Community Service-Mackay Center: Creating Unforgettable Memories

Posted on December 3, 2014 by admin

Being given the opportunity to participate in a once in a lifetime eye-opening experience has really changed the way I perceive the world. Before this experience, I had never worked with children who suffer from cerebral palsy let alone any major disability. The fact that I was able to witness and learn what these children could do on their own really made me rethink my ability to do things I didn’t think I able to do. In reality I am capable of achieving anything on my own unlike the majority of these children.

Despite the challenges that they face, they were always smiling and happy. It was incredible to see that even though these kids struggle daily with so many different things, they still manage to be constantly happy. It really made me reflect and realize how fortunate I really am for the life I have been given. I now realize that the small things in life shouldn’t be taken for granted like being able to walk, dress and feed myself. It is truly unbelievable how much these kids are able to do on their own even though to an average person it may not seem that impressive.

These students have the ability to communicate and express how they are feeling in ways that help them function and survive. As well, the staff at the Mackay Centre were incredible and treated the children as if they were their own, which is certainly an amazing quality. The students are so fortunate to have a team of people who are always looking out for their best interest, making sure that they are on the right path to success.

Overall, this experience was amazing and I am so glad that I got to hang out with these amazing children for three days at camp where we all created unforgettable memories. – Alexandra Meltzer ‘16

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Procès simulé: Palais de justice de Montréal

Posted on December 2, 2014 by admin

Lundi 1 décembre 2014, la classe de droit de 10 année est allée au Palais de justice de Montréal afin de faire un procès criminel simulé. Nous avons eu la chance d’être accueillis par le Juge André Perreault et son adjointe, madame Masson.

Nous remercions aussi Me. Marin Cojocaru (au centre de la photo) qui a travaillé avec les élèves lors de la préparation du procès en leur offrant de précieux conseils.

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Aujourd’hui était très intéressant. J’ai vraiment aimé l’expérience, particulièrement quand on m’a donné l’occasion de parler et d’être mis en doute, c’était tout à fait stressant, mais cela m’a enseigné beaucoup et je suis heureux de l’avoir fait. J’ai aussi aimé la visite à la Cour d’appel, car l’édifice était spectaculairement beau. J’aimerais certainement travailler là-bas dans le futur. – Ryan Hawa ’16

Pendant la classe de droit nous avons pratiqué un procès simulé. J’ai beaucoup aimé mon expérience aujourd’hui à la Cour d’appel et aussi au Palais de justice. J’ai appris qu’après et pendant le témoignage, le juge a le droit de poser quelques questions. C’était une très bonne expérience et je pense que ma partie préférée était la visite de la Cour d’appel. – Rebecca Ross ’16

J’ai aimé plusieurs éléments de cette expérience comme le procès simulé et la visite de la Cour d’appel. J’ai appris que le juge a le droit de demander des questions à l’avocat et au témoin. Le procès de LuKa Magnotta se déroulait en face de la salle où nous étions. Je remercie toutes les personnes qui on aidé à réaliser cette journée possible et mon professeur M. Maurice. C’était une expérience dont je me souviendrai.– Joshua Mindel ’16

Au cours de ce procès, j’ai appris plusieurs choses. J’ai appris à écouter l’information qui m’est offerte. J’ai aussi beaucoup appris sur le déroulement d’un procès et sur la Cour d’appel grâce à notre visite. Le fait que le procès de Luka Magnotta était juste en face de notre salle m’a fait prendre conscience de la réalité dans laquelle nous étions. – Matthew Tabet ’16

La classe de droit de M. Maurice a passé la journée au Palais de Justice et à la Cour d’appel. Cette journée unique était magnifique comme expérience pour nous. Nous nous sommes préparés pendant le mois de novembre pour le procès simulé au Palais de Justice. Ma partie préférée était les remarques faites par le juge Perreault à la fin de notre procès. Aussi, le procès de Luka Magnotta se déroulait juste en face de notre procès! Quelle bonne journée! – Christina Papageorgakopoulos ’16

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The LCC Tree: Put the Right Waste in the Right Place!

Posted on November 17, 2014 by admin

Our home planet, Earth, is not in good condition. We’re in the midst of a mass extinction; our atmosphere has 400 parts carbon dioxide out of any given million particles and there are still many people who aren’t yet aware of this.

So how can we, the citizens of this world, help it?

First and foremost, it would help a lot if we focus on our day-to-day habits. You know, the little things people like to do everyday that can pass as unimportant, but after daily repetition, it can become a big deal. It is like saving a nickel every day: nothing of value is earned in the short term, but over the course of 50 years, you get to earn around $900.

Unfortunately, the same is very true for an issue such as waste. A person throws away a plastic cup that could have been recycled in the trash. No biggie, right? Except instead of one person, it’s three quarters of a nation (let’s say, roughly 26 million people), and instead of once in their entire lifetimes, it’s once a day. Even now, it’s not entirely unconceivable that everyone throws away more than one cup a day. Rather, it’s around two or three cups. Running quickly through the numbers for a period of one year, all of a sudden, we have around 1,898,000,000 plastic cups ending up in our dumps when they should be recycled. That’s 1.9 BILLION cups!

