February is just around the corner, and this promises to be an eventful month inside and outside of the school. In the school, we have our mid-year break; outside of the school, it is Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, and of course, the 2010 Winter Olympics. For grade 12s, please be reminded that a lot of your admission/scholarship applications are due this month (or on March 1), so you have to really use your time to fill your application forms, and write your resume, application letters, and essays. Don't forget also that your teachers would need time to write a reference letter for you as well. Please give them at least a two-week notice! As for the important dates for this month... there are many:
Feb 1: Emily Carr's final portfolio submission deadline
Feb 1: Langara's application opens for the January 2011 semester
Feb 2 - 5: Mid-year Activities at Templeton
Feb 2 - 12: Theatre Temp Drama/Film Production
Feb 11: Parent-teacher Interviews: early dismissal at 1:45; interviews begin at 6:00
Feb 12: Capilano U and VCC Downtown campuses closure for the Olympics
Feb 12 - 28: Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Winter Olympic Games
Feb 15: Non-instructional Day: school not in session
Feb 18: Instructional Planning Period: 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.
10 copies of the Capilano University's viewbook have arrived. If you are interested in finding out more about Capilano U's program, the entrance requirements, tuition fees, and other general or specific information about Capilano U, you can come in to borrow the viewbook from me or even take a copy home for yourself. Because of the limited number of viewbooks that I have, I am going to hold a few copies so everyone would have a chance to look at them.
On another note, Capilano's School of Motion Picture Arts will be holding an open house on March 13 from 2 to 4 p.m. You can go to the school's website (click here) for more details and information.
This information is for students who came from one of the following elementary schools: Lord Roberts, Lord Roberts Annex, Mount Pleasant, Admiral Seymour, Florence Nightingale - the Vancouver Inner City Education Society is offering a four-year fully funded scholarship to UBC, and you may be a qualified student for this award!
If you are a former student from one of the above elementary schools, and plan to UBC in the fall, you can apply. Application forms can be picked up from Mr. Hayes in the career center, or you can come to my office to see me. The application deadline for this scholarship is Monday, April 12, 2010.
For more information, find Mr. Hayes, or come to see me.
Standard tuition fee for a regular, 3-credit course is $327 for domestic students, and $1275 for international students.
For a regular, 5-course semester, that would amoutn to $1635 for a domestic student, and $6375 for an international student.
Exceptional fees in addition to the standard tuition fees may be charged in some programs. For further information, you can consult this website (click here)
Entrance Awards:
Three major entrance awards are given to high school students: the Capilano Excellence Scholarships (CAPX), the Capilano Achievement Awards (CAPA), and the Capilano Program Awards (CAPP).
For more information on these awards and other financial aid information, please consult the entrance awards brochure (click here for the online version)
Visiting the Campus:
There are multiple ways to learn more about Capilano U. Here are some opportunities:
Explore Capilano Night: learn about the range of programs and courses, admission requirements, financial aid, and student life in general
Program Information Meetings: for details about a specific program of study. Meetings are offered throughout the year
Campus Tours: led by a student leader, explore the North Vancouver campus. Tours are offered in the fall and spring
Talk to an admission and academic advisor: book an appointment at 604-984-4990 or send an e-mail to advising@capilanou.ca to have your questions on education planning answered
I ended up not being able to attend the information session for counsellors at Capilano University due to an emergency, but thanks to Ms. Robertson, I was able to learn some new information from Capilano U that may be of interests to you.
Admission Requirements:
For Arts and Sciences: successful completion of Grade 12 or equivalent with a minimum 2.0 (60%) GPA calculated on English 12 and three academic grade 12 courses. See the Capilano Viewbook for more details.
Career Programs: Secondary school graduation is the usual prerequisite for admission. Some programs may also require an interview, tests, auditions, portfolio, etc. See the Capilano Viewbook for more details.
Provincial Exams: Provincial exams that are mandatory for graduation requirements (i.e. English/Communications 12, a SS11, Science 10, Math 10, English 10) must be written. As for admission GPA calculations, Capilano U will use your best mark (i.e. either school mark or blended mark, whichever that is higher) for courses that have an optional provincial exam component.
Deadlines:
Applications for admission may be submitted at any time. However, there are early application deadlines for specific programs and terms.
Arts & Sciences, Business Administration programs: Fall Term's early application deadline is March 31, 2010, with a document deadline set at May 31, 2010.
Human Kinetics: early application deadline is March 15
Global Stewardship: early application deadline is February 1.
Career/Vocational Programs: application deadlines vary. Check the online calendar for details (click here)
How to Apply:
Application can be completed online. (Click here)
Application fees: $25 for Canadian citizens and permanent residents. An extra $25 fee would apply for the evaluation of out-of-country high school documents, where applicable. For international students, the application + document evaluation fee is $100.
