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St. Peter's Academy - 25th anniversary - Western Star Article

Last updated at 8:39 AM on 18/05/07   Members of the St. Peter’s Academy 25th anniversary committee look over some old year books as they make plans for events to celebrate the milestone. From left, Glenda Wayson, Gordon Casey principal David Bruce and Melanie Small. Missing from photo is Nancy O’Quinn. — Submitted Photo After 25 years, St. Peter’s Academy has a lot to celebrate Events planned to celebrate milestone DIANE CROCKER The Western Star BENOIT’S COVE There’s going to be a celebration at St. Peter’s Academy. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the now Kindergarten to Grade 9 school and the anniversary organizing committee has put together of a three-day celebration. Members of the organizing committee, which includes principal Dave Bruce, physical education teacher Gord Casey and classroom teachers Nancy O’Quinn, Melanie Small and Glenda Wayson, all have a history with the school. Bruce has spent more than 20 years of his teaching career at St. Peter’s, serving as a classroom teacher, vice-principal and now principal. Casey has been a member of the St. Peter’s staff for 18 years and O’Quinn and Small are both former students. Besides being a teacher at the school, Wayson’s two children attended St. Peter’s. Each one of them has many stories to tell about their time at St. Peter’s. One event that stands out in Bruce’s mind is the annual Christmas dinner that has been held since 1994. The thought of feeding over 300 students, staff and guests a hot turkey dinner was seen as somewhat preposterous by some, says Bruce of that first dinner. He noted it was the first of its kind for any local school and over the years the dinner has become an important part of life at the school. “They are a great celebration of community. The spirit is magic.” But that’s not all that creates school spirit. During St. Peter’s years as a high school, Bruce says the school was well known for volleyball. “We produced top-notch teams and had fantastic support from the community.” He even recalls the rivalry with a school from out on the Cape (St. George). “When we played them the games were fantastic and the competition intense.” Casey is known for taking his students on outdoor adventures and recalls one trip that really turned into an adventure for him. In April 1992 he took a class of physical education 3100 students on an overnight winter camping and wilderness survival trip in the area of Eastern Lakes. At the time, his wife Marion was pregnant with their third child and the baby’s due date was the exact date of the trip. “Obviously my stress level was a little out of whack leading up to and during that outing,” says Casey. He had arranged for radio communication between the group and his home so that he could keep in contact with his wife, but after numerous unsuccessful attempts, Casey and his group were convinced that Marion had gone into labour. “So in a panic, myself and then music teacher Kevin Hennessy decided at 9 p.m. to snowshoe back to the TCH and drive to Western Memorial Regional Hospital.” But Casey started to have second thoughts and instead went to his mother-in-law’s home where he found his wife, her mom and sister, along with two or three of their friends sitting around enjoying a night without the boys. “Many of the students who attended that winter camping trip, often remind me now when I meet them of the many fond memories which they hold from that particular school outing.” Small is a St. Peter’s graduate who has been teaching Grade 2 at the school for the last four years. “I have to say that it is amazing to teach at the same school that I attended as a student.” She admits that it was a “little strange” when she started teaching at St. Peter’s to have some of her former teachers become her colleagues but within a week it felt natural. “I feel such a connection with the history, the building, the community and, of course, the students. I didn’t have to develop pride for the school, I already had it to begin with.” That’s why Small was so eager to serve on the anniversary committee. “The school really is the centre of the surrounding communities.” To celebrate the school’s anniversary a special church service will be held on May 31 at 7 p.m. at Our Lady Star of the Sea church in Benoit’s Cove. The service will emphasize the connection between school and community. The choir and a former student will sing the St. Peter’s Academy song which was written for the event by music teacher Dave Tucker. On June 1, the school will be open to the public for an all-day open house. Former students will be able to walk through the hallways and recall old memories. There will be displays in the hallways showcasing each class that has passed through the doors of St. Peter’s Academy. A morning assembly will be held and a fun volleyball game at the end of the day between current Grade 9 students and an alumni team comprised of former students. On June 2, a dinner and dance will be held at the Shoreline Club in Halfway Point. For more information on the anniversary celebration, or to order tickets for the dinner, contact the school at 789-2761. The school’s website — http://www.stpetersacademy.k12.nf.ca — also has more 25th anniversary details

