Specialized Programs at Western

CyberARTS is an Art & Design Program focusing on Visual Communication. We integrate technology and traditional fine arts with academic subjects to create a unique program of high-level knowledge with employable and transferable skills. CyberARTS is a Specialized High Skills Major and its curriculum focuses on the student’s development as an independent learner and creative/critical thinker. All activities are student-centred and project driven.
Application - CyberARTS

The Engineering Robotics Program @ WTCS builds on a long history of excellence and success. Combined with a world class facility, exciting projects, industry certified instructors, extracurricular competitions and delivered through the new Ministry of Education’s Specialized High Skills Major Program, your daughter or son will get an engineering foundation not available at any other high school in the GTA. Robotics is the new standard for high tech design and manufacture with opportunities in industries ranging from aerospace to medical to zoology.
Application - Engineering Robotics

The Enriched/Gifted Program fosters critical thinking, academic challenge, cross-curricular collaboration, and community leadership. Students enhance their intellectual growth and social development through cooperative inquiry, specialized courses and technological exploration in an environment that fosters creativity and nurtures curiousity. Involvement in diverse learning situations and groups prepares students for exemplary achievement at the post-secondary level. Students emerge from the program with well-rounded and real world skills and knowledge.
Application - Gifted
Application - Enriched


The Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) is an Ontario designation that allows students to focus on a career path that matches their individual skills and interests. Enriched/Gifted students at WTCS are encouraged to enroll in one of our SHSMs. These students learn with industry standard equipment and instructors who have worked directly in the field. They also experience on the job training with employers at skills training centres and have the opportunity to enroll in up to two post secondary courses with no tuition costs. Students who complete the SHSM requirements will graduate with a red seal on their diploma. This indicates a universal provincial designation of a higher level of achievement to all post secondary schools no matter what program the student may choose to pursue. For more information go to: More Student Success

Come experience our Specialized Program night - Wednesday November 28th at 7pm

Honours Celebration:

On Thursday November 8^th, Western celebrated the outstanding academic achievement of our students. Thirty-eight students received several awards some of which included money. We also celebrated all the students in grades 9-12 who were on the honour roll meaning they received an overall average of 75% or greater in the 2011-2012 school year. Staff, students and parents enjoyed participating in the ceremony as over 200 students received these certificates honouring their achievements. And the cakes were delicious! 

College and University Applicants

College Applicants:

Students wishing to attend College in the fall of 2013 should apply on or before Feb.1^st, 2013. Students must apply online at www.ontariocolleges.ca

Students requiring any information and/or assistance with their on line application should make an appointment with Ms. Madeira, in the guidance office.

University Applicants:

Western hosted a very successful University Fair on the afternoon of Thursday, November 1^st for our grade 11 and 12 students. Representatives from 16 Universities were on hand to answer student inquiries about their various programs. The Ontario University Application Centre will soon be open for business - the deadline for students to submit their application is Wednesday, January 16^th, 2013. Students requiring assistance with their applications should make a guidance appointment with Mr. Amadio.

The School Newspaper In Virtual Format

     It took a ton of work, but the Semester 1 Writer's Craft class has pulled it off. The latest edition of Western's Newspaper, "The Hidden Agenda" is now ready for print.
     The paper was designed by Stephen Quach using the schools latest InDesign software. A program that is suitable for all commercial and industrial publishing. "It was certainly above anything I've ever used," said Mr. Bailey the Writer's Craft teacher. "I'm not quite sure how we would have made our publishing deadline without Steven's expertise."
     Creating a school newspaper is just one of the many assignments for the Writer's Craft class. Once the final editing touches are complete the paper is relayed to the TDSB print shop. It should be out within the next week. If you'd like to get a look at the virtual addition, follow the link below.
     This week the Writer's Craft students are sitting in the Director's Chair. They've just completed a three week workshop on script writing for short films. Now they're filming their short scripts... Stay tuned for the WTCS Short Film Festival. It's coming to a classroom near you.

Link to a pdf version of the school newspaper - "The Hidden Agenda"

Your Job Is To Joust!: A Coop Placement With A Twist

Jousting at Medieval Times


      Meet Alannah. She's one of Western Tech's many successful co-op students. Alannah was recently selected for the position of Events Co-ordinator Assistant at "Medieval Times" a dinner theatre in the West end of Toronto that tries to re-capture the complete experience of eating, drinking and jousting in the 15th century.

