The Lake Cowichan
Gazette
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
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VOL. 17, NO. 8
SCHOOLS:
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98 ¢ + HST
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SPORTS: Midget Lakers settle for bronze in weekend hockey tourney
A.B.Greenwell celebrates Valentine’s Day and Palsson celebrates positivity
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Although school closures loom, talk must now focus on needs ELODIE ADAMS, GAZETTE EDITOR
In the aftermath of the Feb. 6 school district meeting at Quamichan Middle School, when the axe fell on ten potential district schools, the community will have one more chance to voice its wishes on March 2 in the LCSS gym. “Everything’s just happening so quickly,” BCTF local 66 president Chris Rolls said. “So on Feb. 25, we’re holding an extra meeting, “Let’s Talk” to prepare for the next community consultation meeting.” Rolls is concerned that for the Mar. 2 meeting, everybody in the community is on the same page about what they want. “I’ve talked to all three PACs to make sure that we’re headed in the same direction,” Rolls told the Gazette. “And that direction seems to be: we don’t like what the district is proposing, but we can’t fight the closures any more.” With that in mind, Rolls wants to hold a meeting for everybody to come together and discuss what the community wants and needs for the Lake children in view of the pending changes. Taking a realistic look at the situation, she says they are looking at two options in Lake Cowichan. The options are either a Kindergarten to Grade 3 or a Kindergarten to Grade 4 school at Palsson, and a middle school at LCSS that will include Grade 5s or else both 4s and 5s in addition to the Grade 6, 7 and 8s already housed there. “So it comes down to we need to figure out what we need to make a 4-12 or a 5-12 school work,” she explained. “Essentially, the parents that I’ve talked to recognize that it’s not about fighting the closures, it’s about fighting for what they need.” Rolls says she thinks preparing what they are going to tell the school district at that meeting is primordial for obtaining what they want, instead of using that time for such discussions at the March 2 meeting. Not making cuts in teaching assistants because there are children with literacy issues here; deciding that the school district is going to provide them with a proper playground for the children at the middle school; and obtaining the necessary textbooks are just some examples of ideas parents have come up with. The meeting is slated for Feb. 25 at 6:30 in the Upper Centennial Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend.
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photo and story by Elodie Adams
Jorden Matson receiving the Governor General’s Academic Medal for 2011-2012 from LCSS principal Nicole Boucher. The Governor General’s Academic Medal is awarded to the student graduating with the highest grade point average from a Canadian high school, college or university program. The bronze medal is awarded to the student who achieves the highest average upon graduating from a secondary school.
LCSS grad wins prestigious award Although she is already busy pursuing her post-secondary academic studies at the Kelowna campus of the University of B.C., 2012 grad Jorden Matson returned to LCSS on Feb. 18 to receive the Governor General’s Academic Medal for 2011-2012 from school principal, Nicole Boucher. “It feels like a lot of hard work paid off,” Matson said when she saw the medal. “I think I took every course that I could here, as far as sciences go.” Boucher congratulated the former high school student on her academic achievement. Matson is presently enrolled in the
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faculty of science at UBC. She says she hopes to major in either biology or chemistry, and eventually work in a lab and do research. Science just seems to be her forte. “I have a more linear way of thinking, I’m not really a literary kind of person,” she explained. “I want to do something where there’s jobs and I’m going to be successful, and I always want to be learning as I’m working.” Matson was quick to acknowledge one of her teachers, Craig New, for the direction she ended up taking with her scholastic pursuits. “Mr. New is a big inspiration to me GET THE HYBRID FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE
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because he knows so much about everything, and he is so passionate about what he teaches,” she said. “His classes were interesting, and I think that’s what I liked about them. “Now at university, I definitely see that in a lot of the teachers that I have now that I really like,” she added. “They make things interesting because they know so much about what they’re doing, it makes it — well, fun to learn.” As well as taking top marks in the school in her graduating year, Matson was also Lake Cowichan’s Lady of the Lake for 2011-2012.
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