The junior girls’ basketball team at Unity Composite High School hosted their home tournament January 24 and 25. A last-minute cancellation by a visiting team had the Junior Warriors fill in the hole in the schedule by breaking up into two teams. Enjoy the photos from the all-Unity game!
The junior girls’ coach is community volunteer Darren Stifter.
For the Unity A vs. Unity B game, injured player Daphne Boser filled in as the second coach.
Shots from the senior boys’ league basketball game between the Luseland Lords and the Unity Composite High School Warriors, January 14, 2014. UCHS won the game. See the January 20th Unity-Wilkie Press-Herald for more photos from the game.
Shots from the senior girls’ league basketball game between the Luseland Lords and the Unity Composite High School Warriors, January 14, 2014. UCHS won the game. See the January 20th Unity-Wilkie Press-Herald for more photos from the game.
Year-end awards for the 2013 football season were handed out at the UCHS football banquet Dec. 2. Team members, parents, coaches and other supporters of the Unity Composite High School Warriors football team attended the banquet and awards presentation.
The Warriors had what Coach Pat Orobko called a “very successful” year. The team made it into provincial playoffs as one of the top eight teams in the province in their category.
The students played a video with each player introducing himself and giving his number and position or positions played. Many players made the most of their opportunity to ham it up a little in front of the camera.
A video of highlights from the Warriors’ 2013 football season followed. Coach Pat Orobko commended Jonah Kopp and Darby Bisson on putting the video together.
Blake Robertson, Darby Bisson and double award winner Nick Anderson, in the back row and Ryan Donald, Jonah Kopp and double award winner Justin Gerein show off the awards received at the UCHS Warriors year-end football banquet.
The first award handed out went to Darby Bisson as most improved player. Orobko said Darby “took his game to a new level this year.”
The top offensive player was quarterback Blake Robertson, who was commended for his “football sense” and the use of both his arms and legs.
There were two recipients for the Heart & Soul award. Orobko listed qualities of “leadership, desire, motivation and the ability to inspire others” before he called up Justin Gerein and Nick Anderson to receive the award.
Justin returned to the stage to receive the MVP award. Orobko said he was “the player you need on the field as much as possible and the player you miss the most when he’s not on the field.”
Coach Martin Berg went to the microphone to announce the defensive awards, calling up Nick Anderson as the top lineman of the year. Berg noted Nick won the same award in 2012 and said he was “a noticeable presence in every game.”
Ryan Donald, a Grade 11 student, was named rookie of the year, with his versatility particularly noted. In the final game, Ryan was on the field not only with the defence as a linebacker but also filled in on the end of the o-line when the offence was on the field.
Jonah Kopp won the top defensive player award, with Berg saying Jonah had “really stepped up his game the last two seasons.”
After the awards, graduating players Ridge Klotz, Adam Wallace, Nick Anderson, Jonah Kopp, Darby Bisson and Justin Gerein, were recognized for their contributions to the team.
With the many smiling, friendly Filipino faces around town making this tragedy seem a little closer to home than half a world away, it didn’t take long for the citizens of Unity to respond to the crisis in the Philippines caused by typhoon Haiyan Nov. 8. The typhoon killed thousands of people and has displaced millions.
Some of Unity’s Filipinos were spearheading drives to assist people in their homeland, but their efforts were supplemented by many other individuals and organizations stepping up to help out.
Clothing, bottled water, blankets and other physical goods were collected and are on their way to the affected areas.
Mary Ann Cojuangco, collecting money for the babies of her Philippine hometown, poses with Morag Riddell, UPS teacher who organized a coin drive at the school.
Mary Ann Cojuangco lost her uncle in the storm, and her hometown of Catalogan in Samar province was hit. Tacloban is the largest city wiped out by typhoon Haiyan and much of the relief efforts are focused there but Catalogan is a long way from Tacloban.
She was worried about the babies of the town. With no milk available, the babies were being given coffee and so Mary Ann started to ask people for money that she could send to her common law to buy milk and other necessities for the babies and children of her home community.
Unity Public School students collected enough coins to spell out the word Philippines across the gym floor.
