Round Square: Children Welcome LCC Students With Open Arms

Posted on September 27, 2012 by admin

: It didn’t really matter what we did with the kids, all they really wanted was love. Many of these children were orphans or neglected by their parents. It was incredible to see how much they appreciated just a little one on one time with us. We will always remember the children we met and the day spent at the school.

: This is one of the girls from the day care centre. As one of the youngest children there, she hadn’t seen people like us before and was frightened by our new white faces at first. However, as the day went on, she warmed up to us and we learned how much she actually craved attention.

: It was amazing to see how so little could go such a long way with these kids. We were given only two boxes filled with a couple of toys but this was enough to entertain them for an entire day. No matter where we are in the world, face paint seems to be a big attraction to the children. Whether it be the LCC BBQ or the daycare centre in Africa, it brings us closer to children.

: The Marie Daycare Centre has a very limited budget, however they make due with what they have. Their roof was originally a patchwork of materials donated or found. Here is Zach, he was lending a hand to Jack with installing a new stable roof.

: On September 24 the Marie Daycare Centre welcomed us with open arms. As we pulled into their driveway, the kids were waiting for us with eager smiles and waving hands. Our responsibilities for the day were to help clean up the center as well as entertain and care for the underprivileged children.

Round Square: Thrilling Experiences in South Africa

Posted on September 25, 2012 by admin

LCC students have travelled to South Africa to attend the International Round Square Conference. Before activities get underway, the group has taken the time to learn a little about the country. Here are some reflections:

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September 23, 2012

Today we woke up after a few hours of sleep plagued by raging thunder showers, ready to face the chilly 5:00 am air. After a hearty breakfast, we headed to the Ann van Dyke Cheetah Breeding Centre, where we witnessed cheetah’s run at 75 km/hour speeds. This was followed by petting a live cheetah, which, thankfully, we all survived!

The rest of the morning was spent touring the breeding centre; we saw various animals including ostriches, wild dogs, vultures and feisty honey badgers. We even had a grass spitting competition, in which Mrs. Shadley participated by spitting the masticated grass as far as she could…

Upon our return to the expansive game reserve we enjoyed a picnic lunch. After lunch, the group packed into two safari trucks and drove into the gated “predator” section of the park. There were wild dogs, lions and cheetahs roaming the untamed grasses and relaxing in the sun. Our jaws dropped in awe while watching several lions feast on an animal carcass.

As the sun started to set into the scenic African landscape, we gathered for a drumming session. Most of us felt unsure about our drumming talent, but the instructor kindly taught us some really cool beats. Once everyone caught on we played games and even sang and danced!

For our final activity of the evening we were split into groups of five to cook “Potjekii”, a special South African stew. After the meal was prepared, we got together for dinner before heading back to our tents for the night. So far, we’ve been having an amazing time and we can’t wait for the days ahead! — Sarah Salzman ’13

Round Square: Eye Opening South Africa

Posted on September 25, 2012 by admin

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September 22, 2012

The first thing that is noticeable are the fences. They literally surround everything. Although oddly enough, the only place that wasn’t fenced in was the Porsche dealership! Crime is a huge issue here, and the reason why we won’t be going into the city.

South Africa may be on the rise with a growing middle class, but severe poverty, unlike anything we see in Montreal, is still running rampant. There’s the rush hour traffic of workers commuting to Jo’burg, passing right by little shantytown-like huts with broken tin roofs and no doors.

After about an hour’s drive out of Jo’burg, we arrive in The Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO world heritage site and the home of one of the most important archeological dig sites on the planet.

We also visited a non-operative gold mine. As the owner was explaining a few things, we saw monkeys climbing in the trees around us. Needless to say we couldn’t focus much after that. The cave was pretty cool, we saw a few bats and, fortunately, no spitting cobras.

We then toured the museum, which houses several important Hominid fossils. The artist’s reconstructions of the fossils caught all our attention. Despite minor physical differences, they all looked undoubtedly…human.

After lunch, we headed out to the reserve where we were staying, observing rhinos, ostriches, antelope and wildebeest on the way. After a traditional “braii” (BBQ) and a lesson on the local astronomy, we headed off to bed. An early 5:00 am start tomorrow! — Zachary Dionisopoulos ’13

YPI – Share the Warmth

Posted on August 30, 2012 by admin

What does it feel like to help others? That was a question that our advisory, Harper 10, knew the answer to, but never actually understood until the day we went to Share the Warmth. It was there that we really began to feel good about ourselves. We knew that we were making a significant difference in other peoples lives, whether it was carrying boxes, tidying up a room, helping in a second hand store, or doing something as simple as mopping a floor.

For the two hours we were at Share the Warmth, we always had something to do. The staff even thanked us, saying that we had really helped them do things that they had kept putting off because they had other jobs to do first. We were able to see the people who went to Share the Warmth and how grateful they were. Performing community service at Share the Warmth has certainly made us aware that not everyone is as well off as we are and how we should help them as much as we can. – Adrien Perlinger ’14

Hockey de Rue

Posted on May 28, 2012 by admin

On the Victoria Day weekend, a group of LCC students put a team together for a ball hockey tournament called Hockey de Rue. The Montreal Canadiens sponsored it and the money raised went to the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation.

We competed against Loyola, Selwyn House, Kuper Academy and many more schools. Our team got off to a slow start by tying our first two games. We won our last and final round-robin game and we placed 8^th in the playoff rankings, which meant we had to play the 1^st place team.

We pulled off the upset and moved on to the semi-finals. We won a tight game against MNP and met Kuper in the final. We went down by two goals early in the game but with the competitive drive of our team, we managed to tie up the game. At the end of the 3^rd period the game was tied 4-4. We went into overtime thanks to the outstanding goaltending of Jordan Itzkovitz ’13. Five minutes into overtime, Nathanael Niedermann ’12 scored to win the game for us!

After a beautiful day of ball hockey, we were awarded the trophy for winning the tournament and another trophy for raising the most money. Our team raised a total of $11, 219!—Giordano Saputo ’13

Watch video coverage and read more in Le Journal de Montréal