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Gifted & Enrichment Newsletter

Fall & Winter Edition 2015/2016

The Gifted and Enrichment Program is a dynamic non-credit program for highly motivated students. The program offers opportunities such as educational conferences, workshops,

simulations, field trips, competitions and symposiums geared toward the development of advanced leadership, communication,

critical thinking, and self advocacy skills.

Father John Redmond C.S.S and R.A.C

FR JOHN REDMOND

“It’s not just a program, it’s a family.” - Stef Samson, Grade 10 Student

Socks 4 Souls In the GTA, foot related illness accounts for 20% of complaints among the homeless. In late September, it was this alarming statistic that drove the Take Action Team at Father John Redmond C.S.S to kick-start a sock drive campaign. As a branch of the school's Gifted and Enrichment Program, the Take Action Team partnered with an organization called Socks 4 Souls Canada, and quickly drew on the power of the school community for support. Making the drive into a homeroom challenge, the team asked each of the school's 42 homeroom classes to collect as many new pairs of socks during the month of October. By the 29th, the support was overwhelming. The Take Action students spent the day sorting and bundling the pairs of socks, and in celebration, joined the student body in wearing colourful, non-uniform socks for the day. By the time the collection truck came, the students had collected an incredible total of 2919 pairs of socks! Overall, the team would like to thank all of the

staff and students who generously gave of their time and

socks to support this campaign. "It was a true team ef-

fort," one student explained, "We couldn't have done it

without the incredible support of our Redmond

community."

Julia Menezes, Grade 10 Student

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Just What The Doctor Ordered

A huge thank you goes out to Mr. Corkum’s grade 9 class for collecting over 300 pairs of socks!

Sockcess Story

Students first encountered Dr. Marcos in early October, when planning a school-wide sock drive campaign. As founder of Socks 4 Souls Canada, Dr. Marcos shared the history of the organiza-tion and the need for dry, clean socks among homeless individuals in the GTA. One month, and 3000 socks later, Dr. Marcos returned to Redmond to share her experience as an ER Doctor at the Etobi-coke General Hospital with the students. She explained her journey through schooling and her charitable encounters, with a focus on "living life on plan B." Dr. Marcos told us about how her plans did not always go her way. After a five year science program at the University of Toronto, she was disheartened to find her application to many Canadian medical schools declined. Determined not to give up, Dr. Marcos went to an off shore medical school in Dominica, where she studied to become a doctor. While in Dominica, Dr. Marcos was instrumental in implementing a medical aid program for the indigenous people on the Island. Today, this initiative continues to provide relief through the local University. Now an ER Organ Failure Specialist, Dr. Marcos continues to share her story of never giving up. She is living proof that if you never give up, something good will come soon! Tess Duke, Grade 10 Student

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Hour of Code On December 11th, a group of dedicated students met up at the library computer lab to participate in

an hour of computer coding and problem solving. Led by Johan Niles, a software engineer, the experience

was as great opportunity for the students to experience computer coding. Despite the early morning, the stu-

dents, who ranged from beginners to experienced veterans, were engaged in learning the basic concepts of

computer coding. Khan Academy’s Hour of Code online program included helpful tutorials, videos and walk-

throughs that taught students how to draw basic shapes and patterns using JavaScript. Students attempted

the challenges at their own pace and in the end, were able to create their own drawings using code. Thank

you to Mr. Johan Niles for leading us in this event, and for everyone who came out to participate early on a

PLC late start day. Keep on coding!

