February is an important month in Student Services. All students will be receiving their “Program Selection Sheets” and “Choices” book for the 2002-2003 school year.

Guidance Counselors visited all the Grade 9 to 12 classes from February 7 to February 13 to distribute materials and explain courses, diploma requirements, and post-secondary education. The “Program Selection Sheet” and transcript must be returned to the homeform teacher by Thursday February 28^th.

It is important for students and parents to read all the materials thoroughly and ask the subject teachers and counselors questions they may have about their future courses and programs.

This year, there are two major extra curricular activities for those dramatically inclined, and those who just like to watch ... you can't have theatre without an audience. For the third year in a row, Richview has entered a team in the Canadian Improv Games, which culminates in the final playoffs in Ottawa in May. Each team is allowed to field eight players, and must play four events, which are scored by the referees, and carefully timed. (No event can exceed four minutes). Richview is in the North West or "Climbing Onions" zone (as you can tell, the players chose the name). Our team has been practicing very hard, has attended a team training in Brampton (It really is the north west zone!), and played an Exhibition night at St. Augustine High School on February 5, working very hard to be funny on a cold stormy night when they had just finished exams. Our zone playoffs will be Thursday March 21- Saturday March 23, again at St. Augustine in ..you guessed it.. Brampton. The winning teams from this round will advance to the Toronto finals. We will have tickets ($5.00) for the zone playoffs for sale at Richview, and want to encourage anyone who loves Improv and wants to be part of an audience that suggests all the ideas for the scenes to plan to attend and support the most daring performers of all ... the improvisers.

Our main stage production this year is Arthur Miller's play about the Salem witchcraft trials, The Crucible. Performances will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 18, 19 and 20. The show features a large cast of students from every grade, who were outstanding in the monologues they created and performed as audition pieces. The play is very timely, as it concerns hysteria and how it builds. The relevance of the play to our contemporary situation is evidenced by the fact that the play is being remounted on Broadway, opening this month, and there is a production this month at Hart House theatre, at the University of Toronto. It is the fiftieth anniversary of Miller's writing of The Crucible, so please plan to attend in April to help us celebrate the birthday and entertain you.

The official school website continues its graphic modifications. Jon Covato has completed revamping the main index page. Two versions are available: regular HTML and Flash.

Recently added is an online edition of each hardcopy of the‘Richview Review.’ A Parents Section is being created to assist students and parents - important letters, significant dates, and school events will soon be available.

Please check out the Alumni pages – they start with the first year of Richview Collegiate to our current 2001 graduates. This is by far the most visited series of webpages; many former graduates have sent wonderful emails about the site, and for being recognized in such a positive way on the Alumni webpages.

Through the festive season and exams Richview students have continued to demonstrate enthusiasm, generosity, leadership and overall excellence.

Once a year the charity committee organizes a week to help raise money for United Way. This time new standards were set. Some of the events were Pizza Pizza and candy in the cafeteria, a silent auction, the talent show, students vs. teachers’ dodge ball game, and the highly anticipated friend action. Thank you for giving a helping hand and raising over $1000. Special recognition goes to this year’s outstanding organizing committee made up of Meaghan Aalto, Gurdeep Ahluwalia, Andrew Barnes, Amanda Kenins and Geoff Loewen.

The cafeteria wasdecorated in red and green for this year’s Harry Potter Braeburn Christmas Party. Richview opened its doors on December 15^th for 50 children from age four to nine attend Braeburn Neighborhood Place. Alongside 75 student volunteers the children enjoyed decorating gingerbread cookies, making wizard hats, taking their picture with Santa Claus, and watching Harry Potter and friends come alive. Thank you to Andrea Dowell, Margaret Hunter,and Meaghan Aalto for planning a wonderful Breaburn Christmas Party.

Over 200 students and staff can be seen sporting this year’s winter clothing line, which was arranged by Peter Stefanovic. Due to the large success, the Student Council has decided to have a spring clothing line that will be out by May. Also the date for the formal has been set for June 11^th, 2002 and anticipation is growing.

The Sea of Dreams Gala organized by Janice Marshall and the Parent Council was a successful evening filled with fun. The students highly appreciate the dedication of all the parents, mentors, and staff that contributed and attended the lovely evening. Our special thanks goes to Jessica Eusebio for her everlasting commitment, saintly spirit, and work on the Gala. Richview is preparing for such fabulous events as The Crucible, Muskoka Woods Leadership Program, and the 2002 Delirium Fashion Show. Still to come are our exciting Spring events such as the Step-A-Thon, Spirit Assemblies, Grad Week, Fun Lunch, and BBQs.

