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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1999-11-03, Page 88 flceeer TimesAdweatte Opinion&Forum Wednesday. October 27, 1999 Remembt when... On June 30 to July 2, 2000, South Huron District High School will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. The Exeter Times Advocate would like to join in the celebrations by sharing articles or pictures which have aApeared over the years. HI HIGHLIGHTS 1970 - 1979 Grandfather shares roses, Jean Jennison was crowned queen of South Huron District High School Friday night at the At Home dance. Chosen from six other candidates, the pretty, blue-eyed queen's reigns will be a short one as she plans a business career after graduation in June. Jean, a four year commercial student, and daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Jennison, Grand Bend, told the T -A, the experience of being elected school queen was 'just fabulous, and a night I'll never forget.' She said ever since she was a Grade IX student she had dreamed of being queen and 'this is a wish come true.' "1 feel very privileged to have the honour con- ferred on me," remarked the successful candidate. She was presented with a dozen red roses and a silver tray by the student body. The roses she shared with her grandfather, who is ill in hospital, but the tray will be a life long remembrance of the occasion. Jean was high in her praise of all the people who contributed to make the annual formal such a suc- cess. She said Principal Joe Wooden and the teachers showed "great fortitude and patience" during the flurry of preparation for the dance. The pretty queen also had words of appreciation for the custodians who helped to clean up and took down the hundreds of campaign posters after the election. ' ' She said the smorgasbord, prepared by Mrs. Jennie Rowe and the kitchen staff, for the students and guests at the At Home was "simply delicious." Many of the students worked every night for two weeks to decorate the gym in a Babes in Toyland theme. - A giant size Mother Goose, Bo -Peep, the Queen of Hearts, Humpty Dumpty and a Gingerbread House displayed the talents and ingenuity of the students who created them. Murals, drawn by clever young artists and depicting scenes from nursery rhymes covered the walls, and the throne was a masterpiece of ele- gance created from chicken wire and coloured tis- sue. "Everyone co-operated and worked hard in many different capacities to make it a night to remember for all the students," stated Jean Jennison, the new queen of South Huron High School. Queen Mason can Jennison's first dance with escort Paul FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHDHS "ALL -YEARS REUNION" CONTACT KENDRA ARTHUR 235-4006 OR PAT RowE 2364167 I 1:(;1 `;'1'1:1( \01%! • Times Advocate • RSD Autht • c \eter Tov.n r 1 South Huron District High School or visit our ,,,e1) site at 414 OPINIONS AND t MFRS Readers need to research matter Dear Editor: I am writing to request your assistance with a matter that has just recently been brought to my attention. ' As your federal representative, I would like to draw your attention to' an urgent matter involving the United Nations (tlurough UNICEF), Elections Canada, our schools and our children. I am asking that you print this letter so that your readers can each determine for themselves if additional parental pressure, on their local schools and school boards, is required. On November 19th, 1999, Elections Canada is planning to engage all primary and secondary school -aged children (under 18) in what they claim to be an "exercise in democracy." To facili- tate this, on September 13th, 1999, Elections Canada listed the ten "rights" to be listed . on the ballot, which have been taken from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. I feel that it is important to mention that this Convention was passed by Cabinet (in Canada) in 1989 and has never been debated in our House of Commons. In essence, this .UN document, which has inspired the Elections Canada "exercise in democracy," has itself yet to be scrutinized by our democratic process. I want to be clear that, I am neither supporting nor condemning the said Convention in this letter however, I am very concerned with some of the potential problems that have been brought for- ward by the many people who have signed peti- tions opposing this document (over 13,000 since 1997). I also feel that, given the controversial nature of the aforementioned concerns (It has been said that the Convention could havt implica- tions with respect to family life and `parental rights & responsibilities), Parliamentarians, and the public in general, should have the opportunity to debate the issue more fully. In addition • to the above, I also have grave con- cerns with the manner in .which Elections Canada hasundertaken this initiative. It is my under- standing that they have failed to notify elected Members of Parliament, certain current Members of Cabinet, provincial Legislativ,,Assembly Members, specific school boards and trustees and, perhaps most importantly of all, they have failed to notify parents. With these factors in mind, I would suggest that, since the results will be made available to governments, they could be used for future political purposes. I would encourage each' of your readers to research this matter and to decide if they want their children to participate