    The position of Events Co-ordinator Assistant was a very difficult one to win and Alannah had to compete against a  number of co-op students from other schools in Toronto. Through determination and hard work, she won. Now, she is gaining valuable experience in both preparation and execution of VIP nights and school matinee performances. Not only does she collect surveys, compile data, and prepare gift bags but she also greets guests in  medieval costume prompting many guests to ask to take their picture with her. It's an experience with a real twist of excitement and fun. How'd you like to start off your day dressing up as a medieval knight?

The Grand Tour of Learning At Western Tech

      "Welcome to the Grand Tour of learning at Western Tech," is how the Student Leader started off her grade eight orientation for prospective students to WTCS. "It's a pleasure to serve you, and I'm happy to be your guide."

     On Tuesday November 13th, over 800 grade 8s were in the building to investigate the programs and facilities that Western offers. Western receives students from many different elementary schools in the neighbourhood such as Runnymede, Swansea, Annette, Brock, Carlton Village, Essex, Parkdale and High Park Alternative School. In fact, almost any student from anywhere in the city can choose to study here, and many do.

      The tours are organized and run through Western's Guidance Department and Leadership classes and are meant to highlight all the possible options for courses and learning a student has at WTCS. Western has one of the widest program selections of any high school in the TDSB. We offer almost every type of program imaginable:  from ESL to Gifted/Enriched Learning; from Robotics, to Food Technologies; from Coop Education to French and Spanish.  And that's what makes it such a special place.

          The Robotics and Mechanical Engineering classes presented futuristic "quadracopters" that hovered over the eastern end of the cafeteria. The Food Technologies classes presented baked goods and cookies and discussed the importance of nutrition in maintaining health and weight, and the Physics Department showed how simple and ingenious Da Vinci's invention of the "camera obsura" really was.

     "We're proud of our building and we're proud of the students and teachers in it," said a beaming Principal Ms Virginia Pang. "We want to let the community and the whole city know that Western really is the place to be, and we'd be delighted if they chose to send their child to learn here. This is a very special place."
       Our Student Leader was right. The day really was "The Grand Tour of (Western) Learning."

College Pathways

The Guidance Department will be hosting a College Fair on Thursday Oct.18^th from 1:30- 2:30 in the Cafeteria. Representatives from George Brown, Centennial, Seneca, Humber and Sheridan will present information about the many programs offered at their school. This is an excellent opportunity for students to learn about each College, their specialized areas of study, facilities and the general College experience. This fair is open to all grade 11 and 12 students.

The Ontario College Information Fair will take place on Tuesday Oct. 25^th from 10:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place. There will be display booths for the colleges, as well as numerous external agencies and professional associations. In addition to the display booths, there will be information sessions scheduled throughout the day including in-depth presentations on financial aid. 

Western Students Get Real Medical Engineering Experience

Three Western Technical-Commercial students qualified to compete at this years MedTech Challenge. The program, created to inspire high school students to pursue education opportunities in biomedicine and engineering, is being held at The Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto. Hosted by the Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention in partnership with Logics Academy and Kids Science, the six week program gives 24 students from across Ontario the opportunity to utilizes robotics and medical tools, supplementary equipment and a medically focused robotics curriculum to design and develop a creative solution to perform a benign tumor craniotomy procedure on phantom pediatric-sized skulls, gelatin-based brain models and grapes (representing tumors).

On the final day, teams will showcase their working
prototype along with a presentation that discusses design rationale, clinical workflow with their robotic tooling, procedure efficacy (in terms of precision and speed) as well as the benefits of their design, challenges they faced and future improvements they would like to make.The teams of 4 are ultimately judged by a panel of engineers and surgeons.



Good luck WanQi, Mohamed and Fernando.

A Great Partnership: Student Teachers At Western Tech

A Brief Interview with Ms. Harris

by Koji Umezawa

There’s always been something special about “student teachers”. They are similar to "regular teachers" in the sense that they teach us things and give us marks, but it is easier to socialize with them because they don’t have the stigma of being our regular teachers. So it was a pleasant surprise for me today when I came to school to find a student teacher in my Writer’s Craft Class. Ms. Harris  from OISE at the University of Toronto is the student teacher for Mr. Bailey’s Writer’s Craft class, and was kind enough to speak with me. 

At the time of the interview, she had only been here for 2 days, but she was impressed by what she had seen of the staff and students, “I was surprised, all of the students were well-behaved, to be honest. I’ve worked in other schools where thats not the case. I was expecting some more drama, so that’s a good thing.”

