Resurrection Catholic Secondary School Newsletter
May 2016
REZ NEWS
Message from our Leadership Team
By Chris Woodcroft
Spring is here, summer is approaching and the school year is in the home stretch. We have had a fantastic year in
the areas of academics, social justice, artistic expression, technical expertise and athletic prowess! With a little over
3 weeks left of classes the focus once again will be specifically on academics moving towards our final summative
evaluations. We did have a couple of safety issues that, in collaboration with the Waterloo Regional Police and Senior Administration from the Waterloo Catholic District School Board seem to be resolved.
All the spring season sports have moved into the District, CWOSSA and OFSSA playoffs. This year we have run a
full slate of sports teams and clubs including the recently added lacrosse team. Thanks to all of our student/athletes
and coaches who have made the spring season such a success. The Arts area had a successful music trip to Chicago, a successful performance of the Berlin Blues and are now preparing for the Arts Banquet taking place on June
2nd. Our participants in the Canada Skills competitions did a wonderful job placing students on the podium at both
the regional and provincial level.
Catholic Education Week was a tremendous opportunity for us to celebrate who we are which was highlighted by a
number of social justice activities, mental health awareness and spiritual togetherness. A group of our students participated in the National Walk for Life event that was held in Ottawa and we had a full school mass to celebrate the
Easter Season, our graduates and Catholic Education Week.
Final Evaluations are just around the corner and our schedule is posted on the school website.
In This Issue
Finally, we are continuing to work collaboratively with both the Waterloo Regional Police

Message from our
Leadership Team

Guidance News

The Arts

Athletics

Student Activities
Services and our own Senior Administration to ensure we are doing everything possible
to ensure the safety and well-being of all our community members.
Yours in Catholic Education,
Glenda, Marisa and Chris
RCSS Leadership Team
Chaplain’s Corner
By M. Worth
What a jam packed spring it has been at Resurrection C.S.S in the Chaplaincy Department. God Squad,
our Youth Faith-In-Action Team, were busy welcoming the Grade 6 Students from each of our Family of
schools, for a full day retreat at Resurrection. Our future Phoenix, had a day filled with prayer, games,
team building, brainstorming and fun, as we reflected on the theme of “Building Healthy Schools, Where
Everyone Matters in Body, Mind and Spirit”. Each school had an opportunity to be part of a mental health
talk, and then brainstormed ways that they can bring a healthy schools initiative back into their own school.
Each of our nine retreats were filled with excitement and LOTS of energy, as the Grade 6 students enjoyed
being in their BIG, future high school.
When all the Grade 6 retreats were completed, the God Squad moved into helping facilitate the Grade 9
Faith and Science Retreats at Laurel Creek Conservation Park. Each day included a spiritual activity/game
in the morning, which focused on using resources responsibly and team building, a build your own fire and
hotdog lunch, and their creek studies in the afternoon. The day tied together beautifully, the importance of
being connected to our beautiful earth and seeing ourselves as responsible stewards of God’s beautiful
garden.
Catholic Education Week this year, with the theme of “Opening The Doors of Mercy”, as well as a focus on
Mental Health and wellness, was a packed week of speakers, classroom activities, Mental Health Awareness Trees, Mary UnDoer of Knots Student Link Activity, Rosary Making, Resiliency Talk with Alumni and
another Resiliency Talk with Chris Patton, Safe Spaces retreat, prayer and daily meditation every morning
over announcements on the theme for the day.
Each Day, we were able to reflect on a particular aspect of mercy: Mercy that Welcomes, that Loves, that
Forgives, that Lives the Gospel, and that Rejoices! And on the Tuesday of this special week, Resurrection
joined every school in the province, in a simultaneous Eucharistic Mass on the theme of mercy that loves.
We had the special gift of being able to enjoy a full school Mass in the gym on Tuesday, that celebrated
our Graduates, Catholic Education and our Risen Christ…and what a great amount of energy was present
in the school on that day! Our Graduates had the opportunity to be honoured at Mass, with Father Jim Valk
as our celebrant, and included graduates singing along with our full choir and band as music ministers,
Grads as readers and Eucharistic minsters along with their teachers, and their Grad lunch and banquet to
follow! Woohoo!
Chaplain’s Corner…. continued
What a beautiful thing it is, to watch a community come together to celebrate Gods mercy and presence in
our everyday lives!
