Ridley College

Ridley College students representing Child Advocacy Centre Niagara receive $5000.00 grant for the organization from YPI representative Brandon Gillespie

Last night the finalists from the Grade 9 Civics classes presented their YPI: Youth Philanthropy Initiative projects.  This is the second year that Ridley has participated in YPI.  The Youth Philanthropy Initiative is a grant-based program where students research local, grassroots, social service organizations and compete for $5000.00 by creating presentations that aim to convince judges why their organization should receive the grant.  Earlier in the term the students formed their groups, picked a local charity to research, interviewed the people who work for the organization and the people who benefit from the organization and then they made presentations to their individual class.  Six groups in total were chosen as the finalists to present last night in front of parents, faculty, classmates and a representative from YPI.  The groups used powerpoint, videos and persuasive speeches to encourage the judges to pick their charity.  This year, the group representing The Child Advocacy Centre of Niagara was chosen to receive the $5000.00 grant.  The Child Advocacy Centre is a safe place for children and youth to speak to a trained professional about allegations of abuse.  All of the presentations were well thought out and conveyed the passion that the students had developed for the organization they represented.  Congratulations to the finalists representing Red Roof Retreat, The RAFT, McNally House Hospice, Heart Niagara,  Adolescent Support Services of Niagara and to the winning group made up of Yunlin Ji, Fiona Adams, Annie Hinan, Tamara Butera representing Child Advocacy Centre Niagara. Watch the video below to get an idea of what the presentations were like:

The Ridley College AP Studio Art Class opened their exhibition last night in the Matthews Library.  Each student selected three works from their portfolio to display in the exhibit.  In the AP studio art class students must complete twenty-four works of art throughout the course.  Twelve works are described as “General” and cover a range of media, techniques and composition.  The other twelve pieces are described as “Concentration” works and are made in response to a specific theme. The works that are on display in the library come from the students’ Concentration component.  In order to create their “Concentration” works the students had to go through the difficult process of finding a direction for their work and establishing a voice.

Bethany Pile '12 - Ridley College

Morgynne Anthony '12 - Ridley College

Wendy Liu '12- Ridley College

Marcia D'Souza '12

Many of the young artists featured in this exhibit are going on to study art and design in the United States and Canada. The works are currently on display in the Matthews Library.