No Makeup Required

Posted on November 1, 2016 by admin

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We are the girls from LCC and we stand 800 strong.

Over the years, I have met many LCC alumnae and I have to say that we’re pretty awesome. Some of us have gone on to pursue exciting careers, some of us have become moms, while others have moved to exotic (and not so exotic) places! Whatever the case, we have all had unique journeys since leaving the halls of LCC and what better way to celebrate 20 years of coeducation than by sharing our experiences with one another.

As a grade 7 and 8 English teacher at the school, I believe that cultivating a relationship and sense of belonging with the women who have graduated from LCC is essential. I want my students to leave high school knowing they can come back, no matter what. Most importantly, I want them to know that they have a family within the LCC community. I want them to know that they are, one day, going to join that group of girls who stick together, who get together and who support each other in the most difficult of situations. They will one day join The Girls from LCC.

So, here is what I propose to all of you, near and far, lifers and non-lifers:

Let’s get together on November 26 and make it count!

Let’s make it count because we deserve to meet and laugh about the old times – the good times and even the not-so-good times.

Let’s make it count so that we can reminisce about our teachers who made us work, pushed us out of our comfort zones and challenged us to take on the world.

Let’s make it count so that we can talk about how we’ve changed, and yet, how we’ve managed to keep that 14-year-old self within us.

Let’s make it count so that we can start a group like the boys did all those years ago: I suggest we call it The Old Girls.

You are a girl from LCC and we want you to be a part of it all. You deserve to hug your friends, to connect with classmates with whom you’ve lost touch over the years, and to take the opportunity to meet new people.

How do you become a part of it?

Bring your classmates and tell everyone you can think of. Don’t take no for an answer.

Let’s take pride in how we changed the school for the better when girls were admitted for the first time in 1995. We made history when we joined the boys in the classroom and we need to recognize all that we’ve contributed to LCC. Let’s come together and celebrate.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Alex Mazzella ’04
(AKA the girl who never made honour roll or Ms. Saunders’ soccer team.)

Where Art and the Environment Intersect

Posted on October 31, 2016 by admin

2015_16_JS_Butterfly_Garden_011 With pollinators like bees and butterflies in dangerous decline and our reliance on them for almost 90 per cent of the world’s plants, a crisis is brewing and LCC students responded with fervor. Last spring, students from grades 3 to 11 literally rolled up their sleeves and got down in the dirt, creating a garden on the LCC grounds to bring back the butterflies.

The result was not only a garden with a variety of plants to attract pollinators. It was also a beautiful display of milkweed and towering sunflowers that were sure to draw the attention of the artist’s eye. And they did.

Sylvia Tracy’s grade 3 art class had already studied Van Gogh, so a newly planted garden with blooming sunflowers just steps away was serendipitous. “It was a great opportunity to observe the sunflowers and see how they look from up close,” says Ms. Tracy.

The students first did observation drawing, emphasizing the shapes that they saw in the leaves. They were asked to draw what they saw and not rely on any preconceived ideas of how they thought the flower appeared. They learned how to observe, focusing on the texture of the flower, its stem and petals.

In the following class, students turned the drawings into relief prints, recopied the flower onto Styrofoam printing plates and then printed them on different coloured paper. These vibrant creations now adorn the walls of the Junior School hallway. “It’s a wonderful thing to be able to take advantage of nature right here at our school, in the middle of the city,” says Ms. Tracy.

As for the butterfly garden, Jean-François Maurice, Social Science Teacher, is working toward having it recognized with an official certification from monarchwatch.org. “This one project has brought together students from Junior, Middle and Senior School,” he says. “It has served an environmental purpose as well as inspiration for our budding artists. What a success.”

Duke of Ed Silver Trip: Wet in The Woods

Posted on October 28, 2016 by admin

DofEd_Silver_2016 To complete the adventure aspect of our Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award this year, a few grade 10 students went camping at Camp Kanawana for four days on the weekend of October 21.

The first day was our practice journey where we adjusted to the camping grounds, played games and got to know Eric and Blaire, our two guides for the weekend. We had dinner at the Arts and Crafts Centre – the A&C as we called it – which was where we spent all of our evenings and ate most of our meals. While we were eating, I remember asking Blaire about how we were going to clean our bowls since most of us had only one to eat out of for the whole trip. She smiled and said that we would be using dirt. At first, I started to laugh, because I thought she was only joking, but after dinner we actually walked out in the rain and down to the lake to scrub our bowls with dirt and the cold lake water. This method of cleaning is known as dirt washing and was a part of our daily routine for the next few days. When we got back, we were allotted our cabins for the evening. The cabins were made out of wood and had just six bunk beds each; they were warm and provided us with a dry and cozy place to sleep and to keep our bags in while it was wet and cold outside.

The next morning, we had a nice breakfast and packed our lunch for our first hike when the actual journey began. It was still raining and we tumbled and slipped countless times, but all that mattered was our attitude. Despite the rain and cold, we had a great time and everyone remained cheerful and sanguine. After lunch, we were freezing, so Eric and Blaire taught us a two-person dance that warmed us up. By the end of the day, it had stopped raining but most of our shoes were soaking wet and we had literally fallen into rivers, gotten stuck in bogs, slipped on leaves and been smacked in the face by branches. We had originally planned to spend the night in tents, but due to the very wet and cold weather, we slept in cabins for another day. While we played games and roasted marshmallows around the warm fire at the A&C, it even started snowing a bit – just flurries, though, that melted as soon as they reached the ground.

