Northern Groove

Them local quilters! ...they're always up to something!  Checkout the great way these local artists have been using their artistic talents to benefit the learning minds of today!

The quilt featured in this picture above was made by Janette Schneider with the assistance of Olga Braun.  They are part of a local quilting guild that has donated quilts in the past to the Salvation army for local families in need.

Two months ago, Janette took some of her extra quilting blocks that had been set aside and decided to make a quilt for donation to the SD60 meals program.  The program is coordinated by Vice-Principal Dave Burridge and supports students in need by providing healthy snacks and meals so that they can better focus on their studies.  There are several in-town schools that benefit from this funding and have both a breakfast and lunch program in place.  In addition, all the students in these schools benefit by having the option of purchasing healthy food at cost.

>The meals program is part of a broader Ministry of Education initiative called Community Links that provides targeted funding to districts for staffing, resources and programs to meet the needs of vulnerable students.  While this provides some base funding, some of the increasing costs, such as healthy food, means the program relies additionally on both private and corporate sponsorship.   This is another great example of a local arts group making a difference in Fort St. John.

Raffle tickets for this beautiful quilt cost only $2.00 and are available at Robert Ogilvie School, Central School and the School Board Office (across from the legion).  Draw date is February 29th

Students from School District 60 participated in a career fair today at the North Peace Cultural Centre.  Entertainment for the event included rockin' out to the tunes of Nine Mile and participating in some incredible aboriginal dancing.

We conducted an informal survey of the students to find out what careers today's youth are interested in...  Surprisingly, the top two careers seem to be in music, and dance.  From the perspective of Northern Groove - we would like to call this event a total success!

Checkout the photos from the event below and feel free to leave comments.

Northern Health Authority, ISL Health and School District 60 unveiled a banner featuring local students’ artwork from the first student art contest held last year to help launch this year’s art contest.  Students throughout School District 60 have been challenged to enter the second annual poster contest by submitting innovative artwork that promotes the building of the new Fort St. John hospital and residential care facilities.

Last year a  total of 12 prizes donated by the builder, Acciona/Stuart Olson, were awarded in various age groups which included play station consoles and digital cameras.  James Stotz, 12, one of the prize winners from last year was on hand for the unveiling.  His picture featured a monkey and he was sending the message that doctors don’t monkey around.

The 2011 art contest was launched on Tuesday, May 10, at Fort St. John’s  Interpretive Centre and featured the unveiling of multi-coloured banners decorated with student artworks submitted in last year’s art contest.  On hand for the launch were representatives from Northern Health, School District 60 and  ISL Health.

“Northern Health is very pleased to partner with School District 60 and ISL Health to encourage students from across School District 60 to participate in the art project this year,” said Betty Morris, Chief Operating Officer for the North East Region of Northern Health.

“We had good participation last year on the theme of ‘The importance of hospital to family’ and we anticipate even more participation from students in  year two as they develop their art on the theme of ‘Building the hospital and residential care facilities one room at a time.’”
Added Morris: “We are delighted that ISL Health has created banners from all of the art submissions last year and that these will be hung in schools as well as some of the more public locations in the community.”

Gareth Hurlbut, ISL Health General Manager said that community engagement is critically important for community projects like new hospitals.

“It’s easy for us to build the building, but what’s really important is that we get the local community to understand their building and to be a part of watching it go up, so they can feel like they had a say in it,” Hurlbut said.

Kim Boettcher, District Vice-Principal of Student Learning with School District 60, added that a new health care facility in the city will benefit every family in the area.

“It is important for students to appreciate the benefits of quality health care and they have demonstrated their feelings in the artwork they submitted for last year’s art contest,” said Boettcher.   “Their pictures showed all facets of health care,  from birth in the maternity wing to respectful caring for our elderly.”  

Posters submitted to the 2011 art contest can be done in a range of formats, everything from websites, Facebook pages,electronic images to traditional artwork.  Students can also use any artistic medium including crayon, pencil, felt, paint, pastel or electronic imaging.  

Boettcher noted that the construction of the new Fort St. John hospital is historic as local residents will likely not see another new hospital constructed in the area in their lifetimes.   She stated that all students are encouraged to enter the art contest, including those in home schooling initiatives.

 “We at the education level are interested in supporting healthy living as that is a mandate in our province – healthy kids learn better,” she said.

The deadline for contest entries is June 3, 2011.   All submissions should be sent to Kim Boettcher at the School District 60 office at 10112 – 105th Avenue, in Fort St. John.