Several scholarships offered by RBC Royal Bank have just been brought to my attention. The application deadline for some of these scholarships, however, is fast approaching, so you would have to act fast to put your application together!
RBC Royal Bank Scholarship for New Canadians: 12 awards of $3500 each for high school students who have immigrated to Canada on or after January 1, 1999. The application deadline is February 1, 2010 at 6:00 EST (or 3:00 p.m. PST). Click here for more information.
RBC Royal Bank Scholarship for the Undergraduates: 6 awards of $10,000 each for high school graduates. The application deadline is February 16, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. EST (or 3:00 p.m. PST). Click here for more information.
RBC Aboriginal Student Awards Program: 10 awards of $4000 each for status and non-status Indians, Inuit, or Metis pursing post-secondary education. The application deadline is February 28, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST (or 8:59 p.m. PST). Click here for more information.
I apologize for not being able to bring this information to you earlier.
The post-secondary institution (PSI) selections form is an important document that students in grade 12 should be filling out. When you complete the PSI selections form, you are providing permission for the Ministry of Education to submit electronically your interim grades (for Templeton students who are on a linear school system, this would be your second term marks) as well as your final grades to post-secondary institutions. This is NOT to be confused with self-reporting, which is a process where students need to submit, on your own, your first/second term grades to a post-secondary institution you are applying to.
For those of you who were unable to attend instruction planning period yesterday, here are the instructions to help you fill the PSI Selection Forms. A hard copy can also be obtained from my office.
Step 1: Go to Ministry of Education's Student Secure Web (Click here). You should see a page that looks like this:
If you have never registered for an account with EdAccess, click the "create account" button. You would need your provincial exam number (PEN) to register for an account. Once you click "create account," you should see a screen that looks like this:
Step 2: Enter your personal information as instructed. Please note: even though the site asks for two e-mail addresses (one home and one school e-mail address), you may use the same e-mail address for home and school. By providing two different e-mail addresses you would reduce the chance that mails be sent wrongly to your spam folder.
Step 3: By creating an account, you will be directed to the TRAX screen, where you can do a variety of things, including checking your provincial exam scores. In this case, however, we want to make our PSI selections, so please click on the third button under the TRAX section:Step 4: For students who have not entered their PSI selections yet, click the "Select PSI" link:
Step 5: There are three potential sections that you can fill out at this screen. For students intending to attend most BC's post-secondary institutions, click the check box that says "forward my transcript to all BC Electronic PSIs." If you are applying for a post-secondary institution in Ontario through OUAC, click the second box also. Section 1's PSIs will be submitted free-of-charge.
Sections 2 and 3 contain other institutions within and outside B.C. The ministry will send up to six PSI forms free-of-charge to schools under sections 2/3.Step 6: Finally, after you have finished your selections, check off the permission button, and click "confirm." By doing so, you are giving your permission for the Ministry of Education to send your grades to the schools you have selected. You can review and change your selections at a later date.
Please note: Your PSI Selection Forms must be completed by April 30, 2010, for the Ministry to submit your interim grades in May. PSI information must be completed by June 30, 2010, for the Ministry to submit your final grades.
If you have any questions about the PSI Selection Forms, please come in to see me.
Templeton's Student Council has launched a two-week campaign called the "Heal Haiti Project." The goal of this project is to raise $5000 for Haitians who suffered (and are still suffering) from the massive earthquake and subsequent aftershocks a week ago.
This two-week campaign contains three major events:
Two back-to-back TIP days during third block on Thursday and Friday (January 21st and 22nd) to collect changes as donations to the Haitians
Bake sale at lunch in the front foyer, from January 25th to 28th (Monday to Thursday of next week)
A teacher vs. student DDR competition on Friday, January 29th at lunch, in the auditorium. Admission to the event is $1/student. Students who wish to compete against the teachers pay $2 to participate. If you want to watch the likes of Mr. Wong and yours truly make a total fool of ourselves with our dance moves, PLEASE attend this event!
All joking aside, THANK YOU, student council, for putting together this very important campaign. When tragedies like the Haitian earthquake strike, we are actually brought closer together to one another. Let us all do our small but important part to help.
If you want to have a friendship page (or friendship pages) in this year's yearbook, this is the opportunity to purchase one.
You can design your own, or you can have students from Ms. Kim's yearbook class design it for you. You can use your own pictures, combine them with group pictures taken from your Artona session, or create your own artistic version that would represent you and your friends. For technical specifications, please see Ms. Kim, Jessica H., or one of the yearbook staff.
Each full-colour friendship page will cost $250 (if you have a group of 10 friends, that works out to $25/person for a page that would be read by all, cherished by you). A $50 deposit must be paid by January 29, 2010.
