Message from the Principal - Stephen Garland

Ms. Finnie has said that I 'talk fast and walk even faster'. But I must admit that the lightening quick pace of the four weeks - since my last Principal’s Message - has challenged even my own ability to keep-up with things!

 

This is the time of the year that I affectionately refer to as the "silly season". It is that period where we are firmly ensconced in the current school year... and... are also in full-on planning mode for next year. The overlap of the two makes school life extremely busy and never dull.  

 

It is my sincere hope that this Spring Break provides everyone associated with the school with the ability to rest the mind, body, and spirit for the last stretch before Final Exams and Graduation celebrations are upon us.

 

Wishing you all a safe & happy break!

 

Blessings,

Steve Garland

STMC Principal

Thank you so much to everyone who supported STMC in 2017 with their gifts of time, talent, and/or treasure. Your dedication, generosity, and engagement with our community is what makes our school a great place to be for our Knights.



If you made a charitable donation to STMC Foundation in 2017, your official donation receipt for income tax purposes has been mailed to you via Canada Post in the middle of February. As income tax filing season is upon us, below are some CRA links about claiming your charitable donation tax credit which you may find helpful:

First-time donor's super credit

Calculating charitable tax credits

Charitable donation tax credit calculator

If you did not receive your STMC Foundation 2017 donation receipt by March 16th, please contact us in Advancement Office at [email protected] or 604-521-1801 ext. 133 or 131.

 

www.knightsannualfund.com



8 - 10: Peter and The Starcatcher Drama Production @ Shadbolt

11 - 24: Spring Break

26: School Re-opens

30: Good Friday

Science Trip to Honduras Summer 2019

The Science Department would like to run an expedition in Summer of 2019 to the cloud forests in Honduras to help scientists monitoring the unique species in this special environment. Students will have the chance to learn how to dive and identify Caribbean reef fish! If this is of interest to anyone in years 10 & 11 then please meet Mr Dawson, or email him at [email protected]. The deadline for a deposit of $1000 is March 29, 2018.

 Don't miss out on this unique opportunity!

UBC Physics Olympics

Congratulations to our students who competed in the UBC Physics Olympics this weekend.  The teams have been diligently preparing for the pre-built challenges on Tuesday afternoons and weekday mornings. Well done Knights!

Upcoming Physics Contests

Any physics 11 or 12 students interested in writing the Canadian Association of Physicists Prize Exam (April 11th) or the University of Waterloo Sir Isaac Newton Exam (May 3) are asked to contact Mr. Muise for registration and training packages.  

Engineers & Geoscientists of BC Bridge Building Competition

Eight of our grade 8 and 9 students took part in the Engineers & Geoscientists of British Columbia (Fraser Valley Branch) Popsicle Stick Bridge Building Contest on February 24th at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. 

Wesley Stajduhar (grade 8, left) took first place in the contest, with a bridge that supported over 300 lbs!  There will be another opportunity for grade 8's & 9's to compete, on April 7th at the Burnaby EGBC branch contest.  Please see Mr. Muise for details.

Upcoming (Free!) Workshops for girls in Science and Technology

Let’s Talk Tech - Technology Workshops for Girls in Grades 8-10

Date: Saturday, March 10, 2018

Location : Microsoft Vancouver, 725 Granville St

Times: Grades 8 – 10: 1:00pm – 4:30pm | Registration 12:45pm | Parent Session 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Cost: Free ! Snacks + Supplies included.

Registration: http://engcite.engineering.ubc.ca/events/lets-talk-tech/

 

SFU: Girls Exploring Physics Workshop for Girls in Grade 9-10

Date : Thursday, March 29, 2018 - 10:30 AM - 3:00 PM

Location : SFU Burnaby Campus - Shrum Science Centre, Chemistry Building, Trottier Outreach Studio : Rm C9051

Time : 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM

Cost :  Free!

Registration:  http://www.sfu.ca/physics/outreach/girls-physics/gepgirlsworkshops.html

 

As this workshop takes place on a school day, any students registering are asked to inform Mr. Muise in addition to completing their online registration

Surrey Schools International Jazz Festival Results

STMC jazz singers, jazz band a, and jazz band b competed at Surrey Schools jazz festival. STMC Jazz singers won "best senior vocal jazz ensemble".

