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A Night at the Art Show - April 27, 2009
On Thursday, April 23, Linden students showed
off their artistic flair at the school's annual Art Show.
Students in grades 1-12 displayed a fantastic
array of projects all over the school, ranging from sketches
to sculptures to handmade sweaters. Whatever the project,
the final pieces reflected the enormous amount of time and
care the girls put into their work, as well as each girl's
unique perspective and artistic talent. They also reflected
environmental consciousness and ingenuity, as many projects
were constructed from recycled and sustainable materials.
Several students sold their wares
at the event, with a portion of sales proceeds going to the
Native Canadian
Centre of Toronto Youth Program (the main organization
supported on the night) as well as a host of other organizations.
Monica, a grade 9 student, sold hand-made scarves in support
of Toronto's Centre for Addiction
and Mental Health, while Linden's Education for Girls
Everywhere (EdGE) club sold "recycled" necklaces
(with beads made from newspaper and magazines, as well as
the remains of other necklaces) to raise money for Help
Lesotho.
Our students really enjoyed being able to
show off their hard work to the Linden community and having
the opportunity to view the work of girls in other grades.
We thank Sharon for organizing a fantastic Art Show, and we
thank all of the students, parents, grandparents and friends
who came out to enjoy the night with us. We hope you had fun!
Junior Ball Hockey team reaches tournament
finals - April 23, 2009
The Linden School's Junior Ball Hockey team
put forth a great effort at yesterday's Small Schools Athletic
Federation (SSAF) tournament, placing second overall of the
competition's nine teams.
The girls started off the day strong, winning
four of five round robin games and earning a #2 overall seed.
Their performance earned them a bye into the semi-finals,
where they won handily by a margin of 5-0.
In the tournament championship, Linden faced
off against Alan Howard Waldorf School, with whom the team
developed a stiff rivalry last year. After regulation time
and a five-minute overtime period, the game remained tied
0-0; after some outstanding hockey from both sides, the game
was headed to penalty shots. Despite a great effort from Linden,
Alan Howard took the game by a score of 1-0 in the final round
of penalties.
Coaches Deidre and Jeanette are bursting
with pride for the outstanding play, class and sportsmanship
displayed by all of the team's members: Nicole (grade 7) Alissa
(grade 8); Myfanwy (grade 6); Sophia (grade 7); Signy (grade
8); Geneva (grade 8); Laura K. (grade 6); Romi (grade 8);
Antonia (grade 7); Kalia (grade 6); Kima (grade 8); Maggie
(grade 8); and Naomi A.R. (grade 7). A special mention goes
to Nicole, who was trained as a goalie at the last minute
due to an injury; she let in only two goals all day in a briliant
display of goalkeeping.
Congratulations to Deidre, Jeanette and
all the girls!
Happy Earth Day! - April 22, 2009
It's April 22, and that means it's Earth
Day! The Linden School marked this event with a special activity
at this morning's All School, joining 1 billion people from
across the globe in celebrating what the Earth Day Network
calls the largest secular civic event in the world.
The MCs for this year's event were
the members of the grade 3/4 class, who began today's All
School by sharing their knowledge about the origins of Earth
Day. They revealed that Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator
Gaylord Nelson in the late 1960s as a grassroots movement.
20 million Americans participated in 1970's inaugural Earth
Day, and the number of people around the world observing this
event has grown by leaps and bounds ever since.
Christine and the grade 3/4 girls then explained
the day's activity. Each school family was given a chart with
a different electronics device on it (e.g., an mp3 player,
cell phone or smartphone) and asked to brainstorm the factors
they would consider when deciding whether to purchase that
device. After five minutes of group work, the whole school
sat down to watch a 20-minute video; after the presentation,
the families would then return to their chart and see if they
had any considerations to add.
The video may have been short, but
it had a big impact. The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
provides a whirlwind tour of the modern materials economy,
following a consumer good from extraction through sale, use
and disposal and highlighting the many negative environmental
impacts of each step in the process. Host Annie Leonard shows
the video's viewers who really pays for the production of
goods, whether it be through damage to the natural environment,
increased health concerns or the low wages paid to the people
who produce and sell the goods.
When the families returned to their activity
after the video, the impact it made was clear. While most
groups listed factors such as colour, storage space, design
and battery life as important electronics considerations before
watching the video, their after-video considerations were
much more broad in scope. Families began to consider questions
like these:
- Who really paid for this product?
- How long will it last before I have to throw it out?
- What natural resources were used to make this product?
And, perhaps most tellingly:
Although the activity focused on the impact
the manufacturing process has on the environment as a whole,
it tied in closely to this year's theme of water. Though many
people focus on the water pollution caused by the extraction
and processing of natural resources, these processes are the
perpetrators of water-wasting as well. As Christine pointed
out at the conclusion of All School, it takes about 7,000
litres of water to produce one pair of shoes, and about 1,800
litres of water to produce a t-shirt.
The real take-home message of today's activity?
By simply taking the above considerations into account before
you buy something new, it's possible for just one person to
make a real difference in our environment.
So, on behalf of the grade 3/4 class,
and from everyone at Linden: Happy Earth Day!
Career Day presents a world of possibilities
- April 20, 2009
On Thursday, April 16, Linden hosted another
successful Career Day for students in grades 7-12.
With 20 speakers volunteering to speak to
our girls for this year's event, students got a taste of a
diverse array of potential careers. Each student attended
three forty-minute sessions in the morning, learning about
vocations including law, creative writing, entrepreneurship,
acting, fraud detection and teaching, among many others. All
students also had the opportunity to hear from the day's two
keynote speakers: Elizabeth Semmelhack, Curator at the Bata
Shoe Museum, and Lieutenant-Colonel Nishika Jardine of the
Canadian Forces.
Our students really enjoyed hearing about
the many places their knowledge, determination and passion
may take them once they've finished school. And in every session,
no matter what the speaker's career, a wonderful piece of
advice surfaced again and again: do what you love, and don't
settle for anything less.
We extend our thanks to all of our speakers
for taking the time to share their experiences with us, and
to Eleanor and Nasrin for organizing a wonderful Career Day!
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