The third morning was similar to the previous one. We ate breakfast and packed our lunch before departing. The hike that day was supposed to be tougher and longer than the previous day. For almost everyone, though, I think it was the better of the two. A bit before we stopped for lunch, the clouds parted, bathing the woods in the warm, golden light of the sun. The sky turned blue and the environment, along with our moods, became brighter and happier. Despite the cold, everything seemed prettier and grander. We stopped to have lunch at Camp Tamaracouta, another camp not far from Kanawana. When we returned, the sky was still clear and everything was much drier than it had been for the past two days, so the teachers and guides decided that we could sleep in tents for the night. We spent the next hour or so putting up our tents and getting ready for the evening. Some people slept very well that night, but several of us had a horrible night sleep, as it was cold and very windy. We spent the night restless in our tents and were happy when morning came.

The next morning, the last morning of our trip, was relatively fast-paced. We had a quick breakfast of oatmeal, bread and jam, started cleaning up our messes and left the camp as it was when we first got there. We loaded our supplies and bags back onto the bus and after one last game, said goodbye to Eric and Blaire.

This was, for me, an amazing experience and if I could I would definitely go on the trip again despite the hardships. Everyone on the trip bonded very well and we all worked together while having fun. I would recommend that all students of younger grades take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, not only for the award but also for the wonderful experiences.

– Anusha Shekhar ’18

Photo Gallery

De très, très, très vieux livres exposés à LCC

Posted on October 17, 2016 by admin

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La bibliothèque juive de Montréal offre des ateliers pour présenter des livres anciens. Ceci a permis aux élèves de pouvoir toucher, sentir et lire des livres du XVe au XVIIe siècle.

Voici des commentaires des élèves

Aujourd’hui, nous avons eu le privilège d’interagir avec des bibliothécaires du JPL.C’était très intéressant et j’ai appris beaucoup sur des livres anciens.

Aujourd’hui nous sommes allés écouter deux personnes qui travaillent à une bibliothèque publique juive. Après leur présentation, nous avons mis des gants de protection pour prendre soin des livres, nous les avons touchés et regardés avec attention.

Ce matin, j’ai touché une partie de l’évolution intellectuelle des humains!

Lorsque j’ai regardé les vieux livres, j’ai compris que j’étais en train de toucher l’histoire, et cela était une expérience mémorable. C’était “extraspécial” pour moi, car la plupart des livres étaient écrits par des juifs et/ou sur des histoires juives.

C’était un honneur d’être capable de regarder et de toucher ces livres.

C’était très intéressant de voir et toucher des livres anciens. Maintenant je sais comment la première machine à imprimer a changé la vie et la technologie.

Je ne savais pas qu’il existait des livres aussi vieux. On a parlé des premières machines à imprimer l’année dernière en classe alors c’était incroyable de pouvoir voir des livres qui ont été faits avec une de ces machines, ou juste écrits à la main.

J’ai trouvé cette période très amusante et intéressante. Je crois que c’est extraordinaire que ces livres soient encore intacts.

J’ai aimé voir ces livres si vieux en personne. L’exposition était aussi intéressante, car il y a avait des livres juifs tandis que les livres que nous avions étudiés en classe étaient chrétiens.

Regarder des livres d’une autre époque était très intéressant. Une des choses que j’ai trouvées cool c’étaient que nous étions capable de toucher des livres qui ont plus d’une centaine années.

On a eût la chance de voir des livres magnifiques, et on était même capables de les toucher. Notre leçon parlait aussi de comment la machine à imprimer a changé le monde.

Les livres ont été très intéressants parce que c’est évident que les informations dans ces livres ont été très utiles dans le passé. Cela m’a permis de prendre une pause pour réfléchir sur les moyens que j’utilise pour trouver des informations et comment ils ont changé au fil du temps.

J’ai beaucoup apprécié l’expérience d’observer les livres. C’était très intéressant et spécial de penser que ces objets, que nous avons touchés et regardés, ont été fabriqués il y a des centaines d’années.

La chose le plus spéciale à mon avis, était de savoir que les livres que je tenais étaient touchés, utilisés, et lus par des personnes qui vivaient des centaines d’années dans le passé.

J’ai aimé voir les livres anciens, c’était très intéressant pour moi de voir les livres en ancien hébreux. J’ai essayé de les lire, mais les lettres anciennes sont différentes de celles du présent.

Photos

Sailing to Schleswig

Posted on October 13, 2016 by admin

Ahoy, LCC!

At 0900 hours sharp, all of RSIC Louisenlund’s delegates gathered at the school’s harbour to grab a fluorescent life jacket and climb aboard one of two types of vessels: a smaller sailboat or a motor yacht. The five of us opted for the more hands-on sailing experience in cutters, or boats about 12m long rigged with a jib and a main sail and carrying 11 passengers each. We sailed for about two hours in perfect conditions – strong but not overwhelming tailwinds and no rain – to the picturesque town of Schleswig. Once we arrived, we docked in the local marina and walked around for an hour, visiting the breathtaking Schleswig Cathedral that dominated the skyline and walking down the quaint streets of the village.

On our way back to the school, the wind, now against us, had picked up significantly, producing white caps that splashed us with freezing seawater as we crashed nose-first into wave after wave. We had to tack back and forth down the lake, which required more work than during our leisurely sail from earlier in the day. When we finally returned to our berth, we were shiver(me timbers)ing, wet, but in good spirits overall. Although we were initially a bit apprehensive about the frigid weather, we had a great day and would do it all again in a heartbeat if we could! –Adam Vandenbussche ’17