Monday, September 28, 2009
THE FORUM FOR CHANGE
Wondering what happens in the The Forum for Change? Click the image below to learn more and to check out the schedule for the month of October.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Our Projects at Celebration Day - Oct. 3rd
Celebration Saturday is just around the corner and two on-going projects of the Institute will be there!
COFFEE!
The DECA and Well-keepers clubs will partner again this year to offer you Havergal's Women Making a Difference coffee. This coffee will be made available to you at Hava Java on Celebration Day in the Ellen Knox library. You can buy the beans, grab a cup, or sign up for more information via email. Funds raised will support the sustainable business practices of Old Girl, Marigold Murray's (1953) women's coffee cooperative in Costa Rica. How do you order online? Go to www.havergalcoffee.com
TREES & FLOWERS!
Join us for our 2nd Annual Celebration Day Community Planting in the Burke Brooke! We will meet at 10am at the Lisa Hardie Trail to plant over 400 trees (73 different species) and flowers, which will help restore the native, Carolinian Forest on our property and contribute to its biodiversity.
How will it work?
Directed by our amazing on-site arborist, Jose Rubio Lazo, from 10am-1pm, we will be planting in Areas #3 and #1 (click on the map below)!
In Area #3 we will be planting trees and bushes that have “wet feet” and will thrive in “the swamp", and in Area #1 we will be planting bushes and flowers in order to attract more birds and butterflies. (A complete list of trees that have been planted is also included below.)
***If you haven't been to one of our community plantings you can check out the photos below from our last one in May.***
COFFEE!
The DECA and Well-keepers clubs will partner again this year to offer you Havergal's Women Making a Difference coffee. This coffee will be made available to you at Hava Java on Celebration Day in the Ellen Knox library. You can buy the beans, grab a cup, or sign up for more information via email. Funds raised will support the sustainable business practices of Old Girl, Marigold Murray's (1953) women's coffee cooperative in Costa Rica. How do you order online? Go to www.havergalcoffee.com
TREES & FLOWERS!
Join us for our 2nd Annual Celebration Day Community Planting in the Burke Brooke! We will meet at 10am at the Lisa Hardie Trail to plant over 400 trees (73 different species) and flowers, which will help restore the native, Carolinian Forest on our property and contribute to its biodiversity.
How will it work?
Directed by our amazing on-site arborist, Jose Rubio Lazo, from 10am-1pm, we will be planting in Areas #3 and #1 (click on the map below)!
In Area #3 we will be planting trees and bushes that have “wet feet” and will thrive in “the swamp", and in Area #1 we will be planting bushes and flowers in order to attract more birds and butterflies. (A complete list of trees that have been planted is also included below.)
***If you haven't been to one of our community plantings you can check out the photos below from our last one in May.***
Friday, September 25, 2009
Peggy Kotsopoulos - another approach to food for thought
Each year, to develop shared knowledge about the world, and to continue to explore the question: “What Kind of World do I want?” Havergal has chosen a complex issue (or theme) to focus on. Inspired by and related to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, the past four years have moved from the year of the story, to the year of water, to the year of health and well-being and, now, to the year of food – food for thought.
Last week, professor Mark Kingwell helped us to launch this year’s focus. He challenged us to expand our horizons of care, and to be conscious of the ripple effect each of us creates through our actions. He helped to demonstrate that ‘Food for Thought’ is our effort to explore and connect our collective purpose to make a difference with our individual action to contribute to the world we want.
Peggy Kotsopoulos - Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Culinary Consultant, and Health Educator - is one person who has made this connection. Peggy is the Founder and Director of beVibrant wellness consulting, is in the process of filming her own television show, joined us at Havergal last year as a workshop facilitator for WellFest, and is currently writing a new cookbook titled: 'Guilt Free Goodies'.
Her food philosophy encourages us to create big change in terms of flavour and overall well-being by making small changes to our favorite recipes. She came to our school today today to build on Dr. Kingwell's presentation last week, and to offer another approach to Food for Thought. As we learn to connect our personal choices to individual and societal well-being, it is people such as Peggy who will help inspire us to consider the many ways we can, and should, approach the issue of food. She is creative, energetic, and is an encouraging examples of how powerful it is to create your own personal mission.
Peggy will offer workshops in the Forum for Change in October and November. Workshop dates are the following:
Friday Oct. 9th (Lunchtime)
Friday Oct. 30th (Lunchtime)
Friday Nov. 6th (Lunchtime)
Friday Nov. 20th (Lunchtime)
If you're interested in coming to the workshops, please come to the Forum for Change (C32) to sign up. The first workshop is now full, and the second workshop is close, so come secure your spot for the workshops in November now!
*If you can't make it to any of them for one reason or another, don't fret! I'm filming the workshops and will post them on the blog!*
Last week, professor Mark Kingwell helped us to launch this year’s focus. He challenged us to expand our horizons of care, and to be conscious of the ripple effect each of us creates through our actions. He helped to demonstrate that ‘Food for Thought’ is our effort to explore and connect our collective purpose to make a difference with our individual action to contribute to the world we want.
