Marilee Devries

As June approaches, Seaway Spartans are finding themselves busier than ever as the school year gears up for a great finish of the 2009-10 school year.

Currently the Global Outreach Team is campaigning for their annual Our Kenyan Kids project. The team has assigned each MSIP class with one young Kenyan child, and the MSIP’s task is to raise enough money to “adopt a cot” so that the child will have a place to sleep in the orphanage where he or she lives. Many MSIPs have jumped right into their fund raising: hosting bake sales, selling ice cream...even having a 50/50 draw.

May 3, 2010, marked an important day for college-bound students at Seaway District High School. It was the final deadline for students to respond to acceptance offers from colleges. The fast approaching date of May 28 marks the same deadline for students planning on heading off to university in the fall. Soon enough, tuition and residence deposits will have to be made, combining big decisions with big money.

IROQUOIS – The evening of Thursday, April 22, was one of glamour for SDHS as Students Council hosted the 5th annual Oskar ceremony and dance. This year, there was additional finery as the event was dubbed a masquerade ball. Students showed up in an array of sparkles, feathers and masks.

IROQUOIS – Scholarship deadlines. Confirmations dates. Tuition payments. For grade 12 students everywhere, the upcoming end of the school year brings with it enough important dates to make a day planner seem necessary and things are no different for senior Spartans.

IROQUOIS – Bench, Abercrombie and Fitch. Puma. DC. Lululemon. All around the halls of Seaways one can see such name brands splashed across the clothing of the students. With prices settling somewhere above $90 for selected sweaters and even more for jeans/pants, however, one must wonder whether wearing labels comes at too high a cost.

“I think that they’ve gone too far,” said senior student Olivia Wright on the topic of band name labels. “They’ve just become an excuse to judge each other, to distinguish between ‘rich’ and ‘cheap.’ They support the whole ‘popularity hierarchy’.”

Thursday, February  4, saw the commencement of the second semester at Seaway. With the new term came some new teaching staff, some new students and a new form of learning for some senior students - online courses.

Although online courses have been available at Seaway for a few years, more students than ever are taking advantage of this alternative method of earning a credit. For some, it is because they are able to take a class in which they are interested that is not available at Seaway, but for others, it is because they have no choice.

IROQUOIS –  Now that the new year at school has begun and the holidays feel like ancient history, Seaway Spartans have no choice but to face the facts: first semester is almost over and final exams are creeping closer and closer.

Students will begin writing on January 27th, and will be finished up by January 29th. The school has adopted a new system this year that does not require students to show up for classes in which they have done some form of culminating activity in place of an exam, as was done in previous years. Therefore, pupils enrolled in courses such as Physical Education or Technology are more likely to participate in a hands-on final activity during the last few weeks of the semester rather than write a formal exam.

On December 1, Seaway District High School hosted its annual Student Awards evening for the 2008-9 school year. Over fifty students were awarded various certificates and plaques in recognition of high academic achievements, superb skills in different subject areas, and outstanding qualities of character.

Teacher representatives of each subject, and both principal Mr. Terry Gardiner and vice principal Mr. Cooke were on hand to present the awards.

All students who were honoured are to be congratulated for their achievements.