Pine Ridge Secondary School Community News and Information

i AM WHO i AM
Student Voice in Pickering

While our final accounting is still in progress, we have surpassed our fundraising goal! Thank you for your contributions!

Pine Ridge Secondary School, on behalf of the Pickering Family of Schools and the Durham District School Board, is pleased to introduce a student driven initiative called i AM WHO i AM. Key messages of this character based program include:

Each student is unique
Each student is valued
Each student is welcome
Each student is supported
We are better together
Appreciating each other for who we are

Working collaboratively, we aim to create schools and communities that honour the equity and worth of all. We recognize the value and dignity of each individual. We strive to inspire our students, parents, staff and community members to support each other in learning, working and living together. ‘I am who I am' is grounded in safe, caring and restorative practices that celebrate the individuality of all school and community members. We look forward to sharing the exciting work of our students and staff. Please join us in celebrating our youth and honouring their right to learn in a safe, caring and inclusive learning environment.

The launch date was Monday, November 14, 2011. Many initiatives are planned at all schools in Pickering. To begin, the campaign of awareness, bracelets and t-shirts will be sold with proceeds going towards purchasing a wheelchair for a Pickering student in need. (Click on the link below to see the t-shirt and wristband.)

As a school, we will continue to promote the learning concepts embedded in this program which are fostered from our character education strategies and which were in direct response to our concern for Mitchell Wilson and his family. Throughout the year, we will be organizing assemblies and activities to maintain our "i AM WHO i AM" focus. Please continue to check back as we will be sharing the progress of this exciting program with our community throughout the year.

i AM WHO i AM is a campaign initiated by a committee of inspired students in memory of Mitchell Wilson to honour and support his memory.

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
William James (1842 – 1910)

Pine Ridge Secondary School and i AM WHO i AM was mentioned in the House of Commons! Click here to view the video.

NEW!!! Thanks to the Pickering Panthers AE Peewee Hockey Team for their contribution to i AM WHO i AM. Contributions to date have now surpassed $18 000. The final tally will be announced on March 2, 2012.

To order your own T-Shirt and/or wristband on-line, click here!

PLEASE NOTE: T-SHIRTS ARE BEING ORDERED IN GROUPS OF 60, SO WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT!

For inquiries, contact us at 905-420-1885 ext. 333 or email us at iamwhoiamprss@hotmail.com.

To place a phone order, please call 905-420-1885 ext. 333 and leave a message with your name, phone number, quantities, and sizes and we will let you know when they are available for pick-up.

As of December 1, 2011, messages left on our school phone line and on the "i AM WHO i AM" hotmail address will be monitored weekly. We encourage our community supporters to continue to purchase T-Shirts and wristbands using the order link above (with payment through PayPal or by credit card).

The T-shirts and wrist bands are selling for minimum donations of $8 and $1 respectively. Please note that T-Shirts and wristbands being shipped have a slightly higher cost, to help us to cover shipping and processing charges.

Read more to view the photo gallery from the Launch Ceremony.

Thank you to the following contributors to the i AM WHO i AM campaign!

