A great start to the school year!
Connected North is off to another great start this school year! We have delivered 90 virtual sessions to our participating schools since September – including virtual field trips, teacher capacity building events, and classroom to classroom cultural exchanges. Our team at TakingITGlobal and Cisco Canada are so grateful to all of our content providers, funders, and community partners who have continued to support this unique program that is fostering student engagement and the delivery of new educational resources to schools across the country. Thank you!
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Youth Engagement Session
On October 20th, Connected North hosted a live virtual Youth Engagement Session, entitled “Our Future Arctic” in collaboration with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and Mary Simon, the special representative on Arctic Issues to Minister Carolyn Bennett. Sharing hopes and visions for their Arctic communities were various representatives from different youth organizations and students from three participating schools; John Arnalukjuak High School, Arviat; Aqsarniit Middle School, Iqaluit; and Deh Gah School, Fort Providence. An interactive conversation was held where youth and political leaders discussed issues surrounding culture and language revitalization, climate change, education, mental health and reconciliation. Our thanks to everyone who helped make this event possible and all who participated in this session!
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Polar Bears Virtual Field Trip
Polar Bears International led a very special virtual field trip with Connected North this year. Alyssa McCall and her team ran a live virtual field trip to the Canadian Arctic with students from Mine Centre School, Deer Lake School, Lougheed Middle School, and Delores D. Echum Composite School. Students virtually observed wild polar bears and had the opportunity to engage in a group conversation about the impacts of climate change on the Arctic, discussing strategies on helping to address climate change today.
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Welcoming Moose Factory
The Moose Factory installation at Delores D. Echum Composite School (DDECS) in October was a great success. In addition to installing the Cisco unit, Connected North team members Simon, Lindsay and Cooper spent time getting to know the students and teachers at the school, trained them on how to use the TelePresence system, and brainstormed potential topics that aligned with the school’s learning goals. Since the installation, this school has participated in a deep sea cave diving virtual field trip with Jill Heinerth through Canadian Geographic, and have learned all about sharks from the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Florida. The school's staff team also did a Professional Development session on approaches to student engagement using technology. Our thanks to the DDECS school community for their warm welcome - we are only just beginning! Moose Factory is one of 10 Ontario communities being supported to receive Connected North programming by the Ontario Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and the Ontario Ministry for Child and Youth Services.
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Cape Dorset Returns
At the end of October, the Cape Dorset community celebrated a re-launch of their Connected North program. In September 2015, the Peter Pitseolak High School in Cape Dorset was tragically destroyed in a fire, and the teachers and students were moved to the Sam Pudlat Elementary school while the community rebuilds a new facility. To ensure this great community could still participate in the program from this new location, Cisco engineers Michelle and Nathaly travelled to Cape Dorset to install a new unit. The teachers and students shared that they were very excited to get back to using the program! They have already completed many sessions since the re-launch including participating in the virtual field trip with Polar Bears International. We are all excited that we can welcome back the Cape Dorset community and are eager to work towards delivering more great sessions with them!
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Scotiabank renews its support
Last year, Scotiabank created a unique program focusing on developing financial literacy skills for youth. Thanks to their renewed support, we are able to again offer the Scotiabank Financial Literacy module to all of the Connected North schools for the 2016-2017 school year. These financial lessons aim to connect to all grade levels and curriculum needs. Additionally, Scotiabank has joined the Ontario Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and the Ontario Ministry for Child and Youth Services in supporting program delivery in Delores D. Echum Composite School in Moose Factory, Ontario. We would like to thank Scotiabank for their significant contributions in helping create custom content and for their continued support!
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Thank you Tech Data and the Tech Select Community!
Tech Data and the Tech Select community have generously supported Connected North since its inception, with over $100,000 in donations to date. On November 8th at the Tech Select Conference in Halifax, we used TelePresence technology to connect conference attendees to the Principal and students at the Dah Gah School in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories who spoke about how the technology has positively impacted their classroom experience. It was a great opportunity for this group of donors to see the program in action and hear from those benefitting from their support. Our big thanks to all those who helped make this event possible and to Tech Data for their amazing contributions to date.
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Looking ahead to the next edition:
We'll be introducing our first Yukon school - they've already had a great drama session and a virtual field trip - stay tuned for the full update next time!
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