The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.
By Sarah J.
Lia Milito, recruitment and admissions officer at the University of King’s College, encourages high school students that King’s is a very beneficial and rewarding school.
With a large selection of programs; journalism, arts, music, science and much more King’s has a lot to offer, and having come first in the running of the National Survey of Student Engagement, with the happiest first year students in Canada, King’s has really brought on a valuable reputation and has proved to be an excellent school. The school is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia and is very close to everything, walking distance from downtown and only about a 20 minute walk to the waterfront.
“King’s really does have a lot to offer and definitely stands out among all others, we’re a good size school and the community here is really great. Our Foundation Year Program is really great too, its unique interdisciplinary courses give students an advantage and is really important for developing independent and critical thinking skills,” said Ms. Milito.
King’s also shares their campus with Dalhousie University, making the campus a good size with more to offer and, more tools and locations to help students with their studies. With about 1200 students a year kings is really focused on bringing out every students intellectual abilities and the necessary skills they need to graduate.
“We have a good amount of students, usually 1200 a year, and next to Dalhousie, it really benefits the students because they can access both faculties, so really they could be anywhere,” said Ms. Milito.
King’s really has proved to be a very unique and outstanding university outshining many of the others, one that should definitely be considered among students who are looking for a great school.
for more info: http://www.ukings.ca/
What is putting the roaring Black Kat to sleep?
Every weekday at 8:25am, the school bell rings, telling all Fredericton High School students to go to class, but seldom is this alarm taken seriously. Many students are regularly late to their homeroom class, and many joke about it afterward. Every class seems to be the same. Three quarters of the students actually show up before the bell at 8:30am, after which “O Canada” starts to resonate throughout the school.
A few students regularly complain about having to stand up for the playing of our national anthem. They make it more than clear that they do not want to be here, that they would rather be sleeping, or at least still talking to their friends in the hallway. The teachers regularly have to step out into the hallway to tell the busy passersby to stop and stand at attention for the anthem. Otherwise, it is unlikely that they would bother to stop at all. They have things to do, and places to be.
As the restless classmates hear the last notes of the song, they have already sat down and taken out their cellphone to check it for messages, even though it is against school policy to have it out in homeroom. Some students show up after the anthem simply so they do not have to stand up for it. They are late, but most teachers do not bother even marking them tardy. They do not consider the whining that would follow worth the effort of having one hundred percent accurate attendance.
After “O Canada” plays, the announcements follow. Not everyone hears the announcements, as many students talk to their neighbor during them, uncaring of what they may be drowning out. The disturbance, though, come in waves. Announcements made by well-known groups usually get through, but the announcement about the flash drive that was lost is misheard. The announcement made by the Book Club goes completely unheard, and ridiculed is the announcement promoting the Art Gallery.
Such is a typical homeroom class at Fredericton High School. The announcements end and more late students arrive. They are often not marked tardy; the teachers are too busy trying to get the class’ attention. They are collecting money for charities, and soup cans for the Food Bank, but very few listen to them. The bell to go to first period rings at 8:40am, and the students quickly shuffle out, simply intent on getting to their first class, and to perhaps meet a friend and talk to them on the way.
Apathy is prominent in many facets of every adolescent’s everyday life. Disinterest in charity, volunteering, education, and many other activities that previous generations have contributed to with much enthusiasm are just not getting the support from the kids of high school age today.
Prasanna Iyengar, the treasurer of Fredericton High School’s SRC, Student Representative Council, is very involved in the organization of school events, and attributes the change in attitude to the size of the student population.
“I feel that while there is a great deal of apathy within the school, some of it is inevitable,” he said. “Being a school of approximately 1940 students, it is hard to engage every student and create a sense of community.”
The current President of the SRC, Jodi Connors, has really noticed the attitude of the student body toward events since she began organizing them in September.
“Dances have always had the highest turnout and are by far our biggest money maker,” she said. “They get 400 students on average. That’s less than a quarter of the student population, but people don’t realize that 400 isn’t really that big a turn out, not in a school of nearly 2000.”
“The people who go are just really vocal about it,” Connors said. “But when you look at the turn out numbers, it’s really sad.”
The SRC President has struggled to try to diversify the different events held at the school since the start of the school year, but does not feel she has made very much progress.
“We were thinking about doing a Cultural Art Fair, but no one showed any interest at all,” Connors said. “All kids care about are talent shows and dances. It’s like a cultural thing. We’ve always done them, so they seem like a big deal.”
The members of the SRC are not the only students noticing the indifference. Ryan Lusk, a senior at Fredericton High School, did not attend a single school event until this year.
“I didn’t really feel anything applied to me or my interests,” Lusk said. “I didn’t really care enough to pursue them, so I guess that’s a display of apathy right there.”