Vanessa Corlazzoli
Student Council President

For the last few months the midget girls volleyball team has been waking up very early to get to a 7:00 practice at school. The morning practices were tough but they paid off. So far the girls are undefeated. They play every game with lots of determination and never give up. Through these past few months the girls have shown that volleyball is important to them and winning means a lot. Next week they will play their finals and hopefully come out with a win and finish off their season as champions! Good luck girls!

Not only is curling "rocking and rolling" at the Olympics, the RCI Boy's Curling Team is also on a long hit and roll. Team Halpenny, skipped by Ryan Halpenny with Patrick Russell, Fraser Chorley, and Mark Moon entered the Ontario Schoolboy Competition in November. At the beginning of January, the team won our Zone (Metro Toronto) A Championship, which qualified them to compete in the Regional (South-eastern Ontario) Play downs in Peterborough. There, they won the B Side Championship, which lets them move on to the Gore Schoolboy Provincial Championship in Coldwater. These provincial Play downs are being run at the end of February, as this newsletter is being published, so you will have to wait to hear how they did.

All of these competitions are setting the team up to do well in the Metro Play downs, which lead to the OFSAA Curling Championships at the beginning of April in Thunder Bay. Congratulations and good luck to Ryan, Patrick, Fraser, and Mark.
Coach: Mr. G. Pyke

On February 7, the Richview Co-op students presented a terrific Fair show-casing their fantastic and exciting placements. Some of the students mounted multi-media displays, which explained their job requirements. This Co-op Fair was put on to acquaint other Richview students with the World of Work and allow some reflection about possible course selections and career choices. In the near future Richview students will be making informed decisions about their courses and subsequently, if they choose Co-op an application and interview process will take place. Present Co-op students will continue with their placements in order to fulfil Ministry of Education requirements of completing 220 hours of on-site work. All Co-op students at Richview must be commended for their effort and dedication to this 2-credit package.

In only its third year of competition Richview's Girls' Hockey Team has finished league play for the 2001-2001 season in first place. While this is a great success even bigger challenges lie ahead. "A" Division Playoffs begin on March 5th at George Bell Arena with Finals the following day at the same arena. Should Richview win the South/West District Playoffs we will play the best team from the North/East Districts of the TDSSAA for the opportunity to represent Toronto at OFSAA in Peterborough March 18th and 19th. The players and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Richview parents for their unwavering support of our team. Without your involvement we wouldn't have experienced the success we have. If you haven't seen this team in action you should make every effort to support the Saints in their drive to OFSAA.

Mr T Dingwall

As we begin our second term here at Richview, there are many exciting things happening in music. The students have once again started rehearsals in the early morning hours and lunch hours to prepare for our upcoming Symphonia concert to be presented Wednesday, April 24, 2002, at 7pm in the auditorium.

On Thursday, May 30, 2002, in the evening and Friday, May 31, 2002, in the afternoon, we will have our annual Arts event entitled See-Hear. This event will exhibit the work of many visual artists, photographers and musicians in our school. We look forward to seeing you there!

In the month of May, many of our music students will participate in an exciting music trip to Montreal, Quebec for five days. While away, the students will have opportunities to perform for other high school music students and will have interactive workshops. Seeing performances by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and McGill University student ensembles are just a few of the highlights of this trip.

Furthermore, in the month of June, the younger music students at Richview will participate in a music festival at Paramount Canada's Wonderland. This festival will attract schools from across North America and the students will have the opportunity to perform and see the work of others their own age.

As we progress through our second term, we look forward to the exciting and enlightening opportunities for our students. Due to budget cuts and changes to the Ontario Curriculum (Four year program), it becomes increasingly difficult to run a successful arts program. We, the teaching staff here at Richview want to thank you for your continued support for the arts.

We look forward to seeing you in both April and May at our events.

Plans are well under way for the inaugural grade nine leadership week at Muskoka Woods Sports Resort.

Approximately 200 grade nine students will be part of a week that we are confident this will become a highlight of their high school experience. It will take place from Sunday, March 24 to Thursday, March 28.

Students will be organized into groups that rotate through activities during the day and then participate in an evening program. Approximately 65 senior students will deliver much of the program under the supervision of 10 to 12 staff members.

The week will promote school spirit, leadership, co-operation and mutual respect. We know it is going to be a HUGE success!

