Around St. Mike’s

Wellness in Focus at SMCS

Student mental health and well-being were the focus throughout the month of December as students prepared for their mid-year assessments. In addition to the one-on-one support the Student Wellness O ce provides students, a variety of wellness initiatives that take place throughout the school year, particularly around assessment times. Ahead of the mid-year assessments, students had the opportunity to participate in a smart study snacks session with a registered nutrition consultant practitioner, have a visit from therapy dogs, and a quick and nutritious snack from a breakfast/snack table sponsored by the Parents’ Association.

Renowned Basketball Tournament Marks 60th Year

In January, SMCS hosted the 60th Dan Prendergast Invitational Senior Basketball Tournament, a major tournament renowned for welcoming some of the top teams in the province. e tournament was renamed to honour the late Dan Prendergast, OSM, teacher and vice principal at SMCS. Prendergast also coached the basketball team from 1962 to 1989 and was recognized as one of the top basketball coaches in the country. is year, the tournament welcomed 12 teams hailing from Richmond Hill to Chatham, Ontario.

New Experiences and Learning at Grade 8 Winter Camp

Community building and personal growth were among the common themes that ran throughout the Outdoor and Experiential Education Programme at SMCS, and they remained the focus of this year’s unique Grade 8 winter camp experience. With the unseasonable warm temperatures and lack of snow, some of the traditional activities students’ experience weren’t possible this year. New rotations included orienteering, Arctic and Inuit games, and winter low ropes courses and climbing initiatives. Another rst included an outdoor winter camp re liturgy!

Grade 12 Student Recognized for Impact on Indigenous Youth

A er ve years of dedicated service to Indigenous youth in Canada from an initiative that he co-founded, Daniel Berton ’23, was honoured with an ‘Outstanding Volunteer Service to the Community 2022 Award’ by Yvan Baker, MP for Etobicoke Centre. Berton and his friend Ethan started a hockey equipment drive in 2018 and have collected roughly 700 bags lled with equipment, almost 2,000 hockey sticks, and more than 100 sets of goalie pads, all generously donated to Indigenous communities in need.

Academics and Hockey a Perfect Match for Morello

Earlier this year, Jonathan Morello ’24, earned a scholarship to Clarkson University to continue his academic journey and compete in Division I hockey. “A major part of my decision came down to the coaching sta and the team culture at Clarkson,” says Morello. At SMCS, Morello’s commitment to academics has been evident and he has been a perennial honour roll student since Grade 7, boasting an average of over 90 per cent in three of his rst four years at the school. His high school career has also been complemented by a busy co-curricular schedule, playing hockey, lacrosse, and volleyball throughout his time at SMCS.

Soaring Creativity Flourishes in Makerspace

e makerspace is a weekly Ode e Library Learning Commons initiative that is ge ing students’ creative juices owing all while they learn new things, problem-solve, and explore. Students from all grades – but particularly intermediate school students – have access to 3D pens, glue guns, woodworking tools, motors, a Cricut machine, bu on making machine, and many other materials including upcycled items to build and create whatever their imaginations come up with. “ e idea is to provide a low stake environment that gives students space to fail and problem solve. In a makerspace, the goal is the exploration itself, not the end product,” says Lisa Lipetz, teacher librarian.

Alumni Information Series: The Basics of Investing and Insurance - Part Three

e SMCS Alumni Association hosted the nal installment of its Alumni Information Series: e Basics of Investing and Insurance. Special guest, Chris Smith ’06 joined moderator Ma Montemurro ’05 discuss various topics including breaking down the sometimes daunting idea of investing into segmented, easily understood concepts as well as how to progressively work through them. e three-part session focused on types of investment accounts, how they are taxed, and where to open these accounts.

Bringing Science to Life: Biology Presentation

Grades 11 and 12 biology students had the unique opportunity to interact with Dr. Jennifer Coughlan, assistant professor in Yale University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, over Zoom during a special presentation and Q&A on the history of genetics, science in the media, gene ‘hunting’, diversity in STEM, and more. Students were responsible for their understanding of the topics as content from her discussion was included in future evaluations.