Peggy Kotsopoulos - Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Culinary Consultant, and Health Educator - is one person who has made this connection. Peggy is the Founder and Director of beVibrant wellness consulting, is in the process of filming her own television show, joined us at Havergal last year as a workshop facilitator for WellFest, and is currently writing a new cookbook titled: 'Guilt Free Goodies'.
Her food philosophy encourages us to create big change in terms of flavour and overall well-being by making small changes to our favorite recipes. She came to our school today today to build on Dr. Kingwell's presentation last week, and to offer another approach to Food for Thought. As we learn to connect our personal choices to individual and societal well-being, it is people such as Peggy who will help inspire us to consider the many ways we can, and should, approach the issue of food. She is creative, energetic, and is an encouraging examples of how powerful it is to create your own personal mission.
Peggy will offer workshops in the Forum for Change in October and November. Workshop dates are the following:
Friday Oct. 9th (Lunchtime)
Friday Oct. 30th (Lunchtime)
Friday Nov. 6th (Lunchtime)
Friday Nov. 20th (Lunchtime)
If you're interested in coming to the workshops, please come to the Forum for Change (C32) to sign up. The first workshop is now full, and the second workshop is close, so come secure your spot for the workshops in November now!
*If you can't make it to any of them for one reason or another, don't fret! I'm filming the workshops and will post them on the blog!*
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Mark Kingwell at Prayers September 17, 2009: Food for Thought
Mark Kingwell, philosopher, professor and cultural critic, spoke at Havergal College about the intimate connection between individual meaning and community action. He was at Havergal to introduce the Institute’s Food for Thought – our effort to connect our collective purpose to make a difference in the world with our individual action to contribute to the world we want.
Professor Kingwell started with our question, “What kind of world do I want?”, and “Who am I in that world?” He linked these to one of life’s eternal questions: how do I make meaning of my life while conscious of my own mortality? As he acknowledged, many people do so through religious and spiritual practice, which connects meaning to life in the present and to the afterlife. Kingwell said he prefers to make meaning in the life of the present.
In response to our persistent fears of our own mortality, he asked, “how do we live on?” He believes that to live on we must make a contribution to something larger than ourselves; for that this is the burden of consciousness. His personal purpose is to create a legacy through his writing. While each of is will find a different purpose, he argued that there are no individuals outside of the communities of which they are a part. We must recognize others to be recognized by them, and our fate is to be linked.
Kingwell urged us to expand our “horizons of care” – the ripple effect each of us creates through the impact of our actions. This expansion is what he believes make life meaningful. Kingwell was careful to caution us that a life of purpose is an outwardly focused life, it is not one of selfish indulgence. Our purpose is our meaning and our gift to the world. To make the most of each day is to live a life of purpose, and a life with few regrets.
Before responding to student questions, he asked us to find the narrative of our own lives, to give them meaning: to keep questioning, to be thoughtful and deliberate each and every day.
Students asked Kingwell about issues such as suicide to which he responded that, for those who contemplate suicide, he believes that no one would find life easier without you. In response to a question about what purpose does a person have in killing another, he said he has never heard a good enough reason to take the life of another. Kingwell also responded to questions about finding meaning in a life focused on simple survival, offered his thoughts on the ephemeral nature of celebrity that is not linked to achievement, and to questions about his own purpose as a philosopher and educator. To the latter he responded that great educators draw out what is on people’s minds already, and, hence, education is a key aspect of a just world.
-------
This is our own take on what Dr. Kingwell presented. Please feel free to add comments below.
For more information and photos of Prayers on Sept. 17th, please visit: Havergal College News
Professor Kingwell started with our question, “What kind of world do I want?”, and “Who am I in that world?” He linked these to one of life’s eternal questions: how do I make meaning of my life while conscious of my own mortality? As he acknowledged, many people do so through religious and spiritual practice, which connects meaning to life in the present and to the afterlife. Kingwell said he prefers to make meaning in the life of the present.
In response to our persistent fears of our own mortality, he asked, “how do we live on?” He believes that to live on we must make a contribution to something larger than ourselves; for that this is the burden of consciousness. His personal purpose is to create a legacy through his writing. While each of is will find a different purpose, he argued that there are no individuals outside of the communities of which they are a part. We must recognize others to be recognized by them, and our fate is to be linked.
Kingwell urged us to expand our “horizons of care” – the ripple effect each of us creates through the impact of our actions. This expansion is what he believes make life meaningful. Kingwell was careful to caution us that a life of purpose is an outwardly focused life, it is not one of selfish indulgence. Our purpose is our meaning and our gift to the world. To make the most of each day is to live a life of purpose, and a life with few regrets.
Before responding to student questions, he asked us to find the narrative of our own lives, to give them meaning: to keep questioning, to be thoughtful and deliberate each and every day.