There is a limited number of friendship pages available, so please act quickly and purchase one, two, or three pages before they are bought by other groups.
For a sample of past friendship pages (to see what a friendship page is all about, or to get some ideas to start your design), check out the last 8 or 16 pages from our previous yearbooks. If you do not have a copy of an old yearbook handy, you can come see me, or drop by Ms. Kim's class.
This is to remind you that we will be having an instructional planning period this Thursday, January 21, between 10:05 and 11:05 a.m. (instead of the usual afternoon time slot).
Your attendance for this I.P.P. is crucial, as we will be going through a few very important topics pertaining to graduation. Among the topics are: 2nd term grad transitions documents, a student profile that must be filled out for in-school scholarship considerations, grad fees, and several other topics. If you are going to be absent on Thursday, you must come in to see me ASAP afterwards to obtain the required documents and instructions.
There are other upcoming information sessions held at Capilano. In case I do not remember to tell you about that, go to the program information meetings page (Click here), and you can find out all about them.
Information sessions will be held at Douglas College's New Westminster and Coquitlam campuses at the end of January.
These information sessions focus on providing you with information about Douglas College's continuing education and part-time programs. A number of full-time, degree/diploma programs will also have representatives attending. For a full list of what programs would be in attendance, or to make an appointment so see a program-specific advisor, click here.
Times and locations for these and other info sessions can also be found at Douglas College's information page: Click here
There are two major info sessions currently being advertised:
January 26, 2010 (Tuesday)
Coquitlam Campus (1250 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam)
Start Time: 5:00 p.m.
January 28, 2010 (Thursday)
New Westminster Campus (700 Royal Avenue - one block from the New West Sky Train Station)
I am going off the board with this entry, but it is that important of a message that I think it is worthwhile.
By now, you have probably heard and watched the news about the earthquake in Haiti. The latest has it that as much as one third of this Central American country's population is affected directly by the 7.0 quake. Thousands have died, many more are injured, and countless people have lost literally EVERYTHING they have.
This blog has been used to talk about graduation, scholarship application, and various events leading up to grad. They are all important, no question, but watching the scenes from Haiti, seeing the faces of despair, and hearing the cries of hopelessness, almost everything stops, and almost nothing is relevant anymore.
I know this is a very difficult economic time. People are losing their jobs; everyone is probably a little concerned over his/her job security. But most of us can spare ten dollars, twenty dollars, or whatever amount, to help those who are in dire need. I urge you today to help.The following non-profit groups are some of the reputable charitable organizations that are recognized by the Government of Canada (click here for the complete list). I'm attaching a link to their websites so you may go directly onto any of them to donate. News just broke today that the federal government will match our donation dollar-for-dollar (click here for details) – that means, if you donate 10 dollars for the Haitian victims, 20 actual dollars will be reaching them. If you can help, please help. Thank you!
The grad transitions forms for Term 2 have arrived. Please come to see me for your Term 2's physical activity log, and to pick up your "employability skills" forms (these new forms are purple - do not use the old forms from last year).
The following are the instructions to the employability skills form. If you have any questions, please see Ms. Ward for details.
"This plan requires that students demonstrate the skills required to work effectively and safely with others and to succeed as individual and collaborative workers. There are two requirements:
Complete 30 hours of work experience and/or community service: examples of acceptable activities include volunteering and part-time jobs. Any combination of paid work or volunteer experience that adds to 30 hours will be accepted. Please use the form provided to verify the work or community service performed.
Summarize and reflect on your experience by completing the following tables: (when you receive the actual forms, the tables will be a part of the package)
For students who are going to be writing one/more provincial exams in January, please read this post VERY CAREFULLY:
January provincial exams will take place from Monday, January 25 to Friday, January 29. The morning exams will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., while the afternoon exams will take place from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. All exams are two hours long, and you may stay up to an extra hour to finish the exam.
(For a complete schedule of the January provincial exams, click here)
Exams administered at Templeton will take place in the computer lab in the library. All exams will be done electronically. If you have not registered to write an exam, but needs to write one, please see Mr. Mark in Room 203 directly to ensure that there are enough computers for you to do the exam.
Sample and practice exams can be found online. Download them, and use them to prepare yourself. Exams can be found here.
Several of you have not written a required provincial exam needed for graduation. Please note: even if you have successfully passed the school portion of the course, you must have written the exam to earn the credit. This is true for English 10, Mathematics 10, Science 10, and social studies 11. If you are not sure if you have written the required provincial exam(s), please come in and see me immediately.
For students who are interested in a career in the creative arts such as fashion design, fashion marketing, interior design, graphic design for marketing, and inter-disciplinary design studies, you may be interested in attending an information session at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Participants will be directed to the program area(s) of your choice to receive more detailed information about the program (entrance requirements, exchange opportunities, employment opportunities, etc).
