With the beginning of December comes the annual 12 Days of Christmas event put on by student groups at MSS. There will be many fun activities, the first of which was the Thursday Talent Show. On Friday there was a homeroom door decorating contest. Judges will decide which classroom will win and will announce the winner on Monday. The event plan includes Monday Eggnog Flip Cup, Wednesday hat day, Thursday Christmas Trivia, Friday movie day and pyjama day. The events will continue with an Arts Council performance and SHARE cookie decorating.
The MSS girls’ hockey team played against the Lo-Ellen Lancers on Tuesday, winning 4-1 against the competitive school. The girls remained undefeated, until Thursday when they played tough game against Bishop-Carter, losing 7-2. Hannah Woestenenk said, “We played as well as we could, and we will just beat them next time.” The girls are practicing hard and doing a good job representing our school.
On Thursday, students and staff gathered in the cafeteria to watch and support the school’s budding talent. There were 20 performances including the senior and junior band, singing, drumming, and beatboxing. Performances included Jordan Gibson, who showed off his word-class beatboxing skills. The entire cafeteria was in shocked silent for a few moments and then everyone erupted into cheering. Jordan told the viewers about how he started beatboxing, “All of this I have been practicing for since I was in Grade 3. I wouldn’t be this good if it wasn’t for the World Beatbox championship I was in, for the people who practiced with me, and my brother who was in the top 16.” Jordan astounded everybody with his awesome beatboxing. Skyler Danville, Donnshai Bruleigh, Emily Granville, and Megan Moore performed ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy. Skyler, Donnshai, and Megan sang, while Emily Granville played her ukulele, and together the four girls had the crowd clapping to the rhythm. Liam Leblanc, Max Chapman and Clay Dickson performed a ‘Mean Girls’ version of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ that had the crowding laughing hysterically. Jessica Jordison finished off the talent show with her amazing performance of ‘O Holy Night.’ Her beautiful voice warmed everyone’s hearts, and she received a huge round of applause upon finishing. This semester’s talent show was a success and several students have already said that they are going to sign up for the spring show.
On Thursday evening MSS hosted the Island Christmas Concert, and over 100 parents and community members came to support the young musicians of Manitoulin. C.C. MacLean, Central Manitoulin Public School, and Lakeview Public School all performed beautiful songs. C.C MacLean performed ‘The Huron Carol’ with rainmakers. Lakeview performed a clever mashup of ‘Deck the Halls’ and ‘Up on the Housetop.’ Central Manitoulin performed a fun, bouncy Christmas carol that had the entire audience clapping along. Three performances from the afternoon talent show were also showed again, including Skyler Daville, Megan Moore, Donnshai Bruleigh, and Emily Granville’s ‘Riptide;’ Mrs. Theijsmeijer, Becky MacDonald, and Isaac Gosse’s instrumental of ‘Iris’ by U2 and Jessica Jordison’s beautiful performance of ‘O Holy Night.’
Emily Hnatyshen took five minutes and spoke about the Joan Mantle Trust Fund, and that MSS was receiving a grant of $6,000 plus another $3,000 dollars from MSS, much to the surprise of the music students in the school. Immediately the students on stage and in the audience who will be affected by this amazing grant, began cheering and clapping.
The Students’ Council is starting the “Fill a Backpack” campaign for the five refugee students coming to MSS within the next month or two. This campaign is designed to get enough school supplies for these students so that they can have the same education as everyone else. Also a part of the campaign is to donate enough clothes to these families to clothe three girls and six boys. This is a great way for students to support the new families coming to the Island and help them become a part of our communities. Also, SHARE has started the “Give Change to Make Change” class challenge so that students and teachers can donate money for the next two weeks leading up to the holidays and help build a school in Haiti for the students who haven’t had the opportunity to go to school. The class that raises the most money will win a breakfast of pancakes and bacon prepared by the SHARE Executive. SHARE is also performing a melodrama holiday comedy show and bake sale for the Manitoulin community on December 15 on 7 pm. All the proceeds from the event will support the Brick by Brick campaign. During the event community members can make donations on behalf of loved ones and receive cards to give as holiday gifts.
With the new year just around the corner, MSS is doing its best to make a difference by sharing their skills and experiences with the community. ‘Til next time, stay golden, Mustangs.
