WELCOME BACK!

Introducing...  The Wellness Room

A new addition to the school this year is our ND Wellness Room.  The room is located off the Spectrum beside the Library.  The Wellness Room was designed with the intent to be a calm and relaxing place for students to access with the transition back to in person learning.  The Wellness Room will be utilized in a few different ways during the school year.  One way is to provide a quiet place for students to land during the day when life stressors are impacting learning.  Another way is to provide some structured activities and groups for students to participate in like Student Success Workshops, music, art, card/board games, etc., over the lunch hours.  Finally, to be a welcoming meeting place to promote healthy lifestyle and connection.
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Welcome Chaplain Dunn!

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By Bella Quitazol (Grade 12) 
As many staff and students are returning for another amazing school year here at Notre Dame, this school year is also a new beginning for many staff and students including Chaplain Dunn who is joining us for his first year in our fighting Irish community! In the course of our first weeks at school I had the opportunity to sit down with Chaplain Dunn and get to know him as well as welcome him to our fantastic school community!

​During the dialogue between Chaplain Dunn and I, my questions are bolded as B, and Chaplain Dunn’s responses are bolded as CD.

B: “Good afternoon! So, firstly tell me about yourself, what are some things you would like the students to know about you?” 
CD: “Well, I have been a Chaplain for seventeen years and before that, I worked with an organization called Catholic Youth Organization in Hamilton. I did youth ministry for about four or five years there. So in total, that's about twenty years of ministry in different capacities. Some highlights from before I went into chaplaincy was my involvement in World Youth Days, I was able to coordinate groups of young people attending World Youth Days in both Toronto 2002 and Germany in 2005. I was actually able to meet our principal (Mr. Roberts) during that time who was involved in that as well, so twenty years ago we knew each other and now we work together again after both going through a journey in ministry. So, we worked with each other in the past and have similar views about leadership! What I want people to know about me is my past working in CYO and working at Assumption, St. Thomas Aquinas, Jean Vanier (now changed to St. Francis Xavier) and now I'm here at Notre Dame.”

The Beginning of a Beginning:
​A Grade 9 Perspective

By Isabella Paladino
At times the past year felt like it lasted forever, yet despite how it seemed, time continued moving on.
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This year specifically, marks an important time in my life, as I make the leap from grade eight--  a student in elementary school--to grade nine, where I had to step through the doors (both literally and figuratively) and cross over to the world of high school. I would be lying if I said that experiencing all of those firsts wasn’t nerve wracking, especially with Covid-19 thrown into the mix. What would have already been testing on the anxiety of many became even harder when the pandemic flipped all of our expectations upside down. For me, personally, the delay in truly understanding what the return to in-person was going to look like was a big cause of stress before the first day of school.

It was confusing, definitely, I was doing my best to stay on top of all the new protocols for protecting against Covid-19, while at the same time trying to remember the room numbers for all my courses. All of that without even mentioning the intimidation I felt upon entering the school to the sea of students, grades nine to twelve, getting to their classes. It felt like a lot, from the worry, to the questions, to the general thoughts of whether I would be able to find my own place in the community. Nobody wants to find themselves alone when facing unfamiliar and strange territory, and I was (and am) no exception.
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Goooood morning ND, my name is Chaplain Dunn and I am excited to serve this community!

I am excited to host INSIDE ND.ca YouTube LIVE every morning at 8:15. Please SUBSCRIBE to the channel (link found at (https://www.youtube.com/c/INSIDENDTV) and tune in EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING for our morning prayer & announcements and find out our theme of the day, special guests and of course EVERYTHING happening in our parishes, home, and our local school community of Notre Dame. 
 
I am new to this community, like our grade 9 class, and am excited to start my journey at ND with the 'Class of 2025'.
 
The focus of my ministry has always been to incorporate mind, body, and spirit into all aspects of Catholic Leadership to build community and celebrate faith. I am looking forward to working with Notre Dame staff, students, parents, and our local parishes of St. Paul the Apostle and St. Gabriel and invite all to share their gifts! 
 
