School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha)
RECOGNITION OF STUDENT/SCHOOL SUCCESS
December 12, 2005
School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) extends congratulations to the following students/groups for these
outstanding examples of success:
CARMI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Carmi was awarded $1000.00 from the Ministry of Education: British Columbia Educational Leadership
Council, through the Network of Performance Based Schools for submitting a report involving how to
effectively communicate student performance using the B.C. Performance Standards. As a follow-up, a
student/parent friendly writing performance standards booklet has been developed for grades 1-5
students and kindergarten student/parent friendly performance standards will be added in February.
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Remembrance Day Assembly - On November 10th, Carmi held a student-lead Remembrance Day
Ceremony. Grade 5 student leaders did an excellent job leading the ceremony with meaningful
messages, poems they had written, as well as letters to soldiers – some of which were family members.
Many classes participated with choral readings, poem recitations and the laying of the wreaths. It was
a very meaningful ceremony.
Gr. 4: Laying of the Wreaths
Gr. 5: Response to “In Flanders Fields”
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Christmas Concert - Carmi is traveling around the world this Christmas with songs and narration about
Christmas traditions in various countries. There are two performances on December 7th, at 1:15 and
7:00.
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30 Years Later - Mr. Wes Nickel, one of Carmi’s talented teachers, was fondly remembered by a
student he had 30 years ago in a very meaningful letter. The letter entails the many inspirational
learning experiences that happened in grade 5 which helped to lead towards a teaching career. The
last two lines of the letter read, “I thank-you for all you have done, and all you continue to do. Almost
everything important that I learned in life, I learned in grade 5.” We thank Mr. Nickel for the positive
impact he has on his students and how he continues to teach such meaningful lessons to children.
Cross Country Canter - Although the weather was cool, there was excellent participation, spirit and fun at
Carmi’s Cross Country Canter on November 9th. Approximately 200 grades 4 and 5 runners from Queen’s
Park, West Bench, Uplands, Wiltse and Carmi participated in the event. All students received a
participation ribbon and the top ten in each event received a certificate with their picture and placing. Past
Carmi runners/leaders Heather Cochrane, James Sloan, and Daniel Alleyn (now at SLMS) led each event
to help show runners the route.
Gr. 5 Girl’s 1st Place:
Sharlene Phipps, CARMI
Gr. 5 Boy’s 1st Place:
Matthew Needham, WEST BENCH
Gr. 4 Girl’s 1st Place:
Shalya Hearne, UPLANDS
Gr. 4 Boys 1st Place:
Steven Kohlhauser, WILTSE
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Mitch Baker: Esteem Team Presentation - On Friday, November 18th, Mitch Baker, a Canadian
snowboarder champion, inspired grades 3-5 students at Carmi - emphasizing the importance of making
goals and taking the steps to achieve them. It was both an entertaining and motivational presentation.
Gr. 5 student, Holly Rae, helps Mr. Baker in his presentation
– she’s ready to snowboard!
COLUMBIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Students held their Remembrance Day Ceremony on Thursday, November 10th, 2005. The assembly was
completely led by Columbia's grade 5 students. However, grade one students joined in with a poem of their
own, and grades 2-3 students helped to decorate the gym in preparation for the assembly. As always, we
would like to thank Ms. Forsyth and her grade 3-5 choir for the excellent contribution that they made. Thank
you to all staff and students who were involved.
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GIANT’S HEAD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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The busy Special Events Ambassador elves have been around
checking classrooms every morning to pick up donated nonperishable items for the food bank. They are keeping count and
announcing their progress each day.
HOME LEARNERS’ PROGRAM
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Over forty students from the Home Learners' Program
participated in a 'Drama Extravaganza' day with facilitator Terri
Tallman. Students from kindergarten to grade nine were
involved in acting, script-writing, directing and producing short
skits in collaborative groups. The day culminated with a variety
of performances, in which each student had a role. It was a
wonderful opportunity for all to shine!
PARKWAY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• Students had an extremely busy month:
o there were two classes that had eco study visits;
o the grade ones visited the TD Bank for Reading Day;
o grade fours went skating each Wednesday;
o a class visited the Naramata Packing House;
o the grade fives visited the S.O. Art Gallery;
o and School photos were taken (student helpers did a great job).
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Each grade four student in the school was donated a dictionary courtesy of London Drugs and the
Penticton Rotary Club. The distribution was organized by Parkway’s grade four teacher Mrs. E. Markin.
Parkway hosted the handover of the dictionaries and had representatives of the Rotary, London Drugs
and School District 67 on hand for photographs.
