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.

Earth Day, and cell phones in the classroom

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn
Next week our students and staff will be engaged in a number of activities to recognize Earth Day on April 22. Students are being encouraged to wear green and take part in some “eco” activities, including an Eco Trivia contest. They will also be encouraged to take part in a litterless lunch, producing little or no garbage and recycling their cans and bottles.
In collaboration with Exeter’s Communities in Bloom Association, Exeter Public School, and Precious Blood School, several of our classes will be involved in a community clean-up. As well, students in Ms. Migchel’s and Ms. McCowan’s classes will be participating in an Invasive Species Remediation project with the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority, cleaning up the old Ausable River Channel. These activities are being organized by our Eco Schools team, which is headed by Ms. McCowan, Ms. Black, Kendra Windsor, and Amy Lightfoot. While Earth Day is only once a year, the goal of these activities is to encourage students and staff to reduce energy consumption, reduce the amount of waste we produce, and develop greater awareness of environmental issues all year long.
The Junior Optimists Club, on behalf of our Healthy Active Living Committee, will be holding a three-on-three basketball tournament on April 29 in support of Hoops for Heart. The tournament, which will be a round-robin format, will take place during Period Three (lunch period) and is open to community members as well as students. Pledge forms for this event can be picked up at the school, and the money raised will be donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about cell phone use at schools and suggested that trying to ban cell phones from schools was not very practical, given the number of students who have them, how easily they can be hidden, and the fact that they use them so much outside of school. There have been times, however, when I have thought that a total ban might be the easiest way to deal with the problem. I had such a moment last week.
A couple of individuals were allegedly trying to organize a fight at lunchtime in a community not too far away. Reports of the planned event began to circulate via text messaging during the morning, and some of our students, along with students from another school, decided to attend the event. The fact that they would have to skip school to take in the fight did not seem to deter them, and they allegedly made their travel plans by text messaging one another.
The police were informed of the plan, however, and were present at the appointed hour. The fight did not occur at that point in time, but a new time and location were arranged, again apparently by cell phone and text message, and an altercation did occur a little later in the afternoon. This activity caused a flurry of cell phone calls and text messages at school throughout the day, many of which were during class time, and caused major distraction and disruption at the school all day. The impact would certainly have been much less if students did not have cell phones at school; so, clearly, there is some merit in considering an all-out ban of cell phones.
However, the issue still comes down to teaching students appropriate behaviour: the cell phone, like the iPod, the digital camera, the computer, etc., is a tool, and we need to teach students when and how to use it - and how not to use it. While I am not convinced that it should be the school’s job to teach this, it’s obvious that cell phones are going to continue to be a part of students’ lives, and will therefore continue to have an impact on school life. Like any form of technology, the cell phone can be used for good purposes or bad, and unfortunately, last week we experienced the bad.

