TCDSBTCDSB SMCS Newsletter WELCOME TO TCDSB … · tion to experiencing the beauty and tastes of...

Principal’s Message— Mr. B. White In future years, when we look back at our special 75th Anniversary, our

school trip to Italy will stand out as a high point of our celebrations. In addi-

tion to experiencing the beauty and tastes of that wonderful country, the

opportunity to sing at Sunday mass at St Peter’s Basilica and the chance to

perform a Ronan composition for Pope Francis will be memories that will

last a lifetime. In the history of our school, our trip will also be seen as a

time of reconnection with the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music. It was a

significant occasion when we sang in the hall where Monsignor Ronan had

studied. We were delighted to be able to present the institute with a framed

portrait of Monsignor Ronan and copies of his compositions for their archives. It was wonderful to

have the support and company of Fr Busch and also the chancellor of our school, Cardinal Collins.

To sing for the cardinal at St Patrick, his titular church in Rome, as he celebrated the Feast of the

Annunciation was a service of gratitude and joy.

Our second annual multi-cultural pot-luck dinner that took place last month was a great success

and, thankfully, not snowed out this time. It is always a joyful occasion when we can gather as a

whole school community to chat, laugh and eat a lot of delicious food! Our CSAC is to be com-

mended for the role they play in continuing to foster such a sense of family within our school com-

munity.

With spring weather finally here, attention turns outdoors as the boys get involved with track and

field, soccer and with our ultimate frisbee program. Even though it’s hard not to think of summer,

the boys are reminded that there is still much curriculum to cover during the class time over the

next two months.

For family and friends who were unable to be in Italy to hear the boys sing, our Spring Concert at

the end of May provides an opportunity to take in and enjoy the singing talents of our students. We

hope to see you all then!

TCDSB

SMCS Newsletter A Newsletter for the Families of

St Michael’s Choir School

Our Mission:

S t . M i c h a e l ’ s

C h o i r S c h o o l i s a

C a t h o l i c

C o m m u n i t y

w h o s e p r i m a r y

m i s s i o n i s t h e

e d u c a t i o n o f

y o u n g C h r i s t i a n

g e n t l e m e n . A t

t h e c e n t r e o f t h e

c o m m u n i t y ’ s

a c a d e m i c e f f o r t

t o m a k e t h e

u n i v e r s e

i n t e l l i g i b l e t o

g r o w i n g m i n d s i s

a n e x p e r i e n c e o f

m u s i c f o r t h e

p r a i s e o f G o d i n

J e s u s C h r i s t

———————————

St. Michael’s Choir School

67 Bond Street

Toronto, On M5B 1X2

Telephone: (416) 393-5518

Fax: (416) 393-5880

[email protected]

TCDSB

TCDSB

CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS May, 2013

WELCOME TO

THE CHOIR

SCHOOL

ANDREW PEA-

COCK

DEPT HEAD OF SOCIAL SCI-

Director’s Message—Mr. S. Handrigan

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to the entire SMCS Family for ensuring that the Italy Tour was such a huge success. Your sup-port of this trip was truly outstanding and I think you will agree that the memories of this tour will last a lifetime. It was an honour to have Cardinal Collins with us in Rome, and Fr. Busch’s support during the entire trip was much appreciated. I have heard a lot of positive feedback regarding the tour, and I would like to share some of the comments I received with you: SMCS Parent: “I just wanted to take a moment before all the excitement and energy of Mon-day's departure to say a very sincere THANK YOU to you and all the tour committee and vol-unteers who have dedicated so much time and effort to this tour.

Everything is so beautiful! The tour clothes - jackets with names, t-shirts, etc. - the concert pro-grams, photos, promotional packages, etc - the itinerary, so carefully thought out, with several

concerts, but with plenty of time for the boys to see and fall in love with Italy - every detail seems to have been consid-ered and managed beautifully”. Fr. Eric Sylvestre - Pontifical Canadian College: “It was a wonderful experience and the people still talk about the prestigious concert at Holy Canadian Martyrs”.

