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Students Speak Up at SOMA - May 3, 2011
On Thursday, April 28, and Friday, April 29, several Linden students headed to the University of Toronto as delgates to the Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly (SOMA). SOMA is North America's largest model United Nations run for and by students.
The delegates spent many hours preparing for the assembly, and their hard work paid dividends. Grade 12 students Ayesha and Alex were part of the Economic and Social Rights Committee, and were extremely active in both formal debates and the informal caucuses, which determine which resolutions pass. This was paticularly true on debates about regulating the sale of human organs.
Annabel, another grade 12 student, was a delegate at UNICEF. She was similarly at the centre of formal and informal proceedings around issues surrounding HIV and child labour, and she was the only delegate who raised the gendered dimensions of the issues. At the General Assembly, Julia (grade 12) made some telling interventions on cyber warfare and nuclear disarmament. Grade 9 student, Shelley, learned a whole host of things by observing the proceedings, and she will be an important resource to next year's team, as many team members are graduating this year.
Ladles and Loans: Grade 5 Kiva Fundraiser - December 20, 2010
Last week, our grade 5 class tied on their aprons and served up soup as a fundraiser for micro-lender Kiva. Read on to hear about what inspired their fundraising efforts, and how they plan to help with the money they raised.
"We read the book One Hen a couple of months ago and it was about a little boy who helped his family by buying one hen. He used the money he made from selling the hen's eggs to buy another hen and then another and another. He got so busy that he had to hire other people in his community. Soteira told us this was called microlending.
"In November, we went to the Out of the Cold program at the Metropolitan United Church where we helped set up a soup lunch for people who can't afford any food. This gave us the idea of running a soup lunch at Linden because we thought it would be a good idea to raise money to help other people.
"In total, we had 11 soups donated to our project from Linden staff and grade 5 families. We raised $105 and together, chose to donate it to the following Kiva projects:
- Cruz Magdalena Montesdeoca Vera (Portoviejo, Ecuador):Señora Cruz is 51-years old, married, and has three adult children. Cruz's husband is a driver. Together they sell all types of clothing. They travel to the town and into the countryside in a small truck that
he owns. We loaned her $25 to buy merchandise for her clothing business.
- Ulziiburen Shuher (Sansar, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia):
Ulziiburen Shuher is 37 years old and lives with her husband and two sons in her sister's house in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. Ulziiburen operates both a dairy products and a newspaper trading
business in a rented stall at the grocery shop next to the bus station of Bayanzurh district. We loaned her $25 to buy supplies for her stall.
- Francine Nyirahirwa (Kigali, Rwanda): Francine Nyirahirwa is 36 years old, married, and has five children who are between the ages of 2 and 14. She runs a small general store that sells a wide variety of food and other items. Francince has been in this business for about five years; her store is open from 6 AM to 8 PM. We loaned her $25 to buy goods for her general store.
- Juana Francisca ( Corinto, Morazan, El Salvador): Juana, 54, is a general merchandise and cosmetics merchant. She lives alone because her children have formed their own families. For 20 years she has sold decorations, cosmetics and clothes. She comes from a very hard working family because both her parents and siblings are merchants. She works all day every day of the week. We loaned her $25 to buy cosmetics for her shop.
"The rest of our funds ($4.48) were given to Kiva for their operating costs.
"In the end, we had a great time and feel proud to be supporting all these women through Kiva to achieve their goals."
Remembering the Montreal Massacre - December
18, 2009
On December 6, 2009, Canadians marked the
20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. On this date in
1989, 14 women lost their lives when an enraged gunman burst
into Montreal's École Polytechnique, claiming he was
"fighting feminism".
Every year, people across Canada remember
this event in their own unique way; at Linden, we paid tribute
to the fallen women - and to all women affected by violence
- with a candlelit ceremony led by six grade 12 students.
The ceremony was held when the whole school
came together for our weekly Greetings gathering on Tuesday,
December 8. The girls leading the ceremony began by lighting
a candle for each of the fallen women, and asking the school
to join them in a minute of silence to remember the victims.
They then emphasized that, though several ongoing wars - such
as the war on crime, the war on terror and the war in Afghanistan
- get a great deal of media attention, there is another war
that is largely overlooked, but even more deadly: the war
on women.
According to statistics cited in Brian Vallée's
book The War on Women: Elly Armour, Jane Hursham, and Criminal
Domestic Violence in Canadian Homes, there were 101 Canadian
military and law-enforcement deaths for the seven-year period
between 2000 and 2006; however, even more startling is that
for that same period, more than 500 women were killed as a
result of domestic violence.
Vallée also points out that the federal
government estimates the annual cost of violence against women
at $1.1 billion in direct medical costs alone. That figure
rises to more than $4 billion a year when social services,
lost productivity, lost earnings, and police, court, and prison
costs are factored in.