Olivia Rodrigo, Grade 9 Student

On Monday November 16th, Ms. Evangelista's grade nine students had the wonderful opportunity to attend the annual Ca-reer Mash hosted by Ryerson University. Students first had the honour of listening to four powerful guest speakers. The first two speakers were an electrical engineer and a manager of a company called Ubisoft, which is a gaming company that is responsible for projects like Assassin's Creed. Both discussed their current jobs, and how they got into their respective fields. The third guest speaker was a fashion designer. Dressed in a camouflage jumpsuit, she had the students engaged in her career details. Last but not least, a woman who worked for Google talked about software , web browsers, search engines and how we as a society rely on it. Throughout the day, students were invited to look around and check out the various programs, and opportunities the various uni-versities had. Organizers were kind and showed examples of what students had produced in the past, including gaming goggles that made you feel like you were in the videogame. Other examples included an automatic basketball shooter that had a range of ap-proximately 124 feet, and a small vehicle that navigated a maze through typed commands. It was quite an amazing experience and everyone involved really enjoyed the experiance. Alexander Salek, Grade 9 Student

Career Mash

Tech Talk

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On Monday November 9th, students had the

wonderful opportunity to listen to Professor Pitassi

from the University of Toronto talk about her career

in Computer Science. Professor Pitassi spoke to us

about the different career paths that there are in

computer science and how there is something for

everyone. She discussed her math based back-

ground and how computer science not only involves

computers, but also deals with statistics and calcu-

lations. She further explained how computers have

helped to accelerate many other fields. Professor

Pitassi explained to us how she is currently working

on the computational complexity theory. This the-

ory looks at algorithms, and tries to calculate how

many steps a certain algorithm takes for a computer

to do or how much memory it can hold. One easy

example to help understand this theory is mowing

the lawn. By understanding that mowing an area

that is double the size of an original lawn takes

twice as long, you are understanding a linear com

plexity problem. Professor

Pitassi explained how impor

tant this field is to her, since

she is able to utilize her math

background as well as new

computer technology to aid her re

search. We are very grateful to Pro

fessor Pitassi for coming in and talk

ing to us about her experiences in the field

of Computer Science!

Joseph Borromeo, Grade 10 Student

Making Things Click

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“The Gifted & Enrichment Program is all about hands

on learning.” - Joseph Borromeo, Grade 10 Student

Uniting Nations On November 26th and 27th myself and 20 other Red-mond students attended the annual Catholic Students United Nations Assembly (CSUNA) at the Catholic Education Centre. For many of us, including myself, it was our first time taking part in this. I signed up knowing I was interested in world issues and human rights. We were all given our country delegation a few weeks prior to the event and were briefed on the work we would need to do leading up to the date. We had to write a Foreign Policy Paper and a Conflict Resolution, both which required hours of research on the politics, geography and different issues within our country. I experienced many emotions over the course of this experience: excitement when I first signed up, exhaustion after the countless hours of research, and relief when my partner Gabrielle and I were finally finished. On the 26th, those feelings were replaced by fear and apprehension. I kept asking myself if I was really cut out for hours of debate on a country I had only started fact-finding a few weeks ago. We arrived at the CEC in professional business wear and were given nametags stating our country delegation and UN Com-mittee. Putting on the nametag labeled “United Arab Emirates, Human Rights Committee” enhanced my feeling of profession-alism; this is when I knew I was ready. After the opening cere-monies, we dispersed into our committee rooms to begin de-bating about the resolution topics. I, as well as the majority of my fellow FJR delegates chose to rise to the podium to debate on issues facing our world today, and speaking on behalf of everybody else, it felt extremely satisfying doing so. Overall taking part in CSUNA was definitely one of the highlights of my time at Redmond thus far, and I encourage all other students with a passion for debate and world issues to sign up for it next year. Sophia Smith , Grade 12 Student

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Future Leaders

“This program has helped me to prepare for my future.”

- Libby Duke, Grade 12 Student

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Throughout the past year, I have had the chance to experience a taste of the business programs at both Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Western Ontario. In May, I attended the Laurier Leadership In Busi-ness Conference (LIBC). Throughout the four days I spent at the university, I was able to meet with other high school students looking to go into business for their post-secondary studies, as well as talk to current Laurier students about the pros and cons of the university and its program. I took part in lectures on Accounting, Marketing, Human Resources, Operations, and Finance. With the knowledge I learned in these classes, I was put onto a team with other candidates and we were given the task to create a marketing campaign for a start-up company. It was a great experi-ence, and I was extremely happy being able to live in residence and explore what it would be like to be a Laurier Goldenhawk.