Ms. Harris will be teaching a unit in Writer’s Craft on script writing, a subject she is very excited to be teaching: “I’m really passionate about that because I did a lot of film in my life experience. I took some courses like theatre, and some George Brown courses,” she said with enthusiasm. She is also excited to be working with senior students, because she has never worked with them before.

Ms. Harris will be sitting in on all of the Writer Craft classes, so students can expect to have a very passionate and attentive student teacher, who will be looking to gain as much insight out of these next few weeks as possible, “My thing is student engagement, trying to use what you’re teaching to engage the students and get feedback from them and make the classroom more democratic. I'd like, to open the class up and have some variety. I want to get some of the students'  ideas and input.”

The student teachers are with us for the next four weeks and will be helping students personally with their work as well as teaching in front of the whole class. I, for one, am looking forward to being taught by one of the new fresh faces around the school. It's a great break from the regular routine.

A Horrifying Hallowe'en Horoscope

Hallowe'en Horoscopes
by Koji Umezawa

Aries March 21 - April 19

Your adventurous attitude makes you try new experiences to broaden your mind. You will make it your life goal to witness something majestic, so you decide to climb mount everest. You make it to the top, But you manage to lose all your supplies in an avalanche on the way down and you freeze to death. Good job.

Taurus April 20 - May 20

You like to stay isolated from the pack. So much so that one day when you see a person you have a crush on approach you, you panic and try to run across the street. But run into the path of a bus and get run over. Your crush moves on.

Gemini May 21 - June 20

You have a very adventurous attitude. One day, you decide to take a shortcut through an alley on the way home. You witness the mafia killing a man, and before you can escape, they get a look at your face. They break into your house as you try to pack up your things, and then strap cement you your feet and throw you in the river. They then use their influence to get the police to close the case.

Cancer June 21 - July 22

You are always kind to your friends and family, but cannot deal with betrayal. One day, you see your significant other cheating on you. This drives you insane and you go on a murderous rampage, killing students from your school, until you get to your adulterous lover, who is backed into a corner. You lift your chainsaw above your head, but as you take a step forward you slip and the chainsaw cuts you in half.

Leo June 23 - August 22

You are very fortunate to have the life you have. You are very polite to others, but you become very shy around people you have feelings for. One day, you ask your crush out on a date, but you get shot down. You are so depressed that you start walking alone at night, in the rain. You approach some cement stairs and, not prepared for how slippery they are, slip and break your neck. You get a full page in the yearbook.

Virgo August 23 - September 22

You can be very mean to others if you are not in a good mood. On one of such bad days, You bump into a kid holding a balloon, causing him to let go. As the balloon floats away, you tell the kid to get over it and to stop crying like a sissy. Later that day you are driving along with your friends when you get hit by a truck. You are pinned, upside down in the car and can smell gasoline, you see that same kid whose balloon you lost and beg for help, but he tells you to stop crying like a sissy. The kid walks away as your car goes up in flames.

Libra September 23 - October 22

You believe in true love, much to the chagrin of your peers. One day, they decide to play a prank on you, by waiting for you to present a love poem to the class, and then drop a can of red paint on you. Unfortunately, one of them did not have a good hold of the paint can, and it drops straight on your head. You fumble around with a massive gash on your head until you lose your balance next to an open window and fall to your death.

Scorpio October 23 - November 21

You are a natural born leader, but have a problem with authority. One day, you are doing some gardening work in a park when you get into an argument with your boss. It turns violent and you shove him. He gets angry and shoves you back harder, but you slip and fall backwards into a woodchipper, spreading small bits of you all over a field. The city decides to wait until it rains to wash your remains away.

Sagittarius November 22 - December 21

You are very adventurous and decide to take a vacation to south america. You are lucky enough to get an emergency exit seat so you enjoy the extra leg room. Suddenly, the planes engines cut out and the plane starts falling; a fire also starts and the plane is ready to blow. Once the plane lands in the water, you are too scared to uphold your responsibility of opening the emergency exit door, and the plane blows up with everyone inside. You make the front page.

Capricorn December 22 - January 19

You are a very hard worker but like to play around too. One day during winter break, after finishing up at school, you decide to head into a forest with a bunch of friends to see who can cut down the biggest pine tree. You all find your own trees and start cutting them down. Unfortunately, you weren’t paying attention to your surroundings, and someone was cutting down a tree directly behind you. You turn around just in time to see the tree crush you.