Students asked Kingwell about issues such as suicide to which he responded that, for those who contemplate suicide, he believes that no one would find life easier without you. In response to a question about what purpose does a person have in killing another, he said he has never heard a good enough reason to take the life of another. Kingwell also responded to questions about finding meaning in a life focused on simple survival, offered his thoughts on the ephemeral nature of celebrity that is not linked to achievement, and to questions about his own purpose as a philosopher and educator. To the latter he responded that great educators draw out what is on people’s minds already, and, hence, education is a key aspect of a just world.
-------
This is our own take on what Dr. Kingwell presented. Please feel free to add comments below.
For more information and photos of Prayers on Sept. 17th, please visit: Havergal College News
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Global Experience Program (GEP) - 2009/2010 Opportunities Announced!
***Please attend the parent and student information evening on October 15th at 6:30 to 8.30 p.m. in the Ellen Knox library!***
Do you want to learn about another country through hands-on experience? Are you looking for a March Break or Summer Adventure?
This year, the Global Experience Program (GEP) is offering two trips to South Africa and one to China.
1) In the summer of 2010, tentatively from July 30th to August 21st, selected students and accompanying faculty will travel to work with Havergal's project partnership with Durban Girls College (a Havergal Exchange partner) and NOAH in Durban, South Africa. This trip will extend the relationships initiated in the summer of 2009 when 9 students and 2 teachers worked with NOAH.
2) Over March break, from March 4th to March 21st, 2010, selected students will travel with Ms. Whitfield and Mr. McCulloch to the Orange River and Capetown in South Africa. This will be an outdoor education and community outreach experience in partnership with students and staff from St. Cyprian's School in Capetown (also a Havergal Exchange partner).
3) Also during March break, from March 6th to March 18th, 10 to 16 students and parents will travel to Beijing and Xi’an to take Mandarin courses and to explore historic and present day China. This program is in partnership with Xueyuan Centre, a division of Renmin University in Beijing, to provide students and parents with an opportunity to immerse themselves in the language and culture of China.
If you are interested in participating in any of these opportunities, you can find information about applying in the documents below (application forms are also included).
To view the documents click on the links below. Here you will be able to upload a hard copy by clicking on the green "download" button at the top of the document. If you would like to print, there is that option as well.
FOR NOAH/DURBAN:
Staff Selection Criteria
Staff Application Form
Student Selection Criteria
Student Application Form
FOR ORANGE RIVER/CAPETOWN:
Staff Selection Criteria
Student Selection Criteria
Student Application Form
FOR BEIJING/XI'AN:
For the trip to China, please contact Christine Shain, Vice Principal, at: 416.482.4719 or email cshain@havergal.on.ca.
For more information about Havergal's Global Experience Program (GEP), please contact Ann Peel, Director of the Institute at Havergal at: 416.483.3519 x6504 or email at: apeel@havergal.on.ca
Sarah Firestone and Zoe Baron playing with children at the NOAH ark (Molweni, South Africa)
Photo Credit: David Sumner
Do you want to learn about another country through hands-on experience? Are you looking for a March Break or Summer Adventure?
This year, the Global Experience Program (GEP) is offering two trips to South Africa and one to China.
1) In the summer of 2010, tentatively from July 30th to August 21st, selected students and accompanying faculty will travel to work with Havergal's project partnership with Durban Girls College (a Havergal Exchange partner) and NOAH in Durban, South Africa. This trip will extend the relationships initiated in the summer of 2009 when 9 students and 2 teachers worked with NOAH.
2) Over March break, from March 4th to March 21st, 2010, selected students will travel with Ms. Whitfield and Mr. McCulloch to the Orange River and Capetown in South Africa. This will be an outdoor education and community outreach experience in partnership with students and staff from St. Cyprian's School in Capetown (also a Havergal Exchange partner).
3) Also during March break, from March 6th to March 18th, 10 to 16 students and parents will travel to Beijing and Xi’an to take Mandarin courses and to explore historic and present day China. This program is in partnership with Xueyuan Centre, a division of Renmin University in Beijing, to provide students and parents with an opportunity to immerse themselves in the language and culture of China.
If you are interested in participating in any of these opportunities, you can find information about applying in the documents below (application forms are also included).
To view the documents click on the links below. Here you will be able to upload a hard copy by clicking on the green "download" button at the top of the document. If you would like to print, there is that option as well.
FOR NOAH/DURBAN:
Staff Selection Criteria
Staff Application Form
Student Selection Criteria
Student Application Form
FOR ORANGE RIVER/CAPETOWN:
Staff Selection Criteria
Student Selection Criteria
Student Application Form
FOR BEIJING/XI'AN:
For the trip to China, please contact Christine Shain, Vice Principal, at: 416.482.4719 or email cshain@havergal.on.ca.
For more information about Havergal's Global Experience Program (GEP), please contact Ann Peel, Director of the Institute at Havergal at: 416.483.3519 x6504 or email at: apeel@havergal.on.ca
Sarah Firestone and Zoe Baron playing with children at the NOAH ark (Molweni, South Africa) Photo Credit: David Sumner
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