I also received an email from Toni Mitchell, a passenger on one of the flights to Rome. Her story speaks to the heart of the kind of character development we work hard to foster here at SMCS. I am sure that her story will warm your heart as it did mine. “I was in the Toronto airport on Monday April 1

st, 2013 and saw a group of students wearing the same jackets. Curiosity

got the best of me as I saw one student with a packsack of the World Youth Conference in 2002 and wondered if it had any connection to that. I had volunteered for that Conference so I recognized the packsack. I asked one of the parents and was told that they were going to sing for the Pope. He said there were 180 students on one plane and another 102 on another plane going to Rome and Florence and they would be in Florence for a week and in Rome for a week with a private audience with Pope Francis. I thought this was marvelous and asked if I could have my picture taken with them. They obliged and I was grateful for this. When we got on the plane, I asked for an aisle seat but there were none available, so I sat in a window seat. I started to get motion sickness and had to leave the seat a few times. When I came back, I told the young man beside me that I had motion sickness and apologized for going back and forth. He offered to change seats and I said it was ok. Then I was sick again and he patted me on the back and asked if he could help and I said there was nothing he could do. I asked him his name and he said Kim. I would like to commend this young man and thank him because he was so young and yet so caring and tried to do whatever he could.

What a wonderful experience meeting these young boys and knowing more about St. Michael's Choir Boys.” Sincerely Toni Mitchell Now that the tour is behind us, we are in the process of reviewing all of the applications for admission for next year. We were truly overwhelmed by not only the volume of interest in the school, but the very high musical and academic level of the applicants. Offers for admission will be made within the next two weeks.

Our Spring Concert is scheduled for Friday, May 24th at 7:00 p.m. Due to the very limited seating at the Cathedral as a result of the construction

of the new gallery; the concert will take place at St. Paul’s Basilica. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

CHORAL NEWS


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SMCS NEWSLETTER PAGE 2

SMCS NEWSLETTER


ROME AND FLORENCE

APRIL 1, 2013 TO APRIL 12, 2013

SMCS NEWSLETTER

CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS May , 2013

ROME AND FLORENCE

APRIL 1, 2013 TO APRIL 12, 2013

SMCS NEWSLETTER


SMCS NEWSLETTER


ATHLETICS

ELEMENTARY BASKETBALL

On Tuesday, April 23rd the members of the SMCS Junior Basketball Team competed in the Junior Basket-

ball Classic at Blessed John XXIII Catholic Elementary School. Despite having only a week’s worth of

practices, the boys put in an exceptional performance. The team was undefeated in pool play with victo-

ries over the host team Blessed John XXIII, Our Lady of Wisdom and St. Albert. Their strong play set

them up for a match against St. Albert in the final. The game was a hard fought nail-biter with several lead

changes over the course of the action. In the end, our boys lost by two points, however, they certainly

made their presence felt! Standout performances were put in by Louis Scaramuzza, Gabriel Mikina, David

Piazza and Vincent Bonus. Thank you for a great season! A special thank you goes out to Coach Piazza

for the dedicated support that he provided throughout all of the early morning practices and on the day

of the tournament itself!

Coach Piazza will be running a skills clinic here at the school at 7:15 am on Wednesday mornings starting

on May 8th. All aspiring (or experienced) players are encouraged to come out to work on their game!

SMCS NEWSLETTER


This two-part workshop for parents of boys in Grades 3 to 8 will focus on

understanding the stress in their son’s life and on equipping them with

learning strategies to help reduce and manage it. Parents will have an op-

portunity to reflect on what they bring to the relationship with their son

and how to support them in developing resiliency to bounce back in chal-

lenging times.

All parents/guardians are welcome to attend. Don’t miss this informative

and engaging workshop!

Date: Thursday, May 23rd and Thursday, May 30th

Time: 7:00 pm

Location: SMCS Auditorium

66 Bond Street, Toronto, ON

Cost: $10.00 (payable at the door)

Registration details:

Spots are limited and, as a result, will be allocated on a first-come-first-

served basis. Please complete the following form to book your place.

While we would encourage you to participate in both sessions, there is

the option to register for one or the other. A confirmation will be sent.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1APHcLFX9_KYg6NUxZUlKtCSA0Ujm7joOorb9t_7ibZU/viewform

Anne Murray provides individual coaching and workshops for professionals, youth

and parents, as she shares her passion for improving the mental health of children

faced with the challenges of living in a fast paced, highly technical world with changing

family dynamics. Her learning has been enhanced with parenting three sons and being

actively involved in community life.