Article on 2007 Space Camp

Last updated at 2:05 AM on 30/11/07   Teacher Cherry Harbin, left, is taking 15 students to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, next April. Jamie Pennell is one of the group and here she tries on the flight suit that Harbin got when she went to the centre. St. Peter’s Academy students are getting set to blast off to space camp DIANE CROCKER The Western Star BENOIT’S COVE  — A group of 15 students from St. Peter’s Academy in Benoit’s Cove are getting ready to embark on an out of this world experience. Grade 6 teacher Cherry Harbin will be taking 11 of her Grade 6 students and four Grade 7 students to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, next year. The group will attend a three-day Pathfinder camp in late April. Harbin has attended two camps for teachers at the centre. Two summers ago, she attended a one-week camp as part of the centre’s scholarship program. There were 200 teachers from all over the world in the program. This past summer, she returned to take part in a second two-week advanced academy. This time she was one of 37 from the original 200 selected to attend. Harbin says the opportunity to go to the space camp was something she initially got involved with because of what it could mean for her teaching. The application process included showing camp organizers they types of adversities you have in teaching math and science in your area. “So of course being here in this rural community and even on the west coast of Newfoundland, there’s not a whole lot where you can actually go outside your classroom and teach science and math. So I felt being able to have that opportunity and bring those types of things back to the class would have been a perfect chance. “As a teacher that’s my job, to make sure that every student that I teach gets every opportunity to grow and to learn and to experience everything in the curriculum. Of course for me it means a lot more than just sitting inside the classroom and going through books.” It was because of her own experience that she decided to look into giving her students the same opportunity. “This will be the ultimate,” says Harbin who admits to being a bit envious of her students. “Because the sky is the limit for what they’re able to do.” The Pathfinder camp will include rocket making and simulated space missions, along with astronaut training and teamwork activities. All of these are things the students are looking forward to. “It’s a once in a lifetime chance to go,” says Grade 6 student Jamie Pennell. Pennell says Harbin has showed them some of the types of missions they might be working on and for her that has made the trip “more exciting”. Pennell enjoys studying math and science but lately science has become more interesting. “Because it has so much to do with our Alabama trip.” This 11-year-old would like to become a clothing designer and laughs when it’s suggested she could design the next space suit. After looking at pictures Harbin took at the camps she attended Pennell says “I think we’re going to have a really good time.” Fellow Grade 6 student Nicholas O’Connell, 11, also can’t wait to go to the camp. “I like stuff about space.” He’s especially looking forward to the missions the students will work on and to getting his very own flight suit, much like the one belonging to Harbin that hangs in classroom along with space shuttles, rockets and pictures of space. Twelve-year-old Mark Connolly heard all about the space camp when he was in Harbin’s class last year, so he didn’t hesitate to sign on for the trip. “I really like space and everything,” says the Grade 7 student, “so I really wanted to go.” Connolly is looking forward to learning more about space and going to the rocket museum. Fundraising With the trip approved and the group selected, Harbin says the “biggest challenge” now is the fundraising. Because she doesn’t want the students to be put in a position where they might have to say ‘I can’t go’, Harbin has put together a plan to raise some money to help cover the cost of the airfare to Alabama. She says that’s the biggest expense with the cost of tickets being close to $1,200 each. “That’s my goal,” she says “to minimize the amount the parents have to pay.” The group has already held a fish cake sale and has a scratch card fundraiser coming up. She says the parents of the students in the group have also come onboard and are planning to hold a few dances. The kids are also recycling on their own to raise the money to pay their own camp fees. Harbin has also sent out letters to number of businesses in the Benoit’s Cove area and in Corner Brook. The first to respond was SunLife Financial in Corner Brook with a $500 donation. Glen Acreman, sales manager with SunLife, says they had no hesitation when it came to supporting the group. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for these students and we encourage all businesses both local and national to certainly consider doing the same.” Harbin says she is just trying to get people to realize how important of an opportunity this is for the kids. “If I can spark their interest in science and math, who knows what that could bring for their future. “I could have a few rocket scientists or astronauts in amongst our midst,” she says “and you know what that’s not something that is hard to believe because NASA is looking for people all the time and it’s not just astronauts, there’s so many different jobs in science and math that are connected to the NASA program. “Who knows,” she says. Take Connolly for instance. He says he’d like to one day work in the space field on the Canadarm.