Congratulations to the following students for winning outstanding solos awards:

 

Matthew Dias - Grade 12

Mariel Burguillos - Grade 11

STMC Mainstage Productions Presents Peter and the Starcatcher

St. Thomas More’s theatrical production of Peter and the Starcatcher had crowds roaring with laughter at every show. Centered around Molly, a British Lord’s daughter, Peter and the Starcatcher is the Peter Pan origin story “[and] the most accurate prequel to Peter Pan [ever found]”. From escaping crocodiles to comedic rhymes, Peter and the Starcatcher was a must see for all ages. “The cast and crew have put their hearts and souls into rehearsals for this adventurous and clever production”. This production was ably directed by Jesse Alvarez (a STMC graduate of 2011), and co-directed/teacher moderated by Mrs. Chinnapen. Thank you to all who came out to support this STMC drama production, and thank you to the entire cast and crew for giving your time and talents to ensure this year's production was a resounding success!

Write-up by Grade 11 student Angelica Parente

STUDENT ART SHOWCASE

STUDENT HIGHLIGHT:

THE VANCOUVER CARE PROJECT

This month student spotlight is focused on Grade 11 student Rachel Way's initiative, " The Vancouver Care Project".

The goal of the project is to shed light on the lives of those living and working on the Downtown Eastside as well as the homeless and marginalized population of Vancouver and the surrounding communities. Through the art of story telling, the Vancouver Care Project hopes to raise awareness of the hardships faced by those who are marginalized by poverty and injustice and also to unmask the humanity and dignity of each person, working towards ending the stigma that surrounds the area. Here you will find stories of hardship, injustice and adversity but also hope, empowerment and inspiration.

As always, we love to hear about all the wonderful and exciting things your children are up to! If you have something you would like to share on our social media feeds or in the monthly newsletter, please send an email to [email protected]

The Varsity Boys Team 's season came to an unfortunate end last Thursday at the Richmond Oval. One win away from qualifying for the Provincials, our Knights were unable to beat a talented Richmond High team. Playoff wins over Prince of Wales, Windermere and Magee had them in a "win or go home" situation which they ended up being on the wrong end of. During the playoffs the team battled through injuries to get this close, all in all it was a successful season! Congratulations to Sajjun Shokar who was chosen as a 2nd team all-star at the Lower Mainlands and thank you to all the parents, fans, and supporters of STMC basketball!

The Varsity Girls Team finished very strong this year, winning their independent league (undefeated) and placing first in the independent league tournament championships. This allowed them a berth in the lower mainland zone tournament that was held at St Thomas More. They defeated Seycove, LFA and Whistler but lost to STA to place third in the Lower Mainland’s.

In the Provincial tournament, they lost to Vernon in their first game and then went on to defeat Mark Isfeld, LFA and SMUS to place 9 ^th in the Province. Emma Stewart-Barnett received a second team all-star award. The knights had a great season guided by their coaches (Ms Farano, Mr Thierman and Dave Kazun). And the coaches would like to extend special thanks to their managers Veronica Sapitula, Rishalyn Reyes and Sabrina Bean.

 

Well done KNIGHTS!

The Girls Basketball Banquet will be held Monday April 9th at STMC. All parents and players from Gr 8 - 12 are to buy tickets for this event from Mr Thierman. Tickets are $20.00 and the event is catered.

Our Next Meeting Dates are as Follows:

April 9 (closed)

May 14 Spring Fling (open)

June 11

July 23 (tentative)

September 17

Our next PA Meeting will be on Monday, April 9th at 7:00 pm. This is a closed meeting to allow the PA to discuss confidential or sensitive matters. We welcome all parents to join us at our May 14th Spring Fling (parent social and meeting). We can be contacted at any time at [email protected] or [email protected].  

Please also note that we need a few people to add to our team . We need a Co chair, a student coordinator and a member at large. In quick summary these positions designed to:

Co-chair: Assist and shadow the Chair to learn the ropes, step in if needed and potentially replace the Chair when their children have moved on from our wonderful community

Student Coordination Leader: Organize and communicate in all student volunteer activities with the PA

Member at Large : general duties as needed and shadow to the secretary position

The positions were fully defined and posted at our open February meeting and we would love for some new parents to step forward and apply - we will vote on the new members at the Spring Fling (May 14) meeting.  Please contact the Parents Association at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Please send us an email: [email protected] if you're ready to sign-up or would like more information on all the short-term or longer-term ways you can volunteer. Never be shy to communicate with us how we can facilitate your volunteer time in ways that work with your schedule!