SHDHS students show their citizenship

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn

In the last few years, one of the goals of the Avon Maitland District School Board has been to develop positive citizenship qualities in our students. In order to help us achieve this goal, a character education program was developed with input from the community, starting with the identification of ten character attributes that we would like to see our students acquire. Two of these traits are empathy and compassion, which South Huron students demonstrate remarkably well throughout the year by their involvement in charitable ventures, something that has been very evident in the last couple of weeks.
The newly formed Junior Optimists group staged a clothing drive, collecting gently used articles of clothing to be turned over to local charitable agencies, which will sell the clothing at very affordable prices. This serves two purposes: it provides clothing at greatly reduced prices for those who may not be able to afford new clothing and it helps the local agencies raise funds to continue their good works. The Junior Optimists collected 2000 items of clothing from staff and students, and they should be commended for the success of this venture. I would like to thank also all the staff and students who supported this endeavour.
While they were doing this, the Change Bandits in our SCC DD classes have been collecting pocket change in support of The Children’s Hospital. Their goal is to raise $500, and to date they are more than halfway there. Their campaign continues this week and I have no doubt that their target will be reached. Special thanks goes to EA Joanne Pickering, who has organized the Change Bandits campaign for the past few years.
On Friday and Saturday last week, over 130 students took part in the annual 30 Hour Famine. SHDHS has been one of the most successful schools in Ontario in terms of both participation and fund-raising for this event, and this year is no exception. While the participation numbers are down a little from the past couple of years, it looks as though this year’s event will raise almost $10 000 for World Vision.
The Character Education Committee took on the task of organizing this year’s Famine, and they report that the students were extremely well-behaved throughout the event, which began on Friday at noon and finished up at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. The students stay at the school for the thirty hours and the Character Education Committee would like to thank all of the staff, including a couple of student teachers, who supervised the event. Without the support of staff, students, and parents, events like this are just not possible; so a huge “thank you” goes out to all the participants, the supervisors, organizers, and everyone who pledged money in support of World Vision.
This week we will be holding an assembly to introduce two more charitable events that will take place later this spring: Hoops for Heart and Relay for Life. Students and staff have been involved in both of these campaigns in the past, and we anticipate high levels of student and staff involvement, and considerable community support of these events again this year.
But the fund-raising is only part of the story: what impresses me most about our involvement in all of these things, is the willingness of the students, staff, and community to get involved and the excellent behaviour of all those who take part. The excellent conduct and concern for others are truly impressive and indicative of the character of the whole South Huron community.
Lastly, I would like to congratulate the boys’ hockey team, coached by Ryan Soldan and Roger Dougall, for their fine performance at OFSAA, the provincial championships. Though we did not advance to the play-off round of the tournament, the boys had a very respectable 2-2 record against some very tough competition and both victories were shutouts. The coaches reported that the boys were very well behaved and served as excellent ambassadors for the school. There were a number of parents who traveled to Ottawa to support the team, and a few students as well, and I would like to thank them for their support, not only in this tournament, but throughout the year.

Grade 9 girls’ career day and cell phones in classroom

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn

Girls in Grade 9 are reminded to return the consent form for the Girls Unlimited Career Day, scheduled for May 23. The consent forms were sent home with the recent Interim Report Card, and while the event is several weeks away, we do need to confirm our attendance numbers shortly. We need to have the consent forms by April 14 for all girls who are planning to attend this event.
In a recent column I indicated that I would be writing some columns on technology and its role in education, and I thought that I would start with perhaps the most controversial piece of technology in schools today - the cell phone. Until about three years ago, we had very few problems with cell phone use in schools because very few students had them. However, in the last couple of years there has been an explosion in the number of students who have their own cell phones, and we have struggled with how to respond to the situation.
The problems at school caused by cell phone use are fairly obvious, with the most common complaint being that students are distracted by cell phones ringing or vibrating during class, along with the accompanying need to answer the call. Increasingly, however, students are being caught text messaging one another during class time, and some students are being accused of paying more attention to the cell phone than to the classroom teacher. Many young people today spend so much time text messaging one another that they find it a real challenge to turn their phones off or ignore them, no matter where they are or what they are doing - attending class, driving, watching a movie, or eating in a restaurant.
The most common response to the concerns at school has been to impose a ban - either a total ban of all cell phones and electronic devices from school, or a ban on using them while in class. Schools and boards that have tried the total ban have not had much success for a couple of obvious reasons. The biggest problem is that cell phones have become so small that it is virtually impossible to determine who has one. In fact, in many cases, total bans actually encourage students to bring cell phones to school, just to see if they can do so without being caught. Since in most cases it is parents who have purchased the cell phones for their kids, having them confiscated by the school administration is generally not well received.
Our approach at South Huron has been to allow students to have cell phones at school but to expect them to be turned off during class time so that they do not become a distraction. If a student is caught using the phone during class time, the teacher has been authorized to take it away for the remainder of the period or for the rest of the day. Repeat offenders have had their phones turned over to the vice-principal, and our policy for continual offenders is that the phone will be confiscated and held until a parent can come to pick it up. Naturally, we have faced some challenges with this policy, and because cell phone use continues to be a concern, we are continually reviewing our response to this situation.
Recently, there has been considerable discussion in education circles about using cell phones as educational tools, rather than trying to stop the use of them. Cell phones can now be used for much more than making phone calls, and they are becoming more and more like hand-held computers. Cell phones now have calculators built into them, digital cameras, dictionaries, text messaging, and, increasingly, students can access the Internet on their phones. Educators are now exploring ways to incorporate cell phone use into their lessons. In fact, I have heard that some university professors even encourage students in large lecture hall classes to text message them during class with questions they may have about the lecture.
Personally, as a classroom teacher, I would prefer to have my students put their cell phones out on their desks where I can see them, rather than try to prevent them from using them surreptitiously during class. Some students are so adept at text messaging that they can send messages without even looking at the phone itself. As they become more and more skilled at doing so, it will become almost impossible to prevent them from doing so secretly. Maybe if we turn cell phones into an educational tool, it will become less attractive for students to use them during class time.
It seems pretty likely that within a few years virtually every student will have a cell phone. And since they are using them so much outside of school, they will want to do so at school as well. Clearly, we will have to develop a more effective response to this issue, as it is not likely to go away.
Perhaps a good place to start would be cell phone etiquette - teaching students when it is appropriate and when not to take or make a call on a cell phone. At virtually every meeting I attend, the first order of business is to tell the audience members to turn off their cell phones. Despite this request, someone invariably has a phone ring or rushes out to respond to a cell phone vibrating in a pocket or purse. Maybe if we can convince students that there are times and places that are inappropriate for cell phone use, they will become responsible by the time they are adults.

