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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-02-04, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario February 4, 1998 — $1.00 includes GST PRESENTING SEAFORTH DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL'S CD ROM - last Wednesday moming were some of the stu- dents and staff involved in the unique Canadian history endeavor. From left: vice-principal Laurie Hazzard, Brett Moffett (working on credit for Grade 12 communications technology), Daryl Oosterbosch (Grade 12 art), Melissa Wallace (who isn't earning a credit but continues to work on the project. She is in Grade 13/OAC), Rebecca Sturge (Grade 11 art cred- it), and art and computers teacher Greg Sherwood. Labour of love at local high school Unique CD Rom gives Canadian. history glitz .PHOTO BY GREGOR CAMPBELL BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff Our history is coming alive at. Seaforth District High School where they are have been working on a unique project for about a year now. • It is a multi -media. double CD Rom package the school hopes will 'soon become a tool used for teaching an OAC history course in this province that's called "Canada in a North American Perspective." "It's the coolest thing r've ever done." says Laurie Hazzard. a vice-principal at the local high school who also teaches history and English. "It's teaching kids not only history. but how to do histo- ry." Greg Sherwood teaches computers and art at thc school and is also a vital cog in this "virtual" project. But the students arc what is making it click. . "We give them the ideas but they make them come alive," Hazzard says. "We gather regularly as a group and brainstorm. They have free rcin but consensus rules. "it is a creative and collabo- rative effort. The kids' input is as important as anything else." There are 16 students work- ing on the project this semes- ter. many of them returnees from the 16 who also were working on it in the semester recently concluded. There were seven students working full-time on it in the last semester of last year, and seven over the summer, two of them from Clinton, experi- enced from the Tech 21 cen- tre there. These many students arc not all necessarily history huffs, or weren't before they got involved in this project. They come from all streams, from Grades 10 through OAC. with interests ranging from art through communica- tions technology, and points in-hetwecn. They can get various credits for the work they arc doing. LABOURS OF LOVE But some obviously don't consider it work, more a labour of love. Some students don't get credits at all. They arc just "into it." Many came in over the Christmas holidays to work on the project, with no one pushing or prodding them. Some come in at all hours, on thc weekends or during spares, any time they can manage, when they don't get any official credit for it. "It's the coolest thing I've ever done" SDHS v -p, Laurie Hazzard "What they are able to do is unbelievable," Hazzard says. "They are committed to it absolutely." "They are far more com- fortable with computers than adults," Sherwood adds, "but there is still a learning curve there. They learn by doing." It has been a learning expe- rience for both teachers too. Sherwood has been teaching art at SDHS for 10 years. but says up until relatively recently he looked askance at computers and all the various exploding new technologies. Now he's also working on developing a special art course for Grade 11 that incorporates digital commu- nications technology. for instance photography. As for Hazzard - she was a nurse up until about six years ago and not very computer literate when she went hack to school, at The University of Western Ontario, to earn her master's degree in histo- ry. Going tothe dogs? BY JACKIE FITTON Expositor Editor Scaforth Manor is not going to the dogs, but it is partici- pating in a St. John Ambulance therapy dog pro- gram. Once a week residents arc acquainted with Connie, a Boston terrier. Cindy Holland is Connie's owner and says Connie loves visiting the manor. "It's a real ice -breaker, and many residents relay tales of their own dogs," says Holland. It has been acknowledged by thc medical profession that the petting and stroking of a dog has a calming effect, can lower blood pressure and case tension. Volunteers of the dog thera- py program commit them- selves on a regular basis and visit at least once a week, at the same time with the same dog to the same people. Holland has been visiting thc Scaforth Manor for six weeks. The anticipation and regular contact gives the people con- tinuance of thc therapy pro- gram. So far the pct therapy pro- gram have had excellent results, but still consider there is a great deal to learn from the benefits derived from the love and touch of a dog. Dogs participating in the program visit anyone, any- where who might benefit physically and mentally. At present dogs are partici- pating at local hospitals, pal- liative care units, day care centre, senior residences, rest homes, schools for children with special needs, regular school classes for pet aware- ncss, psychiatric hospitals as well. Owner Holland got involved with the program after reading about it. She decided Connie would fit the bill. So Connie partici- pated in numerous tests to become involved in the thera- py program. She has a good tempera- ment, won't bite, and is very comfortable around wheel- chairs and walkers, Holland