RICHVIEW REVIEW - Volume No. I, Issue No. 1, October-November-December, 2001
Website:http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/Richview/

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MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

It has been my hope to renew a student leadership program at Richview for the school year 2001-2002. The intrinsic benefits of leadership development for a school and for the individuals are immense, as older students participate in leader training and in turn deliver the program to others. The positive school culture that this experience nurtures is passed from one "generation" of students to another and unique traditions are preserved.

Three years ago, Richview's leadership development programs had to be put aside due to turmoil in the educational landscape. As the climate in education has calmed this year, our teaching staff is eager to develop programs, train students, and spend weekends and evenings with our kids to help them become the best they can be.

Al Craigie, the Department Head of Boys' Physical Education is co-ordinating this year's leadership project and a team of about twenty teachers is assisting him.

Ten senior Richview students joined students from four other Etobicoke High Schools at Albion Hills Outdoor Education Centre in the first leadership training weekend earlier this month. To participate, student leaders must be successful in a rigorous application process. The application includes a resume with academic history, experience in extra-curricular activities, community volunteering, and adult references from within and outside the school.

Our program for the grade nine students will be held at the Muskoka Woods Sports Resort in late March. The project will conclude with another week at Muskoka Woods in May where a small number of Richview students will again team up as leaders with other Etobicoke schools to deliver a program to a number of schools from across the province. Details on these opportunities will be available in the near future. This program is one of many exciting signs that the Richview tradition is again alive and well.

STUDENT COUNCIL

Since the first week of school the Student Council Executive has been committed to working hard and making this year a success. Most students and staff members can sense the new and improved "Sainthood" that is present in every sport, club, activity, and classroom.

On September 20th, the Student Council implemented a grade nine and OAC event that was called "Extreme Day." Over 200 participating grade nine students got to know each other through activities, which were led by senior students. This event was a great opportunity to teach and to learn what Richview is all about. At the same time the Charity Committee, led by Meaghan Aalto began working on its first project. I am very proud to report that Richview raised over $700 that went to the Red Cross American Relief Fund in New York City. Since then, we have also had a "Welcome Baby Drive" which encouraged students to bring old baby clothes or raise money to buy diapers and baby food. Your contributions went to teenage mothers who live in Etobicoke. United Way Week is on its way and we can expect a great Talent Show, a Friend Auction, and more fun.

Dan Duperrouzel organized what could have been the best dance Richview ever had. Because of some unfortunate incidents, the dance was closed down earlier than expected. However, the Student Council is optimistic and we are looking for a chance to redeem ourselves.

On Halloween day, Dave Senior and Paul Sturino prepared a professional and entertaining assembly that celebrated our clubs and athletics. The assembly could not have been the same without Mr. Frederiksen's surprise visit. The entire student body thanked him for coming and we continue to wish him a quick recovery.

Austin Pool and Nick Coutoulakis have been busy representing the students at the Parent Council meetings, while Steve Kitchen has been taking care of the finances. Murmurs and whispers of the formal can already be heard amongst senior students. Peter Stefanovich is arranging all the details. The winter clothing line is supposed to arrive in the next few weeks. In addition, Sarah Charles has been putting together the famous phone book, "Digits". We sold Student Price Cards and Movie Tickets for $2, and we are preparing the first ever Student 2002 Calendar and for the annual Braeburn Christmas Party. Although the Student Council is made up of enthusiastic, dedicated and fun-loving individuals, all these activities could not be possible without the support of the staff and most importantly, the students. We thank them for making the first months of the 2001-2002 school year enjoyable.

Vanessa Corlazzoli

Student Council President

CHARITY NEWS

Richview Charity has gotten off to a great start. The change drive held in September raised over $700.00 for the Red Cross American Relief Fund, and the Everything Drive for Welcome Baby Etobicoke brought in hundreds of donations to help teen moms and their young children in the Etobicoke area. The grilled cheese sandwich sales at the beginning of October raised $70.00 for the Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund, a non-profit organization that sends children to summer camps who could not otherwise afford to go. The charity committee is looking forward to breaking previous records during United Way Week in November and are busy planning the annual Braeburn Christmas Party, held this year on Saturday, December 15.

A special project for RCI charity this year is the Lawyers Feed the Hungry program. Every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning, teams of Richview students head down to Osgoode Hall to help prepare and serve meals and clean up for over 300 people who rely on the program each week.

The school year is only three months old and already Richview is making a name for itself. Keep an eye out for ways you and your RCI student can help make a difference in 2002.