Congratulations to boys’ hockey and musicians

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn

Congratulations to Mr. Soldan, Mr. Dougall, and the Panther boys’ hockey team, who won the WOSSAA championship last week and are now bound for Ottawa next week to compete at OFSAA, the provincial championships. The Panthers defeated Glencoe Secondary 5-2 and F E Madill 1-0 to advance to the provincial championship tournament. The coaches reported that the boys represented us very well both on and off the ice, and I know that the students and staff will be wishing them well and following their progress closely at OFSAA.
Congratulations also to Mr. Moore, Mr. Weston, Ms. Milner, and the bands for their excellent performances at the Musicfest Regionals in London. The Wind Ensemble, Intermediate Concert Band and Senior Concert Band all achieved a Silver standard, while the Percussion Ensemble achieved Gold. The Wind Ensemble, Senior Concert Band, and Percussion Ensemble have all been invited to participate in Musicfest Nationals in May. The Jazz Band will compete this week as their opportunity was postponed by a snowstorm.
I would like to especially recognize the achievement of Carly Schroeder, who has been selected to perform with the National Concert Band, which has students from all across Canada who are chosen by audition. Carly was chosen from a pool of hundreds of applicants to fill one of only two available spots in her section of the band. This is indeed a great honour and we should all be very proud of Carly. Congratulations Carly on this tremendous achievement.
This week we have two significant events: the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test and Parent-Teacher Interviews, both of which happen on Thursday. The OSSLT is a huge logistical challenge and requires the use of many staff members and numerous rooms in the school. As a result, we will be altering our schedule on Thursday. Students in Grade 10 and those who are re-writing the literacy test will do so on Thursday morning in classrooms on the second floor. While they are writing the test, Grade 9 students will be engaged in a practice literacy test in classrooms on the first floor.
Students in Grade 11 and 12 have been given the opportunity to take one of several certification courses for the morning. They signed up for these previously and we have spent considerable time and money organizing these courses on a variety of topics.
This certification program is costing us several thousand dollars and so it is critical that students who signed up for certification show up for the course.
Because of all these activities, we will not be running any regular classes on Thursday morning; however, we will be running the two regular afternoon classes, which will be shortened by only five minutes each in order to give us time to set up for parent-teacher interviews. All students are expected to attend the two afternoon classes on Thursday.
Parent-Teacher interviews will be held in the cafeteria and small gym from 3:30 to 5:00 and 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Interim reports were mailed out last Wednesday and Thursday and hopefully parents will have received them in time to have students set up interviews.
A short newsletter accompanied the report and on the bottom was a brief form for arranging interviews. Parents are asked to have their son or daughter take this form to school and arrange interview times with the teachers. Interviews can be arranged on Thursday as well: we will have student secretaries in the front hall and they will have the teachers’ interview schedules to assist parents in finding available interview times.