in this exercise. Parents should contact their school board with their opinions. More specific material is available on the Web site www.itsyourvoice.com, or by call- ing my office at (519) 524,6938. Time is of the essence, I urge all parents to act quickly. Sincerely, PAUL STECKLE, MP POLICE BRIEFS • POLICE BRIEFS Van datnaged in Stanley STANLEY TWP. —Vin. 10 shortly rtly before 11 a.m. a van was reported damaged by its owner to the Huron OPP. The '93 Plymouth yan was 'left parked on the north- west corner of . Hwy. 21 and the Stanley/Hay Township Line. Sometime in the last day before the report the van received about $3,000 damage when someone deliberately driving into the right front passenger door and the sliding door.. Picku� stolen LUCAN --- black '89 GMC pickup truck was stolen from George St.. in Lucan sometime between. Oct. 22- 23. The truck had licence plate #VW2521. Lots of fuel stolen VANASTRA — Someone has taken a desperate step to avoid the outrageous cost of fuel. On Oct. 4 at about 4:15 p.m. the theft of 150 gallons of fuel was reported from Stevenson Trucking on First St. in Vanastra. The fuel, worth $350, was stolen sometime over the night, Huron OPP Const. Don Shropshall said. Anyone with any information on this crime is asked to call the Huron OPP at (519) 524-8314 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 Principal's -message The last couple of decades of this century have given birth to some favourite key buzzwords. One of the most com- mon has been the need for organi- zations to have a 'vision'. It can be a grand -sounding way of refer- ring to many things: a long-range plan, a particular focus, or a set of goals. Very often the responsibili- ty for discovering that vision has fallen to the leader. Schools are no exception. We, Pa pAc too, try to focus on the worthy MESSAGE ideals, the bigger picture, the vision, if you like, when we sot our school goals for the year. In the first week of September rep- resentatives of our school community (parents, teachers, secretaries, students, custodians, etc.) all come together to formulate our plans for this year: a) We will operate a school song contest, or revive and rework the existing school song. The song will be taught to the student body and be sung at special events. b) We will establish a new team called "The Website Team' .comprised of representatives of staff, students, alumni, parents and adminsitra- tion. The Website Team will keep our website current, dynamic and exciting. c) We will train more students and teachers in conflict resolution strategies. d) We will take on the following school beautifi- cation projects to be done before the All Years Reunion: - refurbish the main front foyer, - hang framed student art in the hallways, - paint paw prints in the student parking lot e) We will hold another Panther Pride Day this year building on our success from last year. f) We will provide training workshops for teach- ers, students, parents in the new assessment and evaluation initiatives. g) We will prepare a co-ordinated list of curricu- lum units by department with attention to redun- dancy and overlap. h)�a will prepare a package to assist students in toAng between streams. 1) We will operate successful mentorship pro- jects at the Department level that focus on career exploration. j) We will assist the Alumni Committee in the preparation and presentation of an outstanding All Years Reunion in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of our school. k) We will prepare an ad for the local papers listing all our 'good work" as a school. 1) We will commit to a community beautification project and/or community clean up days. The group did a good job. The goals that have been struck are worthwhile, optimistic and achievable. Regularly we have to look at the goals to see how things are going and if we're making progress. It keeps us moving forward together. But the more I think about it, the more I real- ize that this isn't a vision, at least not in the late 80's early. 90's. sense of vision anyway. Rather, it's a process of finding our 'voice*. By voice I mean the focus is not so much on a detached observation of this new reality or vision that we want to move towards. Rather, the focus is on finding our common sense of self, as a school community. Who are we? What goals, values, ideals, directions do we hold to be fmpor- tant? What are we willing to work ,together on? Identity, after all, can't be imposed artificially on a school anymore than it can be on an individ- ual. Identity is defined as we go, through the work that we do, through the connections we make nth others, through the goals we strive for. South Huron D.H.S. set its goals for this year and last year in an open sort of way. We shared our ideas and agreed to work together on them. We set off on several, projects simultaneously knowing our work wilt weave together to make a whole. The interconnectedness is not unlike the web that Charlotte works so painstakingly at in that wonderful children's book of E.B. White. The web we weave as a school gets stronger when more of us work together to achieve our goals. The attention to detail, to the purpose, to the value of the school as a whole means we con- tinue to shape what it is South Huron D.H.S. Is and will be all about. Building our web - finding our voice - setting our goals - it all matters, espe- cially if we're working on it together.