recognition of student/school success - School District 67

School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha)
RECOGNITION OF STUDENT/SCHOOL SUCCESS
November 9, 2009
School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) extends congratulations to the following students/groups for these
outstanding examples of success for October:
KALEDEN ELEMENTARY
• The Kaleden Fire Department visited the school during Fire Prevention Week in October. The students
spent the morning rotating through stations focused on different aspects of fire safety. The “smoke
tent” was the most popular attraction. The Fire Department provided all students with a hotdog lunch
and the day culminated with a drama presentation from Penticton Secondary students coordinated by
Megan Rutherford from Penticton Secondary and Liz Wilson of the Penticton Fire Department. It was a
great success.
The ‘Smoke Tent’

• On October 5 Kaleden Elementary
finished their Terry Fox Blitz. Everyone
at the school took part in the annual
school run. Students were encouraged
to bring in a loonie to donate for the Terry
Fox Fund. The students of Kaleden
Elementary exceeded all expectations by
raising over $276.00, which works out to
more than two dollars per student. A
draw for a Terry Fox Marathon of Hope t-
shirt was won by a very excited Sean
Dixon.
KVR MIDDLE SCHOOL
• KVR Terry Fox Run - Students from KVR raised over $1500 for this year’s school based Terry Fox
Run.
• “Think-giving”- Students from Sheila Taylor’s grade 7 class organized a Thanksgiving food drive with
donations going to the Food Bank and Soupateria. Over 900 items were collected!
• Author Visits - KVR hosted two visits from local authors who visited the school and shared their
experiences. KVR provided their own aspiring writers with some valuable insights!
• PAC BBQ Open House - The Annual Family Barbecue and Open House was a tremendous success
once again. Both events were very well attended. A big thank you goes out to the PAC for all the hard
work that went in to organizing the events.
• Grade 6 Swimming Activities - The grade 6 classes at KVR had two swimming activities in the month
of October. A huge congratulation’s goes out to all the grade 6 students for being great KVR
ambassadors!
• Grade 8 Team Building Day - The grade 8 students had a very successful ‘team building day’ held at
Skaha Lake Park. A special thanks to Penticton Secondary leadership students who volunteered to
help by organizing and running some very worthwhile team building activities throughout the day.
• “Philly D” - All KVR students were treated to a wonderful presentation by “Philly D”, a popular
motivational speaker with the very powerful message that ‘you are all special.’

McNICOLL PARK MIDDLE SCHOOL
• Eleven grade 8 students attended the BC Leadership Conference with two staff members (Leona Tank
and Karen Hocking) from October 23 – 25, 2009. The conference was enjoyed by all who attended.
• Fit 4 Defense Program is in full swing with Karate BC. The students attended three classes.
• Spirit Day – All staff and students dress in the McNicoll Park Middle school colours. Many afternoon
activities took place at the successful assembly.
• Penny Philpotts hosted a SMART Learning Demonstration on October 20, 2009 which was very
informative for everyone.
• Dawn Walliser's grade 6 class won a contest through SUN FM called ‘Salute Your School’. A student
in Ms. Walliser’s class wrote to the radio station talking about his school, class and teacher. The prize
was a catered lunch from Subway for the whole class!!!
NARAMATA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• Fire Prevention Week was held in early October with lessons on fire safety, a drama presentation
from Penticton Secondary and some fire truck rides for the lucky winners of the Fire Chief for a
Day! A huge thank you to the Naramata Volunteer Fire Department for the exciting rides in the
big truck!

• T-Day – October 19 th was T-day at
Naramata Elementary School. The T
stands for Tribes and in conjunction with the
school goal of making students feel
emotionally safe and to build a greater
sense of inclusion within the school, the
students were organized into four school
multi-aged Tribes (or families). These
Tribes will be used to help the students
make connections across the grade levels.
Tribes assemblies and activities will
continue throughout the year to teach social
skills, to allow students to build a sense of
belonging and value within their Tribe, and
to have fun.

