December 2019 NewsletterDecember 2019 Newsletter

Upcoming Ev entsUpcoming Ev ents

Dec. 21 - Jan. 5: Winter BreakJanuary 6: Classes resume January 10: Blyth Model UN January 14-17: Algonquin Recreation Leadership Trip January 16: Parkdale Community Food Bank Volunteer Day January 17: Gr.9 Preview DayJanuary 22: End-of-Term Assembly; altered schedule January 30: Exam Day 1January 31: Exam Day 2

Message from Student Council Message from Student Council

Before our holiday break, we would like to acknowledge all theadvancements that we have made as a student body this past short month.First of all, we'd like to thank everyone for your participation in our spiritweek, as we think it was a total success! It was amazing to see so muchenthusiasm everyday, and we can't wait to do it again. We have also madeprogress in collecting canned food for the holidays. This is our opportunityto give back to our community, and hopefully give people in need theholiday experience we're all so looking forward to. We're also excited forthe holiday festivities this week! Monday was our Holiday Festivus, whenenjoyed celebratory foods together while holding our second annual uglyholiday sweater contest. Keep up the amazing work, Blyth ET, and happyholidays!

~Blyth ET Student Council

Guidance Corner Guidance Corner

Blyth Academy Class of 2020 As the term ends, we are growing closer to some important deadlines for our

grade 12 graduates. Over 60% of our grade 12s have already completed theirOUAC applications, and more than 10 have already received earlyacceptances! I have met with each student to discuss their post-secondaryapplications and strongly encourage anyone who has not submitted to OUAC yetto do so before the holidays. Important Dates to Remember: University applications are due January 15th, 2020 11:59 pm EST. OUAC: https://www.ouac.on.ca/ College applications are due February 1st, 2020. OCAS: https://www.ontariocolleges.ca/

Please note, students can still apply after these dates but may not have equalconsideration. Program changes can also be made to applications followingthese dates but a fee must be paid. Wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday,~Mrs. Pace

Blyth Holiday Festivus Our Blyth students enjoyed some holiday fun time as they decorated cookies andsipped hot chocolate. Thanks to all who attended! ~Mrs. Pace

Reaching Out to the Community through Dance On Tuesday, December 4th, Blyth Academy had the pleasure of having a guestspeaker, Nathan Tiangson, come in and speak about his dance studio, KindredCulture, and how he used his love for dance to help his community.

Kindred Culture is a dance studio that supports many charities and non-profitorganizations such as Seva Food Bank and World Vision. Partnering with WorldVision has given Nathan the opportunity to travel around the world with otherprofessional dancers to help young adults get out of a violent community byproviding them an opportunity to dance.

Nathan ended his presentation with something that applies to all Blyth students.His three take-home messages were: purpose over money, journey overdestination, and belief in yourself; all of which can be applied to our on Blythcommunity. ~Ms. Duong

SuitUp Business Competition

On December 10th, Blyth Academy's grade 9 and 10 Foundations classesand grade 12 Data Management class went to the Sheraton Centredowntown to take part in the SuitUp Business Competition. Here, thestudents were guided by a team of marketing and other businessprofessionals to create an entrepreneurial pitch to a panel of judges. Thestudents were faced with the task of finding a way to fix and raise money fora current issue in our economy or environment. SuitUp was an extremelyeducational program for the students, teaching us about many salesstrategies including marketing, social media, image, and many other criticalaspects that correlate with the launch and startup of a product or businessidea.

~Victoria T.

Model UN On Friday, December 6th, the Model UN club met and students took on theidentity of a nation and it's political stance and were required to come to aresolution about a specific situation. The topic of the meeting was apossible coup in Turkey in the year 2020 and how these nations would reactand deal with the situation. The group quickly came to a resolution andagreed that the proposed course of action would be beneficial to all thenations attending the meeting. The Model UN club convenes every Friday and discusses topics on a widerange of world issues. In January, after the holiday break, Blyth Etobicokewill be attending a Model UN event at Blyth Lawrence Park. If you would liketo join this club or try it out, talk to Mr. Jay to get the details. ~Michael M.

Oui, S'il Vous Plait!

On December 4th, our Frenchclass used what we learned inour restaurant unit at theKensington Market crêperestaurant "Krepesz." Weordered in French and got tohelp make the crêpes. We alsogot to meet the owner, Ron, whowas very patient with us and

made us feel welcome. In total,we made three crêpes, onesweet and two savoury. We'dlike to thank Ms. Crumb for thisreally fun opportunity!~Aidan T.

French CaféThis term in our Grade 10French class, we have beenlearning food and restaurantvocabulary in preparation forputting on a French Café for theschool on December 18th. Weset up in the lobby and inQuetico, and served crêpes,croissants, cookies, coffee, andtea. We also created menus andposters to help our customersorder in French, applying theterms that we learned throughout the unit.~Amy M.