VEX Robotics Club Celebrates Successful Season

e SMCS VEX Robotics Club nished their season with three teams that advanced to the Provincial Championships, with one placing within the top 20 of 64 teams! e VEX Robotics club begins preparing for the season in September where they have access to the main robotics classroom along with an adjoining room that further expands their workspace when building their robots. A week prior to the provincial tournament, SMCS hosted its annual iDESIGN Central Toronto VEX Robotics Competition in the gymnasium.

Exploring Creativity through the New Music Production Club

e new Music Production Club is inspiring student musicians while providing invaluable opportunities to gain hands-on experience with digital music production. e club meets weekly in the Midi Room where students can collaborate, share their work, and get valuable feedback from peers. In early March 2023, Patrick Bodi ’15 and Liam Jessup, founders of 254sound, met with club members to showcase songs they’ve worked on, demonstrate their process, and listened to and provided valuable feedback on student projects.

Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria. Finally, France, Italy, and Spain were the three countries visited as part of a modern languages experience.

Looking back on the 2022-23 Winter Athletics Season

e successful winter athletic season saw a total of 263 student-athletes competing for 13 teams, across six sports, in a season that would see SMCS compete in nine di erent playo championship events. Highlights include: CISAA silver medals for Jr. Basketball, CISAA and OFSAA bronze medals for Sr. Basketball, CISAA gold for both U14 and Jr. Hockey, and many individual accolades on our Alpine Ski, Snowboarding, and Swim teams.

Youth Motivational Speaker Inspires Students

SMCS sta and students welcomed Sam Demma, youth motivational speaker, author, and two-time TEDx speaker, for an engaging discussion as part of his ‘Empty Your Backpack’ tour. Demma’s tour centres around helping students and youth ‘unpack their beliefs, rede ne their self-worth, and embrace their authentic selves.’ Feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive with some sharing that he was among the best speakers to visit the school during their time.

Original Production Marks Return of Spring Musical

is year’s Spring Musical, Love & Revolution, was an original show exclusively created for SMCS — a rst in the school’s 71-year tradition of staging Broadway-style musicals. In total, 31 male and female student-actors made up the cast, along with 12 stage crew members, and two pit musicians. e show, which was wri en by Anne Morrone, director of the Spring Musical, incorporates well-known numbers from 14 di erent musicals. “Love & Revolution has a strong message of hope, inspiration, and love that will likely resonate with audiences and provide a memorable experience,” says Morrone.

A New Look for Career Day 2023

e 19th Annual Grade 11 Career Day returned to its in-person format for the rst time in three years. To be more collaborative and engaging for students, this year the event adopted a conference feel, with a keynote speaker followed by reside chats and speed rounds with guests. e new format focused on allowing students as much opportunity to meet as many of the guests as possible, with a variety of touchpoints to ask questions in a small and interactive se ing. Headlining the event was Rob Nickerson, an actor, writer, producer, and teacher, best known as a pioneer in using improvisation as a teaching tool in non-theatrical applications.

Alumni Connect Over Health and Wellness

Special guest, Mike Levine ’03 joined moderator Ma Montemurro ’05 and alumni for the virtual Alumni Information Series on health and wellness. He broke down the fundamental methods that can help men build healthy habits and foundational nutritional tips, while providing best practices for general wellness. During the session, Levine spoke passionately about the di erent ways participants can improve their nutrition and physical tness habits to get to where they want to be in their tness journey. e session concluded with an in-depth Q&A on a variety of health topics inspired by questions submi ed by alumni.

Celebrating Excellence at CIS Black Student Conference

Black brilliance and resilience were on display at the inaugural CIS Black Student Conference on April 28, 2023. e conference welcomed 93 students and sta from SMCS and nine other schools within the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario (CIS Ontario). Keynote speakers, Marlon Majdoub, senior sales director at Teladoc Health, and Kurt Michael Downes ’97, regarded as one of Canada’s leading track and eld coaches and current head coach at Border City Athletics Club, kicked o the morning and a ernoon sessions. Additional guest experts led smaller group workshops on topics such as black mental health, surviving the ‘grind culture’, experiences of black students in CIS schools, and more.

