Hike for Hospice draws local support

 

 “I am really going to miss the students and staff at Seaway District High School,” said Terry Gardiner, who has left the high school after five and a half years as its principal. “I have been really touched by the student comments that have been posted on FaceBook and Twitter.”

Gardiner has moved to the Upper Canada District School Board offices in Brockville to assume the duties of Principal of Continuous School Improvement. The position became effective on Monday, November 11, 2013.

While Gardiner knew that he was being considered for the position at the Board, the final call came quite suddenly. He informed the staff of his appointment on Friday morning, November 8, and told the student body during MSIP. New principal, Derek Cole, and new vice principal Laura Oliver, were in place on Monday. 

Seaway’s vice principal, Ann Blackburn, has also left, to assume VP duties at North Dundas District High School.

As Principal of Continuous School Improvement, Gardiner will be responsible for all schools in UCDSB, some 23 high schools, and over 80 elementary schools. 

“I will be helping principals and teachers use data to improve student instruction. I am directly in charge of a student voice project, Tell Them From Me, a major survey/questionnaire that must be completed by all grades 7-12 students two times a year.” 

(There is a separate survey which focuses on the kindergarten to grade six students in the board.)

During the survey, students speak and write candidly about an extensive range of educational issues, standards of learning and perceived long term goals, health and mental health issues, finding a functioning balance between the demands of jobs and of school. The survey amasses an enormous amount of information which must be analysed and interpreted.

“I provide information to school administrators and staff, and then assist them in deciphering it to determine what changes may have to be made, what programs are working, generally what actions are needed.”

Gardiner is also the leader for the board wide LINK project. He has already taken part in specialized training with program leaders, and in major student conferences.

As Seaway’s principal, Gardiner has left a legacy  at the high school. He feels that key programs were put in place, with the help of the staff and community, which are growing in effectiveness.

“The introduction of the grades 7-8 program as part of the high school was just getting started when I arrived. I worked extensively with principal Guy Lamarche in that first year of implementation,” he said.

He is also very proud of the Pathways program established at Seaway, which supports students in three key divisions: Students to Work, Students to Apprenticeships, Students to College/University.

“Seaway was a leader in this program, and, with the work of guidance teacher, Mark Lewis, and a new software program, My Blue Print, we can help students select the future courses best suited to their interests and needs.”

The Apprenticeship Pathway, especially, led to innovative programs at Seaway, in Ag-riculture and Transportation. These in turn, linked the school more closely to interests within the community. 

“The Dual Credits system instituted at Seaway has allowed students to earn both a high school and a college credit in certain of our courses as we are partnered with colleges. Students can get a real understanding of a subject and a possible career route in the Dual Credit program.”

What will Gardiner miss? 

“I think the culture of care I found at Seaway. Teachers and the community stepped in to see what students needed without being asked. There are students out there who never knew who paid for skates, or sports equipment so they could take part in activities.

I will also miss the obvious care that the students have for each other. Seaway students let others be who they are, and operate in a respectful culture.

Over my five years, I’ve always maintained high expectations for the character of our students, and I’ve steadily seen those expectations met. The hard work of our parents council and the involvement of our community have been tremendous.”

“I am also going to miss Oskar Night, our wonderful Terry Fox Rally and Sports Day,” Terry Gardiner laughed, “and I definitely plan to attend prom and the spring graduation.”

[…]

 

A snapshot of tourists in South Dundas: Generally, they tend to be adults, they come from within a 100 kilometer radius, are either here on a day trip or here visiting family and friends. While here, they want to enjoy the outdoors, cycle along the waterfront trail, visit Upper Canada Village, or maybe see the ships passing through the Iroquois Locks. While enjoying these activities they want to enjoy a fairly unplanned but truly authentic experience.

Having done all the research to create this snapshot of tourists in South Dundas, a project team of 10 people recruited from stakeholders in the local tourism industry, with South Dundas economic development officer Nicole Sullivan, have come up with at strategy which identifies what they believe the priority areas should be to successfully grow South Dundas’ tourism sector. 

“This is our stab at it,” says Sullivan. “What we need now is for the community to come and check out our strategy to help us determine if our priorities match the community’s.”

The team believes that the historical sector should be a top priority, followed by the arts and culture sector, the cycling sector, motorcycling sector and the fishing and boating sector.

