Des élèves de LCC se sont unis pour rendre une beauté aux rivages du Canal Lachine

Posted on May 5, 2015 by admin

Chaque année, des milliers de Canadiens s’unissent pour lutter contre les déchets riverains, qui menacent gravement nos voies d’eau navigables, et prennent part au Grand nettoyage des rivages canadiens. Il s’agit d’une initiative de conservation de l’Aquarium de Vancouver et le WWF et du plus important programme de conservation par l’action directe au Canada.

De plus, un des piliers du Round Square est la protection et la prise de conscience de l’environnement, il est donc logique que nous soyons impliqués.

À ce jour, le Grand nettoyage des rivages a mobilisé plus de 500 000 Canadiens des quatre coins du pays pour contribuer à garder nos rivières, lacs et océans en santé pour les collectivités et les espèces sauvages qui en dépendent.

Un groupe d’élèves du Middle School de Lower Canada College a prêté main-forte à la lutte contre les déchets riverains en procédant au nettoyage du Canal Lachine entre Wellington et Charlevoix, le samedi 2 mai 2015 de 10h00 à 12h00.

Voici des exemples de ce que les élèves ont ramassé :

– Mégots de cigarettes (en grande quantité), bouchons de bouteille de bière, sacs en plastique sur les berges et dans le canal, portes manteaux, aérosols…

Voici quelques impressions des participants :

« J’ai du mal à comprendre comment, j’ai pu trouver un pot d’échappement de voiture au bord du canal! »

« C’était génial de pouvoir aider notre environnement de cette façon! The amount of trash accumulated in the canal was crazy! »

« J’étais contente d’être capable d’aider l’environnement et c’était amusant de le faire avec mes amis. »

“The Great Canadian Shoreline cleanup was a chance us to take care of the Lachine Canal’s waters and shores in the morning.”

« C’était une bonne expérience, où nous étions conscient des conséquences directes de ces déchets sur les océans. »

“I was very surprised about how much garbage was being thrown on the ground especially when the trash can was just a few feet away.”

« J’étais dégouté par tous les mégots de cigarette, de plastique et les nombreux autres déchets qui polluent la Terre. »

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Round Square: To Err on the Side of Compassion

Posted on February 26, 2015 by admin

I walked in someone’s shoes the other day. What I mean to say is that for one night, I voluntarily slept outside. For one night, I was like the homeless who more and more frequently sleep on the doorsteps of stores and churches, right here in my prosperous city. But, in truth, not really. Unlike the men and women who cannot find or who refuse to seek shelter, I was in the warmest sleeping bag my neurotic and overly protective mother could find; I slept in a quinzee which served as a perfectly adequate shelter, surrounded by friends, protected by teachers. Unlike the men and women who sleep outdoors, I haven’t been ignored, eyed malevolently or stared at contemptuously. My night spent outdoors has earned me a lot of (frankly not quite deserved) sympathy. Still, a little glitch in the zipper of my ultra warm sleeping bag meant that I shivered during the night. It was not totally pleasant, and perhaps explains why today, a few days after my winter experience, I stopped before the man seated on a threadbare blanket in the snow. He held a cardboard, with the heartbreaking words, ”hungry and cold”. I just couldn’t do otherwise. I couldn’t bear to ignore him. I gave him all the change in my wallet.

I have read enough on the issue of the homelessness to know all the arguments against giving loose change to the cold and hungry men and women in the street. I have been warned that my poor dollar would be used to buy hard drugs; that most of those who appear to be homeless are not homeless at all; that they contribute to the decline of neighborhoods, that it is best to leave their fate in the capable hands of organizations. This may be true. It is undoubtedly true, at any rate that dropping a few quarters in a cup will not solve, not even temporarily, the issue of homelessness. Except that I have no hard evidence at all the man shivering right before my eyes is a drug addict. I have no real evidence that all men and women on the streets have drug problems. I have no evidence at all the man staring at me, a little incredulously, really has a home to go to. I do not know that organizations have tried to help him. I do know that he is outside in unbearable -30 C weather, and that he is cold. I do know that not a single person, not a single one, has stopped to acknowledge him. Sherbrooke is a busy street, and there have been many pedestrians. Their steps, though, did not even falter as they passed him by. They rushed past him, without a glance, as though he did not exist at all.

I wonder when we have all become so jaded that we do not shudder when confronted with human misery. This is a man sitting before me. He deserves to be, if not helped, at least acknowledged. He deserves to be looked in the eyes. He deserves an “excuse me”, a “hello”, a nod or a smile. I wonder at the level of misery and despair, which moves a man to seek refuge in the frozen streets. My loose change might not have done much good, but it at least served to remind me, and him, that he is a human being, and he matters. If there is the least little doubt, I will choose to err on the side of compassion.