No reservations are needed for this info session.
For more information, go to the centre of design's website (click here) or call 604-599-2000.
The Faculty of Applied Science at UBC (i.e. UBC Engineering) is offering a variety of events in the upcoming months. In these events, representatives from Engineering Student Services will be on hand to answer questions about and provide information on the many engineering programs offered at UBC. Students will also have the opportunity to connect with two Engineering departments and find out more about the research being done there.
Currently, there are four events that are scheduled to run in the next few months:
Engineering Explorations on January 22 between 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Engineering Info Session on February 3 at 6 p.m.
Engineering to make make a difference on March 5 from 12 to 5 p.m.
Engineering Explorations on March 25 between 2:00 to 4:30 p.m.
For additional events, and event details, please visit this website: Click here
UBC Engineering is also offering an online community called LiveChat that would allow students to connect with a UBC Engineering advisor in real time. The virtue community also features student blogs, twitter updates, and YouTube videos. You can visit this online community by clicking here.
If you wish to receive any information material on UBC Engineering, you can e-mail the following people:
Bhavani Veylan, recruiter and international student coordinator: bhavani.veylan@ubc.ca
Grad write-ups are due Friday, January 15. If you want to have your grad write-up appear in this year's yearbook, you must submit your write-up, either in a hard copy to Ms. Kim, or through e-mail to Emily Wong at ewong19@hotmail.com.
As for the instructions for the grad write-up, you must limit it to 400 characters or less (spaces count towards the 400-count). Obviously, you must not use any language that is deemed inappropriate. The yearbook editors, the teachers, and the administrators reserve the right to edit/delete any language or reference that they feel to be inappropriate.
If you have any questions about the grad write-up, please go see Ms. Kim, or ask Emily Wong.
The School of Criminology at SFU, in collaboration with the International Cybercrime Research Centre (ICRC) and Policing of Cyberspace (POLCYB), will be hosting an event called the Crime and Technology Fair on January 21 in the SFU Surrey Campus. Here are some details of the event:
Location: Grand Hall (Mezzanine Level) at the SFU Surrey Campus (250 - 13450 - 102nd Avenue, Surrey, B.C.) Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010 Time: 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Cost: FREE
The event will feature four speakers: Sgt Bev Csikos from the RCMP, Special Agent David Thompson from the United States Secret Service, James Whiting, a prosecutor from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, and Inspector Kevin McQuiggin from the forensic services section of VPD. This is an excellent opportunity for those who are interested in the area of criminology and law enforcement.
To register, or to learn more, you can e-mail crimrsvp@sfu.ca
Several of you have come to asked me since school re-opening, so I would put this information here to share with all of you: your term 2 grad transitions forms (career and life) are currently IN PRINT. Once they have been printed, I will have some copies in my room. Forms can also be obtained at that time from Ms. Ward.
As for the physical activity log, it has been printed and can be picked up from my office. As per last term's instructions: you must enter your WEEKLY PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES onto the log. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to see me.
Just a reminder that grad photo sessions will take place at Artona on January 10 and 11. If you have not reserved for a session yet, you must do so by signing up online, or by calling the Artona Group at 604-872-7272.
Graduation Portraits are OPTIONAL, meaning that you do NOT have to take a grad photo to graduate. However, if you do not take a grad portrait, your grad picture will not appear in the grad composite that would appear in this year's yearbook nor the grand display composite that would be displayed in the school for years to come.
You must bring $60 deposit to your grad portrait session. When the samples (called proofs) are given to you, you can choose to purchase one or many of your poses. The $60 would be used towards the purchase of any grad photos. If you choose NOT to order any pictures, the $60 will be fully refunded to you, providing that you return your proofs back to Artona.
For more information on what to wear, and what to bring to the photo session, visit Artona's website.
I just want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy new year. I hope you have had a very restful Christmas and winter. It's 2010, and you have fewer than six months to go before the BIG DAY - GRAD! Let's work hard, play hard, and spend time with your loved ones.
Ms. Mogyorosi and I will be meeting with some of you the next couple weeks discussing your educational plans for the next few months. This is especially true for those of you who did not have the finest first term. If you have any concerns over your courses, or about post-secondary information, please do not hesitate to talk to Ms. Mogyorosi, Mr. Hayes, or myself. We'd love to hear from you.
February is just around the corner, and this promises to be an eventful month inside and outside of the school. In the school, we have our mid-year break; outside of the school, it is Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, and of course, the 2010 Winter Olympics. For grade 12s, please be reminded that a lot of your admission/scholarship applications are due this month (or on March 1), so you have to really use your time to fill your application forms, and write your resume, application letters, and essays. Don't forget also that your teachers would need time to write a reference letter for you as well. Please give them at least a two-week notice! As for the important dates for this month... there are many:
