Calvin Park Public School Honoured for Showcasing Their Home Community on the Web

The Honourable Brian Tobin, Minister of Industry, announced on May 23, 2001, the top 14 schools in SchoolNet’s Communities@ca, a national competition celebrating unique communities and showcasing excellence in community collaboration and web site design.

“Students and teachers who participated in the GrassRoots Communities@ca competition should be proud,” said Minister Tobin. “In building their web sites, they have created comprehensive resources for all Canadian students and developed valuable skills for their future.”

The Communities@ca competition, now in its third year, invites students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and their teachers to work with their communities to create a web site showcasing where they live. The web sites were evaluated by competing schools and a national panel of teachers and education experts on criteria such as design, technical sophistication, interactivity, value to others, community involvement and creativity. Highlights of these web sites included photos, animated characters, maps, multimedia components, and primary research based on interviews with members of the community.

GrassRoots Communities@ca is part of Canada’s SchoolNet. SchoolNet promotes the effective use of information and communications technologies in learning partnership with the provincial and territorial governments, the education community and the private sector. It is an element of Connecting Canadians, the Government of Canada’s initiative which aims to make Canada the most connected nation in the world.

With the help of provincial, territorial and corporate partners, the SchoolNet GrassRoots Program makes the connection between the curriculum and information communications technologies, capitalizing on technology as a vehicle for, and a driver of learning.

Calvin Park Public School won the award entitled “Our Living Past, Local History and Events”, and their Web Site can be viewed at http://schools.limestone.on.ca/calvp.

Crime in Canada has traditionally been dealt with through reactive measures: the apprehension, sentencing, incarceration and rehabilitation of offenders. This approach, while important, is not sufficient to prevent crime and that is why the Government of Canada launched the National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention.

Kingston Initiatives:

The Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board: received $49,885 for its Boys Youth Group.

Violence Prevention Initiative. This project helps boys between the ages of 10 and 14 with behavioural problems learn to handle difficult situations in a non-violent way.

John Howard Society of Kingston and District: received $49,975 towards their Mentoring Project which will help prevent crime by reducing key criminogenic factors including: low self-esteem. Poor school performance/attendance, substance abuse and unemployment among high risk young people—the children of offenders. One-to-one mentoring, a proven risk-reduction tool, will be the primary strategy employed to achieve these goals. Graduation incentives, another proven risk-reduction tool, will add to the comprehensiveness of the project.

The Salvation Army: received $50,000 for its Support and Advocacy for Family Enrichment (SAFE) which aims to promote family cohesion by providing services and social activities for families, with an incarcerated loved one, who are residing in the Kingston and surrounding areas.