Written by: Katelyn Basso
The cake auction at Cameron Heights is an annual ESF event that students and teachers look forward to every year. This year, dozens of students gathered in the cafeteria to watch the show and participate in the auction. The auction definitely lived up to the hype. A wide variety of amazing cakes made by the leadership classes/SAC were presented on the catwalk and students gathered all around with their friends to try to win the cake they wanted. It got pretty crazy! Cake auction is definitely one of the most well known events at Cameron and is also one of the most looked forward too, so if you didn’t get a chance to come out this year, gather some friends and money and make sure to come next year. In the end the auction ended up raising about $1900 for ESF! Congratulations Gaels! Be sure to come back later this week for more ESF events to help reach our goal of $4000 this year. Ways to Cope with Stress
Author: Alyssa Sabo We are always going to experience stress, but at certain times stress can be excessive. Here are some ways you can deal with it. Hit the gym When your body is stressed out, “fight or flight” hormones like adrenaline increases. These were once designed to protect us from harm under threat. However, in today’s society, there’s no need to react in this way just because of an exam so physical exercise can be used as a replacement to metabolize stress hormones, thus restoring your body to a calmer state. Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to go to the gym to relieve stress. You can do any other form of physical activity (ie. dance). Get those ZZZs If your body doesn’t get enough sleep, there is a greater risk of increasing the level of stress hormones. Unfortunately, if you’re already stressed, it would be difficult to fall asleep due to recurring thoughts whirling around in your head. To circumvent this problem, try your best to maximize relaxation before you sleep. Don’t drink coffee, try some yoga or even take a warm bath. Venting Time Talking to someone about how you feel releases some of that built-up tension in you. Stressing can cloud your judgement, but talking about it to trusted individuals will help you set things into perspective. Just try not to overdo it. Give your friends some time to vent as well. Time to get that Agenda Make a list of the things you need to do. Prioritize them and separate the things you need to complete personally and what can be delegated to others to do. Not everything can be done all at once so record which ones need to be done immediately, in a week’s time, next month, etc. Make Stress your Friend The Ted Talk posted at the end is something that I highly recommend listening to. To sum it up, people who experienced LOTS OF STRESS had a 43% risk of DYING. However, it was only true for those who thought that stress was harmful. Those who thought that stress wasn’t harmful had a very low risk of dying compared to the former group. Hmm, so can changing your view on stress impact your health in a positive way? Viewing your stress response as helpful may reduce stress and increase your confidence. So, how you think about stress matters but also the way you act. By connecting with your loved ones, you’re telling yourself that you don’t have to go through this alone and you become more resilient in stressful situations. Experiencing some stress is normal, but perhaps you may like to try the tips above if you feel you’re stressing an unhealthy amount. Ted Talk Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-LE-xX1-L4 Written by: Eden Rechtoris-McNab Ever think to yourself, “Relay for Life was so much fun, I really wish Cameron Heights were to run this event again”, then you're in luck! The next best thing, Inside Ride, is coming to Cameron Heights, November 21st! Similar to Relay for Life, this event is to raise money and awareness for Childhood Cancer Research. For this event, individuals are asked to form teams of six, although you can register by yourself and join what is called ‘team free agents’, who will be cycling indoors, for 10 minutes per person, for the duration of the event. Teams are asked to raise $300, which over the 6 participants can raise $50 each, or, this goal can be raised collectively as well. Teams have the ability and are encouraged to create a general theme for their team and wear costumes that represent this, for the chance to win prizes! Some themes for costumes include:
Registration closes on November 11th. There is a team captain meeting and all funds are due on November 14th, so be sure to sign up, at theinsideride.com and get training as soon as possible Gaels! Written by: Eden Rechtoris-McNab
From 1925-1936, over 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed in residential schools. This number may seem unbelievable, but with approximately 80 schools and 2000 children attended each one, each year, this was the outcome. In Canada, the residential school system harmed various Indigenous individuals (Including First Nations, Métis and Inuit) significantly by removing them from their homes, in the hope of removing influence of Indigenous culture and thus assimilating them to Canadian culture. These children were deprived of their ancestral language, accustomed to physical and sexual abuse, and forcible enfranchisement. These actions by the Government resulted in estimates of 6000+ deaths of young Indigenous people. This began from the Indian Act in 1876 - Amendment of 1884, which made attendance for all Indigenous persons a requirement in day and industrial schools. The schools were set far away from family or familiar, in purpose of minimizing family and parental visits, or any type of contact at all. Sadly, this occurrence caused a significant disrupt in transmission of Indigenous practices, beliefs and traditions across many generations. September 30th of every year was the time of the trucks and busses to enter the Indigenous lands and communities, to “collect” children and place them in schools. This dedicated day officially started in 2013, although was considered since 1973, with the purpose of educating others and promote awareness about the Indigenous residential school system and the impact this system made on Indigenous people, and the country of Canada as a whole, till this day. In 1973, 6 year old Phyllis Webstad visited the St.Joseph Mission Residential School “wearing a bright orange shirt for her first day of school”. It was recalled that Mission Oblates stripped her of her ‘new clothes’ (said to be a rarity for a First Nations girl under the care of her grandmother), and was forcibly clothed in a school uniform. Webstad attended this residential school for 1 year, and recognized “that feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years. Even now, when I know nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter.” Webstad’s story catalyzed a change, and the Orange Shirt Day Movement began; to honour those who survived Indian Residential Schools. Every child matters. No matter the race, religion, sexual orientation, sexuality etc. Everyone deserves to be treated in the school system properly. The way these Indigenous individuals were treated was highly unethical in multiple ways. There are approximately 80,000 survivors alive today. Remembrance of this event is one of the most effective ways to gain recognition and display everlasting reconciliation for this incident. http://www.orangeshirtday.org By Jasjeet Grovera