PENTICTON SECONDARY SCHOOL
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Heather Lueck was one of six students chosen to represent British Columbia at the Western Canadian
Debate Championships in Winnipeg on December 1.
The Junior Boys, Junior Girls and Senior Girls Volleyball Teams all won the Valley Volleyball
Championships, earning them the right to participate in the upcoming Provincial Championships.
The Pen High Swim Team won the Regional Championships for the fifth year in a row.
Pen High was ranked Number 1 out of all schools in the Okanagan Valley on academic achievement.
Four students from Pen High, Ruben Evans- Galeski, Taylor Cook, Colby Ramsay and Neil Surkan
received rave reviews for their musical performance in the community with the group Chilipepper Jazz.
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PRINCESS MARGARET SECONDARY SCHOOL
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Up to 400 students from Princess Margaret and Penticton Secondary, as well as McNicoll Park Middle
School, canvassed the community for non-perishable food items in the annual 10,000 Tonight Canned
Food Drive for the Salvation Army food bank. In recent years some 16,000 items have been collected
on the evening. All items were dropped off at Princess Margaret from 5:00 to 9:00 PM and immediately
trucked over to the Salvation Army food bank at South Main Street and Kinney Avenue. We’ll let you
know the final tally next month.
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John Buckley’s Adventure Tourism class participated in a Trade Show Fair. Each student chose a
business and worked out a business plan including a marketing scheme. Students prepared displays
which were set up at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and the Princess Margaret Library
where visitors came to view. Each visitor received $1,000 tourism bucks which they awarded to their
top businesses. At the end of the two days, the “Top Businesses” were recognized. Students and
visitors really got into the project and the whole event was a tremendous success. A great big thank
you to John Buckley and Lorrie Firth!!
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QUEEN’S PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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The grade 5 class is participating in the Penticton Steps Out Project and walking to Vancouver. They
are tracking their progress each day on their web page.
The floor hockey tournament was a big success with over 80 children from Queen’s Park, Uplands and
Kaleden Schools taking part.
Over 120 children and parents attended the school movie night.
School skating classes have started at the arena and many parents have joined them for a fun skate.
30 students participated in the Carmi school run and three of them had top ten finishes.
The Remembrance Day assembly was well attended by parents and classes did a super job.
Each class has completed their fall school-wide write this month.
A special lunch for the schools EA's and noon hour supervisors was held to say thank you for the great
job they have done this year!
Twenty of the grade 3-5 students took part in a soccer tournament. They had a great time in the rain
and mud!!
SKAHA LAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL
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Danny Highley addressed all the grade 8 students with three Drug and Alcohol Misuse presentations.
Grade 6, 7 and 8 students completed reading assessments. These were marked and discussed in
grade teams.
Many students are coming out to “Super Hoops” run by Principal John Olfert on Wednesday evenings.
SUMMERLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL
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Drew Harris, Nellie Salter, Sophie Chadwick and Heather Filek attended a program in Ottawa entitled
Encounters Canada. This program is a week long seminar held at the Terry Fox Canadian Youth
Center in Ottawa. The first part of the week is dedicated to Canadian institutions: visits included the
House of Commons, the Senate, national museums as well as famous Canadian landmarks. During
their stay in Ottawa the students became more familiar with various institutions involved in the
governing of Canada, their functions and relationship to one another. They also met other students
their age from almost every province and territory in Canada and shared in fun, leadership skills, tours
and recreation programs. The school traditionally sends two or three students per year.
Two students will be competing in the finals of the Canadian Merit Scholarship. They will be
interviewing with their panel on Saturday, December 3rd at UBC-O. More info to follow.
A gold medal was won at the recent BC Swimming Championships in Vancouver, with a first place
finish in the 200M Freestyle Relay. Congratulations Drew Yates and Katie Sardinha!
With only a handful of players, the Summerland Secondary School senior boys Rockets volleyball team
managed to take a fourth-place finish at the valley championships. Well done.