And finally, 15 members of our School community, were able to attend the National March for Life in Ottawa with Terry Sullivan and Myself, and the St. Mary’s CSS community. In the picture below, a few of our
members are holding a beautiful sign that the Arts Council made for us to carry as we marched, chanting
and singing our belief that ALL life is sacred! Thank you Resurrection Community and the WCDSB for
supporting us to attend this powerful event.
Chaplain’s Corner…. continued
On behalf of the Chaplaincy Department, I would like to offer to you our thanks and blessings for all of your
support…in our weekly missions collections, our Masses, our liturgies, our retreats, our fundraisers and
events! This is a great community of mercy and love.
May God be with you this day:
Within you to strengthen you;
Above you to draw you up;
Beneath you to sustain you;
Before you to lead you;
Behind you to support you;
And around you to protect you.
Amen!
May Easter blessings and springtime hope be yours!
God bless
Guidance News
By S. Krtiz
Attention all Grade 12 Graduating Students!
Completion of your Community Service Hours (minimum of 40) is required if you are planning to attend the
Graduation ceremony in June. All Grade 12 students who have not yet completed and handed in their hours
are asked to see their guidance counsellors.
Although some students who have applied to either college or university have received admission offers, students
need to be aware that many colleges and universities do not send out offers of admission until second
semester midterm marks have been received and processed. While it would be easier and far less stressful if
all post-secondary institutions followed the same timelines with regard to admission offers, this is not the case.
Students also need to be reminded that all offers of admission are conditional – meaning that the offer can be
removed if graduation requirements are not completed by June. Pay close attention to all of the details
contained in emails and correspondence from the various universities and colleges so that deadlines do not get
missed.
Summer School
There are several options available this summer for students who wish to attend summer school. Our board will be
offering a selection of New Credit Courses through St. Louis is Kitchener. These courses will run from July 4 – July 27
(final exam July 28), from 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM, Monday to Friday. All classes will run at St. Louis is Kitchener, with the
exception of Career Studies and Civics which will only available on-line. While transportation is not required, teachers
will distribute 2 bus tickets at the end of each school day, to students who require transportation. These bus tickets will
allow students use of the GRT transit system.
Guidance News… continued
Summer school will be available this summer for Resurrection students through the Waterloo Region District School
Board, our coterminous board. Make-up Credit Courses will be offered at Cameron Heights Secondary School in
Kitchener. A selected number of New Credit Courses will be offered at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School in
Waterloo and Bluevale Collegiate in Waterloo. Classes will run from July 4 – July 27. Make-up courses are 3 hours in
length, either morning or afternoon, while new credit courses are 6 hours in length, not including a 30 minute nutrition
break. Students can register for a maximum of 2 make up credits or one new credit course. There will also be a limited
number of On-line Blended Courses offered at all locations this summer as well. More information regarding summer
school course offerings and registration is available in the guidance office. The registration deadline for New Credit, Online Blended, and Locally Developed courses is Thursday, June 16. Students planning to take a make-up course have
until Monday, June 27 to register. Transportation is provided for students who take summer school courses through the
public board – a bus schedule will be available to students in June. Please see the guidance office for more information
regarding summer school.
Course Selection for 2016-2017
Students received a Course Selection Verification form last week in period 1. This lists the courses that students chose
back in February when we did our course selections. Please verify that these are the courses you want to take next year.
If you require changes please book an appointment with guidance counsellor by May 2nd 2016. Appointments can be
made online at http://resurrection.wcdsb.ca/4Students/Guidance/
The Arts
By L. Erickson, and L. Lamont
The Visual Arts at REZ
What’s the buzz?
Thanks to Ms Erickson and all of our students that participated in The
Brush Off - a live painting competition at The Museum that took place on
Sat April 23rd. We had 6 students participate and two students made it to
the top 6!! It was an exciting experience for all!
Local Artist Bob Wanka visited our grade 11 art classroom to do a demo
on portrait painting. He shared a great deal of knowledge and skill with the
students as he painted a live portrait of one of our own students.
Arts Banquet and Awards Night June 2nd: Each year our department recognizes and celebrates the talent
that exists in the Arts at Resurrection. We host a special evening each June that includes a dinner, guest
speaker and awards presentations. Students are nominated in various areas; drama, dance, visual art and
music. Our most prestigious award is the Da Vinci Award which is presented to a student who excels in both
the performing and visual arts. All are welcome to attend! Ticket sales will take place at the end of May.