Alexander, Chris—MP Ajax-Pickering
Allison, Archie
Anthony, Angela
Astley, Sheryl
Caetano, Helen
Campbell, Mrs.
Campbell, Robert
Chisu, Corneliu– MP Pickering-Scar. East
Colantoni, Enrico
Connery, Heather
Corcione, Gord
Cowan, Vicky
Cox, Nancy
Debidyal, Amanda
Delmore, Wayne
Dickson, Joe—MPP Ajax-Pickering
Dunne, Carolyn
Field, Sharron—DDSB Transportation
Fleisher, Susan
Found, Julie
Geer, Chris—DDSB Payroll
Greenidge, Keisha
Hollihan, Michelle
Jaciuk, David—Durham Regional Police
John Deere
Kashani, Sobia
Lee, Deborah
Lee, Neville
MacCharles, Tracy– MPP Pick.-Scar. East
Maclean, Al
Maves, Jonathan
McAllister, Lee-Ann
McCulloch, Lynn
McGeachie, Julie
McLellan, Linda
Miller, Gayle
Mitchell, Dale—Delaware Central P.S.
Montgomery, Sandra
Moore, Penny
Nasner, Lynne
Neault, Annette
Neault-Herbert, Sarah
Niblett, Lynn
Norgrove-Collins, Jennifer
O'Neil, B.
Paul, Emily
Pearce, Crystal
Peterson, Lois
Pickering Panthers Hockey Team
Popow, Anne
Richards, Julia
Ryan, David—Mayor, City of Pickering
Saunders, Jeffrey
Spearing, Tracey
Stewart, Mrs.
Tallevi, Judith— Deloitte and Touche
Tate, Yvonne
Tomlinson, Shannon—Labelcraft
TDSB Trustees
Upham, Lois
Van Der Wees, Janet
Weber, Tim
Wells, Brenda
Williams, Valeria
Woodward, Darlene
Staff and Students from:
- Altona Forest PS
- Bayview Heights PS
- Claremont PS
- Dunbarton HS
- Elizabeth B Phin PS
- Fairport Beach PS
- Frenchman's Bay PS
- Gandatsetiagon PS
- Glengrove PS
- Highbush PS
- Maple Ridge PS
- Pine Ridge SS
- Rosebank Road PS
- Sir John A Macdonald PS
- Valley Farm PS
- Valley View PS
- Vaughan Willard PS
- Westcreek PS
- William Dunbar PS

Durham District School Board Students in Pickering Launch
i Am Who i Am to Honour Former Classmate

PICKERING – The student-led i Am Who i Am campaign will do more than raise money to purchase a wheelchair for a student in Pickering, say organizers.

The campaign, which kicked off Monday, November 14 at Pine Ridge Secondary School in Pickering, is in memory of Mitchell Wilson, an 11-year-old Pickering boy who died in September, just before he would have begun Grade 6 at Westcreek Public School. During the campaign students from Pickering's family of schools will sell t-shirts and wristbands to raise $10,000 to purchase a wheelchair for a student who, like Mitchell, has muscular dystrophy. But beyond the fundraising, the campaign is really about inclusiveness, said Sarah Slim, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Pine Ridge Secondary School.

“We want everyone to feel like they really belong,” she said.

Students came together immediately after Mitchell's death, both to deal with the emotional side, and to figure out what should come next.

“We were shocked by it,” said Sarah. “It was like there was a collective agreement between all of us to do something.”

Soon, the i Am Who i Am campaign, with its green wristbands and green t-shirts with yellow lettering, was born.

The colours were chosen quite intentionally, with the green representing muscular dystrophy, and the yellow representing cancer, to which Mitchell had lost his mother, said Sarah.

Students were moved by the situation and wanted to find a way to show they care.

The campaign is also to include a number of other activities focused on character education and safe schools. It may serve to help those facing difficult issues like bullying seek help, said 17-year-old Pine Ridge SS Grade 12 student Sarah Marek.

“We hope people will feel secure enough to say so and we came up with our i Am Who I Am campaign to support and celebrate all students.”

Mitchell's father, Craig Wilson, was on hand for the kick-off, and said he was “touched” by the idea.

“I think he'd be proud to see the whole community coming together for a cause to make everybody feel accepted,” Mr. Wilson said.

Acceptance and inclusion are among the character traits reinforced by DDSB schools every day.

“It's absolutely key,” noted Mr. Wilson, as he urged students to be agents of change.

To date, $5,100 have bee raised by the initiative. To show support or to purchase a shirt or wristband, call Pine Ridge Secondary School at 905-420-1888, extension 333, or visit the school website at www.pineridgesecondaryschool.ca.

Updated: November 23, 2011

Click on the attachment below to reach the I Am Who I Am ordering page.

Please note that T-Shirts and wrisbands being shipped have a slightly higher cost, to help us to cover shipping and processing charges.

i AM WHO i AM Contributors

I Am Who I Am Orders