#lhhs

[2016core]

she's a princess

[masoncarr2244]

My old High School.

[notmugzeee]

Fergie Jesus

[blucamo]

Walk out

Today was a meaningful day.

Today i walked out with my classmates in a protest called #walkout , a peaceful protest against gun violence. A protest honoring the 17 lives that were lost a week ago.

Today I felt powerful.

Today made me so proud of my school. It made me realize that people really do care and how my faith in humanity really is restoring itself.

We're not just a bunch of attitude filled teenagers.

We have hopes and dreams. We have emotions and we are living beings.

We don't want to feel unsafe in a supposed "safe environment."

Schools are supposed to be safe, not hazardous.

I don't want to live in fear that someone might hurt me physically.

We CAN make a change. WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE. We have voices that we need to use.

And our voices WILL be heard whether you like it or not.

We may be young but we're not stupid. We have lives.

People need to stop ignoring these blantant signs. The signs that are obvious, we need to take mental health seriously. We need to stop ignoring it.

Some people give the most obvious signals. Yet people ignore it.

Please help those in need, don't ignore your peers. Dont let them be a danger to anyone or themselves.

These people CAN heal, they CAN get help. But you need to help with that too.

We need better gun laws. No, don't ban guns. Make the system stricter. Make the evaluations harder, make sure people who are not in the right of mind can't lay their hands on guns.

People take this as a joke. It's not a joke.

School shootings, murder, suicide, bullying, rape. These things are horrible and should be solved.

I want my school to be safe.

I want to feel safe in my classroom.

I'm done living with fear and I'm done staying silent.

I will fight for my life if I have to. And I'll do it without violence.

Help me do that please. Help us, we are all a family. We are all human beings and we shouldn't be in fear like this.

Tell the person you're with right now that you love them, because you never know what could happen next.

[nintendomaster15]

I been there at the White House a few times with my old high school and I was not impressed. #whitehouse #potus #presidentshouse #lhhs

[queerbobbles]

[katherinemoller-blog]

Montreal, here we come!

I am currently on the road with my Leo Hayes High School students. We gathered at 6am this morning in order to hit the road by 6:30. That was early! I must say that I really enjoy a good band trip. I was at least as excited as the kids, especially since I went to university at McGill. This is a trip back to a familiar city! A lot of the trip was quit quiet since we were all still tired, but there was that fantastic buzz of excitement that you get when you have 29 high school students headed off on an adventure. I love the drive along the St. John River Valley. There is some fantastic scenery. I also enjoy the scenery once you cross over into Quebec as it reminds me of all the trips to McGill. My aim was to knit a complete sock on the way to Montreal, but as you can see, I failed. Close, but not quite!

We arrived in Montreal by about 4:30 local time. This gave us time to settle into our new home in downtown Montreal. We were able to spend a bit of time outside just hanging around as well as unpacking and moving in. Given the location of our accommodations, we were able to walk to dinner and then walk to St. George’s Church.

I live in the middle of nowhereand sometimes see moose near my house. Image my surprise to see two in downtown Montreal!

Ok, so they weren’t real moose… But they amused me none-the-less.

The big excitement of the day was getting to go to a concert by the Swingle Singers. As a matter of fact, that is why we had to get up and leave so early in the morning! I was really excited about this concert as I always enjoy a cappella groups. I was surprised that every time I told someone we were going to hear the Swingle Singers that I got a blank look in return. This is a group that has been around since the 60s, although the current singers are not the original members. The concert was amazing!

It was actually part of the Festival Musique de Chambre Montreal. (www.festivalmontreal.org) We were greeted by the organizer of the festival, Denis Brott, and granted VIP entrance to St. George’s Church. None of the students had heard of the Swingle Singers before, but they were entranced by the concert. The music and harmonies were great, and I always love good beatboxing: these guys can make the sounds of a drum kit with just their voices. Highlights of the concert included Corelli’s Concerto Grosso No. 6, Rimski-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” I love baroque music, the Rimsky-Korsakov was just plain cute, and the 1812 was a lot of fun with the sound of canons and the house lights flickering. If you have never heard this group, you should check them out at http://youtu.be/CZo1_BDn8Ew. This is a clip of the Rimsky-Korsakov.

We have now returned to the dorms, and the children are all in their rooms. Time for me to pack it in too. All in all, I must say that this has been a very successful first day to the trip.

[katherinemoller-blog]

We are still all here!

As mentioned yesterday, I know live in the country. That fact was emphasized to me last night as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep. Even though I used to live in a basement apartment in the McGill ghetto and sleep through the partiers heading to and from St-Laurent, I am now used to my quiet rural existence: very few cars, no drunken revelers and no streetlights. Given these factors, I awoke not quite so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to begin day 2 of the LHHS band trip. I should clarify that even though I keep using the term “band trip,” this is actually a music department trip that includes the string ensemble as well.

After breakfast we broke into small groups and headed off toward the Musée des Beaux-Arts. We were early, so we had a chance to do some window-shopping on the way. It had to be window-shopping (much to the chagrin of my group) as none of the stores opened until 10am, and we were due at the museum by 10:15. We went to see the Terracotta Army of the First Qin Emperor. We went on a guided tour through the exhibit, and I have to say that the exhibit was fantastic! If you are in Montreal, definitely check it out! The warriors are these amazing full-sized figures. Apparently there were 8000 of them and 1000 have been excavated. In the museum display they included a warrior, a bowman, a charioteer and a general. These figures were created from the feet up for the legs and torso.

The head and the arms were created separately and then attached to the rest of the figure. Also included in the display were some horses. They were fantastic! I wish I had been able to take a picture of them as their faces were delightful. The horses were full of whimsy and you almost felt like they were laughing! Also interesting was that the tomb of the emperor has never actually been entered. It was booby trapped when it was created, and the engineer responsible was put to death right away. They have done some scans of the area, so they do know what is present in the tomb, but is has not actually been seen. The terracotta army was discovered in a separate area that was not booby trapped.

In the afternoon we headed out to the Montreal Tower and Biodome. During my years at McGill I visited the Biodome on several occasions, but had not actually gone up the tower. We took the funicular up to the viewing platforms at the top. The view on Montreal was great! We were really lucky that the weather was nice as it was supposed to rain all day today. Students never cease to amaze me: one of them approached me to ask why were there. Was it just to look at the view? I told her that yes we were. When traveling I don’t need a purpose to go do something that is really neat.

Our next stop was the Biodome. This was a lot of fun. We did not take any sort of guided tour and were able to wander through the area as we wished. It was hard to know which animals to watch as we went… the ones from the biodome, or the ones brought with us from home! It was a lot of fun to see the students react to the different displays.

That is of course one of the beauties of traveling with children: you not only get to enjoy the displays, but also their response to them. Should I never give birth to children of my own, I figure that I will have had hundreds anyway.

I went through the exhibits twice before heading out at the end.

My favourite display has always been the penguins, so I was disappointed that the display was under repair. You could still see the penguins, but they were not as close as usual.

After dinner we went back to the Festival Musique de Chambre for another concert, tonight featuring Carol Welsman. This concert was another excellent concert, although I personally did not enjoy it as much as the concert last night. Carol in an excellent jazz singer and pianist who sings in a lovely effortless way. I really enjoyed the fact that her singing was not forced in any way. Having said that, jazz is not my favourite style of music and I was worn out by a long day of activity. You can check her music out for yourself at: 

http://youtu.be/XfbvjzUupUw.

Another great day on the road with the kids. We have managed to survive with all 29 students still with us and all 4 chaperons still present. No one has jumped ship just yet, so I figure the trip is a success! On to more adventures tomorrow!