Aquarius January 20 - February 18

You are always looking to find your own way in life. One day, you decide to start making some crystals to sell as paper weights at school. You have your chemistry set all lined up, but you accidently used the wrong chemicals and end up producing some toxic gas. Tragically, your room isn’t ventilated resulting in you choking to death.

Pisces February 19 - March 20

You have trouble making tough decisions. One day you are driving along on a small, one lane country road, when suddenly, you see a drunk driver in a pickup truck heading in the opposite direction. Your family is screaming at you to get out of the way, but you can’t decide whether to turn left or right. By the time you make up your mind, the truck is already pummeling your car, and you get crushed. The correct answer was left.

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN EVERYONE - HAVE FUN, BE SAFE AND BE CAREFUL!!

We Create Change at Western!

WE CREATE CHANGE CAMPAIGN


Did you know that $25 will provide a person with clean water for life?

Did you know that 1,000,000,000 live without access to clean water worldwide?

That is why WTCS had decided to join the Free the Children campaign to collect pennies. Each home form has a bag that will hold $25. Imagine how many people we could provide with clean water! Please contribute whatever pennies you have sitting around in piggy banks, in drawers or on the floor. If you can fill a bag yourself that is even better! This is the largest penny drive to ever be held in Canada so let’s make it the largest ever to be held at Western Technical Commercial School! Bring those pennies Western!

A Commencement Ceremony to Cherish and Remember

The The room was packed and an expectant hush fell over the auditorium as over 150 graduates entered to start  their graduation ceremony. This was the moment that so many parents, teachers, administrators and especially  students were waiting for - commencement.

The ceremony was graciously hosted by Vice Principal Ross Edmunds with new Principal,  Virginia Pang, offering the opening address. The graduates were also warmly welcomed by Superintendent Curtis Ennes. Thusarshan Vikneswaran a well-loved , highly committed and involved Western graduate,  gave a thoughtful and inspiring Valedictory Address.

What was amazing (as always) with these WTCS graduates, was the career paths they have chosen.  Almost every field was represented. There were future plumbers, Linguists, Engineers, Computer Scientists, Car Detailers, Graphic Designers, Food Technologists, and students of Business, Japanese and Astro-physics. Western grads are attending some of the best colleges and universities in the country. Many were at the University of Toronto, McGill, Queens, Ryerson, Humber College, George Brown, and Centennial College. This is a budding generation of entrepreneurs, academics and tradesmen, and the ceremony was meant to highlight their  achievements as well as their future goals.  

Like many of the older high schools in the city, Western Tech has one of the most generous scholarship funds in the City of Toronto. This is partly due to the school’s age - the interest on fifty dollars donated 100 years ago turns into a lot of money in 2012.  

The winner of the award for highest academic achievement went to Kaelan Doyle-Myerscough who is currently at McGill University pursuing studies in Astro-physics and Japanese. The newest scholarship was awarded to student Matthew Masa. This was the Peter Cram Memorial Scholarship donated in honour of Peter Cram. Mr. Cram  was one of Western’s most beloved and inspiring new teachers who passed away tragically at the beginning of the school year in a bicycle accident.  In presenting the award, Mr. Neil Langley, the current Curriculum Leader of English, ELL, and Moderns noted that Mr. Cram’s time at Western encompassed the exact period of this year’s graduating class - in essence, he too was graduating with them.  

The ceremony finished with the graduates and parents celebrating their achievements in a much more informal way in the cafeteria where the Food Studies Department headed up by student volunteers with the guidance of teachers Lisa De Rosa, John Kilmartin, and  Tony Pegg served delicious cakes and coffee.

For those of you who were unable to attend the event in person, you may look for elements of it on the Net. In fact, the whole ceremony was broadcast live over the Internet by Western’s very own Tech Department.

Once again the staff and students of Western Technical-Commercial School have demonstrated just what an exceptional school it truly is. Bravo graduates, bravo Western!

Western Library News

The TDSB has a reading incentive program for all students and staff called ‘Just Read It’.   It is accessed from our website.  When you review a book you get entered in a draw for free books.  Many of our students are participating.  When they do, they get a lolly-pop. Send in your reviews.




The TDSB Virtual Library has many rich, subscription based resources for students in all grades. Within the TDSB firewall, these automatically load from the Virtual Library Homepage. However, at home and in the community, passwords are required.  