The Arts
By L. Erickson, and L. Lamont
Performing Arts
Berlin Blues
Special thanks to :
Julia Drake—Director
Corinna Austin - costumes
Zach Nunes - assistant
Lisa Hodgkinson - Front of House, Publicity, Consultant
Tammy Webster - publicity & consultant
Roddy Iltshishin - set construction
Sara Martin - vocal coach
Dave Owen - random prop & furniture scavenger
Andrea Craig - provided analysis of issues in play to be used in our
informational displays
Leah Ann Erickson & Ev Cameron with Arts Council - advertisements
Margaret Heldman - hair and makeup
Sean Zister - food prep for concessions
Colin Drake—music composition
Thanks to everyone that took part in our play
to make it a grand success. The Berlin Blues
by Canadian First Nations playwright, Drew
Hayden Taylor is a satirical play that follows
Otter Lake Reserve, when two German
developers offer to construct “Ojibway
World,” a culturally appropriated Native
theme park that could boost their economy
and improve their future. As the park is
produced, 'German time' meets 'Ojibway
time,' and the community is spun upside
down. Drew himself came in to visit the cast
and crew before the play to provide them
with a background on the Berlin Blues and
his original version of the characters. It was
an amazing experience for all.
The Arts… continued
By L. Lamont and C. Bencina
Performing Arts at Resurrection
On April 14th, under the musical direction of Ms. Lamont, Ms. Borth and Ms. Bencina, the music department
ROCKED the cafeteria for RCSS’ annual Spring Concert. The Jr. and Sr. concert bands as well as the choir, funk band
and jazz vocal ensemble pumped out tonnes of smash hits by: The Beatles, Adele, Fun, Beyonce, Journey and
everything in between! Thanks to all the fine Rez Rock Stars for putting on a spectacular performance!
The unbelievably awesome times in Rez Music continued with our
unBEATable trip to Chicago from May 4-7. A packed bus of 52
musicians: enjoyed a river boat tour, shopped the Magnificent mile,
took selfies at “The Bean,” rode rides at the Navy Pier, scarfed deep
dish pizza, watched the Chicago Cubs win a home game at Wrigley
Field, and put on a show-stopping performance for 400 elementary
students at Disney II Magnet School. The Resurrection students
couldn’t have asked for a better audience and warm welcome. The
elementary students sang along with all the songs and danced in
the aisles! It was incredible! Our Chicago trip marks the end of the
fab-u-lous extra-curricular music making for this year. An
ENORMOUS shout out to all of the talented and fabulous Rock
Stars and supportive parents who made this year in Rez Music
AMAZING.
Athletics
The spring is a busy athletics season which includes track and field, boys / girls soccer, field lacrosse, girls / boys rugby,
ultimate frisbee, boys / girls slo-pitch and tennis. Here are some pictures to enjoy.
The track and field season included several maxi meets, track wars at Jacob Hespeler SS, a great couple of
days at the D8 Track and Field Championships, CWOSSA and OFSAA! Thanks to all of our coaches and
students for a successful track and field season.
Matt G and our Boys Rugby team had several excellent, hard fought battles this season. Our young team
developed nicely as the season progressed.
Thanks to Matt, Patrick and Steve for all of their work with our Boy’s Slow-Pitch team this year.
Congratulations to our District 8 Girl’s Varsity Soccer Champions!!!
Congratulations to our
Girls’ Rugby team ,
who are D8 Champions (2nd year in a
row)!! Thanks to
Coach Susan and our
athletes for all the time
and effort you have
committed to our
team.
The Resurrection Frisbee club finished 3rd at D8 on Tuesday and will be heading to the OFSAA West
Invitational OFSAA next week (Tuesday). Congratulations team!
Thanks and congratulations to Tara, Les and
our Power lifters on a
second, successful
home meet this month!
Thanks to Mike, Joseph and Alex (Mike’s former coach on the right) for their dedication to our Senior Boy’s Soccer team. They completed their regular season with a record of 4-1-1. Way to go!!
Since when does Rez have a Lacrosse team? Thanks Chad for making this a reality!