Unity Public School held a coin drive and collected enough money to spell out the word Philippines in large letters on the gym floor. The Unity Credit Union sent staff to the school to sort and roll the coins, Nov. 22. The total amount collected and donated by UPS students and staff was $1,072; $300 of this was given to Mary Ann for the babies.
Mary Ann and her friends also organized a garage sale at Parkview Place Nov. 30. Staff and students from St. Peter’s School collected and donated many garage sale items for the event, as well as giving the proceeds from their November sub lunch sale to “help the babies.” Garage sale donations came from Parkview staff and other community residents as well. They raised $1,205.
The garage sale organized by Filipino residents for typhoon relief efforts had a little bit of everything – Christmas items, clothing, household goods, toys, etc.
Mary Ann was able to send $1,750 to Catalogan Dec. 2.
Myrma Balagdas is another Unity resident whose family was affected by typhoon Haiyan. She knew her family might be in trouble when she was unable to reach any of her family for the first week after the storm. “I was very worried,” she said.
Thankfully Myrma’s family is all right but seven members and their families lost their homes, seven homes. There is nothing left; everything is broken. These family members, including Myrma’s nieces, nephews, two brothers and a sister, have moved into two remaining homes of relatives – making 21 people living in one house and 17 in another.
They’ve been told it will be three to five months before power is restored, which Myrma says makes it very difficult to communicate. Sometimes they make a trip to another city to charge their cellphones. They are using candles and gas for light.
Water is not a problem in Roxas Capiz but obtaining enough food to feed everyone is difficult. Although the government provides relief rations, it is limited per household. With all the extra people in the two houses, the food handed out is not enough. Meanwhile food prices have doubled.
Myrma said people in Unity, “Canadians and Filipinos both” gave her money to send to her family. She has already sent that money to the family and it was much appreciated as they try to survive and rebuild their lives.
Besides sending money directly to affected family and neighbours of Unity residents, community members and organizations have been making donations to the Red Cross, specifically targeted for Philippine disaster relief.
Unity Composite High School students organized a hotdog and cupcake sale, generating close to $900, which they sent to the Philippines through the Red Cross. Student fundraising for relief efforts is continuing through the sale of Knitwit toques.
St. Peter’s Parish had a special collection. The Knights of Columbus are also raising money to help out. The UCW, United Church Women, made a donation and held a well-attended stew luncheon Nov. 29 with proceeds marked for Philippine relief. The regular long term care monthly fundraising barbecue at the Unity Health Centre, also well-attended, donated their Nov. 29 proceeds.
Other groups, organizations and businesses along with many individuals also have helped with money and item donations. These examples are only examples – to show how the long-time Canadian and newer Filipino communities of Unity have rallied to help.
Donations for the Red Cross, specifically directed to Philippine typhoon relief, are still being accepted at the Unity Credit Union, as well as Luseland Credit Union in Luseland and Innovation Credit Union in Wilkie. The Canadian government will match all such donations made before Dec. 9, and the credit unions will continue to collect donations until Dec. 13.
The Unity Composite High School senior boys’ volleyball team hosted regionals, with Perdue, Onion Lake (Eagleview) and La Loche coming to town Nov. 16. Eagleview and La Loche moved on to provincials. The Unity Warriors were unable to advance from their crossover game. Here are some shots of the hometown boys in action during the tournament.
We Day, the multi-media, multi-speaker event held to motivate and empower young people, was held in Saskatoon November 6. Students from 325 Saskatchewan schools – including Unity Composite High School, McLurg High School, Luseland School and St. Peter’s School – made up the audience of some 15,000.
For a detailed article on the event and additional photos, please see the November 18 issue of the Unity-Wilke Press-Herald. For response from local students who attended We Day, please see the November 25 issue of the Press-Herald.
Spencer West
“Anything is possible.”
Born without legs, Spencer West shared his story with the We Day audience. As he explains on his Facebook page, “As a kid, every time I went out, whether to the grocery store or a restaurant, people would point and whisper, ‘Where’s that guy’s body? Where’s his legs? He looks crazy!’