Weather helped make PAWS Day a success

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn, SHDHS

Last week we held our second annual PAWS (Panther Active Winter Sports) Day, and we really couldn’t have asked for better weather. Although it was a little on the chilly side, we had bright sunshine and clear skies, giving us excellent conditions for some fun outdoors in the snow. Period Two classes competed against one another in each grade level, with points awarded for participation, enthusiasm, and, of course, for winning the events. The students and staff involved had a great time, and I would like to thank the PAWS Day Committee and the Students’ Council leaders for organizing and running the events.
I am disappointed, however, in one aspect of PAWS Day, and that is the level of attendance and involvement by the student body, with fewer than half of the students present. In recent years schools have been encouraged to do more to get students active and to encourage healthy active living. While we can provide the opportunities for activity, we can’t force the students to take advantage of them: PAWS Day is an example of that. We shortened classes so that the events could be run during school time, and the games were designed for maximum participation and fun, requiring little athletic ability. So, it was disappointing that so many students opted not to take part, many with the support of their parents. I’m sure that there were some who were absent for legitimate reasons, but that would not be the case for many of them.
In spite of the poor turn-out, it was a great day, and as I have told our staff, there are many ways to measure success, with the numbers in attendance being only one. The levels of enthusiasm, fun, and school spirit demonstrated by those who were involved are perhaps better indicators of the success of this event.
Student engagement and involvement are challenges on the academic side of things as well. Outside of school most students are engaged in a world of technology that keeps them entertained and inter-connected in ways that are somewhat foreign to parents and teachers alike. Although television is still a big part of their lives, computers and video games have surpassed it in importance in the lives of many teens, and the cell phone and text messaging occupy much of their time as well. And, of course, I can’t overlook the MP3 player: the iPod is firmly established in the lives of our young people.
But there is more than entertainment happening through this technology. Students are connected to one another through MSN, Facebook, email, and text messaging in ways that we may find hard to understand, and a whole new language of acronyms has developed. News - good and bad - gossip, and cyber-bullying happen at an astonishing rate, adding to the challenges and pressures of growing up.
So, in the classroom we face an enormous challenge in trying to engage students in learning, even in trying to get them disengaged from the technology that dominates their lives outside of school. Is technology the answer? It may be part of the solution, but it does cost a great deal of money. Mobile computer labs and SmartBoards do seem to be improving levels of student engagement, but is this due to the novelty of the equipment, or will the effect be long lasting? Only time will tell. Instead of competing with the technologies that already have our students engaged, should we be trying to find ways to incorporate them into our teaching? Clearly we have more questions than answers but one thing is certain: as technology advances, it will become more and more of a challenge to get and keep students engaged in school work.

PAWS Day and literacy testing

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn

On Thursday afternoon of this week we are holding our second annual PAWS Day (Panther Active Winter Sports) as part of our goal to encourage healthy active living. Students and staff will be participating in a series of outdoor winter games, intended to promote active living, teamwork, and school spirit. We had a wonderful time last year when we held the first PAWS Day, and we hope that it will be equally enjoyable this year.
We will run all five classes on Thursday, but will shorten the period lengths so that we can start the outdoor activities shortly after 1:00. If students try to tell you that we have no classes at all (which some have been known to say in the past,) this is your notice that this is not the case. We are encouraging all students to take part, and there will be friendly competitions between classes in each grade level. Students are asked to pay attention to the weather and to dress appropriately for the conditions on Thursday - boots, hats, winter coats, and gloves or mittens. If by chance the weather should be nasty on Thursday, we will postpone the event to a more suitable day, but we do want to have snow on the ground for most of our activities. We are looking forward to a great day of activity and spirit-building.
On Thursday evening, the Students’ Council is hosting a night of video game competition. Students will be demonstrating their skills in Halo 3 and Guitar Hero, which promises to be a fun way to end our PAWS Day.
Preparations are also under way for the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, which will be written this year in the morning of Thursday, March 27. Students in their second year of high school and those who were unsuccessful last year will be required to write the test. Successful completion of the OSSLT or the literacy course (OLC 40) is a graduation requirement. Students in Grade 11 who were unsuccessful last year have been attending weekly skills workshops to help them be more successful this year. Soon, these workshops will happen twice a week. Teachers of Grade 10 classes have been given literacy test preparation activities to use in their classes to help Grade 10 students get ready for the test.
Parents of students who have to write the test are asked to ensure that any medical or dental appointments scheduled for March 27 are cancelled and re-booked for an alternate date. Students are permitted to write the OSSLT on the scheduled date only: those who miss it will be required to take the test next year; so it is very important that they be present on March 27.
The Interim Report for Semester Two is scheduled to be distributed on Thursday, March 20, the day before Good Friday. Once again this will be an informal report, intended to give parents a “snapshot” of student progress, and to inform them of any concerns that teachers may have about student progress. It will not contain a mark but will let parents know how their sons or daughters are doing. Parent- Teacher interviews are scheduled for the following week on March 27, the same day as the Literacy Test.
Finally, the deadline for next year’s course selections is now past. Any students who have yet to turn in their choices for next year are asked to do so as soon as possible. The process of creating next year’s timetable will get under way shortly after March Break.

