Vol.110–No. 21 • 12 Pages
Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Wednesday, May 22, 2019
$1.25 (Includes GST)
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40069240 Publication Mail Registration No. 09093
Ag, Oil & Business • 2
Opinion • 4
Sports • 6
Obituaries/Classified • 8
Fiance set for a bachelor party in ‘Mamma Mia’
Review Photo 5566 — Greg Nikkel
Sophie (played by Abby Akins) listened as her fiance, Sky (played by Onello Bahingawan) sang about the fun he was going to have at his bachelor’s party, in a scene from the musical “Mamma Mia”. In this story, based at a resort on a Greek island, Sophie wants to know who her father is, and has invited three men to her wedding in an effort to find out. The musical is based on the songs of ABBA, and will be performed at the Weyburn Comp in the Cugnet Centre with three evening performances today, May 22, Thursday and Friday, May 23-24, and for a Sunday matinee on May 26. Tickets are available at the Comp School office.
Tour for Humanity raises tough issues with students By April Zielke The Tour for Humanity bus from the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies made stops at the Comp High School on Wednesday and at St. Michael School on Thursday, raising some hard issues for the students to think about. The Tour for Humanity is a renovated RV with 30 seats, wheelchair accessibility and screens mounted on the inside wall. The technologically-advanced mobile human rights education centre teaches students, educators, community leaders, and frontline professionals about topics of diversity, democracy, and Canadian civic rights and responsibilities. The bus was launched in
2013 and since then it has travelled to more than 670 schools across Ontario and has provided life lessons and historical education to 100,000 students and educators. For the first time since its launch, the Tour for Humanity expanded its reach this year and is visiting schools in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The students gathered in the bus for about 45 minutes to participate in a workshop lead by FSWC education associate Daniella Lurion. The workshop is called The Canadian Experience and in this workshop, students learned about a variety of difficult topics in Canadian history, including the Indian Residential Schools system and the
systemic internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. After the students learned about these historical events and their consequences, Lurion led the group to relate these past events to current events happening in the world. She used examples such as cyber bullying and racism. “For us it’s about connecting it to the present. Very often Social Studies and History tends to be taught in a vacuum as ‘this was then’, which it is, however for us it’s a matter of ‘yes this was then, but how does that affect me now?’ One of my favourite questions to ask students is if you look at something like Hitler and the Holocaust on one hand
and bullying at school on the other hand, what do these two things have in common — and they’ll make that connection,” said Lurion. Due to only having between 45 minutes to an hour, the workshops are designed to only teach the basics of the historical events discussed. This way, the hope is that between the basic information they learned and the discussion periods they had about comparing past and present, the students will leave the bus wanting to know more and will take the initiative in doing so. Lurion met with five different groups of students at the Comp and with six groups at St. Michael. In her opinion, she
thought the students were very polite and took in the information and reacted to the workshop well. With this being as far west as the bus has travelled, it was a positive experience. “Very often, especially here today (at St. Michael) we are doing a lot of Grade 6, 7, 8 and 9 classes, which are the most interactive groups that ask the most questions, which is great. Even with the high school level when they are not quite willing to ask questions or answer the questions as it is, you can always see they’re taking it in whether it is asking a question or you can just see it in their eyes. There’ve been some fantastic students here and they’ve asked some fantas-
tic questions.” The presentation included both historical and current examples of people who made a difference when faced with these difficult circumstances. Historically, examples included Helen Keller, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and the name sake of the organization which sponsored the bus, Simon Wiesenthal. A current example used was Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl who was shot by a Taliban soldier while riding a bus to school. Since her recovery, she became known around the world for her advocacy for girls education, and was one of the youngest ever recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Comp teacher to receive PM Award of Teaching Excellence By Greg Nikkel Weyburn Comprehensive School Physics teacher Karen Kennedy-Allin was named as a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence, and she will be presented with a Certificate of Excellence by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, May 28 in Ottawa. The Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence have honoured exceptional elementary and secondary school teachers in all disciplines since 1993, with over 1,500 teachers honoured to date. Teaching Excellence Awards recipients are honoured for their remarkable achievements in education and for their commitment to preparing their students for a digital and innovation-based economy. Kennedy-Allin has taught for over 25 years, and works tirelessly to improve her classes, as she is of the view that every
semester is an opportunity for growth and change. In addition to teaching science classes at the Weyburn Comp, she is also president of the Southeast Cornerstone Teachers Association, and through this position, she supports teachers across all grade levels and disciplines. Kennedy-Allin wrote the new Physics 30 curriculum for the province along with three other educators, and creates lessons and projects for senior science classes that are shared with teachers across the province. Previously she received the Canadian Association of Physicists Award of teaching excellence in 2017. Her primary directive is that students will not care until they know you care. She ensures that the students who need the biggest challenges to stay engaged get them, and those who can only handle smaller ones
get what they need. She adapts to various learning styles, and has her students review video lessons at their own pace. She makes class notes available, and has produced 10 video lessons for students to do at home so physics class time is free for inquiry-based activities. Kennedy-Allin conducts a student survey at the end of every semester and strives to take into account the feedback in the surveys in order to improve her courses for the next semester. She has also created the Comp School’s health and anatomy symposium, where students create displays with information on the structure and function of a human organ or body system, and how to keep it healthy. The event features interactive learning activities and parents, the media and the public are invited to attend.
Students hear presentation on racism and tolerance Daniella Lurion, education associate, listened as students discussed photos of a First Nations boy who had been in a residential school, during a session of the “Tour For Humanity” program at St. Michael School on Thursday. The presentations to students were done in a travelling bus from the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies that stopped in Weyburn for several sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. Review Photo 5000 — Greg Nikkel