“The historical sector is fascinating, as it can be used to enhance everything else, by adding to the visitor’s experience,” said Sullivan, who sees the historical sector as a natural top priority for South Dundas.

Using this list of priorities, the team is working on a draft Tourism Sector Development Action Plan and are wanting community input to ensure that they are working in a direction that suits the community’s needs.

Sullivan, along with members of the project team, will be hosting an event, called Our Passport to the Future: A Tourism Stakeholder Discussion Forum, November 29, from 5-8 p.m. at the McIntosh Inn, Morrisburg. 

“This is not your traditional type of public meeting,” said Sullivan explaining that it’s more of an open house forum whereby people are welcome to drop in at their convenience to see the plans and provide their feedback. 

The meeting will be set up in four stations with a facilitator at each station to listen and discuss with those attending.

“I really want it to be a relaxed atmosphere that will allow for discussions,” said Sullivan. “What we really need is feedback and comments about the priorities and a general feeling about whether our perspective matches that of the community.”

[…]

 

When Luke Whitteker first spoke to The Leader about his racing, it was August 2005. He was 11 years old and was busy preparing for the final lap of his first year of competitive kart racing. He would enter grade 7 at Iroquois Public School in September.

Today, the 18 year old is a first year student at Carleton University, Ottawa, where he is studying mechanical engineering.

Recently, he became the first Canadian to win the prestigious Race 101 Premier Driver Award having graduated the one year scholarship program based in North Carolina with top honours.

He claims that had he been asked during that first interview, he would not have thought that seven years later he would be a veteran Dirt track racer about to experience his first ride in a late model car.

Asked if he is about where he wants to be at this time in his racing career, he says, “Right now I’m a Dirt racer, and I’m going to learn about asphalt racing.”

That is what the Premier 101 Driver Award will provide in the coming months. For the Iroquois youth, that is a good place to be.

Race 101 is an educational and consulting program for the auto racing industry. It offers yearly scholarships for up and coming racers and was founded in 2009, by veteran racing crew chief Tony Blanchard, longtime motorsports marketing/Pr consultant Annamarie Strawhand and television announcer Adam Ross. 

Students experience the driving, mechanical and marketing sides of motorsports and at the end of the year,  the ‘premier’ driver is announced.

The premier driver is then given the opportunity to drive the  Race 101 Howe super late model ‘house car’ in actual competition.

Luke says the program was “heavily weighted towards public relations, how to get money and how to establish yourself.”

Most of the program was delivered on line in weekly webinars. “We could all see each other on line, and we got the lectures together. We got together every week for the whole year.”

In addition, Luke travelled to North Carolina four times, Charlotte, North Carolina twice and to Florida once.

He explains that he was aware of the program through a friend who had gone through it. He applied on line and was thrilled to be selected as one of the 16 students for 2011.

He was even more thrilled when he was named the premier driver at the February 11, 2012, awards banquet held in Hickory, North Carolina.

For the premier selection, he admits “I wasn’t the best on the technical and I wasn’t the best in the marketing, but I was good enough at both to win the overall. I put my honest effort into both.”

He figures he did well in  the situations the students were put into at various events, that he did well in his radio interview and that he had three great references (which were a requirement) from a local O. P. P. officer, a fellow Dirt Car star and from a very good friend and Motivational Speaker.

As the Race 101 premier driver for 2011, Luke says his job now “is to represent Race 101. You can say I’m hired to represent 101.” He points out, however, that it is a two way track, so to speak, as he too will benefit  from the exposure.

“I’m guaranteed three events with the car and however much practise I need. This is special. In our area we are saturated with Dirt track racing. Down there it’s more asphalt tracks.”

With the 2012 season fast approaching the Whitteker Motorsport Team is now busy getting ready. Last year, Whitteker competed at the popular Autodrome Granby track in Drummondville where he was named Top Rookie Driver.

Attracting sponsorships is important for racers and the Whitteker Motorsport team is now in the process of securing sponsorship for the upcoming season. 

Since he first began racing in 2005, Luke has been sponsored by Rust Check and Parcoll Products/Napa Auto Parts. Some other major sponsors include Toy Storage & Boat Transport, the 730 Truck Stop, Steve Summers and C Double J Harvesting. Another eight businesses, several of them local, were on board in 2011.

As he wraps up his current semester at Carleton, Luke is busy putting the marketing portion of his Race 101 studies to the test for the first time as he approaches would-be sponsors for the 2012 race year.

[…]