Notes from Tracey Robertson DP Coordinator at St. John Paul II Catholic Secondary School on how her school honoured their grads during the COVID shutdown:
Included are 4 pictures of what SJP II CSS is doing for our Grads – one is lawn or window signs (as many of our students live in apartment buildings), one is for staff, and two are of our banner that is in the front of the school. The signs, along with Graduation Caps and Gowns were hand delivered by teacher volunteers to all of our 300+ grads. Some of our Grade 12 IB students started an instagram page called spjiigrads2020 where any student graduating can send in the details of where they accepted college or university and they place the photo over the University logo and announce the program they are in with a congratulations from our community.
Our Grade 12 IB students have been working on a project called “Stronger Together” through their IB English Literature course where the students have been paired up with 2 grade 11 students to mentor them through their EE process during distance learning. Secondly, they have also been paired with students in grades 9 and 10 who have been identified by our student success team as in need of help – academically, socially, emotionally. The students have kept a log of their meetings, and have written beautiful reflective pieces about their experiences.
And finally, through their IB History course, the Grade 12 IB students are creating IB promotional materials – a sort of virtual IB student handbook – for students by students. The submissions include things like how to manage stress to how to prepare for French orals to time management strategies to personal memories of IB and what it will mean to students. We have called this project “Creating a legacy through distance”. The students are creating posters, how to guides, video testimonies etc.