This year Ryan Lusk joined Model United Nations, a club at Fredericton High School. He also attended Battle of the Bands, an event held annually at the school.
“Now that I realize they are potentially a lot of fun, I do plan on going to more events if there are any,” Lusk said.
Getting people to attend these events, however, is only half the problem, according to senior Fredericton High School student Sydney Allen. She firmly believes that most of the students are too lazy or busy to organize these events.
“Some people—the people who complain, don’t even want to go to the event that they are complaining about!” Sydney said. “All they do is complain, just constantly.”
Sydney experienced first hand this fall that organizing an event was not as easy as it seemed. She was part of a brief movement to rent a bus for Fredericton High School football fans to go to watch the FHS team play in the provincial championships in Moncton.
“The championship was on a Saturday,” Sydney said, “and there were announcements Monday and Tuesday of that week promoting it, but then it just fizzled out. It didn’t happen.”
“I know some people talked about it being arranged, but it just never got done, even though people were showing some interest,” she continued. “The football team could not have organized it, because they were too busy. I don’t know who would have organized it.”
Patrick Allaby, a senior in Mrs. Valerie Marshall’s English class has also noticed apathy while trying to plan events. He, along with his English class, helped to organize the first ever FHS Song Writing Competition, an event organized to help promote literature, reading and writing.
“It exceeded my expectations. About 30 people paid to get in,” Allaby said. “Only about 20 high school kids were there though, and half of them were either organizing the event or were performing.”
“So, I guess only about ten high school students actually came to see the event,” he continued. “Some university students came, but that was just to see Kevin Belyea perform.”
Kevin Belyea is a senior at Fredericton High School, who is also part of a popular local band the Floogs, performed several songs at the concert with fellow seniors Matt Whipple, and Jeff Wo, who came together solely to play at the event.
Patrick did not find that the event promoted literacy much, even though that was the original intent. According to him, it was a disappointment in that respect.
“It was more of a social, and none of the students actually cared about the event,” he said. “It was a lot more like a sloppy concert than a song writing contest. People were just fooling around. It didn’t really promote literacy at all.”
Patrick Allaby then came to a startling conclusion.
“In a way the Song Writing Competition really did reveal that there is apathy within the school,” he said. “It was also really weird. Some people didn’t help at all, but they said they did. I guess they were resume building.”
Patrick then continued. “Someone could write on their resume that they helped with the organization and execution of the Song Writing event, when they just really came the day of and brought food. That happened.”
It is obvious that students have noticed the apathy and indifference within the school, and they have right to be bothered by it. The Art Gallery, run by Mr. Zenon Fedory’s Fine Arts class, is a project in which students are encouraged to view the student art displayed in classroom C016 at lunch. It has had a consistent attendance of nearly zero. In addition, the proposed Harry Potter night, another literature-promoting activity derived from Mrs. Valerie Marshall’s class has recently been postponed until after Christmas, due to lack of student interest and organizer motivation.
But it is not just the students of Fredericton High School who have noticed the indifference within themselves and in others. According to Mrs. Carolyn Barnhart, this is a much bigger phenomenon. She comments that it is worldwide, and that it is generational.
Mrs. Carolyn Barnhart has been a teacher for over twenty years and current teacher supervisor of the Free the Children group at Fredericton High School, a small organization dedicated to raising money to build a school in a third world country. The group also focuses on more local charity work.
“This generation doesn’t seem to care about their fellow students anymore. It’s all about ‘me’,” she said. “Take, for instance, Safegrad last year. They didn’t want to earn it. They didn’t want to work for it. They just wanted it to be.”
Safegrad is the most anticipated senior event of the year. Traditionally it is an event at a Maqudavic Lake, about an hour long drive from Fredericton. It is an alcohol free, all-night event for all graduating students, but it is also notoriously costly.
“The potential grads were given opportunities to raise money,” Mrs. Barnhart said. “For example, we gave them raffle tickets—and they sold less than a hundred.”
“And then,” she continued. “We were going to have Safegrad at the school, because they didn’t raise enough money to have it at the lake, and it ended up in the newspaper, like some sort of scandal. Students even threatened to egg an organizer’s house!”
Mrs. Barnhart’s ideas stretch far beyond the confines of the high school, and she said she was afraid of what might happen to the current high school generation after they reached adulthood.
“If they don’t see a benefit for themselves in an activity or event, they don’t see the point, and don’t go,” she said. “Students today are very selfish, and self-absorbed. They’re also very materialistic. In twenty years of teaching I’ve noticed a very dramatic change.”
“Volunteering is way down,” she continued. “Organizations like the Rotary club and the Soup Kitchen can’t get enough volunteers. They’re beginning to suffer from this apathy too. It’s all connected.”
For Christmas, Mrs. Barnhart said she baked all her gifts, and that her whole family does the same. She doesn’t understand how things changed so quickly, or why they changed how they did.