One of the school’s growth goals relates to improving the grade 8 to 9 transition process with particular
attention to academic success. The school has experienced the best ever results at the grade 9 level:
o 24/146
(16%) Principal’s List (Means all A’s – best ever!!!)
o 78/146
(53%) Honour Roll
o 722/732
(99%) Successfully passing their first term course, although the Math 9 curriculum
becomes more difficult in the next three terms.
o GPA
(0-1) Four students
(1-2) Twenty students
(2-3) Thirty-eight students
(3-4) Seventy-eight students
… resulting in a very high GPA
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SSA (Apprenticeship) Program - Good News Story from Alden Roberge
Former grad Taylor Mackereth attended several meetings and was very motivated to be an auto
mechanic. As with many students, they sometimes have a narrow focus on careers. Taylor attended
Alden Roberge’s apprenticeship presentation with his father. As usual, several good options were
presented to students interested in the trades. The BCIT (Kelowna) aircraft maintenance program
excited Taylor. Shortly afterwards, Alden took Taylor up to the Kelowna airport to meet the instructor
and view the program. Taylor applied almost immediately and completed the program at the top of his
class (spring 2005). Upon completion, with very few job prospects in the Okanagan, he traveled to
Calgary and was hired within a few days. He got off to such a good start that he was given a
substantial raise in pay after the first week. During the summer he was transferred to Newfoundland to
work on a major aircraft project. He completed the project in half the expected hours and was flown
home to a promotion. Alden spoke to Taylor’s mother last week and she mentioned that when Taylor
phoned her recently with “no news”, he commented that he just phoned to say “how happy he was”.
Alden Roberge believes that the more non-university students the district can help find true happiness
in their life and careers at such a young age, the more successful we have done our jobs!! Great story,
Alden.
TROUT CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Students had an opportunity to learn lots about staying healthy at Trout Creek’s second annual Health
Fair. The morning was kicked off by Erica Wolfe of the Summerland Aquatic Centre who led everyone
in a warm up exercise session in the gym.
The primary students participated in four stations such as learning how to wash away the germs with
hand-washing and activity stations like dance and gym games. The intermediate students
participated in stations such as tobacco prevention, dance and kick boxing. Intermediate students
attended a station called "Escape Schools" which was presented by Barbara Bleiler, Community
Outreach Coordinator from Lakeview Dignity Memorial. This program has been profiled on Oprah,
Hard Copy and Americas Most Wanted and teaches three principles, 1)family members are often the
best people to teach about personal safety 2) strangers are people they just haven't met yet and 3) Be
Smart, Not Scared. They focus on teaching children how to avoid and get out of a dangerous situation.
Both intermediate and primary students also attended stations on nutrition to learn more on topics such
as healthy snacking, beverages and bone health. The school provided students with muffins at recess
and a surprise snack organized by Charlotte Venkataraman. Students also received a water bottle to
decorate in their classrooms prior to the morning start.
UPLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Eighteen enthusiastic Grade 4 and 5 students participated in the District Soccer Tournament on
November 3 from 3:00-4:30 pm at King’s Park.
Ms. Babiak’s class won the most creative garland category in the Summerland “Light Up” Garland
Contest. The class received a computer program (Encarta) from Staples. The garland was auctioned
off to raise money for a school in Kenya. Thank you to Mrs. Hansell for helping with this craft and thank
you to the leadership class at Summerland Secondary School for coordinating the Garland Contest.
This year’s UNICEF coin drive raised a whopping $851.00!!!!! Thank you for supporting this worthwhile
cause.
The Remembrance Day Assembly was excellent! Thanks to Mrs. Salting for coordinating this event
and to all the classes who shared their beautiful songs, poems and stories. Thank you to the many
parents who attended and especially our guests from the Legion who joined in the ceremony.
Congratulations to all our runners who participated in the Carmi Run.
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WEST BENCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Activities included:
• Novice & Intermediate Guitar Club
• Soccer tournament at King’s Park
• Grade 3 Bus Safety
• Student photos
• Carmi Cross Country Run - congratulations to all the students who participated
• Remembrance Day Assembly
• Volleyball
• Dress Up Day – Sports Jersey and/or Hat
WILTSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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The Grade 4/5 soccer season concluded with a wild, wet, and muddy
tournament at King's Park. Thanks to Mr. Biollo & Mr. Hutcheson for helping
out during this tournament! The forty-five Wiltse Cougars played hard,
improved their skills & showed excellent sportsmanship throughout the entire
season! Great job!
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Congratulations to all the grade 3, 4 and 5 students who participated on the cross country team this
fall. Participation was wonderful and strong efforts were given by the students! On November 9th the
team ran in the Carmi School Cross Country Run. Congratulations to all for their dedication and
efforts!!
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Once again Mrs. Schipfel has returned to Wiltse School to lead students in
sing-a-long sessions on Wednesday afternoons. She will work with primary
students one week and intermediate students the next week. Thank you
Mrs. Schipfel!
Ref: 05-06SUP/00300-01/Admin/Board of Trustees-General/Student Successes/ Success Stories 05Dec12
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