“Excellence is not a skill. It is an
attitude.” - Ralph Marston
Success Stories
Forr the
he March 10, 2014 ~ Board
Bo d off Educ
ucatio
ion
n Mee
eeti
ting
Recognition of Student/School Success
School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) extends congratulations
to the following
owing students/groups for these
ese outstanding examples of
success for:
or:
Columbia Elementary
Students Donate
Columbia Elementary School, Division One prepared little toiletry bags with;
toothbrushes, tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, deodorant, make-up,
shower caps and if they had children little toys were included. All of these items
were donated by students at Columbia (thanks for those who donated). Three
lucky girls were chosen to drop-off the bags; Kayla Auclair, Dariene Bucknell
and Gina Larsen. Enormous thanks go to Mrs. Schneider for putting her time
and effort in to making things a little easier for these women. Try to put yourself
in their shoes. If you had to leave your house for some reason and you came to
the shelter with nothing, not even a tooth brush, how happy you would be if you
got one of these bags. Now think how lucky you are to not even have to worry
about little things like that. We would like to thank everyone who helped to make
this possible. Written by: Vanessa McLennan and Kayla Auclair, grade 5
students at Columbia.
Columbia Elementary Continued...
Columbia’s Olympic Day
Success Stories
On February 19th Columbia Elementary celebrated the Olympics with their own
indoors Olympics. Students and staff all dressed in their Canadian gear creating
a sea of red and white! Students were then divided into four teams for active fun
and awesome cheering in the gym. To make this work (and ensure students
were able to have as many opportunities to participate) all of the primary
students used the gym in the morning and intermediates in the
afternoon. Student leaders helped organize and demonstrate the different
events for their peers. Some of the fun events were the: wiggle bike bobsled, the
scooter board skeleton, the mogul bounce and so much more! The best thing…
Team Canada won every event, as they were all part of team Canada! It was a
fun special day for the students as it showed what great school spirit they have at
Columbia!
Bully Prevention Month
Giant’s Head Elementary
February is anti-bullying month and Giant’s Head is using this opportunity to
educate the students. First and foremost, the best way to combat bullying is to
be inclusive and act kind towards one another. Mrs. McIntosh and Mrs.
Robertson created a Friendship Wall with their classes. Students were
encouraged to share kind things other people have done for them. It was a huge
success!
Ms. Fedorak also trained the Grade 5 ambassadors on “Bully Stoppers”. The
students presented the concepts in dramatic performances to all of the classes
over the course of a week. On February 25th, former BC Lion Angus Reid talked
to the students about ways to prevent bullying in schools. The Bully Prevention
month culminated in Pink Shirt Day on February 26th. Pink Shirt day also
coincided with the Student Led conferences, so parents were invited in to see
much of the great work that has gone on at Giant’s Head.
KVR Middle
Success Stories
Kenzie Tarbet, an Army Cadet and grade 8 student at KVR Middle School,
wrote a poem for the 2013 Remembrance Day Ceremony. Kenzie’s poem
described the horror and impact of war. She presented this poem to the entire
school, as well as guests, at KVR’s annual assembly. Then, Kenzie submitted her
poem as part of the Royal Canadian Legion Literary Contest, and won first place
for a poem in the area, along with $100.00!
A group of grade 8 students, led by Mia McBryde, were the successful recipients
of a $400.00 Youth Initiative Grant from Telus, the United Way and Interior
Savings. The students application was a proposal for a mural, to be displayed in a
public area that illustrates and has the saying “Strength lies in differences, not in
similarities”. This proposal was completely student initiated and led.
Parkway Elementary

The Hot Lunch was wonderful! Kelly Alva and her crew did another super
job. Thank you very much to all of the volunteers for all of their time and
work!

Breakfast Club had three great turn outs. Thank you to the fabulous
cooks!!!!!

School sing-a-long was a great success - loud and fun! Thank you to Mrs.
Silvius. The students and staff had a great time!

The two recycling teams did another terri ic job at Parkway. Thank you!

Parkway has a Facebook presence – check it out for information on what is
happening at Parkway. Thank you to Kelly Alva for doing such a super job
with this!

The Choir continues to practice on Tuesdays and Mrs. Zaugg mentioned the
students are getting better and better every week!

The Multicultural Club met again in the Library at Parkway. They had
another super session!

The grade 4/5 basketball teams played two games and the boys and girls
had great games. Thanks to the coaches and to all of the parents that came
out to support the teams!!

