FEATUREs

Everyone’s favourite event of the half-year is back… Coffee House! Coffee House is an event that comes back every few months at John McCrae and is always full of spectacular performances. This year, Coffee House takes place April 18 in the Music pit on the first floor. At Coffee House, the performing population of John McCrae goes through an audition process for the chance to showcase their musical talent to their fellow students. The show is always full of surprises and the audience is always  guaranteed to see new and fresh talent every time, whether it’s a heart touching piano ballad or prodigious beatboxing that takes their breath away. Coffee House 2024 especially has plenty of new talents waiting to share their musical performances.

In addition to baked goods, the Threadworks club led by Mr. Roberts will also be there with all manner of knitted and crochet items being sold on their table, from stuffies and headbands to keychains and ducks playing banjos.  Threadworks not only makes adorable stuffies, but also makes and donates winter gear such as toques, scarves, socks and mitts to various shelters and organizations throughout the city.  All the money they generate from their sales goes back into the club so they can purchase more materials to continue making more things.

A Solar Eclipse is coming to Ottawa April 8th, here's what you need to know

This Monday, April 8th at 3:23 pm will be the first total solar eclipse visible in Ontario since 1979. Millions are travelling from all over to experience this once in a lifetime event, as the next total solar eclipse in Ontario isn’t projected to happen until 2099. A solar eclipse is a rare event in which the Moon is positioned perfectly in between the Sun and the Earth, blocking the sun's light and causing it to cast a shadow onto the Earth. Even though a solar eclipse happens every 18 months or so, they’re quite rare to experience as the shadow they cast is very small, only allowing it to be seen from certain places in the world for a very short period. It’s also common that their totality is only visible from unreachable places, such as the middle of the ocean. Many of these eclipses may also be annular eclipses, in which the moon covers the sun, but is not large enough to fully cover it, leaving a bright ring of sun around it. 

Is it bright and colourful or lonely and dull, do children run and laugh or are they stuck inside now?, he ponders to himself. The more he wonders the more he longs to find out. He watches as families pass him by, picking up pastas and cereals instead. As he grows tired of his life, on the shelf constantly being pushed and moved around so guests can reach for other items. Now he’s scuffed and dented feeling as if all hope is lost with his date fast approaching. Then one day a man and his wife walk in; they appear to be quite young, the woman pregnant and searching for her favorite snack. She walks toward him, he lets himself hold hope one last time standing as tall as he can in his deformed state. She graciously picks up the can and places him in her grocery bag  and walks back to her husband with a smile. “We finally found some” she says happily before strolling out of the pantry to go prepare her meal. The can looks up at the sky for the first time in a while sighing as he finally did it.

Last Thursday, December 7 JMSS students had the opportunity to attend their very own Coffee House. This Coffee House is an opportunity for John Mccrae students to showcase their talents for fellow students. Tickets were on sale the previous week at lunch for three dollars, or at the door for five dollars. 

The theme of this semester's Coffee House was "Sci-Fi Coffee House". Cardboard alien decorations, monster cookies at the concession stand and out-of-this-world alien jokes from the emcees showcased this theme perfectly.

Doors opened at 6:30, and the night started off at 7 with a performance of  "No Children'' by Abby on vocals  and Ryaan on guitar. Next up was Will on piano with "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies' '. This was followed by a guitar performance of "Right Time".  Next, Rubi and Clara sang Stay. Then, Archer was supposed to perform on piano, but because of technical difficulties we were treated to an (impromptu) stand up comedy routine instead. After this, Grace performed "Cardigan '' on guitar with vocals.

We then had an intermission where we were able to buy treats like muffins, cookies, brownies and pop from the concession stand. There were also tables from the craft fair which had crocheting from Threadworks, the John McCrae knitting and crocheting club, and woodworking items on sale.

The show started up again with Wren on guitar and vocals performing "Let Me Break Your Heart Again ''.  Following this, after the technical difficulties were resolved, Archer performed "The Ultra Cheese" on piano with vocals. Next up was Kenny on guitar and vocals performing "So Long St. Augustine ''. Next Rissa sang "Do I Wanna Know?". This was followed by Ryaan on guitar playing "Dreaming" and Theo on piano playing "Bohemian Rhapsody". Next, Paige played "Someone Like You" on piano. This was followed by the French department teachers (Mme. Lambert, Mme Seymour, Mme. Morin and Mme Howard- check with them as to their correct titles here - they might be married but they might not all be Madames) performing "Papaoutai '' with vocals and many different instruments including guitar and kazoo. Last but not least, Jack performed an original song "Hope" on guitar and vocals. 

