May 9 - High School Plays

7:30 p.m. - South Huron DHS in Exeter performs its final showing of Our Town. Tickets are $7.
8:00 p.m. - North Middlesex DHS in Parkhill performs Grease! You’re the One that I Want. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students.

Cougar spotted in Port Franks?

From the OPP website:
On the 5th of May 2008, a 69 year Port Franks resident reported a possible cougar sighting on Patrick St. in the village of Port Franks. According to the witness, at approximately 7:45 p.m. he was working on a trailer in his driveway. At that time, he heard some rustling in some bushes located about 20′ away. When he went to investigate, he witnessed a large cat walk out of the bushes and across the laneway into another bush area. He then lost sight of the animal.
The cat was described as two-tone brown, light brown colour on top and a darker brown on the belly. The cat stood approximately 14-18″ tall and was about 3′ in length. The animal’s head was described as being large with longer fur. The man indicated that he was sure it was a cat but had never seen one that large before.
The animal was not aggressive and briefly looked at the man before walking away.
OPP have contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources regarding the sighting.

May 6 - SHDHS presents Our Town; Port Franks meeting tonight

May 6 - 7 p.m. - Thedford arena - Lambton Shores is holding a revitalization meeting for Thedford, Arkona and Port Franks. Citizens are encouraged to attend this important meeting. For more details, visit the Lambton Shores website.
7:30 p.m. - SHDHS in Exeter presents Our Town, the Thornton Wilder play. Tickets are $7. For more information, visit the SHDHS website.

Adam van Koeverden heading to Olympics

A man with a Port Franks connection is heading to the Olympics. Adam van Koeverden, whose aunt Theresa lives in the Port, won the K-1 1000 men’s kayak race at the Canadian team selection trials Saturday.
Read the CBC story

May 4 - Pinery Flea Market opens and Studio Tour continues

The Pinery Flea Market opens for the season today, Sunday, May 4 and runs every weekend until Thanksgiving. Also today, the Grand Bend Studio Tour continues from 12 to 4 p.m. at various sites around town. Get out and enjoy the spring weather!

May 3-4 - Grand Bend Studio Tour

The Grand Bend Studio Tour runs this weekend, featuring 25 artists at venues around town. For more details, visit the Grand Bend Studio Tour website. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 3 and from 12 to 4 p.m. Sunday May 4.

May 6-9 - SHDHS presents Our Town; post-secondary grads give advice

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn

One of the events that we look forward to at this time of year is the annual school show, and it is rapidly approaching. This year’s production, Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, will be performed from May 6 to 9 in our small gym. Director Beth Jantzi and her cast and crew have been rehearsing and preparing for months for this well known classic. The show begins at 7:30 each evening and tickets, which are only $7.00, can be purchased in the main office at the school. This will be an excellent opportunity to see and hear the dramatic talents of many fine young actors, and we encourage you to come out and show your support of our dramatic arts program.
The School Council’s final community forum of the year will take place on Monday, May 5. This one will be a departure from past forums in that it will take place in the afternoon and the audience will be students rather than parents. The topic this time is “What I Wish I’d Known,” and we have invited graduates who have gone on to college and university to come back and speak to South Huron students who will be heading to post-secondary education this fall. Our goal is to have the grads share their experiences and make our current students more aware of the challenges and opportunities they will face when they head off to college or university.
While we believe that we (the school and parents) do a pretty good job of preparing students for the post-secondary world, some lessons, both good and bad, can only be learned through experience. We also think that recent grads may have more credibility with our students than some of us who attended college or university many years ago. The goal of this session is to have the speakers share the lessons they have learned, to offer some tips and pointers, and perhaps help some of our present students avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that sometimes happen at college or university. If this proves to be a worthwhile forum, we may consider offering it every year.
The forum will be open to Grade 12 students who have applied to college or university and will take place in the cafeteria in last period on Monday, May 5. One of our speakers will be speaking to us via the Internet from Rotterdam, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t have any technical difficulties. We encourage the students who will be attending this session to come prepared with any questions they may have about post-secondary education, whether they be about finances, independence, having a roommate, workload, or any other aspect of college or university life.
More information about this forum can be found on the SHDHS web-site at: http://www.shdhs.ca/.
This week we have also entered into the election campaign for next year’s Students’ Council. Campaigning will take place throughout this week, with the election on Friday, May 2. Congratulations to Leanne Hoffman, who was selected earlier this month as the Student Senator for SHDHS. She will be meeting regularly with senators from the other high schools in the Avon Maitland District School Board to discuss issues and provide the student voice to the trustees of the school board. Two of the senators were chosen last week as student trustees and they will sit with the elected trustees at regular school board meetings.
Finally, I would like to remind parents that the Semester Two Mid-Term Report Card was distributed in last period last Friday. If you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to ask your son or daughter about it. For this report students were required to complete a Response Form on which they were to comment on their academic progress this semester and on their goals for the year. This form must be signed by a parent and returned to the school to be placed in the students’ Ontario School Records. The deadline for this is Friday, May 9, and we would appreciate any assistance that parents may offer in getting this task completed.

