Windermere Community News
 
Three grade 12 students, Alivia Ma, Jennifer Luo, and Chanel Ly has just completed an amazing 10 days of the Impact Microcredit challenge and raised almost $2000 for the Covenant House! The object of this business initiative is to raise as much money as possible for a charity of their choice, in this case, the Covenant House, with a loan of only $100. The girls hoped to contribute to a local organization that is helping with the ongoing issue of homelessness in Vancouver. They creatively ran fundraisers such as hatha yoga classes and customized mugs for the staff and students of Windermere. Check out the pictures of their fundraisers!

SOHY stands for Speaking Out for Homeless Yout
 
Welcome back... 01/04/2010
 
Happy 2k10 warriors! Ready or not, welcome back to school. I hope everyone had a wild Winter Break... well, an enjoyable one at least. Here's the good news: two more months until Spring Break. In the meantime, let's make school worthwhile, whether it be getting involved in team sports, taking part in clubs, or volunteering in the community. 

Have you been eating well? Here's a video about the real cost of food.. a new year's resolution maybe?
 
 
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Halima Bashir was born in Darfur in a well-off family in the late 1970's. Her father tried to ensure that she receives a good education, which was rare for women in Darfur. She successfully attended a medical school in Khartoum, working towards a career as a doctor. Unfortunately, in response to her criticism towards the treatment of Darfuri tribes by the government, she was expelled to a remote village in Norther Darfur. Working at a small clinic in the village changed her life.
In her remote village, many people, especially children, filled the clinic with injuries and wounds from the Janjaweed militias. One day, more than forty female students and their teachers had been brought to the clinic after being raped and beaten. After the UN heard about this incident, they paid a visit with Halima, asking her about the incident. She told them the truth. 
In the next few days, Halima was kidnapped, raped, beaten, burned with cigarettes, and cutting her with weapons. She was told that she would suffer for her conversation with the UN and her ethnic background. Very soon after, the village was attacked, causing her to flee to London, England. Her father was killed and the whereabouts of her mother and siblings are unknown. The courageous Halima decided that she needed to tell the stories of Darfur. In 2008, her book Tears of the Desert was published, which was reviewed as incredibly beautiful, heartwrenching and deeply affecting. 

Go to the Save Darfur Coalition site for more information.
 
Dance for Darfur 12/03/2009
 
Play this Darfur is Dying game to get a glimpse of the life of a Darfurian.

Great progress on the fundraiser so far warriors! We need to raise as much change as we can to maximize Windermere's contribution towards improving the atrocities in Darfur. Proceeds will go to the Darfur/Sudan Peace Network and War Child Canada.

Millions of people are doing their part to help improve and raise awareness about the situation in Darfur, Sudan. Here's an inspiring dance show choreographed by Rebecca Davis, who was born in our very own Vancouver and trained in classical Russian style ballet. Three years ago, she founded her very own award-winning dance company, simply named the Rebecca Davis Dance Company. What makes this dance company unique is that they are a non-profit organization that uses contemporary ballet to raise awareness and deepen the public's knowledge of historical events and social issues such as the atrocities in Darfur. So far, the dance show DARFUR has raised $5,000 for the Global Grassroots organization. 

How does dancing communicate to the public about these issues? Here's a short video to show you what it's about. It involves George Clooney and an amazing, expressive dancer.
 
World AIDS Day 12/01/2009
 
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In remembrance of the 2 million people globally who died of AIDS related deaths in 2008 and the 33.4 million people who are diagnosed with AIDS today, events all over the world are happening to raise awareness, such as ribbon events, festivals, prayer services, and more. Many NGO's are making sure that world leaders are setting up prevention and treatment programs that are accessible by the public. This incurable illness is probably one of the most widespread viruses out there, yet it gets minimal press coverage. We now know more about swine flu than HIV/AIDS, which has only been around since March 2009. 

For more info, visit http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/ or http://www.avert.org/aids-statistics.htm.

CHANGE FOR DARFUR - Dec 1 - 10th in 1-1 classes! Win a pizza party!
 
 
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First of all, I'd like to congratulate Melissa Wong, Henry Tan, and Kevin Liu as the winners of the November photo contest! Go to the photo gallery for a slideshow of all the entries. 