Space Camp 2008

Last updated at 2:43 AM on 27/05/08   Team Orion from St. Peter’s Academy in Benoit’s Cove stands underneath one of the many rockets on display in Rocket Park at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. “As a teacher, my goal for them is to always reach for the stars,” says Cherry Harbin. — Submitted Photos Space camp shows St. Peter’s Academy students that out-of-this-world opportunities are within their reach BENOIT'S COVE DIANE CROCKER The Western Star A small school on the south shore of the Bay of Islands could be producing some of Canada’s future astronauts. A group of students from St. Peter’s Academy in Benoit’s Cove recently returned from Huntsville, Ala., where they attended a three-day Pathfinder camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Grade 6 teacher Cherry Harbin took the 12 students — seven from Grade 6 and five from Grade 7 — along with three parents to the camp. They left home on April 24 and returned on April 29. This was actually Harbin’s third time at the centre. She’s attended two camps for teachers. Earlier in the school year she approached the school and the students with the idea of attending the Pathfinder camp. After months of fundraising, the group more than met its goal and the trip was a go. “Before we went it was kind of neat because I knew exactly what they were going to be doing. I knew exactly what they were going to be learning and what they were going to be seeing,” says Harbin. “But none of the pictures or anything that I’ve ever shown them really prepared them for what they were about to do. “It was neat being a part of that and watching them learn the things that I had learned and really taking it all in.” The St. Peter’s group, which was dubbed Team Orion, was one of 13 at the centre at the time and the only one from outside the United States. While at the camp, Harbin says, the students were exposed to all aspects of space exploration. They were briefed on the history of space exploration including exploration of Mars and the landing on the moon. They got a chance to try out a variety of simulators to learn about G force and the moon rover, and they built engine rockets and launched them at the Homer Hickam Launch Pad. They also went to Rocket Park where they got to see Mercury capsules, the astronaut suit worn by Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon and the Saturn V, the most powerful rocket ever made. A trip to nearby Grant, Ala., gave them the chance to visit Cathedral Caverns. But the highlight of the trip was when the group completed its mission on board Discovery. “Each one of them had their own position,” says Harbin of the simulated space flight, with some of them in mission control, some of them in the space station and some acting as mission specialists on the orbiter. The setup was “pretty amazing,” says Harbin, with every part of the simulation being exactly as it would be if you were in the actual mission control or on the orbiter.  The real feeling of the mission was not lost on 11-year-old Sara Mitchell, who served as an integrated communications officer (INCO). “Because we had all these screens and we could view inside of the spacecraft and we’d have these problems and we would have to tell them the buttons to click and how many times and we’d have to fix all the problems. And that part actually felt real because you’d  have to open up books and search (for the solutions),” says the Grade 6 student. Mitchell was responsible for tracking the weather and providing the countdown. Fellow Grade 6 student Jamie Pennell was assigned to the science lab and she and her partner got to talk to the pilot and other crew and relay information on how their experiments turned out. Harbin says a big part of the mission was teamwork and working as a group to be successful. That lesson in teamwork earned the St. Peter’s crew the Most Outstanding Team award. Harbin says this was given to them for being able to complete the activities that they were given, teamwork and enthusiasm as a group. “I think the whole thing of that mission was for them to realize how important it was to work together as a team.” With Mark Connolly as commander, the group had to work together to successfully land the shuttle. “They all worked together, it was great teamwork.” says Harbin who adds the students realized that none of what Connolly did would have happened without the support of the team. Harbin says she took the group to the camp to show them the vast possibilities that are out there for them. “What I wanted them to get out of this program was the idea that there are so many different jobs that you could do to be a part of (space exploration).” She says between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency there are a lot of opportunities. “So if you’ve got the desire for that kind of thing and you’ve got an interest in math and science, then that kind of thing doesn’t have to be something that’s so far fetched that they couldn’t do it.” From the students’ reactions it looks like she achieved her goal. Mitchell is excited by the possibility that she and her classmates might be old enough to become astronauts by the time there is an attempt to land manned spacecrafts on Mars. “So it’s possible that it might be some of us,” she says adding that she’s interested in a career in mission control. Mitchell’s excitement is obvious as she talks about her experiences at the camp. “We went on these rides that simulate the feeling of going up in space.” At 36-storeys high, the Space Shot left her with an out of this world feeling. “They shoot you up as fast as it can go and there’s a point right at the top where for about 10 seconds you feel weightless, and that was kind of scary because they had to put this bar down over your chest and if it wasn’t there it felt like you would float out of the seat.” The whole experience, she says “was just amazing. It was the most outstanding trip I’ve been on so far. It was amazing. It was incredible.” After experiencing the camp for herself Pennell says it was a lot more fun than she had first expected. The 11-year-old says Harbin’s explanation of the camp made it sound “really cool” but in no way prepared them for what they would see. “When we got there we were like ‘oh wow, this is nothing like she was trying to say to us,’” she says. “It was like the best time in my life.”

Space Camp

Back from NASA; Space camp helps kids think about non-traditional careers, Rotary told GARY KEAN The Western Star

Mark Connolly of St. Peter’s Academy in Benoit’s Cove explains how a three-stage rocket works to the Rotary Club of Corner Brook, while schoolmate Shania Paul, centre, and teacher Cherry Harbin listen. — Star Photo by Gary Kean

Walk Across Canada

	Grade 9 students Krystal Hackett, front, and Shauna Paul, at St. Peter’s Academy in Benoit’s Cove, show how far they have travelled since starting the Walk Across Canada at the beginning of the school year. — Star Photos by Geraldine Brophy