Virtual Library Learnmarks are book-marks that provide passwords for all digital products subscribed to on the Virtual Library site.They are designed to be kept near home computers, on refrigerators, bulletin boards and other easily accessible places, in order to be available when students are engaged in learning at home.  Learnmarks are available for all TDSB students, staff and parents from the library.
 

Reminder: The Halloween Book Mark Contest closes Friday October 26^th.

Co-op Students in the Library

Sukriti and Vonique – afternoons October 1 - 19

Library Assistant – Monday and Tuesdays through out the year

Courtney Lee Mann from Humber College’s ‘Community and Justice Services’ Program

Library Assistant – October 22 – November 4

Lilnus D’rozario from Seneca College’s Library Technician Program

Quick Links for your convenience: 

Western Tech Library 

WTCSLibrary Twitter 

WTCSlibrary Facebook

A Place for Leaders And Joiners: Western Tech’s Annual Club Fair

The cafeteria was packed. The room was laid out with tables in a large square and at each table sat a representative of one of the scores of clubs and societies that run at Western Tech. There was the Band club, the Manga club, the Prom committee, The Knitting Club,The Grad Committee, Save the Children Fund, the Ping Pong Club, Robotic Engineering club, and many many more. 

Western’s Annual Club Fair is the place for leaders and joiners to meet. If you have an idea for a new club, you’re a leader, and you’re always welcome at Western. If you want to join a club, then the Annual Club Fair is the place to be. Western also welcomes anyone from the community interested in contributing to our clubs. We’re always open to new ideas, and new possibilities. So if you’re a member of the community and you think you can help out a WTCS club,  give us a shout. Contact our office at 393-0500 with your ideas.  We’ll be more than happy to hear from you!

The Answer May Be “Blowin’ In The Wind!”

Congratulations to the following leadership students: Adrian Davies, Sir McMullen, Jenny Vuong and Oliver Whitfield-Smith. They’re part of a special group of Western students who took part in a video montage that will highlight the social, economic and environmental benefits of wind energy in Canada.  The group was filmed and directed by an Ottawa crew from the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CWEA).  The CWAE wanted to get students’ input on why young people think wind energy should be a part of our future energy mix and what the environmental benefits of wind energy might be.  Each of these students participated in the Kids World Youth Energy Festival, hosted at the Brick Works last spring. The video is just another example of Western trying to care for Mother Earth.  The answer may just be,  “Blowin’ In The Wind.”

Leadership News - It's A New Day On "Moving On Up Day"

Graduating from elementary school to high school is often filled with excitement, happiness, and sometimes fear. On August 28th, incoming grade nine students had their first experience as grade nines on our “Moving on Up Day” at Western Technical Commercial School.  After receiving their timetables, new grade nine students were paired up with senior leaders and student council members who took the students on tours of the school, walked them through their timetables, showed them their lockers and finally led them on an exciting school scavenger hunt.

The morning ended with a pizza lunch that grade nine students shared with their senior mentors, some of their teachers and guidance counselors. It was an exciting way to begin the year. “This is just the type of day I needed,” commented one newly-minted grade nine student. “This school is so huge, that I would have been totally confused.  At least I found out where my classes are going to be on the first day.”

A New Sherwood Forest?

Just exactly where is Sherwood Forest? For Western Tech’s incoming grade nine students it was at “Camp Robin Hood” in Markham, Ontario. This was an all day event held on September 14, 2012 to encourage team building and interactions among grade nine students - basically, to make new friends and have fun. Over 175 grade nine students participated. Students from the Leadership class and eight members from the staff and school leadership team led many of the activities and joined in the exercises. Thanks to all those who helped out with the organization of the day and a special thanks to our grade nine students for their cooperation and enthusiasm. We are all looking forward to a great year at Western Tech. Now, back to the forest...

Peter Cram - thinking of him

On September 7^th, 2012 Mr. Cram had a tragic accident while riding his bicycle. He sustained serious head injuries and was rushed to St Michael’s Hospital’s Intensive Care Trauma Unit

Over the past two weeks he received the best medical care possible and despite all efforts of the doctors and nurses he succumbed to his injuries.

Mr. Cram passed away this past Friday afternoon September 21^st surrounded by his loving family.

As you know Mr. Cram was a well-loved teacher, librarian and coach here at Western.  