During the summer, I spent nine days at Western University, and I wished that I could have started the Ivey

Honours Business Administration program right then and there. I had such an amazing time living in the gorgeous

Ontario Hall and attending nine case classes ranging from Teamwork, to Finance and Operations. The faculty was

truly amazing, and Mary Gillet (the program Director) integrated many aspects of the grade eleven accounting cur-

riculum into her lecture. At the end of the classes, I was paired with five other high school students to create a new

business that met certain criteria. This experience was different from Laurier as we had to come up with a whole

new business plan rather than build on an existing one. I became extremely close with my fellow candidates and I

can only hope to see them again at Ivey in a few years or work with them later on in my career. This was truly a turn-

ing point in my decision of what university I want to attend, and I hope that I can say that I am a proud Western

Mustang next year. I strongly advise any current high school student interested in business to apply to Laurier’s LIBC

and to Western’s Ivey Summer Leadership Program.

Samantha Headrick, Grade 12 Student

Golden Hawks VS Mustangs

On Monday December 7th, 2015, students listened as Dr. Joan Saary speak about her experiance as a doctor to astronauts. She works with astronauts and pilots to keep them in one piece when they are at high altitudes or in space, and is a consultant to the Canadian Space Agency and the Royal Canadian Air Force. During her presentation, she showed us videos of older, modern and future proto-type rocket launches. Dr. Saary told us about a launch that she supervised, days before the presentation, and explained how new tech-nology - including 3D printers - are constantly changing her field. Dr. Saary also showed us clips of pilots training for high altitude flights, and explained that they must wear special suits that increase and decrease pressure on different parts of the body. This prevents the blood from draining from their head when pilots do flips with their planes and change altitude quickly. In the vid-eos, the pilots did not wear the suits so they could practice the breathing techniques for an emergency. It was interesting to see the amount of control that they needed to have - not only of the space craft, but also of their body. Dr. Saary pointed out that some modern sci-fi movies, such as The Martian and Gravity, are fairly ac-curate. They have the correct science to back up the technology in the movie, but the math behind the sci-ence is often exaggerated. Overall, she was an incredibly engaging and knowledgeable speaker. Sarah Heitz , Grade 11 Student

Reaching for the Stars

High Achievers

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Joana Azubalis is a third year mineral engineering

student at the University of Toronto. On November 23rd,

students were privileged to hear an interesting presenta-

tion about a subject she was very passionate about: min-

eral engineering. Joana gave us the run-down on a special

type of engineering, focusing on the mining industry. She

is Redmond alumni and was more than happy to share

her interests with us.

Joana explained how mineral engineering sparked

her interest at a young age and also gave us a little insight

on university life. She showed the group the mining cycle

and focused on the environmental issues associated with

the mining industry. More specifically, she focused on-

how we can prevent these in the future using a variety of

methods. One of the methods she mentioned was that

we should use tunnel mining instead of open pit mining.

This is because open pit mining can destroy many above

ground habitats of animals, and also human neighbour-

hoods. In contrast, tunnel mining takes place under-

ground, leaving the above surface environments un-

touched. Also, open pit mining uses more resources such

as gas and oil to clear out more space, which are huge

factors in air and ground pollution. Joana indicated that

the reason we use open pit mining is because of the huge

financial reward it provides, even if it is at the price of

destroying the surrounding environment. Students were

glad to have gotten great insight on this very fascinating

branch of engineering. Thank you Joana!

Wil Foster , Grade 10 Student

Digging Deeper With A Mineral Engineer

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“The Gifted & Enrichment Program has taught me how to self advocate

and become a better leader.” - Rachel Santini, Grade 12 Student

“Enrichment has allowed me to explore so many career paths that I had never considered.” - Nicholas O’Hearn, Grade 11 Student

On Thursday, November 12th ,

2015 the students of the Gifted and En-

richment Program were honoured to

host Dr. Mirabella for an informative

and insightful discussion on the field of

psychology. Dr. Mirabella is a graduate

of the University of Toronto and cur-

rently works as a counselor among

schools in Toronto, providing assistance

and counseling to students suffering

from stress, anxiety, and other various

mental health issues. The discussion

was very lively and many of our stu-

dents had a great interest related to Dr.

