Exam writing begins on Monday June 3rd, so in preparation the Learning Centre has created some tips to help you with your studying!

Examination period can be very stressful. However, being diligent about ongoing review, strategic planning, and writing strategies can help you persevere and do well. Successful exam writing requires: 1) effective review plans that refresh your memory and 2) exam writing strategies that help you demonstrate your learning.

Tip #1: Choose an Effective Space

In the Junior division, Gracie L.  won for her speech on standing up for female rights.

In the ESL division McRid W.  won for his speech urging us to take a leap of faith and try something new.

For the Senior division, Luis L. won for his passionate speech on the state of music and Eric G. won second place for his speech on how you shouldn’t loose your imagination just because you get older.

Students in Ms. Thomas’ Grade 12 Film Studies Course recently showcased a collection of their films in the 5th Annual RIFF – Ridley Independent Film Festival. The festival is the culmination of months of hard work in pre-production, production and post-production. Below are three films that were featured in the festival:

‘Dolly’ written and directed by Maia B.  is about a doll lost in a world where she is the only one of her kind.  Her search for a human that may be more like her has grim results.

‘Kelvin’s Story’ written and directed by Eric G. is a documentary following the story of Kelvin, a 17-year-old boy diagnosed with the world’s first case of Birdamanoma.

‘The Sick King’ written and directed by Audrey Y. is a documentary about her grandfather’s 90th birthday as he struggles with a serious disease.

Ballots were provided upon purchase of the products to vote on three categories to help determine the winning group.  The categories included:

1) Which group was the best at promoting their product?

2) Which group was the most efficient in serving their customers?

3) Which group showed the best business sense overall?

The business/marketing fair generated approximately $2600 in sales.  The profits from the fair will be donated to the charity of choice of the winning group.

The students also completed water quality indicator tests and learned more about the process currently underway to contain the contaminated Randle Reef site in the Harbour.

The afternoon was spent at McMaster University participating in two fascinating interdisciplinary learning experiences.   At the School of Physics & Astronomy the students participated in interactive Physics demonstrations on soft- and- hard-condensed matter; and, magnetic levitation trains.

Later on, at the School of Geography & Earth Sciences, the students visited the 3D Visualization lab where they learned about the applications of geotechnologies in environmental studies and other disciplines.

Written by Environmental Management teacher, Mr. Ronald

The first and only stop of the day was Rockefeller Centre where we ascended to one of the highest vantage points in NYC. From the Top of the Rock the beauty, expansiveness and density of NYC truly hit us.  We then proceeded to Times Square.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Museum of Modern Art. The thing that stood out most about this museum was the amount of works that we recognized; from Munch’s The Scream, to a Rothko’s trademark blocks of colour, to van Gogh’s The Starry Night. Seeing these pieces on the internet or printed out gives some taste of the quality of work and emotion captured by the placed pigments but seeing them in person is completely surreal. Being able to see every brush stroke and smudge grants an appreciation and awe unsurpassed by anything else.

Our second stop at the Whitney Museum was short but impressive. We had the treat of being able to view “Jay Defeo: A Retrospective”. Unlike most exhibits where you may see a few of an artist’s pieces covering only a portion of their work and style, a retrospective gives a much different perspective. By showing all the artist’s work you can really see the changes in style, emotion, and even philosophy of the artist. Our third stop was at the Chelsea Art District closer to downtown NYC. While difficult to navigate for some, Chelsea contained some smaller, more intimate exhibitions.

More intimate than the Chelsea Art District was The Cloisters, our first Sunday stop. This off-site part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art gave us a great look at changes in sculpture and architecture during the Middle Ages. It was very interesting how different one person can be portrayed. Each of the ten sculptures of The Virgin Mary had very different characteristics; from neutral gender/femininity to differences in how maternal she appeared. The architecture from room to room showed great variation in things such as: wall depth/width, window size, ceiling shape and composition, and arch style. These differences reflected the evolving knowledge of how to build soundly as well as evolving taste in the visual characteristic of buildings.

Our second stop was at St. John the Divine Cathedral. The building’s size itself would have been enough to leave most speechless but on top of that, the entire build was a work of art; almost every inch being covered by some design, sculpture or stain-glass window. Inside was every bit as breathtaking as the outside with huge pillars reaching stories up and the stain-glass taking on its full display of colours. Next to the cathedral was The Peace Fountain, an assortment of different statues with some made by children surrounding the fountain. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is huge. Absolutely huge. As in I couldn’t possibly put in to words the amount it contained. We only had time to visit a couple of the exhibits. Some of which included Egyptian tombs, a small chronology of popular musical instruments and an After Photoshop exhibit (the artists took old/retro photos and photoshopped them). The Frick collection was set in a beautiful house built by Henry Clay Frick and furnished with key works of art from the renaissance through to the 19^th century.

We started our last day with a Staten Island Ferry ride. What the Rockefeller showed us vertically, the ferry showed us horizontally. Looking like the world’s largest game of Tetris stood New York City, and Lady Liberty herself bid us a static farewell.

The NYC trip gave us more than we ever expected. We bonded as a group, experienced a culture shock, and ultimately were inspired and awestricken by the beauty of New York City and everything contained within.

Written By Jacob Toms-Boudreau ’13

The following students received awards:

Best New Recruit: Nicholas V.

Best Intermediate Cadet: Annie S.

Best NCO: Andrew P.

The following is a list of the recipients and their awards:

Canadian Army Certificate (Gold) – Gabrielle Cook

United States Army Certificate – Jack Hilditch

Brock University Earth Science Award – Jack Hilditch

Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority – Jack Hilditch

Ontario Horticulture Society Niagara District 9 – Anthony Nguyen

Ontario Tender Fruit Marketing Board – Anthony Nguyen

Juvenile Honourable Mention (Grade 5) – Ella Child, Isabella Taliano and Gabrielle Cook

Junior Honourable Mention (Grade 7) – Callum Campbell, Morgan Wolfe, Jack Hilditch

Standard Trophy for Oustanding Acheivement at the Junior Level (Grade 7) Top School Award – Jack Hilditch, Callum Campbell, Morgan Wolfe, Anthony Nguyen

Outstanding Science Teacher Award for the Junior Level (Grade 7) – Mr. Smith and Mr. Ireland.

For the past two years Ridley Rowing has had a training camp at Shawinigan School in British Colombia, but this year we went to Sarasota Florida with rowers from Shawinigan. We left Ridley at 2:45am to fly down to Florida on Thursday, March 14, 2013 and returned on Saturday the 23rd. Once we arrived at our hotel and unpacked there was no resting – we started our training with a run down to the course, which was about 4 or 5km away. During the training camp, the senior women’s crew rowed twice per day. We would run down to the course at around 8am, be on the water from 8:30-11am eat some lunch, row again around 1pm or 2pm and then we would return to the hotel and get ready to go out for dinner. Whenever the water was too rough or there was thunder we would workout at the hotel and do some weights, erging, and cardio on the elliptical. One of the mornings we decided to drive out to Siesta Key Beach and try a workout there with the junior boys. We started with a 30 minute run along the beach then came back to do sprints and a few mini competitions in teams, it was probably one of the hardest workouts we did. Besides rowing we did get a chance to see a NHL game and go to Universal Studios for the day.  It was a very beneficial trip full of lots of training and good memories for all the rowers involved!

Today, the students hosted a museum exhibit in their class with displays featuring dioramas, food and interactive games highlighting civilizations from Ancient Greece, Indus Valley, Incas, Mayans, Medieval, and Ancient Rome.