Spring Music Concerts 2023

e annual Spring Music Concerts debuted on May 16 and 18, showcasing the talent, dedication, and hard work of the students and sta in our music programme. Almost 250 music students from Grades 8 to 12 represented nine di erent ensembles with the largest performing ensemble, Chicago Trip Band, being composed of 90 students all on one stage. Another highlight was graduating student, Joshua Leduc ’23 performing a medley from Carmen on solo ute with accompanying pianist, Joshua Tamayo.

A Summer of Fun and Learning: SMCS Camps 2023

Now in its ninth year, the SMCS Summer Camps experience has expanded to 19 camps in academics, athletics, and the arts for boys and girls. New o erings this year include a spring/summer hockey league, a strength and conditioning programme with a hockey focus, and a revamped basketball programme. Returning to head up the basketball programme this summer is Mike Selliah, assistant coach of the Ryerson men’s team and head coach of Team Ontario’s U17 men’s basketball team. Also, SMCS alumnus John Dean (1994-97), head coach of the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds and assistant coach of Canada’s U18 team will lead the on-ice hockey sessions.

Success at Provincial French Public Speaking Competition

In May, four students had the opportunity to represent SMCS at the 38th annual provincial Concours d’art oratoire held at York University’s Glendon Campus. e competition provides an opportunity for students to develop and use their oral French skills, a key component of their journey to bilingualism in both o cial languages. ree students walked away with top prizes of gold, silver, and bronze medals in di erent categories.

Building Community: Annual Father and Son Event Returns

A er a four-year hiatus, the Parents’ Association was proud to host the Annual Father and Son BBQ which saw more than 400 a endees participate in the festivities! It was a day of fun for fathers and their sons to relax, play some sports to engage the mind and

Deputy Director of IMF Visits SMCS

Several SMCS students were treated to an overview of the intersection of economics and politics from Mark Flanagan ’86 of the International (IMF) Strategy, Policy and Review Department. Students in 12 economics, accounting, issues and members of the Model United Nations Club made up the a entive audience for the ‘World Economy, Macroeconomics, and the Role of the IMF’ presentation.

Celebrating Arts Month at SMCS

Arts Month is in May at SMCS and is a time dedicated to celebrating the arts and recognizing the incredible artistic contributions of our students. In media arts, Grade 12 student Henry Li’s ’23 photographic work hangs outside the classroom. His project was inspired by two of the pioneers of colour photography, Saul Leiter and Ernst Haas. roughout the month, the Music Department was buzzing with activities showcasing our students’ abilities, including Club Bluenote and our annual Spring Music Concerts. Finally, in visual arts, many projects and other artistic creations were displayed in the main hallway to acknowledge their hard work throughout the year.

Students and Alumni Connect at Science

their networking skills while learning more about life at prospective universities straight from current university students.

In total, 25 alumni joined 35 Grade 12 students and ve Grade 11s for the a er-school event on May 24, 2023. Patrick Feghali hopes to also invite third- and fourth-year alumni to future events and provide even more value to student and alumni a endees as they could o er guidance not only to students but to younger alumni as well on summer programmes, jobs, and internships.

Alumni Networking Event Returns

e in-person Alumni Networking Event on June 28 continued to bring to life opportunities for alumni to help each other. e evening’s theme was: Navigating networking in the current

Recapping the 2022-23 Spring Athletics Season

With 345 student-athletes competing for 14 teams across nine sports, the SMCS spring athletic season marked the busiest time of the year. “Outdoor sports were able to relish the warmer weather, and tremendous personal development and team successes were enjoyed across the board,” says Alex Frescura ’92 the return to a traditional dinner format for our annual Athletic Awards Banquet which welcomed more than 420 a endees!

SMCS Grad Settling in as Toronto’s New Chief of Police

From the cozy con nes of the yellow brick halls to the top of Toronto Police Service headquarters, Myron Demkiw ’85 was recently appointed Chief of Police of the fourth largest municipal police service in North America. e 30-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service says his top three priorities include: improving trust within the Toronto Police Service, accelerating police reform and professionalization, and supporting safer communities. e proud St. Michael’s man says the school helped prepare him for his career in policing and the role he’s in today.