Mirabella’s field. Students raised their

hands enthusiastically during his talk

and there was a great sense of eager-

ness as well as insight into the future.

Many students earned a greater under-

standing of psychology and will most

definitely consider it as line of work for

their bright futures. We thank Dr. Mira-

bella for his time and preparation in

order to educate the students.

Viki Baniak, Grade 10 Student

How Does That Make You Feel?

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Curiosity: It’s In Our DNA On November 17th, I had the privilege of participating in a fun and informative workshop led by a member

of the SciHigh Mount Sinai Lunenfeld Research Team. The morning began with a discussion and overview of ani-

mal cells, particularly, the structure of the DNA in the nucleus. My fellow science-lovers and I partook in three

fascinating experiments that exemplified the interesting capabilities of DNA. First, we extracted our own DNA

from our cheek cells by swishing Gatorade around in our mouths for 1 minute, spitting the solution into a tube,

and combining this with rubbing alcohol and dish soap. We learned that this exciting DNA extraction was possi-

ble because the soap was a lysing solution which broke open the cell membrane. The Gatorade meanwhile

helped to maintain the necessary pH and electrolyte conditions, and the alcohol stimulated the DNA to precipi-

tate from the solution. I found it fascinating to see my own DNA floating around like tiny snowflakes in the solu-

tion. The second experiment involved comparing two groups of fruit flies to determine which group had been

genetically modified in order to be able to withstand higher temperatures. For the third experiment, we were

provided with a background lesson on the method of injecting the embryos of mice with a gene from jellyfish to

make them glow-in-the-dark. Using special goggles, we were able to view the 'glow-in-the-dark' mice.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this workshop because I found it so interesting to be able to apply my knowledge

from science class in a more hands-on setting. I am truly grateful that SciHigh was able to bring this wonderful

workshop to Redmond. Thank you for being so engaging for us students; this opportunity was incredibly valuable

and fun!

Josephine Agueci, Grade 12 Student

Medical Mash-Up

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Taking Action

On November 10th two representatives from Me to We/Free The Children - Emily Summers and Talitha Tolles - came to FJR for the first of three, full day leadership workshops. As a group, we began by writing down and explaining what made us feel comfortable: being respectful, listening and not judging oth-ers. The importance of having a 'safe space' was emphasized as we played some icebreakers and a couple of interactive games. We had a discussion about the meaning of being a leader and what characteristics a leader should have and why. As a group, we took a quiz to determine what kind of leaders we were and talked about our strengths and weaknesses. The icebreakers helped us feel comfortable with one another, and the leadership-based games helped us to understand that we all have our own talents. They help us understand and think about the prob-lems in our world, and allowed us to recognize and target social issues in most need. Overall, this first work-shop was a great way to get us thinking about social issues in our local community. We are looking forward to the second workshop! Veronica Ciniello, Grade 9 Student

Take Action: Part 1

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Take Action: The Sequel During the second Take Action workshop, I

learned about how to communicate with others

through technology to help fix global issues.

One of the best ways to spread the news about

a fundraiser is by social media. Many teenagers

have one form of social media now - that’s how

we communicate. By harnessing this, and by us-

ing our online voices for good, we can make a

positive impact on our local and global commu-

nity.

The representatives from Me to We/Free

The Children had many activities that brought us

together. One of the activities was finding an

object while blindfolded. Teams would shout or

make sounds to guide the blindfolded students

in the correct direction. If my team did not lead

me, I would have been lost. These workshops

led to the decision of which initiative our school

community would support. We all cooperated

and came to the solution that we would target a

local cause, and would focus on youth home-

lessness. We all learned that a community relies

on all members to succeed, and by helping

youth homeless youth, we can strengthen our

own community.