COMPUTER SCIENCE
OFFICIAL RCI WEBSITE

The RCI official TDSB Website is being updated and redesigned once again. Students enrolled in TIK20 and ICS3M not only learn proper programming skills and development of logic and organization in Basic, but also HTML, Website graphic design for Internet use, JavaScript, and beginning this year in ICS3M, Java.

This year, Jonathan Covato has been selected to redesign the official Website. It promises to be innovative, easy to view, exciting, and to include additional features such as pages for our Richview Parents.

As soon as the server problems at the Toronto District School Board are corrected, this new face will be added.

In the meantime, the current Website can still be enjoyed at: Richview Website

DRAMATIC ARTS

This year, for the third year, Richview will send a team to the Canadian Improv Games. Many hopeful Improv players attended the first workshop, run by Improv team manager (and experienced veteran), Ian McIntyre. We intend to teach to all those interested, Improv skills, have an Intramural tournament and choose the best "final eight" to play other schools at the Regional Tournament Level.

Our major production this year which will be in April under the "wonderful" direction of Samantha Perrin and Mrs. Cook, is Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, set in Salem, Massachusetts during the witchcraft trials of the 1600s.

Auditions went on for two weeks, with all auditioners, writing, and presenting their own monologues set in the time of the play, resulting in a fascinating and entertaining set of auditions. Cast has not yet been announced, thus many are still waiting for "The Call" and learning about the patience required to be a performer. So much talent makes for some difficult choices!

The In the Driver's Seat executive, Claire McCamus, Byrony Smith, Elaine Kanasewich and Claire Kanasewich, have shown themselves to be strong leaders. They have recruited a number of hardworking students who have run several successful events. In October we participated in National Student's Against Impaired Driving Day, devoted to raising awareness of the dangers of impaired driving by having a driving simulation activity for the students. At the end of October In the Driver's Seat sold lollipops which contained messages to reinforce the dangers of impaired driving. Please note that the week of November 26 - 29 is National Drug Awareness Week. We will be running a variety of activities (Dress in Black, mocktails, red ribbon campaign, to name a few) and we will have a crashed car on the front lawn of the school to reinforce our message. Make sure to visit our table on parent-teacher interview night, where we will be handing out information and contracts for parents and children. We thank you for your support!

Debra Muchnik

RICHVIEW ENGLISH

"The study of literature is central in the English curriculum; it offers students opportunities to expand their intellectual horizons and to extend and strengthen their literacy skills. As a creative representation of life and experience, literature raises important questions about the human condition, now and in the past.

As students increase their knowledge of accomplished writers and literary works and vicariously experience times, events, cultures, and values different from their own, they deepen their understanding of the many dimensions of human thought and experience."1

Now more than ever, students are reading less and watching more: more television, more movies, more video games, more music videos.

Now more than ever, the English Department asks you to encourage your children to read.

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1 From The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10 English, 1999, 5-6

LIBRARY

Twenty-four/Seven

You can now get into our school library twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. While the doors may be locked after four p.m. and on the weekends, you can still contact us online at:

RCI Library

This site is not entirely perfect as yet; however, it does allow students to focus Internet searches with elegant search engines, to access directories quickly: the huge Canadiana Home Page, the Librarian's Index to the Internet. The Research toolkit includes the Research Process, the Independent Study Guide. And there's an entire section dedicated to Referencing (that's bibliographies to non cognoscenti). The "Easy bibliography" part leads students to NoodleTools, "a free suite of interactive tools designed to aid students and professionals with their online research." Good stuff!

Because of amalgamation, our library online catalog now looks very much like the one you are used to searching at the public library. Instead of different software programs running the various library catalogs, all public school libraries now have one and the same program, one server for each quadrant of the city. Within the next six months (or so), students should be able to access the library catalog online as well at

webpac1.tdsb.on.ca/RVCwebpac.html

RICHVIEW MUSIC

The Richview Music Program is up and running for another exciting year. This fall we welcomed our new Head of Music, Mrs. Jennifer Kayfetz. Towards the end of September, our performing groups began rehearsals. Currently, there are three orchestras, two concert bands, one beginning band, two stage bands, small ensembles and hopefully next term, an extra-curricular choir. Each of our groups is working hard in preparation for our Christmas concert entitled, "Holiday Opus", taking place on Thursday, December 13th. We hope you will join us as your sons and daughters showcase all of their hard work! Please remember to bring some non-perishable items for us to donate to the food bank.