The Good Shepherd

On November 26th, The Outreach Club had the opportunity to volunteer at GoodShepherd Ministries downtown. Good Shepherd is a shelter that provides supportto the homeless and those in need. They have almost a hundred beds that fill upevery night, as well a very large soup kitchen, a free clothing room, and a DAREprogram to support participants in sobriety, that has been extremely successful.After receiving a tour of the shelter and some information about homelessness,poverty, and the work done at Good Shepherd, we were taken into their storeroom, which is a massive room where all of their food donations are brought in,sorted, and stored until they are ready to be used. This is where we spent themajority of our time; sorting through the boxes of food donated to the shelter,putting them into the appropriate sections, and labelling them so that they areaccessible and ready to be used. Having so many beds, the sheets need to bechanged every day, so two of us also folded sheets and pillow cases for the last

part of our time volunteering there. It was a really rewarding experience, and thework that they do at Good Shepherd is so incredibly impactful. Volunteer trips to places like Good Shepherd Ministries are the reason that westarted the Outreach Club at Blyth Etobicoke this year: to offer students theopportunity to be exposed to the need in their community, to what it feels like tocontribute to helping in making a difference, and to get involved in the communityaround us. Since we've started, we've volunteered twice at Adam House, which isa house for refugees, have trips to food banks planned, have been preparing for abracelet sale and a bake sale as fundraisers for Eva's Place, which is for at riskand homeless youth, and have been planning a coffee drive to collect coffee todonate to Good Shepherd, as they told us that coffee is the item that they gothrough the most of and spend the most of their food budget on (* hold onto anyextra coffee you have lurking in the back of your cabinets, or that you get giftedover the holidays until the New Year). We meet every Thursday at 1:15 inAlgonquin, and encourage anyone who wants to do some community outreach tojoin us. We also consider ourselves to be the student hub for getting volunteerhours done, and keep updated volunteer opportunities outside of the club on ourposters so that if they can't make club outings, they still have volunteeropportunities. Whatever the reason, whether it be to make a difference, to fulfilvolunteer hour requirements, or to add to university applications, consider this anopen invitation to join us at Outreach. (Thursdays after 2nd period in Algonquin) ~Amy M.

Under the Sea

My Environmental Science classvisited Ripley's Aquarium onNovember 28th and did severalfun activities. When we got therewe got to look around at all theinteresting animals while hearingseveral interesting facts aboutthem. We also got the chance todissect and learn about theanatomy of a squid. A littleknown fact about them is thatthey actually have 3 hearts!When we were all done, we gotto explore the aquarium andcheck out all the exhibits. I had alot of fun at the aquarium and Ihope we do more trips like this! -Will B.

Winter Wonderland in the City

On December 6, Foundations classesenjoyed an afternoon of skating atToronto's new rink at Union Station.Holiday music, free hot chocolate, and acozy holiday-themed lounge made theexperience even more enjoyable. Theclassic Toronto views, learning a newskill with friends, and getting into theholiday spirit; what a great way to passthe time outdoors!

Making NewFriends

On December 13,Foundations studentsand teachers volunteeredat the LA Centre forActive living. Here, theyhelped serve a holidaythemed lunch toapproximately 70residents. Two of ourstudents graciouslyperformed a couple ofsongs on the keyboard, which was a real hit. After lunch, everyone had theopportunity to chat with the residents and learn a little bit about them.Students then folded all the tables back up and converted the space into adance party, where everyone got to show off their moves in the Macarenaand Cha Cha slide, among other classics. Blyth ET students felt humbled bythis experience and happy that they were able to bring some joy into thisfestive event!

Meet Our Team...Meet Our Team...

Spotlight on Makayla Forster

Makayla Forster has joined the BlythAcademy Etobicoke team as our CampusAdministrator! Makayla is originally from Calgary and relocated toToronto a few months ago. She holds abachelor in Sociology from Mount RoyalUniversity and is currently completing herMBA in Community Economic

Development through Cape BretonUniversity. Makayla is passionate about women inleadership. Her favorite book is the GreenMile by Stephen King, and she is an avidstudent of astrology and music. Makaylahopes to bring an organized andcharismatic essence to her new role andlooks forward to getting to know ourstudents and families!

Principal's Note Principal's Note

Dear Blyth ET students and families,

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of classes in 2019! It seems like itSeptember only moments ago!

As you know, we truly believe in the importance of an honest to goodness breakfor both students and teachers over the holiday. As such, teachers have not givenstudents any new work to do for the next two weeks. This also means thatteachers will be offline and not active on Edsby over the holiday!

I wish each of you in our community a restful and peaceful holiday break and allthe very best in the year ahead. See you in 2020, Blyth ET!

~Laurie Foley