The grade 4’s inished their FSA exams and look forward to the results in the
spring.

The Earthquake drill went very smoothly and all of the kids participated.
Success Stories
Parkway Elementary Continued...

Parkway held their own winter games on Thursday and the students and
staff had a wonderful time taking part in all of the different winter sports. It
was a great day. Huge thanks go to Mrs. Silvius who organized the event. Go
Canada!!!

Thank you again to the Penticton Speedway for their very generous
donation to Parkway Elementary and the Breakfast Club!!
Summerland Middle
Students Travelled to Quebec City
In early February, fifty students from SMS and KVR travelled to Quebec City to
attend the Winter Carnival. During the seven day visit to ‘la belle province’, the
students visited a number of museums, basilicas, shopped in the boutiques of Old
Quebec, went dogsledding, snowshoeing and cross country skiing. The students also
had an incredible visit at the Valcartier sledding village! The highlight for many
was the visit to the circus school! The students participated in a four hour circus
workshop with trainers from the Cirque du Soleil. Fun was had by all! The
teachers and chaperones would like to thank all the students on the trip for making
this experience an adventure of a lifetime!
Success Stories
Summerland Middle Continued...
Summerland Middle Continued...
Success Stories
Ski Day and Tubing Days
February saw lots of Winter Fun with the Grade 6’s visiting Apex Mountain to
Tube and the Grade 7’s venturing to Crystal Mountain three times to ski and
snowboard. The Grade 8’s had a ski day at Apex as well. Thanks to all of the
teachers and parent volunteers for enabling these memorable activities for the
Summerland Middle students.
Summerland Middle Continued...
Success Stories
Crystal Mountain
I was fortunate this past month to par cipate in the grade 7 ski days up at
Crystal Mountain. This turned out to be an opportunity to get to know the
students in grade 7 a bit be er and to have some interac ons outside of the
school building. I was amazed to see how quickly some of our brand new skiers
and snowboarders learned to get down the mountain! By the end of the first day
almost everyone was off the prac ce hill and onto the T-bar or even the chairli !
I saw kids push past fear and apprehension and embrace the experience, despite
repeated set-backs. On the second day, I was inspired by one student who
demonstrated a kind of courage and enthusiasm I don’t think I will ever forget.
Her name is Heather McDonald. Heather is a sparkly, smiling person, who also
happens to have cerebral palsy and consequently spends the majority of her
days si ng. It seemed at first that the ski days were not an op on for Heather…
that was un l her mother Lorraine, as well as Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Delaquis put
their heads together to find a way for Heather to experience the hill. The
answer? An experienced ski host and a sit ski! And it was a hit! Never could I
have expected the thrill of skiing behind Heather and her host as they sped down
the hill, Heather in sit ski – squealing and laughing and hoo ng and hollering – I
could hear her so clearly! Very cool!
The ski days (thanks so much to our grade 7 team of teachers for organizing!)
that our grade 7’s experience, provide so much more than a couple of days break
from the regular classroom. Students get to challenge themselves, build
resilience, experience being ac ve, and overcome fear, and have fun. Heather
McDonald was a perfect example of this! WriƩen by: Vice Principal, Andrea DeVito
Heather
McDonald
Success Stories
S
Suc
Skaha Lake Middle
Feb 11
Shelley Green, President of the BC Principals and Vice-Principals
Associa on visited SLMS. The visit highlighted Aboriginal Educa on and
Leadership programs.
Feb 12
The grade 6 classes went swimming at the Community Centre Pool for
the morning as an extension of the PE program.
Feb 18-19
Parent Teacher Interviews were held at the midpoint of Term 2. This
allows the school and parents me to build a plan before report cards
go home at spring break for students who are struggling academically.
Feb 21
SLMS held their annual Spaghe Bridge Building compe on for all the
grade 8 classes. Top designs will go to Kelowna to compete at the
Valley level at Okanagan College.
Feb 21-23
The grade 8 boys and girls basketball teams are compe ng in the South
Zone playoffs.
Feb 27
SLMS is hos ng the annual Grade 6 Science Fair for all grade six
students. Top science projects will go to Summerland Secondary to
compete at the District Science Fair on March 3rd.
Feb 28
Duffle Bag Theatre performed their version of Robin Hood to the
student body.
Skaha Lake Middle Continued...
Success Stories
Spaghetti Bridge Building Competition - Grade 8
Swimming at the Community Centre - Grade 6