Katarina Poffley, Grade 9 Student

“I’ve made so many new friends in the Take Action Program” - Evan Killoran, Grade 9 Student

“The program has given me a real sense of responsibility.” - Tess Duke, Grade 10 Student

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Smashing the Glass Ceiling On November 20th, FJR students attended the SheBiz Conference hosted by influential women already in and pursuing a career in business. The conference was held at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management located at St. George Street in the heart of downtown Toronto. Not only did we hear about studying business, but we were immersed into it too. The beginning of the day started with Ms. Rachel Me-gitt (Chair of SheBiz) sharing with us her vision of what she was aspiring to achieve. Her goal is to see more women up at the top in business careers. She shared with us an inspiring message with stuck with many of us, saying that “In order to build yourself up you do not need to bring anyone else down.” She explained that bringing girls up to the top in their careers is not about bringing men down, but rather working alongside them as equals. Throughout the day, Ms. Megitt brought in various powerful women who work in the busi-ness industry, including Ms. Joelle MacPhee who was on Dragon’s Den for her product Ooka Island (a reading program for children). She also brought in women who talked about the different part of the industry and who shared their personal experiences with us. Over all this was a very educational conference that I would highly recommend in future. By: Rachel Toffoletti

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Breaking Boundaries

Engineering The Future On November 19th, students had the opportunity to engage in a

lively presentation delivered by biomedical engineering graduate and first

year medical school student at McMaster University, Ms. Kathryn Chan. With

so many students in attendance who are looking to pursue the sciences in

university, this was a great way to explore different options pertaining to

post-secondary education, future careers and interdisciplinary fields. Kath-

ryn presented in the format of several lessons, each discussing a main mes-

sage about university life, such as "Lesson 1: Explore Your Options." She also

myth-busted many ideas commonly thought about university such as, the

belief that there a certain extra-curricular activity that will put applicants on

the acceptance pile. Ms. Chan highlighted how the difference in the difficulty

of her courses was not far from grade 12, but emphasized the importance of

time management to avoid stressful situations.

At McMaster, she worked for Engineers Without Borders as a chair of

the McMaster chapter, and was a two-time member of the National

Conference Team. She also learned about the many

clubs, teams and student support groups available at

various universities and colleges, and imparted this

knowledge on to us. She spoke about her unorthodpx

journey to medical school, as she didn't make it

into her preferred program on her first try. After

working as an EIT (or Engineer In Training) develop

ing an automatic image-guided robot for needle-

based interventions surgery, she persisted and was

accepted into her current program. She designed the

prototype of the robot with the experience she

garnered following her initial roadblocks, and it is

being put through clinical trials. She is a perfect per

personification of the saying, "When one door closes,

another one opens" and we really appreciated the

time that she took to come and inspire us.

By: Amanda Gasparro, Grade 10 Student

“This program has given me the platform to work toward solving social justice issues in the local community.” - Julia Menezes, Grade 10 Student

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Social Justice Symposium On December 11, FJR students had the privilege of attending the 2015 Social Justice Symposium hosted

by St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. The main focus of this year’s symposium was the tar sands

and their effects on indigenous Canadians. The day started out with a mass at St. Basil’s Church led by Father

Chris Valka. It was a regular mass, and during the homily, Father taught us the difference between “charity” and

“social justice."

We later watched a short documentary called To The Last Drop which was about the tar sands in Alberta.

After the documentary, we listened to a powerful presentation by Ms. Vanessa Gray, a resident of the aboriginal

town of Aamjiwnaang, and a member of Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia Against Pipelines (ASAP). Vanessa shared

some personal experiences she had with the tar sands and oil pipelines. She had lost many of her loved ones to

cancer caused by the air and water pollution from the tar sands, and she told us that even though she left Aam-

jiwnaang some time ago, she had a high risk of disease from the exposure. In the afternoon, we attended work-

shops. I attended a workshop about Trek for Teens, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness for

youth homelessness in Ontario. It was hosted by Ms. Nicole Bazzochi, who defined youth homelessness, and ex-

plained what Trek for Teens does to help eradicate it. They have many different volunteer programs and encour-

age homeless youth to follow their goals and pursue their dreams.

