En Route to Kugluktuk: An Unexpected Canadian Tour

Posted on September 26, 2011 by admin

September 21, 2011

I arrived in Quebec City today, and got to meet all the southern participants. It was a beautiful day and we spent the afternoon walking around the old part of the city. I’m getting really excited because I got to see a lot of pictures and videos taken by someone who’s been on the Amundsen many times. I’m blown away by all the things that there are to experience in the Arctic and I feel like there will never be enough time to embrace it all. I also got to glance through the on board schedule and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow when I get to enter an entirely different universe. I’m getting up in four hours to fly to Kugluktuk, and we get to board the ship once we arrive. I’m really looking forward to settling in and getting a tour of the ship. What comes after sounds so different and exciting that I can’t believe it’s real yet.

September 22, 2011

Today was a day where I reinforced some knowledge I already had by experiencing it in real life. No – I didn’t get to do any cool experiments on the Amundsen. What I learned today was that Canada is indeed a very large country. At 6 am I took off from Quebec City and after about three hours, the airplane stopped in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut for refueling. After an hour spent in an airport with only two gates, we took off to Kugluktuk and, as we were landing, we suddenly started gaining altitude again. A little later, the captain made an announcement that there was too much fog in Kugluktuk for us to land safely and that we were going to Yellowknife. This airport was a little more sophisticated: 5 gates, a café, and Internet access. After spending three hours there, we found out that we’ll only be able to get to Kugluktuk on Saturday morning. There weren’t enough available hotel rooms for the 60 people on the flight, so they flew us down to Edmonton where I am now. All these cities seemed so far away from each other!

We’re not really worried about our expedition on the icebreaker, because the captain and most of the crew and the science team are all here with us. We will probably just have a little less free time in the evenings to get all our activities done. The scientists might have to cut down on a little bit of their sampling. In the meantime, we have tomorrow to explore Edmonton!

September 23, 2011

Today was a fun day where I got to bond with the Schools on Board group as well as the Amundsen’s crew and scientists. In the morning, we went to the Telus World of Science. In the afternoon, we had free time at the West Edmonton Mall, the largest shopping mall in North America. In the evening, the Schools on Board Group met with the ship’s scientists and crew and went to the Eskimos game against the Alouettes. I think the crowd felt a little intimidated by the presence of 40 enthusiastic Montreal fans in the stadium.

We’re all tired after a long day, and we need our rest to be up early for the second attempt to land in Kugluktuk. Hopefully we get there this time. —Karen Butt’12

Ronde #3 du Florida Winter Tour

Posted on April 4, 2011 by admin

Du 20 au 27 mars, j’étais à Ocala en Floride pour la dernière ronde du Florida Winter Tour. Encore une fois, je participais à des compétitions dans la catégorie Rotax Senior avec mon équipe de kart, PSL Karting. Cette dernière ronde, comme les deux autres auparavant, consistait de deux journées de courses et une journée de qualifications. Pour la course du samedi, je commençais la course en 21e position et pour celle de dimanche j’étais placé en 24e position (sur environ 40 pilotes). Samedi était une bonne journée. Après avoir été poussé en dehors de la piste et m’être retrouvé en dernière position au début de la course, j’ai réussi à me placer en 17e position. Sans incident au départ, et peut-être avec un peu plus de chance, j’aurais eu la possibilité de me retrouver sur le podium vu que j’avais les mêmes temps que les pilotes en tête de peloton. Mon kart était parfait pendant tout le weekend et m’a permis d’aller chercher plusieurs bons résultats au cours de cette dernière ronde. Durant ce week-end, j’étais le Québécois le plus rapide et je suis revenu au Québec très fier. Dans deux semaines j’espère continuer mes exploits à Miami pour un weekend de course qui fera partie du Pan American Rotax Challenge. –Simon Lauzé ’11

Getting to Know Ourselves Through Others

Posted on November 18, 2010 by admin

On November 8, 9 and 10, seven students from Lower Canada College were given the privilege of travelling to Camp Massawippi with six severely disabled children from the Mackay Centre. It turned out to be an unforgettable experience for everyone concerned.

We had previously spent two mornings at the Mackay Centre getting to know the children who would be coming with us on the trip. However, as we boarded the bus bright and early on the morning of our departure for the camp, we were excited, but also not too sure of what to expect. One thing we certainly had not expected was that the bus would break down about an hour outside of Montreal! Unfortunately, we found ourselves stranded at Tim Horton’s for an hour as we waited for a replacement bus. One hundred and twenty (120) Timbits and 20 chicken nuggets later, we were once again on the road to Camp Massawippi.

Because the weather did not lend itself to outdoor activities on the first day, we had fun painting pumpkins with the kids, and playing a game of Monsters Inc. After a great spaghetti dinner we had open mic night. By the end of the evening, everyone was feeling much more comfortable in the new surroundings, and we headed off to our bunks for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast, then went out for a hike in the woods. The rain made it hard to push the wheelchairs up the hills, but it didn’t dampen our spirits. We managed to come back to the camp with a Christmas tree for the classroom back at the Mackay Centre. We had lunch and then started an arts activity, which consisted of painting a mural to be hung up back in the Mackay classroom. We used leaves gathered on the hike to decorate the painting. We had an amazing roast beef dinner, followed by a talent show during which we sang a song that we had composed the night before about each of the Mackay students we were with. Once the song was finished we gathered at the campfire on the shore where we enjoyed smores, chocolate-filled bananas and attempted to sing campfire songs.

On the last morning, we made a huge brunch for everyone. It was comprised of 40 pieces of bacon (which wasn’t enough), 35 eggs and home-fried potatoes. We had a face-painting session and then before we knew it, we had to leave.

This was truly an amazing experience, and one that we will never forget. Each of us learned so much, not only about what it means to have a disability, but about ourselves and the importance of appreciating everything we have.

Noah Schouela ’11
Thalia Nghiem ’11
Isabelle Thibeault ’11
Jennifer Motter ’11
Alix Faraggi ’12
Sam Ergina ’12
Kevin Fraser ’12

New ELA Assessment Misses the Mark

Posted on December 9, 2009 by admin

EngExam The Ministry of Education has made dramatic changes to the grade 11 English Language Arts assessment for 2010.

Read the Montreal Gazette‘s report on these changes and what LCC’s Brian Moore (Senior Department Head: English Language Arts, Communications Studies and Literacy Programs) had to say about it.