said Any dog of sound tempera- ment can become a therapy dog, after completion of the therapy test by a qualified evaluator, which assesses for obedience and temperament. Once the dog has been suc- cessfully tested, the owner is required to join St. John Ambulance as a auxiliary therapy dog member. "I enj©y it, Connie • enjoys it and the people we visit enjoy it." Cindy Holland Co-ordinator for the therapy dog division is Vicky Parent, she sets up the visits with the local hospital or nursing home.' "1 enjoy it, Connie enjoys it and the people we visit enjoy it," says Holland. As for the residents at the Seaforth Manor, Theresa Lauzon says she looks for- ward to Connie's visits, as she hugged the dog closer to her, relaying tales of the dogs she has owned. "1 learn as I go," she says. "I'm a toddler compared to the kids." ABOUT 600 'PAGES' For this particular CD Rom project she has written every word of curriculum, incorpo, rating applicable government education ministry guide- lines. It works out to about 600 'pages' in the traditional sense, 152 of These strictly glossary, terms and dates and such. "Then I turn it over to Greg and it becomes a multi -media event," Hazzard says. Such things as animation. pictures and text are added. with students leading the cre- ative way.• The CD Rom is made up of eight individual units. The first four are almost done: "contact" between Europeans and Aboriginals (Please note: Europeans didn't "discover" North America"); "per- fectible society," which deals with groups like the Puritans, Jesuits and Quakers (who all had a common bias in believ- ing humankind is per- fectible); the "frontier" (remember Turner's famed "Frontier thesis" or "Manifest Destiny"?); and, "objectivity in history," (for instance how CONTINUED on Page 8. Central to boundaries Council makes official pitch for new school board office BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff Scaforth made its official pitch as a potential office site to the Avon -Maitland District School Board last Tuesday night in Stratford. Mayor Dave Scott and Coun. John Ball did the • pitching. Among other possibilities, they told the meeting a new hoard office could be located at Scaforth District High School, should trustees decide to close the school sometime in future because of declining enrollment, although they hope this doesn't happen. "It's.really a fine line,we are walking," Scott said. The public school boards of Huron and Perth recently amalgamated. Huron's office was in Clinton and Perth's in Stratford, and the new Avon - Maitland district hoard has invited proposals and sug- gested a new more centrally located office "along the Highway 8 corridor from Stratford to Clinton and in existing board -owned facili- ties" might be in order. MEETING MONDAY The hoard has scheduled a "consultative public informa- tion meeting regarding possi- ble sites" for the community centre at Dublin next Monday at 7:30 p.m., where interested organizations or groups have been invited to make further proposals and presentations. Friday's press release states "it has been determined by the committee (site review) that consideration for pur- chase or construction of facil- ities is not a viable option" in regards "to possible sites for the relocation of the educa- tion centre." Stratford was thc first to make its official pitch at a full Avon -Maitland hoard meeting earlier in January. Seaforth Council's 10 - minute presentation to thc board focussed on "positives and possibilities," says Mayor Scott, and stressed the fact this town is central to almost all points within the hoard's jurisdiction, within 40 kilometres. He introduced and conclud- ed, .with Coun. Ball, in between, stressing the spirit of the community and ser- vices already available around here. ' Scaforth and area's track record in fundraising was touched on: $1/2 -million of the $1.4 -million needed for the new community centres hack•in 1983, and also about $900,000 for a new medical clinic and hospital facilities in the early '80s. • SMACK, DAB MIDDLE Four letters of support went 'along with the council com- mittee's presentation, from Seaforth Community Hospital, the business reten- tion and expansion commit-, tee, Seaforth business improvement arca, and another previously sent by Mayor Scott. in the mayor's conclusion. Scot: touched or, some of the prominent individuals who have graduated from the "It's a,fine line we are walking" Mayor Dave Scott Scaforth high school during its 120 -year history. and the fact the community supports it to the tune of about $20,000 in scholarships at graduation ceremonies annu- ally. He said economic develop- ment officer Cathy Garrick also supported last Tuesday night's pitch with a detailed map she had prepared that shows just how central Scaforth is to the hoard's jurisdiction, hoth demograph- ically and geographically. "We're smack dab in the middle," Mayor Scott says. He is expecting some kind of decision by the hoard's March meeting, although nothing was officially men- tioned in regards to the board or site committee's timetable at last Tuesday night's pre- sentation. In other developments, a petition is circulating in town in opposition to any possible future closure of SDHS. Various local merchants have it on their front counters. Seaforth Manor resident Theresa Lauzon seated. hugs Connie a boston terrier a pet therapy dog who visits the Seaforth Manor with her owner Cindy Holland right. (Fitton photo)