Currently Anne works with families, educators and youth, coaching and facilitating

ways to recognize, reduce and develop strategies for managing the stressors in their

lives. Her approach builds on values’ clarification and identifying individual strengths

as the basis of decision making for wise choices. She has been instrumental in the

development of the Kids Have Stress Too! Program initiated by the Psychology Foun-

dation of Canada and implemented nationally. She is the co-author of a resource

guide used for the expansion of the program to the Child Care environment. Her

program Resilience for Life has been delivered to parents and educators and draws

on individual strengths and coping strategies, for overcoming adversities.

The St. Michael’s Choir School Speakers Series – Part 2:

From Stress to Resilience

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1APHcLFX9_KYg6NUxZUlKtCSA0Ujm7joOorb9t_7ibZU/viewform



As we enter into May, we celebrate the fact that Catholic education is a reality

in Ontario. The week of May 6 -10 is Catholic Education week in Ontario. As a community, we will focus on the fact that publicly funded Catholic Education is something that many parts of North America—and

the world—do not enjoy. We are therefore in a position of privilege to have this system. It is equally im-

portant to remember that we have this system because of the efforts of many people in our history who

fought for it, who believed it, and who strived to bring it to fruition. In collaboration with staff and admini-

stration, focuses for each day have been selected:

Monday – The Values and Goals of Catholic Education

Tuesday – History of Catholic education in Ontario

Wednesday – Challenges facing Catholic Education in Ontario

Thursday – Stakeholders of Catholic education and the different groups within the system (Trustees, princi-

pals, supervisory officers, teachers, students, parents)

Friday – Catholic Graduate Expectations

I look forward to the opportunity as a community to reflect on our system and the gift we have been given

to let our faith inform all that we do here at St. Michael’s Choir School.

God Bless,

Andrew Hume

Chaplain St. Michael’s Choir School

CHAPLAINCY AND STUDENT LEADERSHIP

SMCS NEWSLETTER

May, 2013 CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS

SMCS NEWSLETTER


MULTICULTURAL NIGHT

Second Annual Multicultural Pot-Luck Dinner On Friday April 26, students, parents, staff and friends gathered in the gymnasium for our second annual multicul-tural pot-luck dinner. Fr Busch began the evening by leading us in saying Grace. There was an enormous selec-tion of wonderful food - all of it was delicious! We were treated top a slide show put together by Andrew Di Santo, featuring pictures from Italy. After dinner, the Junior Choir, led by Ms Dunn, treated us all with an entertaining folk-song from Newfoundland. It was so nice to take the time to break bread and chat with one another. Many thanks to our CSAC for hosting the event and hats off to Annabelle Di Santo for the role she played organizing this event. We're already looking forward to next year's pot-luck dinner!

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CONCOURS D’ORATOIRE AWARD

First Row: Noah Beaudry, Xavier Hollott-Lo

Julian Addesa

Back Row: Amit Nehru

ACTIVITIES AND SPECIAL EVENTS

W5H—AWARD:

Frist Row: Daniel Cunic, Anthony Palermo,

Liam Gallagher, Benjamin Puskas

Back Row: Liam Wright, Luca Ben, Calum Murray

Ms. Tymkewyxz

SMCS NEWSLETTER


MONTHLY RECOGNITION

CHORAL AWARD:

First Row: Noah Beaudry, Cameron Pardy, Christopher Chong

Second Row: Michael Mochocki, Daniel Cunic, Anthony Palermo

Back Row: Jack Flannery, Liam Wrigiht, Christian Sforza, Gabriel Gilhula,

Adrian Lee

FRANCAIS AWARD: First Row: Kieran Goebs-Hansen, Nicholas Witowych Colin Fok,

Timothy Stocker, Shayne Joseph

Back Row: Matthew Riola, Michael Cuenca, Paolo Bordignon,

Adrian Lee, David Avila, Vincent Gatchalian

VIRTUE AWARD: Justice

First Row: Richard Gardner, Samuel Krzeczunowicz,

Back Row: Daniel Cunic, Nicholas Estok-Lugo, Joshua Dandal,

Jurgen Bueno

VIRTUE AWARD: Forgiveness

First Row: Noah Yokota, Scott MacDonald, Shane Farrell

Back Row: Michael Cuenca, Adrian Greene, Luca Swainson

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Coming back from our amazing tour to Italy, April has been a short month for the Student Council here at the Choir School. With only 8 weeks to go in the school year, we are all back in the books, maintaining our averages, and preparing for our upcoming exams in June. We’re getting close to crunch time! To recap the past two months, we’ll start back in March,

