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2010 School News

May

Sir James Whitney School For The Deaf @ Optimist Communications Competition

The Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf participated in the annual Optimist Communications Competition in early May, 2010. This year’s topic was “Cyber Communication: Progress or Problem”. Each participant must write their own speech and deliver it in front of a panel of judges and a large audience. After hosting our preliminary school wide competition, the three successful contestants moved on to the Provincial competition held in Milton, at the E.C. Drury School for the Deaf. Jennifer Grant, Julie Ripley-Kelly and Sean Bennett were the winning contestants. They represented Sir James Whitney well with their well planned speeches and professional attitudes. Out of the 9 contestants, Sir James Whitney brought home the gold and bronze medal. Julie Ripley-Kelly was the top winner of the competition receiving a $2500 scholarship to the University or College of her choice. Sean Bennett was the third place winner. For more information about the Optimist International Communication Competition please visit http://www.optimist.org/e/member/scholarships2.cfm. Congratulations to all of the students that entered the competition this year.

Click the following link to see a picture: Image 1

Sir James Whitney, By A Hair

Sir James Whitney has won its first Youth Canada Tournament For The Deaf in the school's history.

The local school barely knocked off defending champions, British Columbia School for the Deaf, to claim the top prize in the premier sporting and academic competition for Canadian schools for the deaf.

Jonathan Nicoll, one of the local organizers of the event, said winning the competition for the first time in the school's storied history, on home turf, has galvanized the entire campus since the event's conclusion on May 14.

Click here to read the complete article from 'The Intelligencer', in PDF format.

Games For The Deaf Debut At Sir James Whitney

EMC news - Last week, for the first time ever, Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf, hosted the 11th annual Youth Canada Tournament for the Deaf.

Nicoll said the competition is probably one of the biggest events staged by schools for the deaf across the country.

Dozens of students and staff from schools from as far as British Columbia and Alberta, converged on the Belleville facility to compete and show off their skills in academic and athletic fields of competition.

Click here to read the complete article from 'Belleville EMC', in PDF format.

Local Deaf School Students Hoping To Win On Home Turf

Students and staff at Sir James Whitney are pushing to win their first Youth Canada Tournament For The Deaf on home soil.

Jonathan Nicoll, one of the local organizers of the event, said if that's not possible when all the points are tallied today, then he hopes to at least win bragging rights for hosting a stellar event.

Click the following link to see a picture: Image 1

Click here to read the complete article from 'The Intelligencer', in PDF format.

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April

SJW Student Honoured By Community

Jennifer Grant, a grade twelve student at Sir James Whitney School, has been honoured as the Trent Hills Outstanding Youth Award winner at a recent civic awards ceremony.

Last year, Jennifer was chosen as a member of the Ministry of Education’s Minster’s Student Advisory Council (MSAC). As part of MSAC, Jennifer acts to help other students across the province and takes part in meetings and conferences to work on and discuss issues in education.

On Friday March 26th, the Trent Hills Civic Awards presentation took place at the Hastings Civic Centre. At this event, Jennifer’s home community recognized her exceptional contributions to her school by awarding her their Outstanding Youth Award. During the awards ceremony, Trent Hills CAO Mike Rutter told the audience: “We are proud that Jennifer was chosen as representative of her school and to provide such important input and direction to the Ministry of Education on behalf of students."

Staff and students at Sir James Whitney are also proud of Jennifer – and proud to call her one of our own.

Click the following links to see pictures: Image 1

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March

Sir James Whitney Student Joins the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps

Cole, a student at the Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf, joined the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Napanee at the beginning of September 2009. He started out as a new entry and has worked his way up to achieve the rank of Able Seamen. He has learned many new skills, such as how to tie different rope knots, the parts of a ship, the ranks and ratings of the Navy, plus many other things to do with life in the navy. In October, he was on a tall ship that was in Kingston for a weekend. He got to learn all about the operations on board. As well, he got to climb the rigging and masts, sleep on board, and many other jobs that are done aboard ship. The Napanee Sea Cadet Corps have also joined other corps from Amherstview(Air cadets) and Kingston (Sea and Army cadets) for day training and fun in Kingston .

Cole has accomplished many things so far in Cadets, with a much more to follow. He is also the only Deaf cadet in the corps and the cadets and officers of the corps are learning how to sign so they can communicate with him. Cole has kept the cadets and officers on their toes as well in stitches from laughing so much. Through all the challenges that he has had to face as a cadet, both mentally and physically, he is doing great and is enjoying the experience.

Click the following links to see pictures: Image 1

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February

First All-Deaf Cheerleading Team

The first All-Deaf cheerleading team competed and wowed the crowds at the Cheer Alliance Big East Blast Competition on Valentine’s Day.  The Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf coaches; Jadine Parr, Christine O’Hara, and Rose Rose, are all proud of the students who participated in this momentous event.  The eleven team members ranged in age from nine to eighteen and were from both the elementary and secondary Sir James Whitney School. 

The Cheer Alliance Big East Blast is an annual event that takes place in Kingston , ON.  More than 105 total teams attended this year’s event from Quebec, Ontario, and New York, USA.

The Sir James Whitney Wolves proudly accepted a trophy for outstanding performance with Judges feed back including “so much fun to watch,” “awesome job,” “very intricate motions,” and “love it!”

The entire crowd at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston had their hands waving to show their admiration and respect for the Sir James Whitney team.  The announcer also hushed the crowd so that he could announce the team’s winning trophy in American Sign Language.

Congratulations to the team and coaches for an outstanding achievement.  Hands waving!

Click the following links to see pictures: Image 1 | Image 2

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January

Small But Mighty

January 27, 2010 - In support of National P.J.s for Haiti Day, our Principal Linda Ritchey trades fashionable clothing and heels for Flannel P.J.s and fuzzy Slippers.

Our students love a good reason to wear P.J.’s to school, and January 27th they could wear them to school for the small price of any monetary donation made to the Red Cross fund on behalf of Haiti.

The morning found our Principal shuffling in her slippers, sporting the latest in comfy P.J.s with jar in hand, knocking on doors asking for donations with a minimum of $2.00. Anyone wearing P.J.s to school on January 27th did not get past Linda.

Quoting our motto, “Small but Mighty” we raised $400.00 during our participation in National P.J.s for Haiti Day.

Go Wolves Go!!

Click the following link to see pictures: Image 1

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