Homecoming of 2019 was a great time, a fun atmosphere with great vibrant colors and best of all; the music, which made the dance one of the best at Cameron Heights in the last few years. The beautiful decorations, such as the colorful balloons and photo-worthy HOCO balloons, all added to the aesthetic of the night. SAC did a great job increasing moral using bright face paint, balloons and glow sticks. Dancing the night away was as fun as can be, especially with the beach balls, which called for a giant game of keeping the ball up in which everyone was participating. This game created unity and allowed everyone to meet new people! There wasn’t a DJ this year, but you wouldn’t be able to guess this with the great playlist SAC members made, including everything from party in the USA by Miley Cyrus to tik tok songs like Red Nose. There were some cool moves shown off, people were lifted while the crowd cheered for them. There were some amazing moments in which everyone in the caf was synchronized with the beat, whether that be hopping up and down or getting low (low, low, low, low, low, low, low). Snacks and refreshments such as freezies (perfect for all the warm dancers) and pop were also made available to keep the energy up! All in all, it was an amazing night and a great start to another year full of fun events. By Priyanka Dwivedi
Cameron Heights is the first school in Waterloo Region to showcase the Anne Frank Exhibition as it has been all over the World and Canada. The Anne Frank tours are being held by student volunteers at Cameron Heights from April 1st to the 27th. The exhibit titled, “A history for today” discusses and informs the audience about Anne Frank’s life leading up to World War two and her experiences during the war along with her family. Numerous elementary and secondary schools from across the region have signed up for tours at Cameron Heights. The exhibit is open to the public from April 16th from 6 to 8 p.m. and April 27th from 1 to 4 p.m. Written by : Maria Khan
Edited by: Jasjeet Grovera This year is Cameron Heights 50th anniversary. To commemorate this occasion, Mrs. Carmichael and Mr. Kemp created and ran the 50th Musical; a five-decade extravaganza. This incredible event on April 5th and 6th lead our Gaels through the several decades of our school. It covered everything from history to school-life and best of all: the fantastic music. The process required a lot of hard work and dedication from the cast. As Mr. Kemp says, “It was like practicing for a sport. Until game day you never really know what it’s going to be like, but it was fantastic having students that were committed to having the best show we could possibly put on.“ Practices ran all through the week, Mondays through Fridays, on the stage where the cast worked incredibly hard to set the show-up. Each decade was divided into two scenes, MC section and several singing performances in between. All of the effort paid off as the performance was a huge success and the show double sold on Friday. “Everyone killed it. It was so great, and it made me so proud to be from Cameron Heights and to see the talent all the things I was worried about were fixed, and people kind of stepped up, people brought their A game. I’m not a man of many emotions but oh my gosh it was so impressive, and the band was phenomenal.” Mr. Kemp says in response to the massive success of the musical. And the students agree. During the dress rehearsal, fantastic feedback was given to the cast by senior students, and the reviews were phenomenal. The cast stayed cheery and motivated throughout the whole process. One of the cast members, Amanda, says: “The cast is so positive and fun to work with. The musical has been an incredibly fun experience. Watching the show evolve from nothing to a full play. It’s crazy how much can be done when you put your mind to it.” There were so many talented people involved, the actors and actresses nailed the scenes reenacting life back then - with jokes that will leave you overwhelmed with laughter. The singers did amazing, singing songs from each of the decades with their unique twists. Not to mention, the MCs who recapped all the significant events of each decade. And of course, it’s impossible to forget about the incredible tech crew, band, stage help and teachers who made this all come to life. The entire musical was an amazing experience for both the cast and the audience, it was a great night for everyone. Cameron heights will have another musical in the near future, and we hope you will come. By Jared Cubilla
The CHCI co-chief elections are just around the corner! The four co-chief candidates, Betsy, Izzy, Faith, and Gabe, have worked extremely hard all week promoting their campaigns. We asked a representative of each of their campaign teams to answer the question: “Why should we vote for your co-chief?” Here’s what they said: Betsy’s team: I think that everyone should be voting for Betsy because she has realistic ideas on how to bring change, and everything she’s promising are just things you can actually do. Everything she’s saying is realistic, and we’ve thought about it, and made sure our campaign team has all had a hand in it. Izzy’s team: (Izzy) participated in all aspects of this student community, so she understands the different struggles and also the positive parts of every different extracurricular so she can really help unite different students. Faith’s team: You should vote for Faith, because she’s determined. She works hard, and she’s set out to improve the school for everybody here. Gabe’s team: We should vote for Gabe because he is someone that is genuinely so involved in many parts of the school. If there is anyone that could bring a connection between music, sports, academics, all of that… it could definitely be him. The co-chief election assembly is on Friday, March 22nd. You can write down two candidates on the ballot. The results should be announced by the end of the day. Good luck to all the candidates! By Katelyn Basso
Congratulations on another successful year of carnation sales Gaels! For many years, Cameron Heights and many other secondary schools in the WRDSB have teamed up to raise as much money as they can for charity around Valentine's Day by selling Carnations for $1.50 each. Students can buy beautiful flowers for their friends and S.O.s all across the school board, while donating to a great cause. This year, Cameron Heights and many other public schools collectively raised a grand total of $3,000 for St. Mary’s Cardiac Care! These donations will go to funding medical treatments for different things such as general care for patients with heart problems and more specialized care for patients with different cardiovascular diseases/failures. If you didn't get a chance to buy a carnation this year but would still like to donate, the hospital almost always accepts donations. You can learn more about donating here. Thank you to all who participated in carnation's sales; be sure to purchase carnations next year so we can beat this year's donation total! |
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