Remembering Ryan

Ryan VanValkengoed, 17, of Crediton went missing after leaving a friend’s house a short distance from home the evening of January 11. Police divers found his body in the Ausable River Monday afternoon. Ryan was the oldest of three sons of Bob and Lorie VanValkengoed, owners of Advanced Auto Parts and Salvage and Lorie’s Advanced Hair Care.

As told to Casey Lessard

Bob VanValkengoed: He was very responsible. With this incident, we knew there was a problem right from the start.
Lorie VanValkengoed: We were hoping this was the first time he did something out of character. But it wasn’t.

Lorie: When we first got married, we were probably married about a week and I remember saying to Bob, “Let’s have children right away,” and him saying, “Yep.” As a woman, I thought there were about 15 more sentences that needed to go with that, so I waited a week and asked again, and he said, “Yep.”
The hardest time Ryan ever gave us was giving birth. He was 19 days overdue. He was due December 9, and Christmas Eve, the doctor told me to come see him. I said, “You have no idea. If you put me in the hospital over Christmas, I guarantee I will make your life a living hell.” He said he just wanted to make sure I would make it through Christmas.
On December 26, we went into London to be induced and on December 28 at 2:32 in the morning, he was born by Caesarean section.

Bob: It’s the only time in his life he’s been late. He was pretty good otherwise.
He was always a good kid. I went to London three or four times a week, and every morning I had to get up at 5 o’clock and he would get upset if I didn’t wake him up. He wasn’t even two years old. So I would wake him up and put his work clothes on and we would go to work. He would sleep on my lap. We would take a load of products to London, and I always remember going to the restaurant for breakfast. At that age, he was just so busy fooling around or crawling under the table. We would drop off scrap at Zubick’s and every time he would get a chocolate bar. For years, if I didn’t wake him up, he would just be so grumpy that I didn’t wake him up.
After that, he was always in the shop. He was blonde as snow, but he’d come out of there covered in black from oil and mud.
One day I was working and I had bought an electric car for him. He wasn’t two yet, and I looked over; he had hooked a set of chain falls (for pulling engines out of cars) onto the electric car and it was sitting eight feet off the ground.
Lorie: He was interested in possibly taking over the business (Advanced Auto). We just talked about it over the holidays.
Bob: It was in his blood. He liked it. He could print invoices and take care of the business end of it. I always checked and there was never a time when he forgot something. And if someone came after hours, he would tell them, “I’ll deal with you this time, but you shouldn’t make this a regular habit.” He was good at training his customers. He was a real businessman.

Lorie: School was never an interest for him. He wanted to run his own business. One day, I got a call from the school saying Ryan had skipped. I asked him when he got home, and he said, “Yeah, I skipped.” I asked what he did, where he went. “To the cafeteria.” I said, “You skipped school to go to the cafeteria?” He said he was talking with the principal Jeff Reaburn. They were talking about starting your own business. So I called the school and said, “My son skipped, he was talking with the principal, so please give him detention.”
He was a thrill seeker. One day, he fell out of a tree on the property and he came to the shop and said to Bob he fell. He was walking and talking, and Bob said, “You look good to me.” We found out later he had fallen 30’. His first cousin said he landed and looked fine but started crying because he couldn’t find his shoe. It wasn’t the fall that hurt him.
Bob: We always had golf carts or dirt bikes. All the kids rode around on this one golf cart. I told someone that we went through 50 gallons of gas in one summer.
I bought him a new dirt bike in the spring, and he always wore a helmet. I was raised with a bike and I still ride without a helmet. But Ryan always wore a helmet. I always said, “What did I say to him to convince him to wear a helmet?”
Lorie: I cut hair out of my home, and I was with a client one day and Ryan was at the top of the stairs. Ryan asked if I could come up the stairs. I said I was busy – I think I was doing a colour. He called Jacob instead. Ryan had wiped out severely on his dirt bike. Jacob, to help Ryan had wrapped his wounds in toilet paper. It took me about two days to pick the toilet paper out of the wounds as it healed. To this day, he had scars (and he was proud of every one of them).
Bob: He was in bed three days, and Jacob took his meals up to him.