The night ended with a thank-you to all performers, organizers and the music department teachers, Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Stoodley. 

The audience very much enjoyed the night and appreciated the work put into this amazing event. We even had students from other schools visit us to admire the talents of our JMSS students.

Evelyn Smith, a John McCrae student in the audience said "The Coffee House was such a fun way to spend the evening with friends and enjoy listening to the talented students at JMSS."

Another student, Yasmina Karkari said "The display of talent was an amazing sight to behold, and the entire atmosphere was very cozy and welcoming. I loved every bit of it."

Evidently, this semester's Coffee House was very successful. Congratulations to all the performers, and everyone who was involved in this event.

This year John McCrae has gained many new staff members.  One of them is Matthew Manso. 

Last year, he worked behind the scenes as the lead of destreaming French courses. While in that position, he helped teachers shift from the original Academic and Applied French to a general French course that we have today, even working with many current John McCrae staff. 

His advice that he’d like to offer to students, though self-admittedly cheesy, is to just be yourself. “Don’t let anybody dictate who you can be and limit who you are.” He’s observed that so many students try to blend in with the crowd and be like everyone else that they lose themselves. “Don’t mute your personality based on how you think others around you are going to react.”

So far, he has enjoyed his time at John McCrae, so  I’m sure many students will have the pleasure of being in his classes in the future. 

On Tuesday September 26th, John McCrae Secondary School hosted their first very own Terry Fox Walk in nearly a decade. Organized by the school's Athletic Leadership class, the team hopes that this will be the beginning of a new school legacy. The purpose of the walk is to carry on the legacy of Terry Fox, and to raise money for his cancer research foundation.

Terry Fox was a Canadian activist who became an international hero known for his courageous battle against cancer, which unfortunately ended with his death on June 28, 1981. Through his cancer fundraising foundation, the Marathon of Hope, Terry has helped raise millions towards cancer research.

The school managed to reach their set goal of $3339, the number of miles Terry ran before passing away. The donation website, which was opened on September 18th, achieved and even crossed their goal on the day of the walk, raising a total of $3753.

Hundreds of students participated in the walk which took place during school from 1:40 to 3:20. Covering a route of nearly 5.5 km, the walk turned out to be a great success in the eyes of multiple teachers and students.

“We don’t go out very often to do this stuff, so it’s nice to actually have that time to do it”, said Mr. Toms, one of the school’s guidance counselors and math teachers.

Once dismissed from their final classes—which had been shortened for the day, the walk participants all gathered on the upper field track to receive further instructions.

The walk took off at Fable street, where the students walked until they reached Jockvale, turned left, and continued walking down a bike path until they returned to the school.

Several teachers and students—from the Athletic Leadership class, were positioned at different places on route, to ensure everyone managed to stay on the track.

The JMSS Student Council recently held their annual election for Grade 9 representative as well as Junior Student Senator. Gavin Wu as the JMSS Junior Senator and Chenxi Meng as the 9th grade Rep.

In an interview, Gavin Wu, the Junior Senator clarified their responsibilities as mainly listening to the concerns of the student body, reporting their findings to a board of student representatives once a month, and coming up with creative solutions. The monthly meetings are held at the OCDSB offices on Greenbank Road and are attended by the Superintendent, and a pair of student representatives from each school.

Both Gavin and Chenxi have made it clear that the desires of the student population is the first priority. They are in discussions now to find an online forum for student concerns as the main way to establish communication with the student body. They both have shown clear and recognizable interest in communicating with the school community, to find and confront any underlying issues at JMSS.

They also hope  to improve many different aspects of JMSS’s quality of life. The Junior Senator has mentioned intentions to upgrade the conditions of the washrooms. Specifically mentioning some lacking of hygienic behavior. Even citing his own sister, Gavin Wu stated, ameliorating the school facilities are among his first priorities.

Furthermore, Chenxi Meng has also stated an interest in organizing events unique to the 9th grade.  His belief is that his communication skills are a personal strong suit, which will in turn facilitate the organizing of events. In turn, he hopes this will help grade 9s adjust to their new surroundings at John McCrae more quickly. 

Both elected officials are looking forward to helping make a difference here at John McCrae and welcome your feedback.