RICHVIEW SWIM TEAM

The Richview Swim Team is proud to announce its comeback after last year's unstructured season. Faced with many setbacks, our Swimming Saints still managed to come up on top at the University of Toronto's Swim Invitationals, breaking numerous meet records and placing third overall in Toronto.

Our Swimming Saints are back again for the 2001/2002 Swim Season. The Saints' Tuesday and Thursday morning practices at the Elms Pool are conditioning them to become swimming stars of Toronto. Our student coaches, Kuo-Yu Tong, Kuo Bao Tong and Lauren Tucker are fabulous, as they create aerobically-challenging workouts that are both beneficial and entertaining. In conjunction with our student coaches, our teacher coaches, Ms. Pereira and Ms. Holowatch, are fabulous; volunteering their time to keep the team up-to-date.

The Richview Swim Team's first meet will take place on November 30, 2001 at the University of Toronto. All fan support is greatly appreciated. Our Swimming Saints are getting ready to show off their talent to Toronto. Stay tuned for the results of this upcoming meet as well as the many more to come.

Maria Bagovich, member/co-manager, Richview Swim Team

VOLLEYBALL

The volleyball team has just completed a very successful year. They finished the regular season in third place in the division with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses. The quarter finals were played against Weston Collegiate Institute (the second place team in the other pool) and our team won in the third game. We played the semi-finals in a very loud "pro - KCI " gym and although we played our best games of the year we lost 2 games to 1.

Having started the year with only two returning players, we accomplished far more this season than we as a team had hoped. Special thanks go out to our wonderful manager Chris Upton, the parents who came out to support us during the season, our guest coach Mr. Guiliani and our athletes who made this season a lot of fun, great job guys.

Coach Reeves and Coach Betro

RICHVIEW SPORTS

As of November 14th 2001

JR. FOOTBALL - Won 20 - 0 against Lawrence Park to finish first in the TDSB.
Coaches: S. Koumoutses, B. Boyd, and J. Zebrowski.

SR. FOOTBALL - Currently undefeated pending the results of the quarterfinal game.
Coaches: A. Craigie, G. Petrov,and J. Zebrowski

JR. BOYS VOLLEYBALL - Currently competing for the TDSB semifinal.
Coach: R. Betro

SR. BOYS VOLLEYBALL - Currently competing for the TDSB semifinal.
Coach: A. Pyke, S. Pyke

MIDGET GIRLS BASKETBALL - Currently competing for the TDSB semifinal with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss.
Coach: J. Fairgrieve

JR. GIRLS BASKETBALL - Finished their season but unfortunately did not make the playoffs.
Coach: C. Chanook

SR. GIRLS BASKETBALL - With an undefeated season they are competing for the TDSB championship.
Coach: R. Hollowell

CO-ED GOLF - Finished their season as TDSB champions.
Coach: S. Johnstone

TENNIS - Finished their season in second place in the whole TDSB.
Coach: B. Butcher, D. Guiliani CROSS COUNTY - Finished season with several competitors qualifying for OFSAA and the team placed 1st overall in the TDSB.
Coaches: A. Nunes, J. Grady

CO-OP
AT RICHVIEW

Co-op just keeps getting bigger and better. Mrs. Anthony, Mrs. Calabria and Mrs. Hudek worked diligently throughout September and assisted 90 students in obtaining preferred co-op placements in a variety of settings. These placements range from law offices, schools, hotels, retail sites, financial institutions, hospitals to radio stations and many others.

Presently, co-op students are

completing their logs and journals, obtaining evaluations from their supervisors and making informed decisions about their future careers. The world of work is an exciting place to explore and experience while still in secondary school.

Co-op at Richview is a 2 credit package that includes in-school sessions and 220 hours of work in a specific location. To obtain more information about Co-op at Richview be sure to attend the Co-op Fair and Assembly in early February.

ENVIRONMENT CLUB

This year the environment club has great plans for the future, which include the following:

To inspire and promote environmental awareness by posting and advertising the club's goals around the school.

The club will attempt to clean Richview's great courtyard, so that many teachers and students may enjoy a breeze of fresh air and the many wonderful sites that nature can offer to an individual. Also we will try cleaning the bleachers to encourage more saints to come out and support the great athletic teams of Richview.

Furthermore, the club will be attempting to create some fund-raising throughout the year and would appreciate any help and support.

On behalf of the environment club, Sami Iskandar.