• NARAMATA RUN
Race director Mike Townley poses
with Cali Anderson of Naramata
Elementary with her third place
ribbon and Naramata resident
Annick Cole of Wiltse School with
her second place ribbon.)
•

318 grade 4 and 5 students from around School District No. 67 descended on Manitou Park for the
annual Naramata Cross Country run.
In the grade 5 boys heat, Naramata’s Connor Oh came in fifth, Stewart Carlson placed 29th and
Lukas Vozenilek came in 32nd in a field of about 100 runners.
In the grade 5 girls event, two local girls came through the finish line first and second, but then in a
show of excellent sportsmanship they made race officials aware of a discrepancy. Coming into the final
turns of the course, an Uplands School runner was first, Annick Cole (who lives in Naramata) of Wiltse
School was second and Cali Anderson of Naramata School was third. However, a bystander
misdirected the Uplands runner at a turn, and Annick and Cali thus placed first and second. The two
girls immediately went to race officials to ensure that the Uplands runner was awarded first place.
Also in the grade 5 girls run, Naramata’s Lyndzie Caron placed 13th.
In the grade 4 boys heat, Jakub Vozenilek was the top Naramata runner, placing 17th. Grade 4 girl,
Josi Kay of Naramata, placed 15th.
Naramata Assistant Fire Chief Tony Trovao was thankful for an uneventful day for his crew on standby
at the event.
(From MyNaramata Website, written by Craig Henderson)
NARAMATA CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP RACES
Held on Wednesday, October 13, 2009 - Manitou Park, Naramata
Hosted by Naramata Elementary School, organized by Mike Townley
Total of 318 participants from 12 area schools: Carmi, Columbia, Concordia Lutheran, Giant’s Head,
Kaleden, Naramata, Parkway, Queen’s Park, Trout Creek, Uplands, West Bench, Wiltse. Many thanks to
the Naramata PAC group who provided a great concession stand with many healthy and warming offerings.
TEAM PLACINGS: (based on 6 qualifying runners)
RACE RESULTS
Grade 4: Girls Boys
1 st place Trout Creek 75 points Columbia 64 points
2 nd Uplands 83 points Wiltse 65 points
3 rd Columbia 124 points Giant’s Head 134 points
4 th West Bench 144 points Carmi 174 points
5 th Giant’s Head 204 points Holy Cross 253 points
6 th Queen’s Park 295 points West Bench 281 points
7 th Carmi 299 points Parkway 376 points
8 th Parkway 346 points

Grade 5: Girls Boys
1 st place Wiltse 81 points Columbia 94 points
2 nd Columbia 114 points Wiltse 98 points
3 rd Parkway 194 points Uplands 197 points
4 th Giant’s Head 202 points Giant’s Head 198 points
5 th Trout Creek 243 points Naramata 204 points
6 th Naramata 247 points West Bench 236 points
7 th Uplands 249 points Holy Cross 259 points
8 th Carmi 318 points Parkway 267 points
9 th Holy Cross 326 points Queen’s Park 302 points
COURSE: (2.360 KM) RECORD HOLDERS: (includes 2008 race)
Grade 4 Girls: Ailie Hayman 10:56 Uplands ** NEW RECORD
Grade 4 Boys: Spencer Finlayson 9:50 Columbia ** 2008 Record
Grade 5 Girls: Maya Venkataraman 10:28 Trout Creek ** 2008 Record
Grade 5 Boys: Seth Morgan 9:29 Giant’s Head ** 2007 Record
Grade 4 INDIVIDUAL PLACING:
Grade 4 Boys: 81 participants
Place Name School Time (old record 10:05)
1 st Travis Fehr Wiltse 10:10
2 nd Ethan Knutsen Uplands 10:22
3 rd Mason Heintz Wiltse 10:25
4 th Matthew Jones Carmi 10:28
5 th Nash Moog Columbia 10:47
6 th Adam Lacroix Uplands 10:48
7 th River Bauman Columbia 10:50
8 th Ethan McLaughlin Columbia 11:07
9 th Drake Reid Giant’s Head 11:10
10 th Ben Olsen Wiltse 11:16
Grade 4 Girls: 73 participants
Place Name School Time
1 st Ailie Hayman Uplands 10:56 (New Record)
2 nd Britney Young Westbench 11:10
3 rd Kristen Vandeweghe Queen’s Park 11:17
4 th Lauren Bull Uplands 11:31
5 th Sophie Cormilott Trout Creek 11:32
6 th Myah Nackoney Trout Creek 11:42
7 th Jessica Broder Wiltse 11:49
8 th Hannah Lockhart Columbia 11:50
9 th Zoe Flaman Uplands 11:52
10 th Elena Selles Westbench 11:53