Only in the last 25 years have women made
significant progress in ending this war. Remembering the events
of December 6 is a way to keep the memory of the 14 slain
women alive, but more than that it is a reminder to us all
that there is much more work to be done.
To learn more about Brian Vallée's
book, click
here.
Do you know where your shrimp comes from?
- June 3, 2009
Using the skills they've acquired in a year
of Computer Studies, Beth's grade 5/6 class is making a difference.
For a recent project in this class, Beth
asked each of her students to find an issue she felt passionately
about, and to use her knowledge of computers to encourage
change in this area for the better. Each girl used the Internet
to research an issue or problem she was interested in, and
then worked with a variety of computer programs and strategies
to develop a way to make her voice heard.
Grade 6 student Meghan, after learning about
the negative impact shrimp fishing can have on sea turtles,
put together a thought-provoking video slide show for her
project. She wants to get the word out as far and wide as
possible, and because she knows the power of viral video on
the Internet, she hopes that making her project available
online will help spread her message.
The video is posted below, and can be viewed
using Windows Media Player. Please take a look, and help Meghan
spread the word by passing the link along.
Shrimp
Fishing and Sea Turtles
An International Women's Day dance-off
- March 5, 2009
On Sunday, March 8, 54 countries around
the world will celebrate International Women's Day. Whether
it's a political rally, a business conference or a theatre
performance, there are thousands of events held on this day
to celebrate the achievements of women, and to inspire girls
and women to continue fighting for women's rights and making
a difference in their communities. As always at Linden, we
held an International Women's Day celebration at yesterday's
All School - dance-off style.
So You Think You Can Dance?
Our grade 9 students organized this year's
festivities, which took the form of a dance competition called
"So You Think You Can Dance - Linden". Each class
choreographed (well in advance of the day) and presented their
own dance routine, giving their all with challenging moves,
creative costumes and lots of humour. The results were phenomenal,
ranging from a stomp routine performed by the grade 3/4 class,
to a tango that left one grade 8 student dancing with a broom,
to a grade 11 ballet recital gone (intentionally) awry. At
the end of All School, each girl got to vote for her favourite
performance; when the ballots have been counted, one class
will be awarded the title of "Linden's Best Dance Crew".
The Goal
As part of the celebration, each girl brought
in two dollars as an International Women's Day donation. The
proceeds of the event will be passed on to Sylvie, a young
girl living in Rwanda who would not be able to attend school
without outside support. The money she receives from Linden
pays for her school fees at her high school, a boarding school
where she lives during the school year (like most students
in Rwanda with the opportunity to attend high school). When
she is not in school, Sylvie lives with her mother, grandparents
and two other members of her extended family in a small house
outside the town of Butare.
Sylvie is very grateful for Linden's support
with her school fees, and our girls are very happy that they
can give Sylvie the opportunity to graduate from high school,
and thus open the door to a whole new world of opportunity.
Congratulations to the grade 9 class
and Anne Lyden for organizing a great, and meaningful, event,
and to all of our dancers for making it a truly entertaining
hour of performances.
Linden student raises $440 for Toy Mountain
- December 16, 2008
Last week's Toy Mountain fundraiser, orchestrated
by grade 6 student Hannah B., raised a grand total of $440
to buy Christmas toys for children in need.
As part of her unique fundraising proposal,
Hannah asked members of the Linden community to bring in jars
filled with candy, pens, stickers and other fun items. Students
were then encouraged to buy raffle tickets to win one of 16
jars (or groups of jars) of their choosing, with 50 cents
buying one ticket and two dollars buying five. Raffle sales
boomed all week, culminating in a very well-attended draw
for the winners on Friday at lunchtime.
Hannah created the fundraiser in support
of Toy Mountain,
a joint initiative of the The Salvation Army and CTV. Toy
Mountain collects toys for children in need all over the Toronto
area, distributing them in time for Christmas.
Thanks to all of the parents, grandparents
and students who donated jars, and congratulations to Hannah
for organizing a very successful fundraiser!
Linden collects 1,000 items for Sistering
- December 4, 2008
With the help of the Linden community and
the leadership of the grade 8 class, The Linden School collected
1,000 items this November in support of Sistering,
a Toronto organization that provides support to homeless,
underhouse and low-income women. The school has been organizing
an annual donation drive for Sistering for over 10 years.
Each of our eight families worked on collecting
donations all through the month, and received generous support
in the form of clothing, housewares, toiletries and other
much-needed items. After the final count on December 3, the
grade 8 students discovered that their efforts had broken
the thousand-item barrier.
Thanks to the grade 8 students for spearheading
the campaign, and to everyone who put in time, effort and
donations to make our donation drive a success once again.
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