popular at the school. Everything began to come together then,” said Lisa Grogan-Green, the co-chair of VPCE. Though the idea formed in March 2010, said Mrs. Grogan-Green, the fund-raising did not begin until 31 December 2010, when an application was approved for $50 000 from the TD Friends of the

Environment Foundation. Planning and fundraising continued throughout 2011, and were relatively completed by June 2012. “Our major setback in 2013 was ap-plying for grants and completing paper-work,” said Mrs. Grogan-Green. VPCE managed to raise around $1.2 million solely for Phase One of the proj-ect. “After so much hard work, it’s be-gun,” said Nick Stefanoff, principal of Valley Park MS and co-chair of VPCE. “We could never have achieved this without the help of community activists, staff, parents and youth from the two neighbourhoods. Their vision has made this possible.” VPCE has also sublicensed the new field, so that the public can use the field after 6 pm on school days and all day

long on weekends and holidays. “The cricket field will allow everyone to stay connected. For the community at large, it will be an outdoor space they can call their own,” said Aparna Mishra, VPCE’s Executive Director. Last spring, several students were trained by VPCE as cricket coaches. They now teach clinics Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Valley Park. Currently, VPCE is going to run two modules for males and females for the National Coaching Certification Program in November. “The first module is Making Ethical Decisions, based around teaching lead-ership skills. The second module is Fun-damental Movement Skills, a session for our youth to become coaches for younger children. We want to empower the coaches to become community leaders,”

said Mrs. Mishra. The purpose of this new community initiative is not solely recreational, how-ever. Mrs. Mishra said, “The Wetlands Centre for Excellence program, spon-sored by Ducks Unlimited, will train stu-dents from Marc Garneau CI as mentors in their wetland curriculum called ‘Proj-ect Webfoot.’ These young leaders would then go to feeder schools and teach third and fourth graders, using the VPCE wet-land to demonstrate.” The completion of Phase One would lead to Phase Two, valued at around $700 000, which aims to add a score-board, outdoor sports lights, a commu-nity food garden, a refurbished basket-ball court, and a living donor wall. Fundraising for Phase Two, primar-ily by the Neighbourhood Canvass, a

group of volunteers, is underway right now. “Currently, our top priorities are the sports lights and the scoreboard. The total cost for the two is $400 000, and we’ve raised around $220 000, so we have a way to go.” The $1.9 million project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2015. “It’s no longer just about cricket. It’s about the arts, education, and ecology. I want Valley Park to bring about a sense of unity between Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park. We want this project to generate pride and a sense of belong-ing in the community, as well as evoke appreciation of the environment,” Mr. Stefanoff said. ■

Construction Begins at Valley Park MSGROUND BREAKING

Continued from P1

What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for you?

“Smile.”“Hold the door open for me while I was carrying the snack bin.”“...I don’t know.”

“Hmm, I don’t know.”“Come on, anything.”“…One time I was sick, and my cousin made me soup.”

He was standing behind the door and scared us as we walked through.--When we asked, he yelled to a friend through the doorway: “Hey, what’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever done for me?”

“Well, yesterday she couldn’t go out for Halloween, so one of her friends bought her a box of candy.”

Applause and catcalls were heard on 31 October 2013, as dozens of monsters, zombies, and su-perheroes made their way down the catwalk. The Halloween fashion show took place in the cafete-ria during lunch, resulting in a very large audi-ence. The event itself was organized by members of the student council, primarily Spirit Convener Khadija Aziz. The contestants were all enthusiastic and enjoy-ing themselves. This reflected well with the audi-ence, as was evident with the amount of cheering involved. "This event is really good for school spirit," said Thomas Mircea, a Grade 11 student. "I thought this wouldn't turn out to be all that great, but I was pleasantly surprised. The costumes are well

thought out, and everyone seems to be happy." However, not everyone was satisfied with the way the fashion show turned out. In fact, scat-tered throughout the crowd were disappointed students. "The whole execution of the event was sloppy and haphazard," said Terry Li, also in Grade 11. "It was difficult to hear the emcees, the participants did not enter on cue and were often switched around abruptly and without warning, and I didn't realize there was a closing ceremony until it was over." Of the costumes involved, the fan favourites in-cluded the Joker, the "Unknown" (a zombie-like terror), a Cat Lady, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and perhaps the most popular of them all, Super-man and Wonder Woman. ■

Creepy Catwalks and Spooky Stepsby INDRANEEL SARKAR

MGCI students dressed up for Halloween. Photos: Jackie Ho

Photos clockwise from bottom right: Susie Liu, Jackie Ho, Henry He, Susie Liu

For more humans of Garneau, visit http://thereckoner.ca/category/hog/