Grade 5 INDIVIDUAL PLACING:
Grade 5 Boys:
90 Participants
Place Name School Time
1 st Carson Erhardt Columbia 9:55
2 nd Spencer Finlayson Columbia 10:01
3 rd Ahsan Sattar Parkway 10:02
4 th Kiver Heintz Wiltse 10:05
5 th Connor Oh Naramata 10:11
6 th Teaghan Trewhitt Giant’s Head 10:22
7 th Landon Nicol Uplands 10:23
8 th Connor Freeman Westbench 10:25
9 th Alyck Coombs Uplands 10:26
10 th Todd Corrie Wiltse 10:31
Grade 5 Girls:
74 Participants
Place Name School Time
1 st Katie Huston Uplands 10:47
2 nd Annick Cole Wiltse 10:49
3 rd Cali Anderson Naramata 11:08
4 th Kyra Wallace Wiltse 11:36
5 th Alex Neenan Columbia 11:38
6 th Hannah Clarke Parkway 11:42
7 th Kiera Moroziuk Wiltse 11:46
8 th Haley Lund Columbia 12:06
9 th McKenna Thompson Wiltse 12:12
10 th Rachel Shanner Giant’s Head 12:12
PARKWAY ELEMENTARY
• The grade 4/5 soccer team of 46 students took part in a great soccer tournament at King's Park. The
soccer team played four games each and had a wonderful time.
• Parkway conducted a successful fire drill at the school. All students handled the fire drill very well,
acting quickly and quietly.
• The cross-country running team went to Naramata and placed very well in the District run. The
students are looking forward to the next run at Trout Creek.
• The first Parenting Wisely session was held – once again, it was a success.
• Everyone at the school thoroughly enjoyed a great Fire Prevention Assembly that was presented by the
Drama students from Penticton Secondary.
• A very exciting Floor Hockey Tournament took place in October.

PRINCESS MARGARET SECONDARY SCHOOL
• 2009 Princess Margaret graduate Susie Welch has been named as the official Penticton torch bearer
for the 2010 winter Olympics. She was presented with this honour at a special assembly held at the
school on Tuesday, October 27 th . Over 1000 people were in attendance. It is a great honour for Susie
and for the school community.
PENTICTON SECONDARY SCHOOL
• The number of winners for the Penticton Secondary Provincial Scholarships will increase this year to
25 due to AP exam results. Last year the school had 21 scholarship winners.
• Congratulations – Penticton Secondary placed 4 th at the High School Meet in Kamloops the weekend of
October 24th & 25th. Everyone was very impressed with the swimming caliber. The students had
many of the best times, even from swimmers who had not raced in years! There was great energy
and excitement on the deck which was great to see.
The following swimmers have qualified for Provincials in Richmond, BC:
Karli Caron (200 Medley relay)
Steffani Caron (200 Medley relay)
Brittney Karpuk (200 Medley relay)
Shelby McGraw (200 Medley relay)
Julia Veidt (50 Free, 100 Brst, 200 Mixed Medley relay and 200 Mixed Free relay)
Taylor Wilkinson (100 Free, 200 Mixed Medley relay and 200 Mixed Free relay)
Reid Noble-Hearle (50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Mixed Medley relay and 200 Mixed Free relay)
Daylon Tilitzky (50 Free, 100 Back, 200 Mixed Medley relay and 200 Mixed Free relay)
The second girls relay team was very close to qualifying (right behind the first team). Unfortunately, the
freestyle relay didn’t roll down as far.
Travel plan details will be finalized in the next couple weeks. Once again, great job everyone!
• Penticton Secondary Junior Girls took home the First Place trophy from the Thompson River University
32 team tourney. The Lakers swept through their round robin games going 6-0 against Valleyview
(Kamloops), Fulton (Vernon), and Kelly Road (Prince George). The first round playoff game saw the
Lakers draw John McGuiness (Prince George), the top team out of the north. The Laker's probably
played their best match of the tourney defeating the Roadrunners 25-16, 25-9. This set up a Saturday.
morning meeting between with VSS in the quarter final. The Lakers quickly took care of business 25-11,
25-9. Next up was Mt. Boucherie who fought hard and had the Lakers down 23-21 in the first game,
Penticton Secondary overcame this deficit and took the game 25-23 and then came out swinging to take
the second game 25-16. The final was a rematch against a Fulton team who really stepped up their play
on Saturday. Again, Pen High found themselves down 23-21 and battled back once again to take the first
game 25-23. The second match saw the Lakers get out to a quick start (25-15) to finish the weekend
undefeated at 14-0. Their overall season match record (against Junior teams) now stands at 26-1 with
their only loss coming against the number one ranked team in the Province (Riverside, Coquitlam).