which was also a short month because of March Break! The Student Council gave out free donuts on March 4 (Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Tues-day) to all students and staff just before the Lenten season began. We also put on our 2nd annual Concept Lounge event in the cafeteria on Friday, March 8th, which turned out to be a very successful event! Our thanks goes out to all the students, staff, and even a few parents who attended, as well as to the performers and tech crew (Mr. Rodrigues & Mr. Woodger) for putting on an excellent show! After we all recovered from the jet lag experienced upon returning from our Italy tour, the Student Council got right back to work in preparation for the remaining events we have left in the school year. The campaign period and elections for next year’s Student Council take place throughout the first half of May. Also planned is a final concluding house event for the High School House System, as well as a school-wide BBQ some time before exams. And of course, I could not forget to mention our Student Council’s most anticipated event of the year, Jam Night 2013, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this year! Jam Night takes place on Friday, May 31st in our school auditorium showcasing the musical talents of stu-dents within our school and featuring some acts from our sister school, St. Joseph’s Col-lege. Tickets are very limited and the event is open to students Grade 9 and above. Until next time, Patrick Parro Student Council President St. Michael’s Choir School



STUDENT VOICE

Student Council Report

SMCS NEWSLETTER

We at SMCS are continuing with the tradition of cleaning up our community on Earth Day! Our students eagerly took gloves in hand and scoured the school grounds in an attempt to take back our clean school yard and to do justice to spring cleaning. We reviewed what materials belong in the blue recycle bin and what materials are considered waste. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and have an eco-friendly day! Our students have been sprouting mung beans and enjoying the fruits of our labour. Sprouting is an easy way to get all of the nutrients and miner-als in a simple and organic way. Try them in a sandwich with brie cheese and black forest ham. M-m-m-m-m-good! Our trees in the school yard are standing taller today thanks to a parent, Ms. Presotto, and the Eco-Club. Ms. Presotto brought in mulch for the

trees and together with grade 7 EcoClub members they added much needed mulch for the 3 trees that provide some greenery and shade to our

day. Shredded mulch is laid over the surface of the soil as a covering to keep the soil moist and retain moisture over the hot summer months.

The EcoClub is responding to Peter Mansbridge’s, 30for30, challenge. We encourage everyone to spend 30 minutes outdoors every day and then

visit www.smcs30for30.tumblr.com and record your activity. We hope to submit our results to CBC/The National/Peter Mansbridge by mid May to

let him know that our community is serious about the environment. We want to protect it so that we can enjoy it! Please remember to add your

name on your entry in the tumblr.com account.

Mme LoCurto

Have an EcoFriendly Day.


http://www.smcs30for30.tumblr.com

SMCS NEWSLETTER


SMCS NEWSLETTER


ACTIVITIES AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Thank you Father Busch!

On Wednesday March 20th, 2013 our grade eight class had a tour of St. Michael’s Cathedral. We are currently studying Le Bossu de Notre Dame and the information that Father

Busch shared with us certainly highlighted the renovation of our cathedral and also it inspired our novel

study. This tour gave us time to reflect on the beauty and the history of such an historical religious icon that dates back to pre-Confederation. Did you know that the steeple was added to the Cathedral to com-

memorate the 1867 Confederation of our nation? Here are some more pieces of information that I

learned from our Tour of the Cathedral. St. Michael’s Cathedral dates back to 1845, before Canada’s Con-

federation in 1867. This project was first commenced by Bishop Michael power. The cathedral itself is

gothic, meaning that the style revolves around two main characteristics: pointed arches leading one’s eyes

to the middle and secondly, the usage of stained glass windows to bring in light. We also learned about the

amazing stained glass windows that were hidden inside the wall of the Cathedral. The renovation will high-

light these hidden windows. Now for the gargoyles! In the movie Le Bossu de Notre-Dame, the gargoyles

are animated and they come to life. If you look long enough you get the sense that the gargoyles have a

story to tell. We would like to give our thanks to Father Busch for taking the time to share his love of the

art history of St. Michael’s Cathedral. Our next tour should take us to Notre Dame de Paris.