And finally, the PA would love to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) a most blessed Easter (with Good Friday on March 30 and Easter Monday on April 1)! Please enjoy this time with family and within our greater STMC community.

KNIGHT CLUB UNIFORM SALE

  Mark your calendars!

Here are the next few sale dates:

April 5 th | May 3 rd

(2:30 - 4:00pm)

 

Spring into Spring!

That’s right! Spring is just around the corner, but with it comes…………. rain showers! Why not shield yourself with an STMC umbrella? It’s big enough for you AND all your friends! See you at the sale!

 

If you’d like to skip the lineup, feel free to fill out the 2017-2018 Knight Club Order Form and drop it off at the front office (with payment or credit card information). We will fill your order and have you paged at the end of the day (on sale day) to pick it up!

Used Uniform Donations:

It is time to clean out your closets and we can help take those no longer used uniforms off your hands!

Please send in your clean used uniforms in preparation for our June sale. Please wash them and drop them off at the school office.

STMC HOT LUNCH TEAM

Can you help once a month? Chopping? Plating? Cashiering? Contact Carisa at [email protected] . Thank you for your support!

Some updates for March:

We are using compostable bowls and plates as much as possible.

Recent food items: choc. dipped strawberries, crepes, Korean spicy chicken bites, veggie fajitas, baked potato

New things coming up: Croatian sausage in a pita, pizza and calamari

Lunch #100 was officially served on March 7. Thank you parents, students and staff for your support.

 

Need to see the next hot lunch calendar? Here are three ways you can find it:

1) Posted outside of the STMC school kitchen

2) On a sandwich board outside of Mr. Garland’s office

3) http://stthomasmorecollegiate.ca/hot-lunch

SPECIAL EVENTS

February 8th Teacher Professional Development

On February 8th our staff had a rare opportunity to collaborate and explore other schools in the lower mainland in aims of gaining new knowledge that would strengthen their teaching and departments. 

Lots of great information and new learning were brought back, and we are grateful to learn from others and share our own academic best-practices!

"Fruits of the Community" Junior BERT Group Student & Alumni Project

Mentored by an STMC alumnus, two grade 9 students in the Junior BERT group recently received recognition and funding from the Jane Goodall foundation for their student-led project. Isabella and Logan's "Fruits of the Community" project aims to put garden boxes in the STMC to be cared for by students. The project strives to show students the value of locally grown sustainable food cultivation and gardening practices. Congratulations to these students for taking the initiative to make our community a better place, and for receiving over 500 votes and $500 from the Jane Goodall foundation to turn their idea into reality. The team aims to have the garden up and running after spring break, so we will be sure to check back in with this project in a later monthly bulletin!

Class of '88 Olympic Reunion

Here's a write up from Alumni Richard N. Liu, alumni class captain for the grads of 1988, in which he shares a unique experience he got to share with a fellow STMC alum, thanks for sending us your story Richard!

"In just a few hours the Closing Ceremonies of the first Winter Games in Asia will take place, so taking a moment to reflect and note that Korea hosted their Games thirty years ago when I graduated from high school,  St. Thomas More Collegiate , back in 1988. Thirty years later, I‘m flying over to Korea to attend The  Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games, while taking part in a trade mission to build closer business ties in Asia; and very blessed to share this experience with  Michael Coyle , one of my oldest friends and fellow STMC alumni.

Who knew that three decades later we’d be traveling across South Korea, meeting and conversing with fascinating people halfway around the world, experiencing incredible culinary flavours, test driving an awesome sports car going at almost 300km/hr, learning more about Canadian relations with Korea, going to Canada Olympic House, and watching Olympic hockey as Team Canada played Team Korea winning 4-0!

Tying this trade mission auspiciously together in Asian tradition is that we happened to be traveling during the celebration of the Lunar New Year of the Dog, and we were both born on the Year of the Dog! My eldest will also be graduating this summer adding to the significance of this year. Thank you STMC for all our Knights' lifelong friends throughout the generations and cheers to many more. Go Knights Go! Go Canada Go!"

Richard N. Liu

Class of 1988

Are you an STMC alumni with an interesting story you would like to share with our community? We'd love to hear from you! Send you questions and comments to [email protected] to learn more

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