During the past two weeks, students, friends and family posted many get well messages on a Facebook page. His family appreciated all of the sentiments expressed by students and staff and were deeply touched by the amount of support offered by Western.

Mr. Cram was an important part of the Western Tech family and will be greatly missed by the Western Tech community. His passing will have a tremendous effect on the school.

On Monday, the auditorium will be opened as a place for students to go to remember Mr. Cram and to support each other and share their feelings with their peers and teachers. Students wishing to attend the auditorium may do so with their teacher’s permission, and will sign the Remembrance Book in the auditorium.  For the rest of the week, students may come to Room 151 to share their thoughts.

Over the coming days and weeks the school community will develop ways to keep Mr. Cram’s legacy alive at Western.  Students will be asked for their input and ideas about how this can be done.

Many of you will be very upset by this news and experience a sense of loss and sadness. The school has brought in extra help to support students, including social workers with experience in supporting students through difficult times like these. Please do not hesitate to make use of this counselling if needed. They will be available in the guidance office and the auditorium for as long as they are needed.

             

TDSB Caring and Safe Schools Week - Sept. 10th to 14th

Western Technical-Commercial School is a safe, nurturing, positive and respectful learning environment that enables all students to succeed and reach their full potential. Our school is a place that promotes peaceful problem solving, academic excellence and a sense of belonging for all students. Students are expected to demonstrate respect for human rights and social justice and promote the values they need to become responsible members of society.

Our mission is to enable all students to reach high levels of achievement and to acquire the knowledge, skills and values they need to become responsible members of a democratic society.

We value each and every student; a strong public education system; a partnership of students, schools, family and community; the uniqueness and diversity of our students and our community; the commitment and skills of our staff; equity, innovation, accountability and accessibility; and learning environments that are safe, nurturing, positive and respectful.

The Caring and Safe Schools team of administrators, advisors, child and youth counsellors and court liaison workers provides direction support to administrators, staff, parents, students and communities. Caring and Safe Schools are enabled through:

1.Strong school leadership, with consistent discipline policies and procedures;
2.School-wide safe and caring schools programs and instructional components focused on inclusive contributions;
3.Evolving and expanded prevention based knowledge and skills;
4.Ongoing support and professional growth in emotional intelligence, conduct management, prevention oriented strategies,  mediation and violence prevention
5.Inclusive and developmentally appropriate materials, activities and programs are championed and utilized;
6.Strong efforts to develop relationships and partnerships within the entire school community;
7.Clear assessment, evaluation and monitoring of student performance, combined with differentiated programming.

Board policies and procedures have been developed in accordance with provincial legislation and Ministry directives to ensure that  our schools are safe and caring communities.

The Magnificent 7s - Battle of the Bands

Artwork by Paul Geldart

Hey all you rockers and singers out there, Western's 9th Annual Battle of the Bands will be held Thursday June 7th from 6 to 10:30pm in the Auditorium. Seven dollars for seven bands. Get your tickets from a band member or from Mr.Esquivel.

Thank You Employers

It has been another successful year in co-op education with a vast array of employers providing rich experiences for all students.  We would like to thank all our employers for their hard work and dedication.  We couldn't do it without them. 

Western Tech raises more than $4,700 for wells in Africa

It was May 10 and the day was warm, but windy – a perfect day for a hike.  Hike we did!  200 students and staff walked from WTCS to Yonge and Bloor to meet some people from the Free the Children organization.  It was a great time with “Let’s go Western” chants, horn honking and lots of noise.  Eight kilometres seemed like a daunting task, but in just one and a half hours we were at our destination with energy left over.  

It might have been different if we had been carrying a couple litres of water that whole way.  Eight kilometres is how far many young people in Africa have to travel one way for water.  We walked to raise money for  a clean water system so that they would not have to make that trek every day.  Raise money we did!!!  We were able to present a cheque for $4700 to the Free the Children people so that they can build a water system at a girl’s secondary school in Kenya.  The girls will be able to get an education instead of fetching water every day.  Next year will be an even bigger event and raise even more money.  Plan to join us!

For more information regarding this event please see the article posted at the The Town Crier's website or the coverage provided by www.insidetoronto.com.

