The Grade 6 students at Holy Cross Elementary School acknowledged the Lunar (Chinese) New Year in respect of the diversity of the student population. In their classroom, there are two students that celebrate the Lunar New Year. The class participated in an afternoon High Tea with Green Iced Tea, fortune cookies, and mandarin oranges wrapped in red tissue (a tradition that symbolizes good luck and fortune). They also completed a craft activity, customizing fans made from paper doilies.

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We were thrilled to have agent Najia and Kevin visit us from Hangzhou, China.While here, the agents learned about our unique programming, visited Sudbury’s most popular tourist attractions and completed school visits at our secondary schools, Holy Cross School and St. Anne School. On behalf of the school board, we happily presented them with their agent certificate. We hope to see you both again!

St. Charles College students from three different clubs, the International English Café, Model United Nations Club and Student Council worked in collaboration in promoting and organizing their country booths to create such a successful annual food festival.

The international food fair was comprised of 25 countries from around the world that predominantly symbolized the cultural diversity that is most evident throughout the school. Countries like China, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Greece, Italy and much more were represented with fine décor, music and home made food .

The importance of this event was to allow students and teachers to come together as a school community to promote an inclusive learning environment, while taking an interest in building cultural diversity within the school. The students gained a thorough understanding of the importance of multiculturalism through our community.

The event was held Thursday, November 15th, from 10:00-1:00pm; where over 700 students from grades 7-12 participated, enjoyed the delicious foods and learned about the various countries on display.

Student Senate brought together our school community with a special board game night at Café One! The night brought together 31 students from St. Benedict C.S.S, Bishop Alexander Carter C.S.S, St. Charles College and Marymount Academy. Fun was had by all as students were able to play games, make new friends and even indulge in a few treats!

Today was about welcoming and celebrating our international students in taking a big leap forward and stepping out of their comfort zone to meet new friends and build on their English speaking skills. Every Tuesday and Thursday during lunch, the English Café run by Mrs. Blackwell and Mrs. Sanowar is open not only for international and ELL Learners, but for our domestic students to have the opportunity to introduce themselves and make new friends.
Some of our 9 and 10 English students extended their warm wishes in writing the international students a personal message to welcome them to our SCC community and describe what it means to be a true “Cardinal”.

Mckenna Annett, a grade 9 student writes, “Hi! Welcome to St. Charles. We hope you have a good high school experience here. Remember once a card, always a card! We hope you enjoy sports teams and clubs to meet new people”.

The English Café is a social club that runs interactive cultural activities, games, and dance offs and plans upcoming educational trips to Toronto, Niagara Falls and Killarney throughout the year. This is an interactive space for students to feel comfortable, supported and accepted in sharing their cultural differences.

Our international students can give international experience to our own SCC students, expand our worldview, and learn the value of linguistic and cultural diversity. Our current student population demographics are changing and we are proud – this is significant and life changing for all, as we become a much more welcoming and inclusive society.

We were proud to welcome 30 international students to our schools for the 2018-2019 school year! These students have arrived from the countries of China, Japan, Vietnam and Spain and will be studying in our secondary schools throughout the year. St. Benedict Secondary School has nine students registered, Marymount Academy has 11 and St. Charles College will host 10 International students throughout the year. The students and their host families were welcomed to Sudbury and Sudbury Catholic Schools during a barbecue which took place on September 6 at Marymount Academy.

We wish to thank all staff, teachers and host families that help support them throughout their educational journey with us!The success of the program is also a result of the many generous and supportive host families we have available. The board is always looking to recruit to fill the ever-growing community of host families at Canada Homestay Network. Interested families can contact them directly at hostinfo@canadahomestaynetwork.ca or 1-877441-4443 ext. 2176.

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is proud to announce that the International Education program will be celebrating its first two graduates for the 2017-2018 school year!

Loc Tran, an 18-year-old, international student from Vietnam became the first international graduate of St. Charles College this year. During his 10-month stay, Loc visited many places across the province such as Killarney, Toronto, Ottawa and Niagara Falls. He stated that he was very lucky to have the opportunity to have friendly teachers as well as a host family that cared for him and wanted him to obtain as many new experiences as possible. Loc stated that he made many international friends from various Sudbury Catholic Schools. He feels that this is an opportunity of a lifetime that others should embark on. In September, Loc will be studying Electrical Engineering Technology in London.
Khoa Pham from Vietnam began his journey with Sudbury Catholic Schools in February 2016 at St. Benedict School. Throughout his three semesters at St. Benedict, he has really enjoyed learning about science, especially physics because of its hands-on learning environment. Khoa’s highlights include completing an Outdoor Education canoe trip in the French River area, and camping with his host family. He has really enjoyed his experience at St. Benedict, where he has created lifetime friendships with his classmates. He loved the supportive atmosphere that the teachers and staff at St. Benedict provided and enjoyed being able to explore Sudbury. Khoa will be returning in the Fall to St, Benedict to complete a semester before attending Seneca College for the Computer Support Technician program.

“We are so proud of our two new graduates,” said Joanne Bénard, Director of Education at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “Both Loc and Khoa have grown to love St. Charles College and St. Benedict and the community of Sudbury as a whole. Their experiences with our schools, their teachers and their fellow classmates have helped prepare them for their next journey. We wish them luck in the Fall, we know they will both achieve great things!”

The International Education program at Sudbury Catholic Schools welcomed 18 students throughout the 2017-2018 school year and will welcome 29 for the 2018-2019 school year.

Our International Students celebrated the end to the 2017-18 school year together at Marymount Academy with a pizza party, friends, host families, staff, and a magic show!

Mai and Uyen from Anphat Investment & Consultancy visited our secondary schools and toured the city of Sudbury. We currently have 3 students from the agency that are studying at St. Charles College.

We were honoured to welcome our international students to Sudbury Catholic Schools for the 2017-2018 school year! The 11 students are from various places in China and Vietnam and are completing studies in our Secondary schools this year.

We welcomed our new friends with a traditional Canadian BBQ, featuring chicken and porketta sausage cooked by St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School teacher Mike Sipos (winner of Cook for Me Sudbury in 2015).

We are so grateful to our host families for guiding our students in their journey and thankful for our wonderful staff for their leadership in providing educational opportunities for all. We hope all students involved in the program have a successful and inspirational year!