By: James Bui


CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS

May, 2013

Special Up-Coming Choir School Events

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 Summer Uniform

Friday, May 3 to May 5, 2013 Camp Olympia Leadership Weekend

Friday, May 10, 2013 RCM Exams

RCM Theory Exam Grades 6, 7 and 8

Saturday, May 11, 2013 Ordination Mass—TB Choir

Sunday, May 12, 2013 Mother’s Day

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 Recital: Grade 10—Selected Candidates - Auditorium—7:00 P.M.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 CSAC—7:00 P.M. Auditorium

Thursday, May 16, 2013 Confirmation Rehearsal

Sunday, May 18, 2013 120:00-1:00 P.M. Grade 8 Confirmation—Bishop Vincent Nguyen

Monday, May 19, 2913 Victoria Day

Thursday, May 23, 2013 Speaker Series #2—Part 1—Auditiorium 7:00 P.M.-8:30 P.M.

Friday, May 24, 2013 SPRING CONCERT—ST. PAUL’S BASCILICA

Monday, May 27, 2013 House Exams—Grade 9—12—8:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M.

House Exams Piano - 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 House Exams—Grade 9-12—8:30 A.M.—3:30 P.M.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 Organ Recital—Auditorium—7:00-9:00 P.M.

Thursday, May 30, 2013 Speaker Series #2—Part 11—Auditorium—7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.

Friday, May 31, 2013 Jam Night—Auditorium—7:00 P.M.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: An electronic version of the St. Michael’s Choir School calendar is now available. This calendar is one of

the new features being offered as part of the updates being made to our school website

(www.smcs.on.ca). For the time being, the calendar is embedded in our board-generated website. To

view the calendar, please follow the steps outlined below:

1) Access the school’s board-generated website at:

http://www.tcdsb.org/schools/stmichaelchoir/Pages/default.aspx

2) Click on the “School Calendar” section of the home page.

Please note that events listed on the calendar are subject to change, particularly those listed months in

advance.

http://www.smcs.on.ca

http://www.tcdsb.org/schools/stmichaelchoir/Pages/default.aspx


DIRECTOR: MR. BRUCE RODRIGUES

SUPERINTENDENT:

Mr. J. Shanahan

(416) 222-8282 Ex. 5371

TRUSTEE 2011-2012

PARTNERS IN EDUCATION

WARDS 1. PETER JAKOVCIC 2. ANN ANDRACHUK - CHAIR 3. SAL PICCININNI - VICE-CHAIR 4. PATRIZIA BOTTONI 5. MARIA RIZZO 6. FRANK D’AMICO 7. JOHN DEL GRANDE

8. TOBIAS ENVERGA 9. JO-ANN DAVIS (416) 512-3409 10. BARBARA POPLAWSKI 11. ANGELA KENNEDY 12. NANCY CRAWFORD STUDENT TRUSTEE - ANDREW WALKER

TRUSTEE FOR ST MICHAEL’S CHOIR SCHOOL

[email protected] - www.jo-anndavis.ca

SMCS NEWSLETTER PAGE 9 SMCS NEWSLETTER PAGE 18

St. Michael’s Choir School Advisory

Rev. Ivan Camilleri, Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs

Mr. Jim Milway, Chancellor of Temporal Affairs

Mr. William Dunlop, Comptroller, Archdiocese of Toronto

Rev. Michael Busch, Rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral

Rev. Brian Clough, SMCS alumnus, Chair, Judicial Vicar

Rev. Larry Leger, Chair Nominating Committee

Dr. Constance Price

Mr. Paul Harrs, SMCS alumnus, Chair Property & Maintenance Committee

Dr. Joseph Gasser, SMCS alumnus

Mr. Michael Bernsiewicz, SMCS Alumnus, Chair of Finance

Ms. Patricia Parisi, Chair Governance committee

Ms. Anne Bolger

Ms. Andrea Chisholm

Ms. Kathryn Lagroix, Parent

Dr. Paul Gauvreau, Parent

SMCS 2012-2013 CSAC REPRESENTATIVES

DAVID GATCHALIAN - CO-CHAIR

GEOFF RAWLINSON - CO-CHAIR

MANDE PUSKAS - SECRETARY

PINA POVOLO - TRESEAUER

ARCHDIOCESE OF TORONTO

Chancellor: Cardinal Thomas Collins

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.jo-anndavis.ca

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