Semester two mid-term reports, music cabaret

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn

The Semester Two Mid-Term Report will be distributed in last period on Friday of this week. Students will be required to complete the Response Form that accompanies this report, take it home for a parent signature, and then return it to the same teacher who hands it out on Friday. The completed Response Form will then be placed in the student’s Ontario School Record (OSR), along with a copy of his/her report card. We would like to have the Response Forms returned to us within two weeks, which means by Friday, May 9. It is always somewhat of a logistical nightmare getting the Response Form handed out, completed, and returned to the school, and we appreciate any assistance that parents can offer in getting this task completed.
Last weekend our music students held their annual Cabaret, with two excellent performances in front of large and enthusiastic crowds. Although I was not able to attend the Saturday evening performance, I did get to the Sunday afternoon presentation, and, as always, I was very impressed with the musical talents of our students. Under the direction of Mr. Moore and Mr. Weston, the bands performed incredibly well, and I would like to congratulate all of them for their hard work and commitment all year long.
The Cabaret is an important fund-raiser in support of our extra-curricular music program, and this year the funds generated from this event will help to offset some of the costs of our bands’ trip to MusicFest Nationals in Ottawa next month. As a result of their excellent performances at the regional MusicFest competition, our bands were invited to compete in the national competition, which is a great achievement, but also an expensive one. On behalf of the bands, I would like to thank everyone who attended Cabaret, all the businesses and individuals who donated prizes for the raffles, and especially the parents who provided snacks and refreshments.
I would especially like to thank the parents who support the music program all year long by encouraging the students’ participation, getting them out of bed and to the school on time for early morning practices, and by attending the various concerts throughout the year. Their support is crucial to the success of our music program, and, in fact, parental support is vital to all of our extracurricular programs. I don’t thank the parents often enough: we are very fortunate to have a very supportive community, and this makes our jobs as educators much easier.
College and university applicants and their parents are invited to attend an OSAP presentation on Wednesday, April 30, at 2:05 p.m. in the cafeteria. Students are asked to check the OSAP website prior to presentation to see if theirÜ2008 application has been posted. This session will give students and parents the opportunity to find out more about the Ontario Student Assistance Program and ask any questions that they may have.
On a completely different note, you may have read or heard that the London District Catholic School Board voted last week to impose a ban on the use of cell phones, MP3 players, and various other electronic devices in their schools. I have commented on this issue several times in the last few weeks, but I would like to get some feedback from students, parents, and the community. Recently, I asked teachers to have students give me some feedback on “electronic etiquette,” and several teachers gathered responses from their students.
I am interested in getting the perspectives of more students, but I would like to hear from parents and other adults as well. If you would like to provide me with some feedback on this issue, please feel free to send your comments to me at the school or by email at jeffreab@fc.amdsb.ca. Although my main concern is the use of electronic devices at school, I am interested in hearing your comments on electronic etiquette in our society as well.

Blues take Dashwood teen to Ottawa

MusicFest chooses Carly Schroeder as one of the best music students in Canada; three SHDHS bands competing nationally

