The Internet now brings Abbotsford classrooms to all

Michelle Watrin, Special to the Times

Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Grade 11 students Ryan Turcot and Taylor Nichols of Ashcroft, B.C. were frustrated with their choices of courses at the start the school year.

Ashcroft Secondary School, with 635 students, offers only a few electives. Feeling their frustration, their principal suggested they take Journalism 11 online through the Abbotsford Virtual School. The classes are free to B.C. residents, so they gave it a shot.

Both Turcot and Nichols have developed online blogs, Ezines, created online review videos and editorials for the student newspaper, at accessabbotsfordvirtual.com and are on the verge of publishing some of their writing in other arenas.

View Larger Image

Ryan Turcot and Taylor Nichols of Ashcroft are enrolled in Abbotsford Virtual School, where they have developed online blogs, created videos and editorials for their school newspaper, through their virtual journalism class.

"Starting my first class in Abby Virtual was almost as easy as starting in a classroom," Turcot said.

"Virtual classes definitely feel a lot less stressful because pretty well everything is done on your terms. You're given deadlines and assignments, and you decide how to manage them."

Since its inception in 2001, AVS has grown to 49 high school classes, as well as kindergarten and elementary programs. It currently services 1,750 students of all ages, including a growing adult population.

The distributed learning school in the Abbotsford School District started off attracting home-schoolers, but has grown into a learning environment that is conducive to today's tech-savvy students.

Almost any class offered in high school is also offered at AVS. There are also specialty courses in journalism, Spanish, Punjabi, 3D animation and even physical education.

High school students regularly use Skype, e-mail, a specialized message system and online classroom meetings (Elluminate) to work through the specific course material formatted through MOODLE, the learning management system.

Vice-principal Mary Stobbe loves working in the virtual community.

"The possibilities are endless for AVS. In a nutshell, AVS provides support for home-based learners, flexibility and alternative learning for high school students and free upgrading for adults wanting to pursue post-secondary," she said.

"We can customize the learning experience for individual students and provide expert educational support from qualified teachers and content specialists at a time, pace and place that suits the student."

Fay Christie, who teaches kindergarten through Grade 3 at AVS, explains how a typical elementary class works.

It's an alternative for parents who want to home school with the guidance of B.C.-certified teachers who provide lessons and resources. It is also an option for students with medical issues or anxiety problems.

AVS students complete the same lessons as students in a regular school, through parent-facilitated resource packages.

"The resource packages help the parent follow the B.C. curriculum while doing common-sense lessons at home, and some programs include a subsidy for the student to use for extra curricular activities to cover PE and fine arts requirements," she said.

The students can go to the actual AVS building bi-weekly for traditional circle and station time, or on Tuesday for art, PE, or computers.

"Kindergarten is a great year to experience our program because a lot of parents are already working with the alphabet, experimenting with writing, helping their child enjoy reading, and teaching safety rules," Christie said.

Sandra Boldt recently switched her fourth grade daughter to AVS.

"AVS is even better than I expected. My daughter loves her teacher, and she's really starting to engage with the discussion boards and online chats with new classmates."

AVS is accepting new applicants for the spring semester. It is located at 33952 Pine St., Abbotsford, off Gladys Avenue, in the former Philip Sheffield Elementary School.

Those interested in virtual classes can also visit www.avs34.com or call 604-859-9803 for details.

© Abbotsford Times 2010

The 2nd Annual Golden Shoe Awards

Canadian Running Magazine January 2010 Issue
December 22, 2009
By various authors indicated in article

Ken Baerg (left)

Randall Mark and Ken Baerg: Community Leaders

By Michelle Watrin

Temeka’s eyes were full of joy. The nine-year-old girl living in Amedo, Ethiopia took one look at the new gravity-driven water system being turned on for the first time in her village and exclaimed, “Now I can go to school!” She was talking through an interpreter to Run for Water’s Randall Mark about the changes this would mean for her life. Before the water tap, girls as young as seven were expected to make the daily 20-kilometre trek up and down a mountain to a natural spring to carry water back to their families. Suddenly, the amazing smile faded from Temeka’s face, and she turned away from Mark and whispered something.

“What? What did she say?” Mark asked the interpreter.

“You really want to know?”

“Yes, I do,” Mark said.

“She said, ‘Tell him I’m happy because I don’t have to go into the jungle anymore so I won’t get raped again.’” The interpreter explained that men from nearby villages would often wait for the girls as they made their daily hike for water. Family survival forced the girls to take this risk every day, even with their families knowing about the possibility of rape, molestation and kidnapping. Temeka’s village had no police or military within hundreds of kilometres. Mark, who has four young daughters of his own, could not hold back his emotion, and through tears he bent down to look into Temeka’s eyes. “I am happy too,” he said to her. Suddenly, Abbotsford, B.C.’s Run for Water was not just about providing clean water to forgotten villages in the southern mountains of Ethiopia.