Lorie: All of us were very close with Ryan. He connected with each one of us in different ways.
Bob: Just a great guy to be around. Some of my hired help aren’t around this week because they’re taking it very hard.
Lorie: Ryan had a good group of friends.
Bob: [He didn’t like big parties.] Even on a Friday night, he was never comfortable if there were more than five people.
Lorie: The only time he liked that was for concerts. In fact, I have a $600 bill on my credit cards for Linkin Park.
Bob: He would take matters into his own hands and order tickets. One day he called me and said he needed (continued on p.4) (cont’d from p.3) $900 on my credit card. I said, “What are you doing?” He said, “We’re going to see Motley Crue and Aerosmith.” He said the tickets were $150 a ticket and if he got six guys to go he could get a limo lined up. He was 15 when he did that. He was organized and knew what he liked.
Bob: He was very thrifty. He came from the movies one night and said, “Dad, I got free popcorn.” I asked how he did that. He said, “It was easy; I just went into the garbage bag and grabbed an empty bag and told the guy to fill it.” I said, “Don’t you find it gross to grab a bag out of the garbage?” He said, “Do you think I’m that stupid? I told the guy I needed a new bag!”

January 11
Bob: Lorie had gone to the States for a business meeting for the weekend. I was with the boys myself. I woke up at about 12:15 a.m. I went and checked him out and he wasn’t there. So I laid down again and kept getting up again every couple hours. All of a sudden, at 5:45 a.m., he’s still not there. I thought maybe this was the first time he slept over at a friend’s house. I had to take one of the other boys to hockey practice and on the way, I called the shop but got no answer. He would sleep out in the shop sometimes. I kept thinking he was staying at one of his buddy’s places. I had breakfast with a friend of mine that morning before 8 o’clock, and through the morning I kept trying to call a couple of his friends and got no answer.
Finally I got through at 2 o’clock when I called his cousin. His cousin said, “Oh, Ryan should have been home.” There were five or six people at the house he was at Friday, and Ryan was one of them. That’s when I started getting scared.
In the meantime, one of my nephews drives over here and he’s concerned. That’s when I called the police and told them it was very out of character. I thought they would just fill out a missing person’s report, but he took it very seriously. Within hours they had the dogs out and police officers all over the place. It was on the news Saturday night.

January 12
Lorie: I was at a big conference, and one of the ladies called my room Saturday night. She told me Bob had been trying to get in touch with me. I looked at my friends and told them, “It’s not good.” He wouldn’t call me for anything unless it was very serious. I phoned home and when I came downstairs, my one friend said, “You look like you’re going to be ill.” I kind of half-smiled and said, “Ryan’s missing.” A couple other friends gathered around and asked, what do you want to do, do you want to sit down, what can we do for you? I said, “Actually, I’d like to breathe for a minute.”
I sat and collected my thoughts, and one friend who had disappeared showed up and said, “We’re packed and ready to go.” It was a surreal ride home. We were about four hours away and I think we did it in two-point-five. The closer we got to home, the more it started to sink in.
Bob: From Saturday afternoon to Monday, we hardly slept. You doze off for a few hours here and there. I sat in the chair in the kitchen, and from that chair, I could see the door to see if anybody was coming in, I could see the road to see if anyone was coming there, and I could look at the clock. For three days, I kept looking at the clock, the door, the window.
Everyone was helping. Even people I knew didn’t have their driver’s license were driving around trying to find him.
Lorie: Two officers, Ralph Christmas and Jeff Adkin, were in charge. They sat with us, they gave us minute-by-minute updates. We had many people call offering to volunteer. The police had to treat it as a possible crime scene, so volunteers couldn’t come in. They tried to get a helicopter from Orillia, but it was grounded due to fog, so local pilots took officers up and did an air search. There were at least a couple of planes. There were numerous neighbours and their kids out looking. From young to old and everybody in between.