“It’s sad. Everything is about material acquisition, or padding your resume, or bettering your reputation,” she said. “No one does is for the love of doing it anymore.”
At Fredericton High School when the homeroom bell rings, not everyone takes it seriously. When the student body and all the teachers stand for “O Canada”, only a few do it for the love of their country. When the announcements are recited, people only listen to the ones that pertain to them, specifically, and cannot see the point of being respectful and quiet for the rest. The trend is becoming very clear. Apathy is here, and it does not look like it is going away.
Mental illness can kill the high school good times
By Rebecca B.
If you were to picture a typical high school, you wouldn’t think of all the students who suffer from a mental illness and the struggles they face everyday. You would think of smiling teens who involve themselves in school work, athletics, drama or anything else offered. It’s a harsh reality for some, but not all students get to experience all the perfect high school years that is heard of so often.
For Lacey Phillips, a grade eleven student at Fredericton High School, her troubles started the moment she entered the school.
“I was diagnosed with depression 2 years ago by my therapist at Joan Write & Associates,” Phillips said.
Phillips struggles with school and cannot attend a normal day like most students do so she is enrolled in the TAP program where she only attends class after lunch.
“The TAP program is excellent. It’s a small classroom where everybody is doing individual work and you can get one on one help from the teachers. It’s a lot less stressful and the deadlines aren’t as tight,” Said Phillips.
Jennifer Barton is a mother of 2 and has a daughter who attends grade twelve at Fredericton High School. Barton says that there are many struggles that come with having a child who suffers from depression.
“It is extremely hard and frustrating trying to get people to understand and to find proper help. It is also so sad to see such a once vibrant young lady become very sad and quiet,” Barton said.
For Barton, it was the school struggles her daughter started to face when she really noticed something was wrong with her child.
“She began failing classes, missing a lot of school, loss of interest in hobbies, loss of friends, excessive sleeping and crying, and she had a really low energy level,” Barton said of her daughter. “Before, her marks were high, she was involved in a lot of school activities and she was heavily involved in sports. She hardly ever missed any school. School was never an issue. She always enjoyed it.”
Phillips also experienced a similar situation with her depression and anxiety.
“Before I could get good marks and could focus on what I was doing. Now I am overwhelmed when I try to work and get frustrated very easily,” said Phillips.
When a student suffers from a mental illness, the schools aren’t always as helpful as they maybe should be and more obstacles are put in the way of the struggling families.
“In the beginning the school wasn’t helpful at all. I don’t feel like they believed or understood us. I dont think they wanted to be bothered. They weren’t very cooperative,” Barton Said. “I still feel like things could have been done differently to save a lot of headaches.”
Some are open to schools offering support groups where students can meet with other students who suffer from the same mental illnesses. Phillips says she would feel less alone.
“I’ve always felt alone and it would be great to be surrounded by people who understand and are going through the same things as me,” said Phillips
Barton feels the same way as Phillips does.
“Students who are suffering from these mental illnesses probably feel like they are alone. Talking to others who go through the same things will give them strength to deal easier,” Barton said.
Not only do students need to worry about their school work but also how their peers see them. Phillips especially feels the pressure and criticism but surrounds herself with people who care and support her.
“It hasn’t been easy to deal with the criticism. I’ve managed to surround myself with good people who support me and my struggle. They help me deal with the peer pressure,” said Phillips.
Students who struggle with everyday life are forced to find their own ways of dealing with things that are unavoidable. For Phillips, it’s doing school work that is a major struggle for her but she has found tips that help her get through it.
“To stay focused on my school work, I take small breaks when I find myself getting distracted. That way I am not sitting there for hours not doing hardly anything.” Phillips said.
But is high school the only struggles that they will face? What about post secondary education? Will it be harder, or will it be easier for them? Only time will tell.
“If things keep going the way they are then university will be easier for me,” said Phillips. “I won’t have to deal with the peer pressure or the judging from other high school students. It will be a nice change.”
St Thomas University in Fredericton
St. Thomas University is unique in Canada; their sole focus is liberal arts education.
At St Thomas you can expect small class sizes of about 31 that are entirely focused; these class sizes allow the professors to address you as a person not a number, or a walking wallet. Around 2400 students attend this university and the tuition is about 4570 with all fees included, that is the lowest cost in Atlantic Canada.
St. Thomas offers a a variety of courses, some of their most popular would be: The journalism course; it is the only journalism course partnered with CBC, A human rights degree, a bachelor of applied arts in criminology, bachelor of arts in psycology as well as the fine arts. St. Thomas also offers a Bachelor of Social Work and Education, which you can recieve after you have graduated with your Bachelor of Arts.
St. Thomas gives you the freedom to link with yourself and develop skills and abilities. Wherever you want to go, St. Thomas will help you get there.
by Stephanie V.
