CHSS Chronicle

Wawanosh In The Rain

Rubber boots, bugs, a flooded creek, red-backed salamanders, a swallowtail caterpillar, and a bit of rain makes for a great afternoon adventure at Wawanosh Nature Centre. Grade 10s, and especially Mrs. Durnin, enjoyed a Belgrave Creek Study on Thursday, May 28th. Even though we couldn't enter the creek safely due to its speed and volume, we were still able to perform chemical tests and some physical tests on its water. It was a very enjoyable afternoon back on Mrs. Durnin's home turf.

(Story and photos courtesy Mrs. Durnin)
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Because Nature Matters—Envirothon 2009

On Tuesday, March 31st, students and teachers from nine Huron and Perth high schools gathered at CHSS to participate in a day of workshops in preparation for this year's Envirothon competition. The day began with a lecture by guest speaker Graham Buck, a biologist from the Guelph area who specializes in restoring and preserving fragile ecosystems. The lecture focused on preserving biodiversity in our natural world. This topic is the theme of the 2009 Envirothon Competition. Students then worked in their teams to prepare an eight minute presentation on a given ecological problem. After lunch, each team presented their mock presentation to the other teams and teachers, and they were given constructive feedback in preparation for the actual competition.

The Envirothon teams will travel to Wawanosh Nature Centre on April 9th and take part in workshops on aquatic, soil, wildlife, and forestry ecology. On April 28th, the CHSS Envirothon teams will compete at the Pinery Provincial Park in an effort to take home first place among the Huron-Perth schools. If they can accomplish this feat, they will move on to the Provincial Envirothon in May. This might just be our year...

This year's Envirothon teams consist of Stephanie Seebach, Jeff Gibson, Gary Paquette, Courtney Karounos, and Paul Hearn on Team A, and Katie Crocker, Stephanie Brandon, Tyler Black, Jack Weiler, Fraser King, and T'Miika McMichael on Team B.

(Story courtesy of Mrs. Ross-Holton)
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Science is Way Cool!

On Tuesday, November 25^th, students from McMaster University entertained and informed our grade 9 and 10 students, as well as over 70 grade 8 students from Clinton Public School and Huron Centennial Public School. The fast-paced show consisted of live demonstrations and video presentations with the focus on engineers’ relationship with society. Volunteer students were selected from the audience to help the engineering students demonstrate hydrophobic sand, a vortex producing smoke rings, and of course, to blow stuff up and light things on fire! The McMaster students then answered questions from the audience and stayed afterward to chat with students. The presentation showed us that engineering offers a world of opportunities to students who are interested in science and technology and who love solving problems.

(Story courtesy Mrs. Ross-Holton)

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Taking Action to Keep it Green

Thanks to the hard and often messy work of these students, our school is now a little "greener"! This semester saw a return of blue boxes to the classrooms of CHSS. These Gr. 9 students could often be seen on Mondays collecting glass, cans, plastic, and cardboard from the new blue boxes. They did their job with only a little bit of complaining and were rewarded with a pizza party held last Friday, courtesy of the CHSS staff. Thank you to all at CHSS who continue to recycle. Every little bit counts when we are trying to make a difference for our environment.

L-R Tanner Merner, Brandon Kehl-Robertson, Jay Chanthavong, Brennan Raithby, Absent: Adam Barry

(Story and photo courtesy Mrs. Durnin)

Helping to Preserve Biological Diversity

May 22nd has been proclaimed by the United Nations as International Day for Biological Diversity (or World Biodiversity Day). It is an international holiday for the promotion of global biological issues. The theme for 2008 is agricultural biodiversity, an important issue particularly for Huron County. This year’s theme “seeks to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture not only to preserve biodiversity, but also to ensure that we will be able to feed the world, maintain agricultural livelihoods, and enhance human well being through the 21st century and beyond” (excerpt from Convention on Biological Diversity’s website, www.cbd.int).

So, at 10:00 am on May 22nd, a grade 10 science class chose to water a young maple tree located in the front of the school. This tree was donated to CHSS by the Huron Stewardship Council in 2006. We participated in a small symbolic gesture to show the importance of protecting and preserving trees in ecosystems. Our class asks you to take a moment to think about how you can help to preserve biodiversity in your community so that we may sustain our planet’s resources.

(Story and photo courtesy of Mrs. Ross-Holton)

Let the Future Be Green

CHSS’s two Envirothon teams competed in the 2008 Huron-Perth Regional Envirothon Competition at the Pinery Provincial Park on Tuesday, April 29th. After 2 days of workshops on topics related to the competition, the teams put their skills and knowledge to the test, vying for top spot against 11 other Huron-Perth teams. The two teams placed fourth and fifth, with the “A” team winning the Spirit Award and the top score in the Aquatics portion of the competition. The teams were challenged with a problem related to the recreational use of a beach at the Pinery and the impact on a local endangered species, the Piping Plover. Both teams did extremely well and should be congratulated for being outstanding environmental ambassadors for CHSS. This year’s teams consisted of Jillian Anderson, Toni Kaastra, Gary Paquette, Stephanie Seebach, Jeff Gibson, Ben Shepherd, Courtney Karounos, Stephanie Brandon, Katie Crocker and Paul Hearn.

(Story and photos courtesy Mrs. Ross-Holton)

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Earth Day

On Tuesday, April 22^nd, CHSS students celebrated the 38^th Earth Day by pitching in to clean up our local school environment. Students from grade 9 and 10 science classes headed out with garbage bags to pick up litter around the school grounds. Two grade 10 classes focused their efforts on the area around the pond and the soccer field. It was a warm and sunny day, and it served to remind us of the beauty of our natural surroundings. Students commented on the amount of trash carelessly strewn about the grounds. We are fortunate to have a healthy and thriving aquatic ecosystem right in our backyard. Please help to stop the often toxic litter in our school yard, around and in the pond, and in our world as a whole.

(Story and photos courtesy Mrs. Ross-Holton)