Happy Holidays!

Wishing all a safe and happy holiday season.  Classes resume on Monday, January 5 - Day 1.

Social Media Fitness presentations

Mr. Chris Vollum presented to parents at NPC in Winkler on Wednesday evening and to our grade 7 to 12 students on Thursday morning.  He gave information on the privacy issues of the major social media sites, and shared information on how to protect you reputations and privacy when using these sites.  Very good sessions.  For access to the information documents, go to the Carman Collegiate homepage.  The documents for parents and for students are posted there.

Students on Ice Artic Expedition

Congratulations to Madi S for being accepted into the 2015 Students on Ice Arctic Expedition.  She will have the opportunity to explore the Canadian Artic and Western Greenland this summer along with other students and scientists from around the world.

New AFM Counsellor at Collegiate

Carman Collegiate is pleased to welcome Mrs. Tara Smoker as the newly hired Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM) counsellor.  She is excited to become part of the team of staff at the Collegiate who educate and support students. 
In her role as AFM counsellor, she is available at Carman Collegiate on Tuesdays and Thursdays to provide information and personal support to students and parents in the community.  Students may consider meeting with her if they are recognizing concerns with their own use of alcohol, drugs or gambling, or if they have concerns about the alcohol, drug or gambling use of someone close to them.  Tara's goal is to provide a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental place for youth to identify their values and set goals for themselves.
Youth are faced with many challenges related to their decisions around alcohol and drug use in their increasingly independent social and recreational activities.  By providing education and early prevention through classroom presentations and open office hours, students are provided  an opportunity to consider the risks and impacts of their choices.
Parents who may be looking for information and support in understanding the ways alcohol or drugs
may be impacting their youth are also welcome to contact Tara.
Tara can be reached at 204-745-2810 (direct line and confidential voice mail).  She looks forward to becoming connected with our community.

Grow Canada Conference

Bailey next to Brian Mulroney

This week, Bailey G had the opportunity to attend the premiere agricultural conference "Grow Canada". She was 1 of 3 students across Canada who were chosen to attend the conference in Ottawa from Dec. 2 - 4. The conference featured notable speakers on the topics of optimism and opportunities in agriculture. For Bailey, the conference highlight was meeting former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. She had the responsibility of summarizing and sharing the "youth perspective" following his presentation.  She attended the conference with Ms. Massinon and they also took the opportunity to visit Parliament Hill and observe a session in the House of Commons.

Social Media presentation this Wednesday and Thursday

Parents, book Wednesday, December 10 - 7:00 pm at the Northlands Parkway Collegiate in Winkler.  This is a must see presentation in this day and age of our children using social media sites on a daily basis.  The presenter, Chris Vollum, requests that parents bring and use their smartphones and tablets to gain new knowledge about the social apps and sites that their kids are using to define their identities, personalities and reputations. .  The presentations goals are to provide clear examples, significant benefits and also risks associated with social sites like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, SnapChat, Tmblr, Vine, Pinterest, and others.  The takeaway is that parents will be educated with a deeper understanding on how to support and discuss benefits (of which there are many) and risks of these sites and apps with their children.
Mr. Vollum will be at Carman Collegiate on Thursday, December 11 at 11:00 am to present to our students.  Students are also invited to bring in their devices for the presentation.