In a country that only gave women suffrage after the First World War, Mount Saint Vincent University has always been a beacon for Canadian women.
Since 1873, when Sisters of Charity first opened the doors of Mount Saint Vincent University, its goal has been to educate women. It was an all girls’ school until 1967, when it became coed, and even into the 1990s their mission statement was still to educate women. Today there is twice the number of women enrolled at the Mount than there are men.
The Mount is a nickname that Mount Saint Vincent University, Student Recruitment Officer Shannon Kehoe explained.
“Like the way everyone calls Dalhousie University, Dal,” she said, “or Saint Thomas University, STU, it’s just the university’s common name.”
The Mount is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and there are only an estimated 4,000 students in total.
“That includes people going for their bachelors, their masters, and their PhDs, so it’s really a small school,” Ms. Kehoe said.
Tuition for the Mount is around $6,000 a year and another $7,000 for any student living in residence.
“I would also expect to have to pay another $1,000 for textbooks, and another $500 on other expenses,” Ms. Kehoe said. “Meals are included in the Residence fee though, so food is never a problem.”
At the Mount there is focus on the Arts, the Sciences, and also Professional studies. Professional Studies, Ms. Kehoe explained, is what makes the Mount really different compared to other universities.
“The Mount is the only school in all of Canada where you can obtain a Child and Youth Study degree,” she said. “It’s also one of the few schools where you can get a degree in Public Relations.”
One last point that Shannon stressed was the feeling of community at the Mount.
“We have an average class size of 24, and there’s really a lot of debate and class discussion,” she said. “You really get to know your professors on a first name basis. Some professors even give their home phone numbers to the whole class.”
She was handing out business cards in her name, and pamphlets including a poster and stickers at the Career Fair on November 18th. Her Major was in Public Relations, and it showed. Shannon’s dedication to the Mount was strongly, and repeatedly, professed.
for more info: http://www.msvu.ca/en/home/default.aspx
By Patrick A.
The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design is situated in downtown Halifax. Today, around 850 full time and 100 part time students are enrolled in programs at NSCAD.
For two semesters, Canadian students pay a $5,500 dollar tuition which goes up to $5,950 with student fees like a health plan and bus passes. Full time international students are required to pay a $13,040 of fees.
According to the school’s information booklet, there is also an estimated $11,400 that students pay over two semester in other expenses such as supplies and board.
In its more than one hundred year history, the College of Art and Design has been “the best art school in North America,” by the magazine Art in America and was visited by Oscar Wilde in 1882 and Andy Warhol in 1972.
The school offers studies in pairing, drawing, sculpture, textiles, fashion, art history and many other things. In contrast to Fredericton’s New Brunswick College of Craft and Design which gives students diplomas, the school in Nova Scotia offers its students Bachelors of Arts, Fine Arts and Design. Portfolio submissions are due in March.
for more info:http://nscad.ca/en/home/default.aspx
By Allie I.
With a population of 17500+ students, and a low tuition of $2550, it’s no wonder Memorial University is as popular as it is.
As the largest university in Atlantic Canada, Memorial can boast a spectacular location in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with beautiful scenery and a fun cosmopolitan environment. There’s plenty to do besides studies at MUN, with six varsity teams and 140+ clubs to be involved in.
MUN isn’t just great because it has the lowest tuition in Canada, they bake 10800 cookies every week for students to enjoy. For academics, there are 100+ degree programs to choose from as diverse as Folklore or Behavioural Neuroscience. At MUN, students are encouraged to blaze their own trail and celebrate their ideas.
For more info:
http://www.mun.ca/
by Penelope K.
Students go to Université Sainte-Anne to study, to participate in cultural and athletic activities, and to bring out their joie de vivre.
With its main campus located in Pointe-de-l’Église and other campuses in Halifax, Petit-de-Grat, Saint-Joseph-du-Moine and Tusket, Université Sainte-Anne is Nova Scotia’s only French post-secondary institution. Its enrolment stands at approximately 475 students, and yearly tuition for Canadian students ranges from $13,800 to $15,400, with international students being charged higher at rates from $16,030 to $17,500.
Its programs are numerous and varied, offering Bachelors of Administration, Arts, Sciences, Education and Health, as well as the possibility of doing a joint Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education, or a joint Bachelor of Sciences and Bachelor of Education. Also available to students outside of their studies are fine arts workshops and competitive and recreational sports.
Université Sainte-Anne sets itself apart from other universities with its small class sizes – it has a maximum of 35 students per class – and its option of several programs that guarantee jobs to graduates (it is one of only two universities in Canada that offer employment guarantees). Another evident bonus is its French element; with courses in both English and French made mandatory, all students graduate bilingual and ready to tackle the work force in two languages.
for more info:
http://www.usainteanne.ca/
Black Kat 2011 