 |
| Snowflake |
It's the last week of school before the Christmas
holidays and the "pressure is on".
I feel like Atlas holding up the entire world on my shoulders. I have final exams to administer &
correct, input final marks, write report card comments, oversee the Christmas
Concert Committee (CCC), and to top it all off, go out for recess duty. I'm not complaining; just telling it like it
is. I spent the weekend of December 12
& 13th correcting class work and writing some report card comments to ease
the workload for the last week. I am
thankful I have the other members of the CCC to assist me in making the 2015
Christmas Concert a success.
December 14 & 15 were the last days of final exams. The students came to school, wrote their
exams, and then went home. They were
glad to be done until the new year.
 |
| Music equipment. |
Wednesday, December 16th was a very busy day. Grades 9-12 students were tasked with
decorating the community hall for the upcoming concert. Decorations prepared by elementary &
middle school classes were collected in large boxes and brought over to the
hall after morning recess. My drummers
helped me load all the instruments and musical hardware onto a pickup truck I
borrowed from Frank. It took two trips
to transport everything to the community hall.
We placed all the instruments in a safe corner.
The students immediately began decorating the entire hall
while festive music played over loudspeakers.
The entire place would be covered by lunchtime. More teachers arrived to help out with the
decorating. The stage and walls were
decorated with posters, crafts, wrapped presents, and streamers. I walked around and took pictures with my
camera.
The highlight of the morning was when the Grade 9 class
set up a large blue yoga ball on stage, suspended from a large white rope. The ball was part of their concert
performance. The rope was connected to a
construction harness that held the ball.
Sarah, the Grade 9 teacher, borrowed the harness from the workers
working on the new health centre. (The
exact reason for the use of the yoga ball will be revealed in a future post).
 |
| Wrapping gifts. |
 |
| Small Christmas tree. |
Everyone went home for lunch. In the afternoon, all classes gathered inside
the community hall for the dress rehearsal.
Each class would perform their act once so that the students &
teachers would get comfortable on stage.
I coached the two high school emcees on public speaking, conquering stage
fright, and how to ad-lib commentary in between performances. I also made sure the rehearsal progressed at
a steady pace. It wasn't until halfway
through the rehearsal that it finally dawned on me: I really am the stage
director this year.
The Grade 9 class received a very good reception for
their practice performance involving the large yoga ball. No one was expecting to see that. (Once again, all will be revealed in a future
post.) My drummers also received a warm
reception from the audience when we played through our drum routine.
Despite my best efforts, the dress rehearsal took a
little longer than planned. The good
news was that it was only the teachers who had to stay a little longer to practice
their performance. Everyone left the
community hall feeling confident. The
concert would take place the following evening.
 |
| Audience |
3045 Army Cadet Corps held a parents night on the evening
of December 16th. On the program were
promotions, awards, and announcements.
The event was held in the school's gym.
Cadets set up the gym with foldout chairs, an awards table, and the
flags of Canada & the cadet movement.
The cadets and officers wore their green dress uniforms. The parade began at 6:30pm.
 |
| Inspection |
 |
| March Past |
The officers were able to recruit three guest reviewing
officers from the local Hamlet Office.
Two were regular employees and the third was the mayor, Phillip Kalluk. Cadet corporal Qaqqasiq-Taqtu led the corps
in a March Past after the reviewing officers returned to their seats.
 |
| Biathlon Team |
 |
| Cadet Tilley C. being promoted to the rank of Master-Corporal. Mayor Phillip Kalluk presents the promotion. |
The evening moved on to promotions and awards. The Biathlon Team was called out to be
recognized for their recent trip to the biathlon competition in Whitehorse. Some of the cadets scored really well on
their targets. There were three
promotions: two to the rank of Master-Corporal and one to the rank of Sergeant. The two new Master-Corporals were Qaqqasiq-Taqtu & Tilley, C. In addition to cadet Natanine's promotion to
Sergeant, she received a white belt and a red sash. The white belt signifies that she is now a
senior cadet and the red sash represents our affiliation with the Royal
Canadian Regiment in Toronto. Lt. May
handed her a pace stick before granting her permission to assume command of the
corps on parade.
 |
| CI Reid awards cadet Tilley, D. with a Certificate of Participation on the Skills Team. |
 |
| CI Reid awards cadet Pauloosie, S. with a Certificate of Participation on the Skills Team. |
Civilian Instructor (CI) Reid called out the eight members of
the Skills Team to hand them their certificates of participation. A skills competition was held in Iqaluit in
early December and CI Reid was the team coach for Arctic Bay. The last time a northern skills competition
was held was in 2014 in Rankin Inlet.
(You can read about it here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). I wanted to be the coach this year but was
unable to get the necessary time off work.
The Skills Team flew down to Iqaluit to defend their winning title from
2014, but, despite their best efforts, did not win the competition. Regardless, the team did win a few of the
challenges and had a good time in the territorial capital.
The Skills Team demonstrated their team work and
discipline by performing the drill routine they had prepared for the
competition. Cadet Qaqqasiq-Taqtu acted
as the platoon commander. The audience
was impressed and applauded the demonstration.
 |
| OCdt Dzioba, (me), addressing the audience. Photo taken by Clare Kines. |
I had the honour of making the closing remarks to the
audience, thanking them for attending the event, and thanking all of our
sponsors & volunteers. Sergeant
Natanine led the corps in the Advance in Review Order and General Salute. When Lt. May and the reviewing officers left
the parade square, the cadets were dismissed.
A short reception was held after the parade. The cadets cleaned the gym before leaving for
the night.
 |
| Cadet Sgt. Natanine salutes during the General Salute. |
No comments:
Post a Comment