January 14
Bob: The police found some of his belongings by the tree by the river. They said that’s the last trace of where he’s been. Monday afternoon, they found him about 25’ from the bridge. The autopsy said he had drowned.
My brother-in-law didn’t want to be the one to tell us, so he asked a neighbour to do it, and all he said was, “It’s not good news. They found him.” And we knew.
The house was full of company - friends and family and relatives. And it was devastating. I’ll never forget that.

Lorie: The O’Briens had taken the kids for two nights and took their kids out of school to keep them company. Before the news spread, I went to tell my boys. They had some questions and some tears.
I called Const. Adkin and told him I was ready to come and see Ryan, so I got to spend some time with him before he left. That was a really good time.
Lorie: You couldn’t sit and write enough thank you cards. The first one would go to the police officers, then the professionals who did the search, the pilots who volunteered, the volunteers, the fire department.
Bob: The phone calls, the food. I’ve never seen so much food in my life.

Lorie: I’ll miss the stupid stuff. Folding laundry and making three piles.
Bob: Four people for supper, not five.
Lorie: It seems like it’s a lifetime away. I’ve told everybody there’s part of me that believes I knew this was coming. I don’t know if it’s just concern for a child normally or something more than that, but I’ve prepared for this for years because I believe the day he was born, the day of his death was pre-planned.
Bob: I wouldn’t have believed it was this bad to go through something like this. You keep blaming yourself and wonder what you did right, and your mind is racing with what went wrong.
Lorie: But if we had to change one thing, there’s nothing we could change. For a teenager, he was good.
Bob: We just feel it’s a big dream and everything’s going to go away and be back to normal.

Coping with the loss of a student; exams start Friday; and planning for next year

Principal’s Page
By Jeff Reaburn

Last week was a very difficult one for students, staff, and families of the South Huron community as we struggled to come to grips with the loss of one of our students, Ryan VanValkengoed. Ryan was a fun-loving student with a great sense of humour who was well liked by all who knew him, and his death has caused us much sadness. The huge number of students, staff, friends, and community members who attended the visitation and funeral attests to the positive impact that Ryan had on our lives. He will be deeply missed.
We will be meeting with students this week to plan a memorial service for Ryan, which will be held early in the new semester to celebrate his life and share our thoughts and stories so that we may keep him alive in our hearts and in our memories. Further details regarding the memorial will appear in next week’s column.
Final exams for Semester One courses run from Fri., Jan. 25 to Wed., Jan. 30, with a P.A. day Thurs., Jan 31. Semester Two begins Fri., Feb. 1. The exam schedule is posted on our school website as well as in classrooms throughout the building. In the event of a snow day during exams, that day’s exams will be moved to the following day and the whole schedule will be moved back by a day. Students are advised to take home study materials in advance of exams so they have notes and texts for study purposes in case we have bad weather.
The end of the first semester also means that it is time to start preparing for next year’s course selection. Our guidance staff have already visited our public feeder schools and provided Grade 8 students with a course calendar and other materials needed for selecting courses for Grade 9 next year. Unfortunately, this year we have not been permitted to send our staff to the Catholic elementary schools; however, we are able to make our course selection materials available to students in these schools and they and their parents are most welcome to attend our Grade 8 Night presentation next month. The same holds true for Grade 8 students in Grand Bend Public School.
Our Grade 8 Information Night and Open House will be held on Wed., Feb. 13, with a snow date of Wed., Feb. 20. The evening will commence with an informal tour of the school at 6:45 p.m. Students and parents will have the opportunity to see our facilities, meet our staff and some of our students, see examples of the great learning opportunities and extracurricular activities, and ask questions about courses and programs. At 7:30, we will have a more formal presentation in the large gym.
Students in Grades 9 to 12 have already received course calendars and pathway planners to assist them in choosing courses for next year. We encourage parents to sit down with them to review the materials and help students to make wise choices for next year. The Pathway Planner is a very informative document that provides excellent information about course selection as it relates to various post-secondary options, from the workplace and apprenticeships to college and university. Course selection for current students starts February 7. Any students who have questions or are uncertain about their choices are encouraged to consult their guidance counsellors.

Police find teen’s body

Police have recovered Ryan VanValkengoed’s body from the Ausable River in Crediton. The 17-year old, whose family lives near the river, disappeared after leaving a friend’s home Friday; his route took him over the river. OPP divers found Ryan’s body early Monday afternoon.

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