“Nobody even asked me my name first. People were seeing my disability, instead of me. So I changed my story a bit. When asked, ‘Where are your legs?’ I would say, ‘I left them in my other pants’ or ‘I was swimming in the ocean and this shark swam up and BIT THEM RIGHT OFF!’ If I could get them to laugh, people were forced to see me as a person.”
A trip to Kenya gave West a moment of incredible insight. “Upon my arrival I was surrounded by swarms of school kids, who bombarded me with questions about my life. A little girl raised her hand and said, ‘I didn’t know this sort of thing happened to white people, too.’
“Suddenly, I understood that instead of trying to be like everyone I was different for a reason. I was different because I needed to show others that it doesn’t matter what your abilities are or where you come from in the world. If you work hard, never give up and laugh a lot, you can achieve anything. Now, as a motivational speaker for Me to We, I’ve spoken to audiences around the world about courage, shark attacks and making a difference.”
Martin Luther King III
Flanked by brothers and Free The Children co-founders Marc and Craig Kielburger, Martin Luther King III addresses the students, teachers and parents gathered for the Nov. 6, 2013 edition of We Day in Saskatoon.
Martin Luther King III is the oldest son of the late Martin Luther King Jr. Images and portions from his father’s “I have a dream” speech were played on large video screens several times during We Day in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the speech.
King told the students his father used to say, “You can be a thermometer or you can be a thermostat.” In other words, do you want to change things or just record them? King had everyone raise their voice in chanting, “Spread the word, have you heard? All across our nation, we are going to be a great generation.”
Magic Johnson
NBA legend Magic Johnson told the audience that when he was a child, his mother sent him out to shovel the driveways of elderly neighbours. While he didn’t really appreciate that at the time, later “I realized they were teaching me to give back, to help mankind.”
Johnson asked the students to change their schools, change their communities, help their neighbours. “The greatest person that I know is a person who always helps somebody else. That’s the coolest person on earth,” he said.
Taylor Devos
Taylor Devos is from small-town Saskatchewan and is “1 kid making a difference.” At the age of 12, she stood with microphone in hand and told the packed Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon how determined she is to raise enough money to build a school in Haiti.
Starting when she was 10 years old with the sale of T-shirts and bracelets, along with holding small events in her hometown of Porcupine Plain, Taylor is nearing her goal of $15,000. As of We Day in Saskatoon, Nov. 6, she has already raised $12,700.
Bill Doyle, Potash Corp CEO
Craig Kielburger discusses food security with Potach Corp. president Bill Doyle.
Bill Doyle, president and CEO of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., spoke about the importance of food security. He explained that in Canada we can walk into a grocery store and see shelves and shelves of food but that’s not the case around the world. In some places, there aren’t even any grocery stores, let along ones as well stocked as ours.
“The number one requirement is to feed people each and every day before anything else can be done,” he said.
Potash Corp is sponsoring 25 scholarships for Canadian youth to visit India next summer and learn first-hand about food security in the developing world. During media interviews, co-founder of Free the Children Craig Kielburger specifically encouraged students from Saskatchewan rural and farming communities to apply for the scholarships.
Go here to apply! http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/we-youth/leadership-training-in-development/overseas/potashcorp-youth-trip-scholarship/
Donisha Prendergast
Donisha Prendergast, granddaughter of Bob and Rita Marley, spoke about love and revolution. “At the heart of every revolution is love,” she said. She also pointed out the word “revolution” has the word “evolution” in its centre.
Prendergast also spoke about overcoming difficulties and challenges. “We aren’t meant to feel the pain forever,” she said, in a reference to bullying.
“My grandparents few up in the concrete jungle of Jamaica where ‘they’ said nothing could ever grow, and today I am standing here speaking to 15,000 people about the power of love.”
For a short video from We Day featuring Shawn Desman and the Kenyan Boys Choir: http://unitystories.com/press-herald-nov18/
For more information about the work of Free the Children: http://www.freethechildren.com/
And don’t forget about the new free app for year-round motivation and ideas on how to change the world. Look for the We365 app at your favourite app store.
In a scene repeated in hundreds, if not thousands, of Legion halls across the country, members of the Unity Royal Canadian Legion gathered Nov. 1 to judge the poster entries in the annual Remembrance Day Poster and Literary Contest.