Overall, I extremely enjoyed this experience. I think it was very interesting to learn about some of the

problems in today’s world that have the power to directly affect our future, and learn about possible ways of

solving them. I would recommend the Social Justice Symposium to anyone who is interested in learning about

some of the world’s current social issues, and possible ways of getting involved to be a part of the solution.

By: Luka Sokic, Grade 10 Student

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Inspiring Innovators

Chatting With A Chemical Engineer On October 13th, students had the opportunity to listen to Ms. Daniela Corsetti speak. Ms. Corsetti graduated from Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School in 2010 and is currently in her fourth year of a unique five-year pro-gram that combines a full Chemical Engineering degree with a minor in Peace Studies at McMaster University. She spoke about her success in high school, as she was a top student and participated in many extra-curricular activities including student council, multiple sports teams, leadership, and more. She also attended a service trip to India with Loretto Abbey. Her school involvement and volunteer work around her community and throughout the globe earned Ms. Corsetti the prestigious Loran Award - a $100,000 scholarship that identifies and supports exceptional young Ca-nadians who demonstrate character, service and leadership.

Ms. Corsetti opened up her presentation with her own definition of engineers – they are problem solvers and innovators who apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems. As the discipline of engineering is ex-tremely broad, she then spoke about the specialized fields of engineering, encompassing chemical, mechanical, civil, biomedical, electrical, material, and more. She decided to go into chemical engineering because she enjoyed chemis-try and was interested in how materials were created and could be enhanced. She mentioned the different courses she has taken, the projects she had built, and possible career opportunities. She recently took a year off to work for GE Water and hopes to continue working there in the future.

As a Grade 12 student on the verge of university applications and interested in engineering, listening to Ms. Corsetti speak helped me immensely. She gave the advice of visiting university campuses and making sure that we get a feel for them, as we would be spending four years of our life there. As well, she encourages us to get involved in the infinite number of clubs, committees, and student support groups that each university offers. For example, she gained experience working as a Junior Fellow in International Development at Engineers Without Borders be-cause of her involvement with the university’s club. Lastly, she did not forget to mention the importance of academ-ics and staying on top of our studies, however, she did point out that we should not expect perfection. Time man-agement is the key to success, but always leave room for fun! Redmond students sincerely enjoyed attending Ms. Corsetti ’s presentation, gaining valuable information about the field of engineering and post-secondary education. Rachel Santini , Grade 12 Student

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Looking Ahead With Duke of Ed

A Bright Future

On Tuesday, November 10th, I was honoured to attend the Duke of Edinburgh's Breakfast Award Cere-

mony, which was hosted in Downtown Toronto at the Arcadian Court. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is an

award that is self-directed and develops the whole person - mind, body and soul. The concept is one of indi-

vidual challenge. It is a challenge for young people to step outside their comfort zone and grow through the

four sections of the award which encourages; personal discovery and growth, self-reliance, perseverance and

responsibility.

At the ceremony, Mr. Jeff Needham who is the Executive Director, gave a small welcome speech for

all the recipients who achieved a level of the Award. Once the first part of the speeches were said, we were

then served a delicious breakfast. After breakfast, Ms. Lynn McGrade was honored to make the introductory

speech and welcomed the guest speaker for this year, who was Mr. John Sherrington. When the guest

speaker had finished his speech, it was time for the presentation of the Awards. Those who achieved the

Bronze Level of the Award were recognized first. I was one of recipients of the award at this Ceremony. There

were only five other Bronze level recipients including myself. Then the Gold level recipients were recognized.

When all of the recipients had received their Award, Mr. Jeff Needham showed his appreciation for everyone

who was able to attend the ceremony and thanked all the sponsors. All participants received a pin and certifi-

cate, marking their achievement. From my experience, the Award helped me realize the importance of help-

ing others and expanding my own horizon.