The ND chapel is available for a place for quiet reflection or prayer and my office ( I newly coined the 'ND Fish Tank')  is located directly across from the chapel. You will also find me roaming the halls and supervising student activities out of our new 'Wellness Room', located in the spectrum. I look forward to working with our amazing ND students who will be given the opportunity to serve this community in various ways. 
 
EVERY STUDENT has the opportunity to get involved in serving this community. I will get you involved if you ask me!
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#NDART

Check out some of the work from the talented artists in Ms. Tolan's Art Classes!

Student Vote 2021!

On Monday September 20th, 2021 Notre Dame students took part in Student Vote, a country wide mock election sponsored by CIVIX Canada.  

Voter turnout at ND far surpassed the actual election, with 90% of students participating! Classes from grades 9 through 12 had the chance to cast an “official” ballot for their candidate and party of choice. 

Grade 11 student Layla R. felt the mock election was important because, “it allowed our voices to be heard”.  
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And while the race was close, the student body favoured NDP candidate Lenaee Dupuis as their elected Member of Parliament.  

In a post-election interview, Martin P. said, “I voted NDP because I agree with their position on vaccine passports, a national drug plan and helping the underprivileged in Canada. I also think Jagmeet Singh would make a great Prime Minister”. 

When asked about the opportunity to participate in a mock election, Angelina T. explained, “A lot of students will get to vote in a real election within a year, and so today’s election helped students to better know the process and what to expect when our ballots really count”. 

Student Vote will be held again this spring for the Provincial election, can’t wait to see how the students will make their voices heard in 2022! 

The ND Prefects 'Leadership Day'

By Rachel Heaney
On Tuesday, September 14th the Grade 11 and 12 prefects gathered together for a day of leadership. Guided by a great friend of Mr. Roberts, named Mike, the day was filled with community, new friendships and “The Notre Dame Way”.

To start, we were gathered in the gym and had an introduction from both Mr. Roberts and the instructor, Mike who taught us the motto “Play safe, play fair, and play hard”. Although some were nervous to meet new people, we all formed true connections by the end of the day, despite lacking real social interaction for a lengthy amount of time.

We started off with team building exercises to get us to work together in groups of people that we may have not worked with before. Games like “The Tap Circle” unified us in a circle, and allowed us to work together as a team to get the fastest time. Additionally, games like “Line up” challenged our work ethics, and taught us to work in silence together, using numerous tactics. Despite many group games, there were various one on one activities to get to know each other even better. Exercises like “Fast Fingers”, “Chasers” and “Take the Train across Canada” allowed for lots of laughs and got us out of our comfort zone to form new bonds with each other. Wrapping up the day, we closed with activities like “circle in circle” and “storytelling” which were games designed to get to know each peer on a more personal level, asking questions regarding their dreams, hopes and aspirations.

This Month in #NDART

Some of the work from the talented artists in Ms. Tolan's Classes!
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#NDMediaArts!

The talented students in Mr. Piccoli's Media Arts classes designed some magazine covers!

Grade 10 Day at ND!

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By Abby Irwin
On Tuesday, September 14th the Notre Dame prefects teamed up with the Grade 10 students at ND to give them a fun morning of team building.

The prefects wanted to properly welcome the grade 10’s to Notre Dame after the virtual start to high school they had last year. In groups of three, the senior students took the tools they learned during their leadership training day to run different games with small groups of 10-12 grade 10’s. The games ranged from ice breaking get-to-know-you games to activities where students worked together to solve problems to even different active competition games.

In the latter half of the morning some of the group leaders decided to join forces to run games with larger amounts of students. Examples of these games consist of a large rock, paper, scissors competition and even the octopus gym game.

As the morning activities came to a close, the students all gathered together with Chaplain Dunn as he led everyone in prayers. Additionally, with the help of the prefects, he also led the group in the singing of songs “Yes Lord” and “Lord I Lift Your Name on High”.

The prefects hope they were able to make the grade 10 students feel welcome and comfortable in the school, and to give them a fond memory for their high school experience.  A similar event for our Grade 9 students will take place later this month. Everyone is so excited to be able to participate in these sorts of events again!