Story and photo by Casey Lessard

Grade 12 student Carly Schroeder is representing South Huron District High School and her hometown of Dashwood when she heads to Ottawa next month (May 12-18) to perform in the MusicFest Canada national concert band. But her parents won’t be there to see it.
“We’re feeling really bad about that,” says mom Brenda Schroeder. Before they knew Carly was accepted into the band as an alto saxophonist, Brenda and Steve had booked a trip to visit Carly’s brother, an RCMP officer in B.C. “We leave on Thursday and she performs on Friday. The timing’s all bad, so we’re hoping there will be CDs or DVDs that record the event. When it comes to your kids, you like to see them in such situations.”
You can’t blame the Schroeders for making plans; her selection to be part of the band was certainly a surprise to Carly.
“I didn’t expect to get chosen,” she says. “It was a little overwhelming at first. I was like, Are you sure?”
An email mix-up didn’t help. After sending the first confirmation message, something confusing happened.
“They sent me a second one that was addressed to Ryan someone. I emailed them back and a couple of weeks later, they sent me another email to say yes, that I was in. It was kind of a long process.”
That process began when music teacher Isaac Moore helped her record a CD of work learned during lessons with Ryan Fraser of London.
“The pieces I played were not your typical alto saxophone songs,” Carly notes. “The first song I played had this growling part to it, and it was really fun. I wasn’t sure what they’d think about it. Then there was another second movement to it that was more typical.”
The judges must have been impressed, says MusicFest Canada executive director Jim Howard.
“It’s very difficult to get into the saxophone section because Dr. Jeremy Brown (the head of music at the University of Calgary) is a world-renowned saxophone player,” he told the Strip from Calgary. “She must be very, very good to get in there.”
“This is kind of the ultimate honour band,” he adds, noting the band consists of 55-60 students from across the country. “It’s an amazing experience. We run it like a camp as opposed to running it like a touring band. Yamaha provides clinics to sectionals with them during the week. They get access to the MusicFest Canada master classes, and they get to play music they’re normally not going to get to play. They’re playing such a high level of music, even university bands aren’t tackling the repertoire these kids are going to play.”
University scouts will be at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa to hear Carly and the rest of the band play, bringing with them $100,000 in scholarships to attract the best to their schools.
The band will practice for nine hours a day for four days, and then perform twice as a group. Howard estimates about 2500 students will jam the hall to see them perform. A big event for a small-town teen who became attracted to the saxophone as a student with Exeter’s Lori Erb.
“My parents put me in Music for Young Children when I was six,” Carly says. “That was piano, and I picked up the saxophone in high school. I loved jazz and blues, and I played my first blues song on the piano. That’s when I decided I wanted to play saxophone.”
“At about Grade 3 piano, she was wavering and wasn’t enjoying it,” Brenda adds, “and Lori had the insight to let her have a whole year of playing blues and jazz, staying away from the conservatory pieces. That was a real turning point for her.”
Besides jazz and blues, Carly loves classic rock, favouring the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Classical music can be heard when she’s studying. And there will be many more years of that. She’s planning on becoming a high school music teacher.
“Music has always been a huge part of my life,” she says. “I don’t see my life without it. Seeing this high school music department, it’s awesome how it brings people together.”
Bringing people together is what the music department does best, and three of its ensembles are heading to Ottawa with Carly. The senior concert band, wind ensemble and percussion ensemble excelled at the regional MusicFest in London last month, with the percussion ensemble earning the coveted gold status.
“It’s nice to be recognized for the hard work we do here,” says teacher Isaac Moore. “The national thing is pretty special because it means some of the best bands in the country come from right here in Exeter, Ontario.”
The music department’s annual Cabaret will showcase some of the work being performed at the nationals. The Cabaret happens Saturday, April 19 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 20 at 2 p.m. All of the department’s bands will be featured.

Julianna Zahn is walking for dad

Twelve-year-old Julianna Zahn is walking from London to Windsor April 24-26 as a tribute to her late father’s long struggle with liver disease. A father to Julianna and Kevin, and husband to Anita, Mike Zahn died August 29, 2007 after three failed liver transplants. He was ill all of Julianna’s life.

As told to Casey Lessard

He always joked with us, no matter how sick he was. He always had a good sense of humour, and I really loved that about him.
Even when he felt terrible, he always smiled at us and wanted hugs. He loved music so much and whenever he felt bad, he picked up a guitar and played. He loved animals, just like I do.
My whole life I had to watch my dad suffer. Doing this walk makes me feel that I am helping him because I always had to sit there and watch him suffer, and I couldn’t do anything. We had rough moments when he was really sick and he couldn’t take it. But we’d tell him that we loved him and a big smile would come across his face.
I always remember when he went away in the ambulances. You’d hear the sirens and see them coming in and getting him. And I remember him struggling to get up the stairs, because his bedroom was up there and that’s where he wanted to be.
I want people to know everything about transplants. The waiting, the stress. It’s not just surgery and pain. You have to go through all of this depression, and transplants are really difficult. Some people do well after transplants, but a lot of people are not so fortunate. The heart, the liver and the lung are the worst. Canada has one of the lowest rates of organ donation among Western countries. There aren’t enough donors. People need to sign their donor cards.
While I’m doing the walk, there will be people walking with me who have had transplants. It’s going to feel like he’s walking with me in a way. I know if he were here he would encourage me.
I know I’ll always have my mom to turn to because she knows what I’m going through; her dad died when she was my age. When other girls get to turn to their dads, I get to turn to my mom. I really am going to miss having my dad around to talk to and having a dad. That’s really going to be hard for me when I get married because before he died, the doctor asked him what inspired him to have the third transplant, and he said, “Because I have a daughter to walk down the aisle.”
Sponsor sheets are available at Westland Greenhouses, Country Corners gas station, Movie Gallery, Sobey’s, Twigs flower shop, New Orleans Pizza, Re/Max Doug Pedlar, The Fitness Centre, and Grand Bend Heating Plus.

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