Georges Vanier Secondary School

We did it again!

Vanier’s SAGE team won the National Championship at Ryerson University on May 29, 2010.  They showcased 30 different initiatives and fundraising events competing against schools like St. Marguerite D’Youville and Agincourt C.I.  Gajan Jegatheeswaran also won ’2010 Student Leader of the Year Award’. 

The team will be going to Cape Town, South Africa in July to represent Canada during SAGE World Cup.

Check out www.sagecanada.org and http://www.insidetoronto.com/community/education/article/828241–teens-take-top-spot-in-national-entrepreneurial-competition for more stories.

Vanier’s Business students participated in the 2010 Entrepreneurial Adventure at the First Canadian Place on June 3rd.  They showcased their entrepreneurial ventures such as International Food Festival and Pizza Lunch Sales.  Students raised $150 for Free the Children and $100 for KIVA.

The Learning Partnership’s Regional Entrepreneurial Adventure (EA) Program has been designed to instill a sense of entrepreneurial spirit in children from kindergarten to Grade 12. It is the goal of the program to harness local resources and to provide students with a foundation of knowledge that will allow them to envision, create and operate their own entrepreneurial undertakings.

Vanier’s SAGE team is the winner of TDSB Award of Excellence 2010!  We thank all members and supporters for this greatest honour!

The Award of Excellence Gala was held on Thursday, May 27 at Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre.  Co-Presidents: Gajan Jegatheeswaran and Deepak Sangha, Project Managers: Sarosh Sarkari, James Rouse and Grayson Beatty attended the ceremony with teachers: Ms. Klein, Ms. Lam, Mr. Welham and Ms. Yoon.  Principal, Ms. Jackson and superintendent, Mr. Chang, were also there to support Vanier’s SAGE Team.

Yes, we did it again!  We are still the SAGE Regional Champion!  
 
On Saturday, March 27, Vanier‘s SAGE Team showcased their contribution to school community and their entrepreneurial success in front of 11 judges and received a standing ovation.  Some comments were:  “You’ve done great things for your school.  Congratulations!’ ‘Your presentation is far better than some university students’ presentation.’ 
 
Our students did really great job representing Georges Vanier.  I was so proud; I was almost in tears!
 
Vanier’s SAGE team thanks all teachers and staff.  We couldn’t have done it without you!
 
National competition will be held on May 29^th.  If (when) we win the National, we will be representing Canada in Cape Town, South Africa in July. 
 
Other participating schools were: Agincourt CI, St. Joseph SS, St. Marguerite D’Youville SS, Harold Braithwaite SS and Western Tech.
 

The Funny Money Man, James Cunningham visited Georges Vanier on October 20, 2009 to promote financial literacy. Funny Money is a fun and interactive award-winning presentation, which motivates and entertains students while they learn key money management tips.

Click here to watch Funny Money Videos!

Welcome to a new year! Bonne année 2010 ! ¡Feliz año nuevo! Feliz ano novo! Beste Grüsse für das Neujahr!

Vanier’s French & International Languages Department is always a busy place and Semester 1 has been no exception.

• Mr. Steele’s Senior French classes went to the Toronto International Film Festival in September to see the award-winning Québec film J’ai tué ma mère and our lucky students met and took pictures with the amazing director, Xavier Dolan.
• Our Grade 11 Mandarin (Native Speakers) class has been very busy under the expertise of Mr. Peng.
• Our Grade 10 German class enjoyed another phantastisch field trip to Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest (where one of our students, Liroy V., even won the Pretzel Eating Contest!) and St. Jacob’s Market with Ms. Brandner and Mr. Steele.
• Our Grade 9 and 10 French classes have been very lucky to have the amazing Mr. Tse as their teacher this year!
• Mr. Steele’s Grade 10 Spanish class is one of the most dynamic and enthusiastic groups yet!

As we look forward to semester two, Vanier will take part in several exciting initiatives:

• Ontario High School German Contest - April 10, 2010 at North Toronto C.I.
• Ontario Secondary Schools Spanish Contest - May 6, 2010 at Glendon College
• Ontario Secondary Schools Portuguese Contest – May 15, 2010 at York University
• University of Toronto French Contest for our Grade 12 French students
• Ontario Beginner German Students’ Contest for our Grade 10 German students
• European Language Examinations: A2-level German Proficiency for our Grade 12 German students

We are also continuing the French & International Languages department’s fundraising drive for Free The Children in support of Vanier’s SAGE Team. Keep those pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters coming!

Finally, we are proud to announce some results of some special events from last year:

• Daniel Zilberay placed second in the Native Speaker category in the Ontario Secondary Schools Spanish Contest,
• Valeriya Goncharova placed fifth in the Beginner category in the Ontario Secondary Schools Spanish Contest (against 71 other students, and Valeriya had only studied Spanish for three months!),
• Mariam Abdel-Hadi placed ninth in the Core French Plus category at the York University French Contest,
• Georges Vanier placed ninth in the province in the Ontario Beginner German Students’ Contest, and
• Award-winning Québec actress Sophie Lorain sent special greetings and autographed photos to our students graduating with their Grade 12 French credit! It seems that she heard how much the class enjoyed her acclaimed television series Fortier and wanted to send her best wishes…

In addition, Daniel was featured on the cover of the El Correo newspaper, and was interviewed in Spanish along with Valeriya for the accompanying article. Vanier’s French & International Languages Department is very proud of all of our students!

Next semester, we will see Grade 11 and 12 German (another great advantage about Vanier; no other schools in our area offer German), Grade 10 Portuguese (one more Vanier first!), and Grades 10, 11 and 12 Spanish. The new semester starts on Friday, January 29. In the meantime, we wish all our students a restful December holiday and much good luck on their exams.

Three Grade 11 students from Vanier – Patrick, Gajan and Amirul - represented Canada in Brasilia, Brazil during SAGE World Cup 2009.  14 teams from 10 countries – Brazil, Canada, China, Nigeria, USA, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Ukraine participated to showcase their entrepreneurial success. 

SAGE Team @ Vanier won 1st Place in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) #1 – To End Poverty & Hunger and Spirit Award for accomplishing so much in only 4 months.

Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship—SAGE—is an international network that links teams of secondary school students to nearby university students, business leaders and civic leaders  to help create the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders whose innovations and social enterprises address the major unmet needs of our global community.