October 20, 2011 Vol. 11, No. 42
$1.00 incl. GST.
The
Furnace Broker 8109 Hwy 38, Godfrey ON
building centres
Yourway
Dual Fuel Models Available
Home Centre 1 mile North of Northbrook Complete Line of Paints
Closed Sundays
613-336-2195
Your independent community newspaper since 1971
Circulation: 9147 households
613
or
374-2566 1-888-674-2566
SHS students climb the ropes to leadership-one step at a time by Julie Druker Leadership camp is a place where pre-conceived ideas about leadership and other barriers are broken down”, said Sydenham High School teacher and leadership camp staff supervisor, Kim Kippen. Along with co-staff supervisor, Don Lalonde, Kippen oversaw a two-day camp for 70 Sydenham High School students on Oct. 18 and 19 at Camp IAWAH, located off the Westport Road, east of Godfrey. The leadership camp, which has been running for years at Sydenham HS, aims to impart leadership skills to students from all areas of the school by offering concrete examples of leadership through a series of hands-on activities and discussions. Groups of students from grades 9 through 11 were invited by teachers to attend the camp. The camp is led by four teacher-nominated grade 12 students. The four leaders were Calista Vogelzang, Cia MylesGonzalez, David Amos and Shayna Joron, and they were supported by additional grade 12 students who supervised the various activities. This year’s camp theme, initiated by the four camp leaders, was titled “The Next Step” and it was designed for the students to explore and experience the defining qualities of leadership: initiative, perspective, setting goals, teamwork, overcoming obstacles, setting examples, and self-improvement. The ideas were discussed and also demonstrated through a series of activities that each student had a chance to participate in. For the segment on perseverance and overcoming obstacles, students completed a relay obstacle course where a pair of students was tied together by one hand, and had no choice but to use their communication skills in order to successfully complete the course. Following the obstacle course students discussed what kind of communications worked well and what did not. On the high ropes course, students faced a number of daunting aerial challenges that had them working in teams suspended on ropes high above the tree tops. Student or-
ganizer, David Amos, said he felt that the participating students benefited greatly from the camp. “One important idea they learn is that they are able to set goals for themselves and they also take what they have learned here back into the community.” Shayna Joron agreed. “These skills can really help them to prepare to face challenges in their own lives.” “And they come to realize that anyone has the ability to become a good leader, even the quiet students,” Calista Vogelzang added. Sydenham High School teacher, Beth Barz, who coaches with the Queen’s University women’s rugby team, the national rugby program and also at Sydenham High, was invited as the guest speaker. She shared some of the wisdom she has accumulated while attending a workshop for female coaches of national teams, particularly what coach Melody Davidson of the Canadian women’s hockey team imparted to her. “I spoke to them about how Melody brought the team to victory, first with thorough planning and also by reviewing their performances.” Beth Barz feels that the camp gives students something they might not otherwise get during regular school hours. “Anytime students can get out of the school setting they are able to think a little bit differently. They are able to challenge themselves in different ways and this gives them a sense of autonomy over how and what they learn. We are recognizing more and more that students need that autonomy, which sometimes, academically they do not always get.” Kim Kippen agreed. “It's an incredible opportunity for students who may have never had this kind of experience before to reevaluate their own preconceived ideas of leadership and what it means. Each student tends to build on what they already know so while each student’s experience at the camp is different, it always tends to be a very positive and memorable one.” Student organizer David Amos had the final word and mentioned that what likely makes students so eager to participate is that “the whole camp revolves around demonstrating leadership ideas in a really fun environment, which I believe is what makes the camp so successful.”
“
Stewardship Council wary of changes FRONTENAC STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL by Jeff Green or 16 years, a group of the 46 stewardship councils in Ontario (one per rural county) have been quietly going about their business, but that business is changing. The councils were set up by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) as a way of fostering environmental stewardship in rural Ontario. In the case of the Frontenac Stewardship Council (FSC), efforts have been made to keep a representative council with membership from throughout the geographically diverse county. This has meant accommodating hour-long drives to and from North Frontenac as well as the ferry schedule to Wolfe Island. “I think that at this point we have a very good council in terms of geographical representation and the different interests and backgrounds of its members,” said current Frontenac Stewardship Council Chair, Gord Rodgers, a resident of 14 Island Lake in South Frontenac. The councils have access to a full time co-ordinator, who is an MNR employee, as well as $10,000 in seed money. The co-ordinator provides administrative support, some environmental expertise, and a lot of information about funding sources that the stewardship council can tap into to fund projects. The council is at arm’s length from the government and has no regulatory function in the county. “On the contrary, all we do is give money away to people
F
FRONTENAC STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL FRONTENAC STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL
who are interested in doing stewardship projects on their own properties. We only come to see people when they want us to come,” said Rodgers. Some ongoing projects the Frontenac Stewardship Council has been involved with include tree planting on various properties, helping landowners develop stewardship plans for their properties, and the Big Sandy Bay restoration project on Wolfe Island. The council also sponsors workshops and talks, such as popular fisher and wolf/coyote talks, as well as a loon day in Sharbot Lake a few summers ago. Working with neighbouring councils, particularly the Lennox and Addington Council, FSC has been involved with projects such as the Butternut Recovery Project. About a year ago, it started to become clear that the MNR, prompted at least in part by events such as the E-Health scandal, was uncomfortable with the way the stewardship councils are structured. At the Eastern Zone conference (an annual meeting where council representatives from Peterborough to the west and the Quebec border to the east meet with each other, their co-ordinators and MNR staff) in the fall of 2010, the MNR’s concerns were first broached. “They made it clear that they had decided the rules need to change about how funding was allocated to organisations that are outside of government,” recalls Gord Rodgers. “They wanted to see agencies such as ours, which are outside of government, become incorporated”. As incorporated bodies, stewardship council members, who currently have no legal responsibility for the money that councils allocate, would become directors of not-for-profit corporations. As directors, they would take on legal and financial liability for their decisions, which would make the government happy.
Replace your Heating System & Get Up To $750
Back
The Government of Canada has renewed the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program from June 6, 2011, to March 31, 2012, to help homeowners make their homes more energy-efficient and reduce the burden of high energy costs.
Leonard Fuels Ltd.
Hartington • 613-372-2112 • 1-800-543-7884
Since 1948 leonardfuels@persona.ca
“One thing that arises from this is that a council such as ours will need to purchase our own insurance, which will eat into the $10,000 we receive each year from the ministry,” said Rodgers. Late in the spring of this year, another shoe dropped. The councils found out that as MNR employees, stewardship council co-ordinators will be limited in the kinds of work they can do for the independently incorporated stewardship councils. Gord Rodgers “We are not entirely sure what this means, but for one thing, I gather that if a council such as ours wants to hire someone to work on a project, as we did when we produced the ‘Naturally Rich Frontenacs’ booklet last year, the co-ordinator will not be able to supervise that person. Bookkeeping and other functions that the co-ordinator offers might be cut as well. With the limited resources we have, we will be looking at increasing costs or asking our own members to do volunteer labour on a day-to-day basis, which is not what any of us signed up for, ” said Gord Rodgers. There is also an underlying concern that once co-ordinators are freed up from some of their stewardship council responsibilities, their time will be taken up more and more by different responsibilities in a ministry that has been facing funding cuts in recent years. “We are also concerned that the way this has been dealt with has been far less than completely open,” said Rodgers.
Continued on page 3
Wood Cutter’s Special Bar & Chain Combo
59.95
$
Reg. $63.95
8109 RD. 38, Godfrey 613-374-5604 l.d.powersports@xplornet.com
*Accessible with support person.