Student Activities
Phoenix Finance – Resurrection’s Financial Literacy Club
by Fred Masters
You have no doubt heard about the importance of literacy skills. Perhaps you have even heard about math literacy. But have
you heard about financial literacy? Well, at Resurrection, we have a club for that too – Phoenix Finance! Phoenix Finance is
Resurrection’s financial literacy club. The club meets each Friday at lunch and is led by Mr. Masters, our Program Head of
Business & Co-operative Education. The weekly sessions offer glimpses into a wide range of topics from the exciting world of
personal finances. One session might be focussed on how to go about buying that first car; another week might see the club
looking at the importance of investing in the stock market for long term goals such as a first home; another week might feature
investment options that align with our Catholic Faith. All club members are given access to a virtual $100,000 e-portfolio for
their own personal use to test their investing skills. Phoenix Finance is open to all grades and we have had a staff member
attend each session this year too. Here are some comments from club members regarding what they learned at the sessions:
“you don’t need a new car – buy a used one instead”
“keep talking about the different types of stocks, ETF’s, equity funds and how we can grow our money for retirement”
“you don’t need to change anything – fantastic club that taught so much!”
And from a staff member who attended the weekly sessions:
“You have managed to distill years of financial wisdom gathered from teaching and personal experience into entertaining and
very informative 20-minute segments. The information that the students receive is invaluable in terms of preparing them for
their life after they graduate. The information has been very helpful to me as well.”
The club is always open to new members and the need for personal financial literacy just keeps increasing!
Follow on twitter @phoenixfinance1
The Grade 10 French
class had une
journée fantastique à
Elora watching a
French movie and
eating a crêpe
lunch! Thanks Nadine for taking them
on this fun excursion.
Thanks to our Science Department for hosting the second
annual Phoenix Science Olympics. Sixty students from our
feeder schools attended the event. The half-day was filled
with fun events such as: Physics-Dare Deviled Egg
Experiment, Biology- Pin the Organ on the Body, and
Chemistry- Creating Bouncy Balls. All of the Grade 6
students left our building smiling!
Rez Reads … and Writes … for the Fun of It!! —By Sara Martin
To celebrate literacy and to encourage students to read for fun, each semester we hold Rez Reads Week. For 20
minutes each day, students are given the opportunity to read, whatever they’d like – novels, short stories, comic
books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Studies have shown that this kind of reading has all sorts of benefits for the
reader – increased literacy skills, decreased stress and anxiety, better job prospects, greater empathy for others,
larger view of our world, etc.
In addition to regular library student loans, almost 1,500 books and magazines were signed out in buckets for
teachers’ classroom use. The “aftermath” of reshelving is well worth it though, as students could find something
new and fun to read…something they might not normally have picked up.
This semester, based on student feedback, we extended this idea to creative writing. At the beginning of each
writing time, students were given prompts (a jumping off point) that could inspire any kind of creative writing – a
poem, short story, beginning of a graphic novel – the choice was theirs. One of those prompts was to write a letter
of support to high school students in Fort McMurray. Ms. Martin is still collecting letters…so feel free to drop them
off to the library and she’ll send them away to the school board in Fort Mac!
Rez Reads…to laugh, to learn, to inspired…for the fun of it! Follow the library on Twitter @rcsslibrary
“Double, double toil and
trouble;
Fire burn and caldron
bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and
bake..”
William Shakespeare himself posed with our students before the
play. Thanks to Sean and
Evelyn for taking a bus
load of our English students to see Macbeth in
Stratford in this month.
Basketball Bonanza!!! Thanks
to Cathy and her leadership
team for organizing and hosting
the basketball tournament for our
students with special
needs! Thanks to our entire
Special Education Staff as well
for supporting these athletes all
day long!!!
French Students Visit
Resurrection - Merci
pour votre amitié. Thanks
to Nadine, Laurie and
Marisa for all their behind
the scenes work to ensure
this cultural experience
occurred for our students.
Both the Rez Film Festival and the
Charlie Film Festivals were a HUGE
success this year. To move on to
the Charlie’s, students have to be
nominated by their school. Then,
after a full day of viewing, the top
ten films were shown to a packed
audience at the Princess Theatre.
The level of production,
performances and variety of genres
was extraordinary to say the least!
Congratulations to Richard and his
full student team for organizing,
fundraising and hosting this
phenomenal event!