In a Starbucks back in August 2007, Ken Baerg had shared an ambitious vision with Mark, a TV talk show host and Baerg’s friend and running buddy. Baerg wanted to establish a high-quality 5K, 10K and half-marathon wrapped in a fun, community event for the people of B.C.’s Lower Mainland. The run would also raise funds for Hope International, an organization with developmental projects all over the world, one of which was establishing clean water in Ethiopian villages. “Without the fundamentals - clean water, food and shelter, there is no hope to pull out of the cycle of poverty and premature death for many of these people,” Baerg, an expert in labour relations, says. “Access to water is foundational to health and the ability to start to become economically sustainable.”

Knowing Ethiopia well, Mark was captivated by the idea. His parents had been missionaries there when Mark was a teenager. “Part of my childhood was spent in Ethiopia. The people there are tattooed on my heart, and I still have vivid images of handing out food to many children that seemed more like starving birds than kids,” Mark says. “I jumped at the chance to help them.”

Before long, the two put together a group of more friends and local running enthusiasts with various talents to help out. Key sponsors joined the team, and the Run for Water was born. On June 1, 2008, more than 700 runners and walkers participated in the first event, and they raised $20,000 for Hope International. On May 31, 2009, those numbers more than tripled in the second annual event with 1,700 participants raising more than $90,000. The race is now one of the fastest growing running events in B.C. Envision Financial came on board in 2009 to be the title sponsor of the event, and a teaching program on Ethiopia’s water needs was implemented into classrooms around the Fraser Valley. Students create a project about the cause, fundraise for the event and then participate in the run.

In November 2008, Baerg and Mark accepted an invitation to some villages in Africa with Hope International, where they saw first-hand how the funds from the race were being used. That’s where Mark met nine-year-old Temeka. “We connected with the people on a very human level,” Baerg says. “We moved from a statistical reality - every 15 seconds someone dies in the world because of a lack of clean water - to the reality of kids with mothers and fathers who love them like we love our kids, who cannot provide and who too often watch one another perish for reasons that are ultimately preventable.”

Baerg, Mark and the dedicated board of volunteers have vowed to continue the event to raise more funds to help the people, especially young girls, in remote areas of Ethiopia. The 2010 Run for Water takes place on May 30, with a sister run being planned in Burlington, Ont.

Full day kindergarten arrives in Abbotsford

	Tuesday » January 12 » 2010
All day kindergarten arrives Full day care for children now in B.C. Michelle Watrin Special to the Times Tuesday, January 12, 2010 The Abbotsford School District will start full-day kindergarten classes at 19 of its 31 elementary schools in September, in accordance with a provincial decision to have the classes in all schools 2011-12. The Abbotsford District, which already has about 400 full-day K students, will have an allotment of 893 spaces. "This is good news from the Ministry of Education on funding for full-day kindergarten in Abbotsford as it allows us to offer full-day kindergarten to a few more schools than we had originally anticipated," said Cindy Schafer, chairwoman of the Abbotsford board of educationo. There will be no additional curriculum requirements attached to the extra hours of instruction. There are more than150 ministry-prescribed learning outcomes for kindergarten including language arts, fine arts, health and career, mathematics, physical education, science and social studies. For example, by the end of kindergarten, the student should be able to print most of the letters of the alphabet, his or her own name, some words, take part listen to and talk about pictures and stories. Not all parents are giving a standing ovation to the provincial decision. "I have made the choice to stay home with my kids. Why would I want them to be away for a full day?" said Jennifer Cucheran, a mom with a child going into kindergarten this fall. Parents at two local private schools seem to agree. The staff at MEI Elementary and Abbotsford Christian Elementary conducted surveys with their parent base asking if they wanted to go with full-day kindergarten instruction in 2010, the implementation year, or to stay with the half-time program currently offered. "The result was two to one in favor of the half-time program," said Ernie Janzen, principal of MEI Elementary. "For that reason, we are sticking to our current program until 2011 when all schools are required to go to full-day kindergarten." With similar results, Abbotsford Christian Elementary will do the same. To other parents, this decision is a welcomed change in the school district. Arlene and Herbert Lambart believe this move by the province will be a lifesaver to many parents. Their son Sasha is already in a full-time kindergarten at Alexander Elementary. "For parents like us who both work, all-day kindergarten is fantastic because we don't have to pay for daycare," said Herbert said. "It allows me to work while our son gets to learn in a safe environment. His teacher is fantastic, and we are very happy," added Arlene. Starting Jan. 18, parents can register their children for kindergarten - full-day, part-day or in choice schools. To be registered for kindergarten, children must turn five years of age between January 1 and December 31, 2010. Proof of age (a birth certificate) is required. Proof of residence is also required for students with no siblings in a district school. Parents not in favour of sending their children to full-day kindergarten next year, can send their child to a different school out of their catchment area, hold their child home an extra year if they feel the child is not ready for kindergarten (not officially recommended by the school district), or to check alternative programs such as Abbotsford Virtual. Abbotsord Virtual offers a kindergarten program with resource packages, a support teacher, educational field trips and bi-weekly optional classes to cover the same ministry mandated prescribed learning outcomes. Complete and updated information is available at the school district website, at www.sd34.bc.ca or contact your neighbourhood school.