Service to others is a great Round Square ideal, and it takes a dozen different forms. It does not always have to result in accountable service hours. It does, however, every single time, start with humility and humanity. – David Elbaz ’15, Round Square Head

Middle School Pride: Concert at Grace Dart

Posted on January 28, 2015 by admin

Samedi 24 janvier des étudiants du Middle School sont allés donner un concert dans une maison pour personnes agées. Un grand merci à Andrew Fata et M. Cox pour avoir supervisé le contenu du spectacle.

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It was wonderful to see the expression on the elders faces. This experience reminded me of how wonderful it is to work with senior citizens. – Andrew Vandenbussche ’19

Samedi dernier, nous avons eu la chance de participer à un petit concert au Centre de soins prolongés pour personnes âgés de la résidence Grace Dart. Nous étions septs étudiants du Middle School, et nous pensons que nous avons bien joué. C’était une bonne expérience car nous avons vu comment les personnes très agées vivent. J’espère que notre concert a été bien apprécié par les résidents et que nous leur avons donné un peu de joie avec notre musique. – Anthony Fata ’18 et Andrew Fata ’19.

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Grateful to be a Round Square Student

Posted on January 28, 2015 by admin

I am often asked, with just a hint of suspicion, “What is Round Square?” Quite simply, it is the sum of six ideals, internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership and service, which, added one to another, equal a philosophy of learning. Those six goals, each important in and by themselves, are bound together to form an integral whole that we call Round Square.

It is a great source of pride to me that these six ideals are so intricately woven in the LCC fabric, so much a part of the LCC student’s daily vocabulary that the six ideals are not so much applied as lived. Community service, the daily exposure to environmental or international issues, or participation in leadership activities are the common lot of all LCC students – much like homework, part and parcel of student life.

This no doubt explains why I am so often asked, “What is Round Square?” Round Square activities are not notable for the LCC student, exposed right from the start to the Round Square philosophy of learning. Round Square activities are quite simply and naturally part of life.

The most spectacular of Round Square activities are perhaps the international exchanges which give LCC students the chance to live for a couple of extraordinary months, the ordinary life of the Peruvian, South African, Australian, Indian or French student. These exchanges often begin with a burst of, until then unsuspected, patriotic pride. There are friendly patriotic tug of wars, where differences are highlighted. By the end of these exchanges, differences between cultures are dismissed as trivial, and there is the profound realization that for all the geographic differences, which, to all appearances, cause abysses between cultures and nations, we are all one humanity. This is a Round Square lesson.

Twice a year, there are Round Square or CAIS conferences for Middle School and Senior School students. LCC students travel, sometimes to far and exotic places, other times to more familiar destinations, to exchange, with other Round Square students, ideas about international or environmental issues. Open dialogue and finding ways of integrating leadership into everyday life is another Round Square lesson.

And then, there are all the other activities, no less important and very much a huge part of Round Square life. These include, but are not limited to, all the community service activities and the environment-oriented activities. The environment committee’s tireless efforts to educate on environmental issues proved effective: all six LCC students sent to Jordan had the urge to turn off the water sprinklers irrigating, all day and all night, the beautiful school campus. That we are all locally responsible for the global good of the earth is a third Round Square lesson.

The Coat Drive to benefit the Share The Warmth organization is a great example of the way LCC students live Round Square ideals. The drive, undertaken enthusiastically, if quietly, was a great success.

A Round Square student is a Round Square person for life. I am a Round Square student, and I, for one, couldn’t be more grateful. – David Elbaz ’15, Round Square Head

Community Service-Mackay Center: Learning From Each Other

Posted on December 3, 2014 by admin

On Monday, November 17, I along with six other students and Ms. Leiter, had the privilege of going to Camp Massawippi with several students and teachers from the Mackay Centre for three days. Most, if not all the students who go on the trip from year to year, have cerebral palsy and are in wheel chairs. However, this year along with these students, we were accompanied by deaf teens as well.

After two visits to the Mackay Centre prior to the trip (to get to know the students a little bit better), the seven of us from LCC were anxious to get up to the camp. Since I had already gone on the trip last year, it didn’t take long for me to become comfortable at the camp with the kids. Despite the very snowy weather, we took the kids on long walks and adventures during the day. We also did arts and crafts, played board games, and even got into a pretty intense competition of air hockey. Although you could see on everyone’s faces that we were having a blast doing all of these activities, all of the Mackay students and LCC students would probably say that their favorite times were when we all just sat around, talked, and laughed a lot.

Because there was a group of deaf students who came on the trip this year, several Royal Vale High school students and teachers came up to the camp with us as well. Royal Vale has an integration program for teens that are deaf, which allows them to be in certain regular streamed classes. Because of this, the students that came knew how to communicate with the students who are deaf through sign language.

I can’t even put a number on the amount of highs experienced on this trip, however I can say that one specific moment was definitely learning sign language. We learned simple things like how to sign the alphabet and how to say yes, no, please and thank you. On top of that we learned how to sign words like ”swag”, and even a new sign that had just been created for “Ebola.” – Zoe Young ‘15

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