The final football game of the 2001 season, played December 2nd at Varsity Stadium, featured the undefeated Saints and the Central Tech Blues in the Toronto Bowl Championship. From the opening kickoff it proved to be no contest. The Saints scored on the third play of the game as Dan Pryma (winner of the play of the game award) blocked a Tech punt and fell on it in the end zone. Dean Chilakos converted and the rout was on. Quarterback Chris Mokriy (offensive player of the game) threw 2 touchdown passes to Ryan Wickel before halftime and Dean kicked a field goal as Saints led 24-0 at the half. The second half was more of the same with Tom Flaxman ( MVP of the game) scoring another touchdown and Dean kicking the convert and two more field goals.

The defense led by Captains Alan Spencer, Amin Golesorkhiha, Andrew Olechna (defensive player of the game) and Dylan Wade along with Elliott Richardson, Steve Kitchen, Geoff Loewen, Luke Pellet, Zach Macaulay and Paul Boshyk once again lead the team to a shutout. This meant the 11-0 Saints had 9 shutouts and had only two touchdowns scored on them all year. Congratulations to all team members on an incredible year!

If you have or haven’t been following the Richview Swim Team Season, here’s a chance for you to catch up! The last time I reported to the “Review”, the team had placed third overall at the University of Toronto’s High School Invitational. Since then, the team has competed in two more meets, the 19th Annual McMaster Invitational and the TDSB West Finals.

At the McMaster Invitational, our team placed first overall out of the 16 teams that participated. This was a fantastic show of skill and determination, seeing as our team is a small one, comprised of only 25 swimmers. At the meet, many of our swimmers made OFSAA times and will be attending OFSAA on March 5th and 6th in Brantford, Ontario.

At the TDSB finals, the Richview Swim Team placed fourth overall in Toronto; the junior girls/boys placed fourth overall, the senior girls placed third overall and the senior boys placed second overall. The fourth place finish may seem strange compared to our first place finish at McMaster, yet the main reason for our loss of the Championship was due to the fact that our team is a small one, and at the TDSB finals, our swimmers were restricted to three events, whereas at the McMaster meet our swimmers were allowed to swim an unlimited number of events. So what does the discrepancy prove? It proves that we are a hardworking team that is willing to give it our all, a trait that has been characteristic of the team over the past five years.

As a final note, I would just like to congratulate each of the members on their fine work, and on that note I would also like to encourage any prospective swimmers to join the team next year. In order to win back the Championship from Etobicoke Collegiate (who won the finals), we must build a larger team. Good luck to all swimmers who qualified for OFSAA (about 60% of the team), and thank you for a wonderful season.

Maria Bagovich

The Richview Alpine Ski Team began its eleventh year in October 2001 with every racer's favourite activity: dryland! For three months we struggled to get in shape and then we spent a month praying for snow. When the snow finally came, we prayed for better weather conditions. In spite of Mother Nature, our team had, as of February 13th, a very successful season. We practiced every Monday night at Horseshoe and participated in five races. We swept the OFSAA Qualifier and for the eleventh year in a row, will be participating at OFSAA. In order to qualify for OFSAA, a team has to win. The scoring, for those who are new to the sport, is based on the placing of the team's three top racers. The team with the fewest total number wins. Hence a perfect score is six.

Needless to say that is not easily accomplished, yet out of the eight events our team participated in, it achieved a score of six three times, two of seven and one of nine.

We were fortunate to have a great group of athletes. Everyone worked very hard to contribute to the team's success and should be congratulated. However some performances really stood out and were accomplished by Tracy Reid, Andrew Olechna, Shaun Morton, Adam Cancilla, Kelsey Rose, Carley Desjardins, Patrick Kennedy. This group led the team to quite a few first place finishes. This team is fortunate to have a wonderful new rookie, Melissa White and to have veteran co-captains like Lauren Beaton and Andrew Olechna. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the great work done by our manager, Juliana Tricta.

Well-done Saints: good luck to all at OFSAA.

Some of our skiers will end their high school career this year and I think it would be a fitting tribute to acknowledge them and pay tribute to their commitment: Lauren Beaton, Stephanie Campbell, Joanna McPherson, Juliana Tricta and Andrew Olechna. You leave a strong legacy of excellence and dedication. You now pass the torch to other hands. The school, the team and its coach, Mr. Nunes thank you for your contributions, the wonderful times we have all shared and the great memories. Good luck to you in your new chapter of your life. You will move on to new and greater accomplishments, but you will never be forgotten.