Yesterday, many people in the United States participated in Black Friday. In response to the busiest day of shopping of the year in the US, Buy Nothing Day was born. Look below for details.

What is Black Friday?
Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the US. It's like the Boxing Day of Canada, where retail business cut their prices extremely low. In 2007, there were more consumers that participated in Black Friday than people participating in the 2008 US presidential election, which recorded the largest voter turnout in history. This non-official "holiday" started out as the busiest day for traffic and shopping in the 1960's, at the beginning of Christmas shopping. It wasn't until 2000 until Black Friday became popular.

Now, we all know what happens on days like this. Stores open 5am or earlier in the morning to prepare for oceans of people that line up in front of the store for the best deals. A Walmart employee was actually killed by a shopper stampede in Long Island last year. A pregnant woman was also stepped on, which resulted in a miscarriage later on. Sure, shopping helps the economy as people see it, but is it worth it?

What is Buy Nothing Day?
"Timed to coincide with one of the busiest shopping days on the US retail calendar, as well as the unofficial start of the international holiday-shopping season, Buy Nothing Day has taken many shapes, from relaxed family outings, to free, non-commercial street parties, to politically charged public protests. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending."

On the Buy Nothing Day website:
"Driving hybrid cars and limiting industrial emissions is great‚ but they are band–aid solutions if we don’t address the core problem: we have to consume less. This is the message of Buy Nothing Day."

Buy Nothing Day is a campaign initiated by the Ad Busters 20 years ago, where it was seen as a radical idea. Now, we need this more than ever. The Buy Nothing site states that if we want to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours, we need to consume less!

Here's a brilliant way to promote Buy Nothing Day: Black Friday Parody
 
 
Here are everyone's November photo entries! The theme is black and white this month, to match the cold and rainy weather outside. There are always ways to see the gloomy weather as a beautiful thing. It is also a way to incorporate our dance theme maybe?

Vote for your top THREE! Thank you to all who entered, the photos this month are amazing. Voting will end Friday night.

By the way, get your dance tickets, don't procrastinate! One for $9, three for $24!
 
 
Term one is finally over and for most of us, it's time for a fresh new start to either maintain those grades or boost them up! Here's the video of the week.. it's a cute way for an attempt to change our daily behaviours, even though it probably takes a lot of work to put together. Is it the most effective way to go?
Click here to vote for the "Green Graffiti" project for our Downtown Eastside area! They need all the support they can get. It's easy peasy to vote too.

Just another reminder that photo entries for the black and white November photo contest is due this saturday at midnight! Everyone attending Windermere is welcome to participate. Send to communitywhs@gmail.com.
 
 
Vancouver Sun Article

In recognition of Restorative Justice Week and the Restorative Justice Program at Windermere, a news conference was hosted at the school yesterday. The restorative justice team was joined by community representatives, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson; VPD Deputy Chief Constable Doug lePard; Judge Gurmail S. Gill, Associate Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia; criminologist Evelyn Zellerer. Two Restorative Justice team members including alumni student Charlie Chin talked about their experiences and feelings about RJ. It was a powerful conference as topics were discussed, such as dealing with disputes, acts of violence, bullying and vandalism among the students in the school. Finally, mayor Gregor Robertson took the opportunity to read out a proclamation, officially announcing the initiation of Restorative Justice Week in Vancouver. The goal of the Restorative Justice Team is to seek solutions to restore the peace in conflicts, and to maintain a safe and healthy environment for students to be in.
 
 
It's time. It's time to think about what we're going to do after high school, time to make significant decisions on this turning point in our lives. Tuition fees are increasing by the minute, and we can't wait another second to figure out how we're going to pay for our education. There may not be enough money saved for post-secondary, and scholarships may not be an option. Finally, we may have to turn to applying for student loans. In Canada, about $13 billion worth of student loans have yet to be made up. Isn't our government supposed to contribute money to support the education of the people of the next generation? Aren't our parents' taxes going towards basic needs such as public health care and education? Why is the rate of poverty and hunger rising in our developed country? Where is all the money going? Here are some statistics that have shocked me beyond belief.

Canada's total Defence budget for 2009 - more than $19.1 billion.
     >Canada is the sixthhighest military spender within NATO, fifteenth highest in the world.
           >NATO: Military alliance of 28 independent countries in Europe and North America