Camilla Budylowski , Grade 10 Student

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A Capitol Presentation On October 16th, Mr. Joe Rac-canelli spoke to students about his experience in the business profes-sion, specifically about capital mar-kets. This interested me as I am look-ing at studying business after high school and I wished to know more about his career. As an investment banker, his work mainly includes giv-ing companies resources so that they can further their corporation’s suc-cess. He advises companies on what course of action he believes will bring about high profits while maintaining operations that are legal and ethical. He spoke to the students about how one’s education continues through-out their professional career. This is especially important as today’s ca-reers grow more reliant on current technology, so it is important that one continues their education to ac-quire relevant skills to improve their job performance. He also spoke of what he must do when facing issues with his clients, such as when they go bankrupt or are operating in spite of the laws that surround the business. Overall, Mr. Raccanelli was an excep-tionally engaging speaker to listen to and I am very pleased that I was able to attend this Guest Speaker Series. Samantha Headrick, Grade 10 Student

“Enrichment has opened the door to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”

- Nicolina Fasciano, Grade 9 Student

On January 6th, students were given the privilege of listening to Mr. Metzler, a talented criminal jus-tice lawyer. Mr. Metzler attended law school at the University of Western. He practiced as a prosecutor for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and after 10 years as an Assistant Crown Attorney, he decided to open his own private practice. Mr. Metzler spoke to us about his perspective of the criminal justice system. He answered questions about new laws that connected to current events and old laws as well. Mr. Metzler talked about what he be-lieves makes a good lawyer: kindness, dedication, patience and genuinely caring about your case. He told us that these qualities have benefited him throughout his career work as a lawyer and were good life lessons as well. The stories shared by Mr. Metzler gave us a good look into his own character and that the traits he identifies in a good lawyer are the traits he demonstrates himself. Listening to talented professionals such as Mr. Metzler gave all the aspiring lawyers in the room an oppor-tunity to explore future possibilities. Mira Sheahan, Grade 9 Student

Case Closed

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A Look Into Law

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“Gifted & Enrichment has helped me to connect with like-

minded peers.” - Kevin Vytlingham, Grade 9 Student

“Everyone has the potential to be a leader. They just have to find their time to lead.” - Ms. Carducci, Facilitator of the Gifted & Enrichment Program

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“Enrichment gives me experience in the real world classroom.”

- Amanda Gasparro, Grade 10 Student

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We would like to introduce ourselves as the 2015-2016 newsletter team. The past five months have absolutely flown by, and we are excited to share with you the amazing list of enrich-ment opportunities including guest speakers, Take Action work-shops, and leadership conferences that we have had the pleas-ure of taking part in. The Gifted & Enrichment Program here at Redmond is a forum to motivate students to explore hands-on learning oppor-tunities. The dedication of FJR students here is evident in their commitment to both academics and co-curricular opportunities. We would like to thank all of the students who participated in the plethora of opportunities and took the initiative to write re-flections about their experiences. We would like to thank our administration team - Ms. Tomeczek, Mr. D'Addario and Ms. DiManno. Your continued support is essential in making the Gifted & Enrichment Program flourish at Redmond. A special thank you also to Ms. Hurley, Department Head of Special Education, and Ms. Borsk, the Advanced Placement Coordinator, for their encouragement in this endeavour. It is greatly appreciated. Finally, we would like to extend a sincere thank you to Ms. Carducci, our program facilitator, for her continuous men-torship, advice and love. Your endless hours of support and dedi-cation are a testament to your care as a teacher and overall per-son. As you prepare to raise a family of your own, know that we will miss you, and will keep the Gifted Enrichment family a lov-ing, and close-knit environment for your return. As Ms. Carducci is fond of saying, "Everybody has the po-tential to be a leader, they just have to find their time to lead." Here at Redmond, the Gifted & Enrichment Program does just that: it fosters the future leaders of tomorrow. On that note, we hope that you enjoy this newsletter as much as we enjoyed creating it. We wish everyone a blessed second semester! Sincerely,

The Newsletter Team

Amanda Gasparro - Julia Menezes - Stef Samson - Tess Duke

Grade 10 Students

A Message from the Newsletter Team

@FJRenrichment Follow us on Twitter