To illustrate, take the image of this number line, where the left end represents 0, and the right end, 1 billion:

0——————————————————————————————————— 1 B

To visualize just 1000, here’s 1000 dollar signs:

That same 1000, however, will only be around where the asterisk is:

0 *————————————————————————————————————1 B

(Keep in mind 1 million thousands = 1 billion)

So what happens?

To manage this preventable crisis, this imaginary nation will now have to spend a lot more energy than necessary to deal with this trash.

What can we do then?

The solution is actually super simple and easy to do: Put the right waste in the right place!

It honestly and literally takes you one calorie and two seconds a day just to move yourself to a different bin to get rid of your waste, and because of that, congrats! You just saved yourself the money it takes to deal with 1.9 billion cups!

You’re already seeing this in action: the lights are off during bright days on Senior School lunches in the dining room. Although people hardly notice this, it can add up to a great deal, just like the plastic cup plight I described earlier, but with good things.

Also, there will soon be people regularly stationed around the bins in the dining room to remind you where everything should go. Expect, in the long term, for the three bins to also change a bit. – Andrew Zhang ’17

Media Archives:

A love letter to food: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5i-dCv7O8o

More information on the 400 parts per million issue: http://400.350.org/

Student Exchange: Discovering the Golden Age of Colombia

Posted on November 14, 2014 by admin

This weekend, we went to a Halloween party (one week after Halloween) hosted by the school seniors. It was a huge party. Even though I had no idea what the songs were saying (because they were in Spanish) they were still awesome. I had tons of fun, and some of the costumes were hilarious.

After that, on Saturday, we went to the Gold Museum. There, I learned just how much gold Colombia once had. Before the Spaniards came, the natives would make everything out of gold. They would do this not because gold was expensive and rare for them but because it was the easiest metal to find. All of the kings had gold decorations, jewelry and armour, etc. They would make instruments out of gold, weapons, helmets, anything you could think of, they made out of gold.

At the museum, you could really see how skilled the natives were at crafting the gold. They made tiny items with so much detail! It was incredible! I cannot believe that I had no idea that Colombia had so much gold and could make such wonderful things.

Gold is so important to Colombians that half of their flag, which is yellow, represents the gold that they had before the Spaniards came.

I am having so much fun in Colombia and I can’t believe that it’s almost over! –
Paul Virally ’17, Exchange Student @ Colegia Anglo Colombiano

Jour de souvenir et l’opération vétérans

Posted on November 13, 2014 by admin

Ottawa, 11 novembre 2014

Quatres élèves ont participé à l’opération vétérans organisé par un ancien élèves de LCC, le Dr. Paul Kavanagh ’70. Nous avons eu une conférence au Château Laurier qui nous a expliqué le programme, puis, nous avons assisté à la cérémonie et pour finir, nous avons visité le musée de la guerre.

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One thing that really stood out to me during our day trip to Ottawa was when a speaker from The Royal Canadian Legion said the words “Freedom is not free.” The words spoke to me on a different level than the rest of the speeches and truly highlighted the meaning of Remembrance Day.

Le point culminant de ma journée était lorsque deux avions de chasse ont survolé la foule pendent la cérémonie. Ce fut un plaisir d’aller à Ottawa avec M. Maurice, Ryan, Dylan et Andrew. – Christina Papageorgakopoulos ’16

My Remembrance Day experience in Ottawa was something to hold on to. Celebrated in tandem with the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the deaths of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, I got to see multiple displays of the Canadian military, including the Cadets, two roaring fighter jets as well as a 21 gun salute.

Avant la céremonie, j’ai appris comment Operation Véteran a aidé plus que 6500 anciens soldats. De plus, j’ai eu la chance d’écouter plusieurs témoins, des vrais soldats sur cet accomplissement. En conclusion, ce fut une bonne expérience où j’ai appris beaucoup sur l’histoire militaire de Canada! – Andrew Zhang ’17

L’événement a été très bien planifié avec l’intention de faire prendre conscience des horreurs des batailles et de l’importance de se souvenir de nos soldats . Je suis vraiment reconnaissant d’avoir eu l’occasion de venir à Ottawa, et remercie les gens qui ont fait le sacrifice ultime.

Being here during such a somber ceremony was quite the experience. Standing silently side by side with 800,000 other Canadians was extremely powerful and emotional and I am very grateful to have taken part in it. I truly enjoyed this experience as I found it very inspirational and interesting. – Ryan Hawa ’16

The Remembrance Day ceremony was spectacular. As a nation, we stood strong at the heart of our capital on the very location that only three short weeks ago Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was killed standing guard. He died defending the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The memorial that is a constant reminder of our freedom and the ultimate sacrifice that was paid to establish it as well as to protect it.

Au long de la cérémonie, nous avons parlé des sacrifices faits par les soldats des Première et Deuxième Guerres mondiales qui ont réaffirmé l’existence d’un monde libre. Un monde de progrès, sans limite imposée par des dictateurs fanatiques. Il est essentiel que nous nous souvenions que le progrès, les technologies modernes et la facilité de la vie sont le résultat du sacrifice ultime de milliers de soldats canadiens, parmi d’autres.

I left the ceremony feeling proud to be Canadian. I left remembering that we should never forget the sacrifice made by fellow Canadians for our country and that in new times of political uncertainty, religious fanaticism and barbarianism, we must not fall to factionalism; we must instead come closer together and remember why we are here and who paid the price for it. – Dylan Theriault-Harris ’16