Pokemon – A discussion with Dr. Ken Perlin

Some background for those less experienced: The concept of the Pokémon universe, in both the video games and the general fictional world of Pokémon, stems from the hobby of insect collecting, a popular pastime which Pokémon executive director Satoshi Tajiri-Oniwa enjoyed as a child. Players of the games are designated as Pokémon Trainers, and the two general goals (in most Pokémon games) for such Trainers are: to complete the Pokédex by collecting all of the available Pokémon species found in the fictional region where that game takes place; and to train a team of powerful Pokémon from those they have caught to compete against teams owned by other Trainers, and eventually become the strongest Trainer: the Pokémon Master. - Wikipedia.org

Today, Friday May 25th, we are fortunate to have a distinguished guest at Western for the morning through lunch. Dr. Ken Perlin is an internationally recognized game development expert and university professor who has won an Academy Award for his accomplishments (see below). 

He'll be spending Friday morning working with a group of students on an inventive Pokemon tournament in the IDEA Space.  During lunch, Ken will be available to meet with interested staff and students in Room 387, so feel free to drop by if you would like.

And thanks to Kaelan Myerscough for helping to organize this.

Play on!

                

Dr. Ken Perlin is a Professor at New York University, an Academy Award-winning inventor (for Tron), a SIGGRAPH Lifetime Achievement Award winner for computer animation, and was the Keynote Speaker at SIGGRAPH Asia this year. He is also Director of the Games for Learning Institute at NYU. Ken is widely recognized for his many achievements, and a sought-after international speaker.  He agreed to volunteer at Western because of his great respect for WTCS student Kaelan Myerscough’s contribution to the Games for Learning Institute.   Check out the following links.

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/

http://blog.kenperlin.com/

Newton, Cavendish, ... now Quach

As part of the grade 11 Dynamics Unit, Steven Quach created a replica of the Cavendish experiment for determining the universal gravitational constant in which Henry Cavendish (1731-1810), an English physicist, experimentally determined the constant, G, more than a century after Newton predicted it mathematically. This individual student project was not part of the culminating activity or the final exam (worth 30% of their overall mark).

Steven was the first one to present, setting the bar high!

Way to go Steven!

Western Greens

Our Green Industries course is in it's infancy but has made great strides this first year. The horticultural component has given us the opportunity to expand the vegetable garden and reap the bounty over the summer and fall.

"There are many areas on our property that could use beautification" declared Mr. Pegg (lead teacher for the new program). "There are enough flowers, plugs prepared by our students and ready for delivery next week, to make a significant impact."  Staff, students and the community will be encouraged to join us.

Student Success Tea

A ceremony was recently held in the library to celebrate students nominated by staff for outstanding growth in character and/or citizenship, enabling them to become role models and provide leadership within the school community. Congratulations to all those nominated.

Hot Off The Press

Our Design and Technology program has two new pieces of equipment with which the students experiment. A clam heat press is used to transfer original student designs onto T-shirts.

And we have integrated a 3-D printer into the program. It utilizes plastic filaments to fabricate student designs in 3-D. In the Exploring Technologies - Robotics program, students are printing their 3-D key chain designed using Creo Elements Pro Engineer 5.

Art Works - update

Annie Zeng's book cover won second place in the competition to design a cover for Art Works, a textbook for grades 9 and 10 students in Ontario, published by Emond Montgomery Publications. 

Each student in the second-place winner's class receives a gift card to a local art supply shop. In addition, Annie will receive a poster of her submission. And finally, her classroom teacher will receive a copy of the Art Works Teacher's Resource.

Yay Annie!!

On May 11 the Grade 12 Leadership class will be running a Grade 6 Leadership Conference for five of our elementary feeder schools.  Our students are preparing a series of interactive and reflective workshops and activities that elementary school student leaders will complete in the one day conference.  Participants will be encouraged to take what they learn back to their elementary student councils and leadership programs.  A big thank you to Andrew Cooper one of our grade 11 leadership/cyber arts students who designed the conference t-shirt. The two images below are other pieces of work that Andrew created for the school Agenda and our Halloween Carnival.

Art and the Environment

For the month of April students in grade 11 leadership, who have background in our various art and design programs, have been assisting with Artists in the Classroom at Annette Street Public School.  W.T.C.S. leaders worked with groups of grade 7 students to design various life forms for the schools Ghost River Project. 

On April 26^th  Students received Environmental Leadership Training from the TREC organization in preparation for the World Youth Environmental Conference held at the Brick Works Environmental Centre on May 16th for grade 6 students from across the T.D.S.B.  This is the fourth year our leadership students will be running workshops, activity centres and act ambassadors for over 700 grade 6 students and their teachers.