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MAY 29, 2012

        What a busy month of extra-curricular activities was this month of May! It started with the Art Fair on Sunday May 6, judged by professional artist, Mr. Richard Vander Meer. The children`s best art projects were all on display in the gym for the parishioners to see, and special prizes were awarded for the best.

The boys’ art club at one of their recent meetings after school in the Art classroom.

Then came the visit to the Brantford zoo on May 9, for grades K – 4. The De Brebeuf Scout troop organized two weekend camps this month on the Nith River, one on the weekend of May 11 – 12 and the other on the weekend of May 25 – 26. It was a good break, as well as a lesson in self-sufficiency. The high school boys had an astronomy night on May 15 with the aid of a local telescope, at a nearby school.

However, the big day was Victoria Day, May 21. On that day we had a parish barbecue, followed by our annual athletics` events for the children, with a variety of races, obstacle courses, egg carrying races, and a tug of war, organized by Father May, together with the high school boys. Then came the long-awaited production of Macbeth, that the boys of the drama club had been preparing for several months. This tragedy was a major performance, and was excellently done, involving practically all the boys from grade 7 and up. With its 28 rapid scene changes and long discourses, the play took four hours.

Miss Lesica, the gym teacher at OLMC, is here instructing some first and second graders at an April visit to a local gym set up with special equipment for young children.

The very next day, May 22, a selection of interested boys visited the Carpenters` Union in Cambridge to learn about the trades, in particular those of carpentry and dry walling. Then on Thursday May 24 came the third annual jog-a-thon. All the children ran laps of the 1/8 mile track around the soccer field, the boys from grades 7 – 12 taking the first hour at 1:30 p.m. and then the girls and the grade school taking the second hour, starting at 2:30 p.m. The best runner made 53 laps, a little lower than last year on account of the unusual heat. Altogether this fundraiser was somewhat more productive than last year, raising more than $12,000 for the school, at a much needed time. Then on May 27 & 28 came a rather unusual activity for the students interested in fishing. It was a fly fishing course, instructing on how to make flies and how to cast, along with a trip to the Grand River to fly fish for brown trout. The girls went on Sunday 27th and the boys on Monday 28th.

The 7th & 8th grade boys took a visit to the Hamilton Military Museum, to view a presentation of the war of 1812 in honour of its second centennial. Here they are trying on the British military uniforms of the period.

Pentecost Sunday, May 27, was also the occasion of a welcome ceremony for the Eucharistic Crusade. It was the opportunity for 9 children to be enrolled as Pages in the Crusade, for four to be advanced to the rank of Crusader and three to be advanced to the rank of Knight and one to the rank of Handmaid. This brought to a total of 36 the number of members of the Eucharistic Crusade at Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The third quarter finished on Holy Wednesday, April 4, and the fourth quarter began on Monday April 16, on return from Easter break. Report cards were handed out that week and parent-teacher meetings followed.

Also in April, we finally received the occupancy permit for our third portable classroom. It is being used by Miss Stannus as the French classroom, by Mr. Elliott as a Math classroom, and by Father Scott for Latin. With windows facing south, it has lots of light, and catches the winter sun for warmth.

Boys prepare for class in the third portable. This shot is taken from the north side, on the pathway leading from the main school building.

Miss Stannus teaches French to the 7th graders in the new portable.

On May 25, Mr. Vaillancourt, our maintenance man, started a new project. The pipes from the urinals in the boys` bathroom, had rusted through over the years, and were leaking into and through the brick wall. So it was decided that the simplest and cheapest way of handling the problem was to remove all four urinals, and replace them with two new toilets. The removing of the old units is accomplished, the bathroom floor has been torn up, the new plumbing has been installed, and now it remains for the finish work and the installation of the new toilets and partitions.

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