Coaches Paul Mend and Matt Craig were very pleased with the performance of their team. "The girls
really showed up that weekend and the triumvirate in the middle (Adra Grieg, Danni Pratt, Janna
Clarke) really stepped up their level of play." "It was an overall team effort with everyone contributing."
The girls will see how they match up against some of the top Senior teams in the province when they
play in the Pen High Senior tourney which started October 30th.
Penticton Secondary Junior Girls
Names in Picture Left to Right:
Top row: Matt Craig, Janna Clarke, Dani Pratt, Keirsten Mend, Jamie Craig, Adra Grieg, Paul Mend
Bottom row: Carissa Kocsis, Gabby Levesque, Katie Delorme, Cassie Keir

• 25 staff and students from Penticton Secondary, Summerland Secondary and Princess Margaret
attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this past month. This is the tenth trip they have taken (over
500 students in total). This year students saw 6 remarkable plays in five days and were privileged to
see the world premier of "Equivocation" a play which has people thinking it will win a Pulitzer Prize. It
was a remarkable trip that saw students buying collected works of Shakespeare and discussing the
directorial choices made in Macbeth as well as the costuming in Henry VII.
SKAHA LAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL
• October 7th - Skaha Lake Open House and Family BBQ – Skaha Lake Middle School staff welcomed
parents and students to the school to enjoy a Family BBQ. After a short assembly, students were able
to take their parents and siblings on a tour of the school and introduce their teachers.

• October 22nd - Author Lee Edward Fodi presented a workshop to all the grade 6 students on the
creative writing process. All the students received an autographed copy of one of Mr. Fodi’s books.
This workshop was sponsored by Jasmine John-Thorpe and the South Okanagan “Raise a Reader”
program.
• Grade 8 classes attended a sitar (East Indian string instrument) concert by Don Pope and Rhonda
Marina in the band room on October 22nd.
• All Skaha Lake students and staff attended the Olympic torch bearer announcement in the Princess
Margaret gym where Suzie Welch, a former Skaha Lake student and Princess Margaret grad was
announced to light the Olympic torch on January 25th, 2010.

SUMMERLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL
• Congratulations to the SSS Swim Team - The Swim Team competed in the Okanagan Regional
Meet yesterday on October 25th in Kamloops and did swimmingly! The team qualified for the
Provincials in three relays while Kelsey Jenner qualified for the Provincials with a great performance in
the 100 m breast stroke. A fantastic performance as overall Summerland Secondary students were
Ninth out of 20 teams. A Winning relay 4 x 50 medley – and all relays qualified for provincials.
Individual qualifiers were - Paige Miskiman - in 100 fly and 100 free, Kelsey Jenner in 100 fly and 100
breast and Riley Greenwood in 100 free, 100 breast and 200 IM.
Relay qualifiers were Bailey Ingram, Lisa Isaak, Connie Bambey, Ellen Rutherford and
Sara Bergstrom as well as Kelsey Jenner and Paige Miskiman.
Each of the team members did a great job on a very long day but extra kudos for Riley Greenwood as
he set personal bests in every one of his races but one. Well done everyone!
Team Members include: Connie Bambey, Sara Bergstrom, Ellen Rutherford, Paige Miskiman,
Lisa Isaak, Bailey Ingram, and Riley Greenwood!
Coach: Tom Best
UPLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• Uplands enthusiastically launched off the school year with a fantastic open house on September 23rd.
Families met Uplands’ staff, enjoyed a pizza supper, and a fun “Shakewood Annie” family dance. The
Terry Fox Run/Assembly on September 25th was so meaningful to everyone. Many thanks go out to
Mrs. Kantz’s class and grade 5 student leaders for leading the assembly and to the Uplands’ families
for their contributions to cancer research. Teachers from Uplands hosted SMART Learning
demonstration lessons for teachers from other schools on October 21st. Eight of the teachers
creatively planned and/or presented and many teachers from across the District attended, as well as
Superintendent, Wendy Hyer and Trustee, Shelley Clarke. To further enrich the project classes they
attended field trips in Oliver prior to the demonstration lessons and also had a presentation about
salmon at the school. The project integrated subjects together with an emphasis on language arts and
science using the SMARTLearning sequence. Technology is also a part of the process using
SMARTboard and a SMART document camera. Many thanks go out to PAC for recently purchasing
the camera. The camera is a very useful and engaging learning tool, capturing real life, vibrant
pictures, writings etc. on a large screen.
• Soccer and cross-country running have also been very popular in September and October. Teams of
about 30 students are in each sport. The soccer team has both been hosting and playing games at
other schools. Students did very well at the cross-country run in Naramata and grade 4 student,
Ailie Haymen, broke a record! The Penticton Secondary Lakers have also been to the school to run
with the students. Many thanks, Lakers! Students engage in a whole school run on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays and on Tuesdays and Thursdays the dedicated cross-country team also
does an early morning run.