Si Campbell, Irene Thiessen-Campbell and Vern and Sadie Burns spent half a day examining somewhere between 500 and 600 posters. They all agreed creating a short list of possible winners in each category was the easy part but picking the final top two out of the short list of top contenders was far more difficult.
The Legion members spread out all the posters in one category or division at a time. There are four categories all together: primary – kindergarten and Grades 1 to 3; junior – Grades 4 to 6; intermediate – Grades 7 to 9; and senior – Grades 10 to 12. Students from all three schools in Unity send in posters for the competition.
Each category is further divided into colour posters and black and white posters. From the submitted posters, the group of judges had to select first and second place winners in each of the eight divisions.
The rules, set by the national Legion office, say “Entries will be judged on originality, expression of designated subject, drawing and illustration. The poster shall reflect Remembrance with a Canadian theme.”
The winning posters are kept by the Legion and sent off to zone competition. After making their way through local, zone and district levels, the best posters, essays and poems in the province are chosen and forwarded to Ottawa for the national competition. National winners are displayed at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa for one year, while second and third place winners are displayed at Parliament Hill during Remembrance week. Eventually even these posters make their way back to the students.
As well as cash prizes at each level of competition, the senior national winners of each of the poster contests, and of the essay and poetry contests, are flown to Ottawa to attend the national Remembrance Day service where they place a wreath on behalf of the youth of Canada. They also have an opportunity to meet and visit with the Governor General.
The winning entries forwarded from the Unity branch of the Royal Canadian Legion have often seen some national success but our local Legion members are still waiting and hoping to have a senior national winner so they can send someone off on the Remembrance Day trip to Ottawa.
Help send Greg Bick to Berlin, Germany and help UCHS win $5,000! Go to https://www.facebook.com/eftourscanada/app_194790407371428#!/eftourscanada/app_194790407371428, click the “Like” button near the top right of the page and 10 finalist teachers will appear. Click the vote button on Greg Bick’s photograph. You can vote once every 24 hours.
EF Tours, Canada’s leader in educational tours, recognizes the value of teachers. In their Teachers Matter contest, they are awarding one “extraordinary” teacher with $5,000 for their school and a trip with a collegauge to EF’s Science and Innovation Summit in Berlin. Four runner-ups will receive $1,000 each for their schools.
Yes, Unity’s own “Mr. Bick” is one of the top 10 finalists from across Canada! UCHS science teacher Greg Bick has long been a favourite teacher of students at Unity Composite High School.
On their Facebook page, EF Tours noted, “The response for this program was overwhelming with thousands of entries and it was very difficult to select only ten.”
Let’s help send Greg Bick to Berlin, Germany and help UCHS win $5,000! Go to https://www.facebook.com/eftourscanada/app_194790407371428#!/eftourscanada/app_194790407371428, click the “Like” button near the top right of the page and then the 10 finalist teachers will appear. Click the vote button on Greg Bick’s photograph. You can vote once every 24 hours.
The following is the letter sent in to to nominate Mr. Bick for the contest and help him get to the top 10 in Canada.
Mr Bick teaches us that school, science and life can be fun. Even physics! In thick glasses and bright Hawaiian shirts, he both exudes and generates enthusiasm. You could say he has a truly magnetic personality. Even his lectures on gravity don’t bring you down! When not expounding theories, explaining formulas or helping us balance equations, he’s sharing anecdotes, quoting Homer Simpson or Sheldon.
Always encouraging participation, he answers questions on light waves, dark matter, quarks, Mr Burns and Smithers. And then there are the experiments! With his guidance, we make shocking discoveries, race cars made from water bottles and balloons, and create purple smoke. Plus, he sends rockets shooting into the sky and sets countertops on fire – without setting off the sprinklers. Also, he’s the writer/director of original side-splitting, off-the-wall drama. Although away with a broken ankle now, this exceptionally committed, caring teacher sends lesson plans every day.
Those voting instructions again: Go to https://www.facebook.com/eftourscanada/app_194790407371428#!/eftourscanada/app_194790407371428, click the “Like” button near the top right of the page and then the 10 finalist teachers will appear. Click the vote button on Greg Bick’s photograph. You can vote once every 24 hours.