• The student leaders are also taking an active part in the school by being office monitors and helping
out younger students in a variety of ways. Uplands is looking forward to a grade 5 student leadership
conference which will be held on November 13th. West Bench Elementary will be joining the school
and student leaders from Princess Margaret and Penticton Secondary will be putting on the sessions.
Block X has also started at Uplands Elementary. Students join together in family (cross-graded)
groupings to watch a student-friendly social responsibility DVD and then do activities related to the
topic with their “family grouping” teacher. The topic in October has been all about Respect ☺.
Students continue to earn SOAR tickets for their positive actions around the school community and
teachers are giving out “Student of the Week” awards at the weekly assemblies. The school held a
Family Pumpkin Carving Night on October 29th followed by a whole school “Monster Mash” parade and
dance on October 30th. A positive school climate makes such a difference in the students’ lives and
helps to develop the foundation required for learning. We thank the staff, parents and community for
working together to provide such valuable learning experiences for all of the precious students. What
they are learning now contributes to a bright and rewarding future.
WEST BENCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• West Bench grade 4 and 5 classes participated in the Naramata Run. The Wildcats were great
ambassadors for the school.
• The grade 4 and 5 soccer team played Parkway Elementary, Carmi Elementary and Uplands
Elementary. The Wildcats showed great team spirit and sportsmanship.

• West Bench students watched an
entertaining and informative
presentation on fire safety from the
Drama students of Penticton
Secondary School. It was thoroughly
enjoyed by all.
• Both the senior and junior guitar club began this month. There are over 30 students who are learning
guitar.
• School-wide assessment for learning resulted in staff collaboratively marking together to find students
strengths and challenges.
• Staff was involved in a staff development meeting to look at student achievement around reading and
writing with a focus on developing students' writing and visualization skills.
• The Making Character Count Program was reintroduced. Everyone is working on the skills of empathy
and responsibility school wide.
• Students participated in the Destination Conservation workshop. The Destination Conservation Team is
excited about this year's challenge.
• Mrs. Kay, Mrs. Balfour, Mrs. Donavan and Mrs. Berg worked together on the Provincial Pro D day and
planned SmartLearning sequences using Aboriginal children's literature.
• Award Assemblies and Sing-a-longs continued at West Bench.

• Coach McKay has been working on basketball skills with the grade 4/5 boys on Mondays and grade
4/5 girls on Tuesdays. Students are really enjoying Coach McKay and the skills they are learning.
• The PAC Hot Lunch Committee decorated the gym for Halloween and put on a Halloween hot lunch.
All students ate their lunch in the gym and were given a tasty Halloween treat as well. West Bench
Elementary held their Halloween parade and sing-a-long event.
WILTSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• Forty-five runners participated in the Naramata Run on Wednesday, October 14th. Each student
trained in advance for the race by challenging themselves during the School-wide Runs every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. They showed good sportsmanship and effort which was rewarded with some
personal best times.
However….. Something special happened that day that made us all very proud and is worth
mentioning as significant success for the parents, teachers and friends of one grade 5 student
who attends Wiltse School.
During the grade 5 girls race the lead runner was misdirected on the route and had to back
track to get back on course. Annick Cole, a grade 5 runner from Wiltse, was in second place
when the mix-up occurred. At the finish Annick finished in first place but immediately went to
her coach and told her what had happened. She insisted that the lead runner be given the first
place spot and she should take second. There was no doubt in her mind that something
unfortunate had happened and she needed to do what was right and fix it. This is an example
of the type of citizenship that we expect from the students, especially when they are on an
outing representing Wiltse Elementary.
Everyone was extremely proud of Annick for thinking of others before herself. Her
thoughtfulness has been recognized by the winning runner and her parents as well many other
coaches who witnessed the event.
Wow, Annick. We are all
so impressed with how
you handled this!
Congratulations to all runners who have trained so hard for the privilege of representing Wiltse School and striving to meet their
personal athletic goals.