The Sydenham High School (SHS) track team had a good overall showing at last week's Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (EOSSA) track meet on May 19 and 20, and were particularly strong in the 400, 800, and 1500 metre events.

Among the midget aged girls, SHS star Nicole Armstrong was dominant, winning the 400 metres by a full 2 seconds in a time of 59.44. Nicole also took the 800 metres in a time of 2.24.34, almost 6 seconds ahead of the second place finisher, and her winning 1500 metre time of 4.54.20 was ten seconds ahead of the second place time.

Had Nicole Armstrong been racing with the older athletes in the Senior Division, her times would have placed her in the top three in each race.

Among sprinters, SHS has a very promising junior girls runner, Emelyn Fauvel, who won the 100 metre final in 13.04 seconds. Her time was fastest of any woman’s 100 metre runner in all age groups, save for her own 12.93 time in the preliminary race.

The other area of dominance for SHS was in the senior men's 400 metre race, where SHS runners swept the podium and added the 4th place finisher for good measure. Hayden Peters won the race in 50.22 seconds, Wade Embury finished second in 50.59, Kieran Doyle was third in 50.72 and Matt Fouzies ran fourth in 52.62.

Surprisingly, the senior men did not win the 4 x 400 metre Relay, finishing second in 3.23.04, almost a second behind Thousand Islands High School. Thousand Islands had held their senior men's 400 metre runners out of the individual event to focus on the 4 x 400.

The women's relay teams fared better. SHS won the junior 400 x 100 metre relay in 52.48 seconds, and the 4 x 400 metre open relay in 4:06.09

Other medalists for SHS included Garrett Fraser-Morris, 2nd in the men's 100 metre ambulatory race in 14.66 seconds; Ben Trickey, 2nd in the junior men's 400 metre division 53.15 seconds; Ben Trickey 2nd again in the junior men's 800 metre race in 2.07.77.

Kieran Doyle took 3rd in the men's 800 senior division in 1.57.89, and Nick Belore completed the junior 3000 metre race in 9.57.90, also good for 3rd place. Dylan O'Sullivan finished 3rd in the men's 3000 metre senior race in 8.45.19, and Ben Fisher came 3rd in the senior men's 100 metre hurdles in 15.96 seconds. Hayden Peters won the men's 400 metre hurdles competition in 57.34 seconds, edging out Matt Fouzie who finished second in 57.39 seconds.

In the midget girls' 100 metre division, Melanie Martin finished 2nd in 13.48 seconds. Michela Gossage finished 2nd in the women's 800 metre senior division in 2.23.98.

Lacey Tryon won the women's 1500 metre steeplechase (open division) in 5:29.21; Kayla Gibson finished 3rd in the women's 300 metre hurdles in 50.38 seconds; and Kiercy Latimer came 3rd in the senior women's 400 metre hurdles competition in 1:07.62.

In the jumping competition Celina Grey won the midget women's long jump competition with a jump of 5.04 metres as well as the triple jump competition in the same division with a distance of 10.16 metres. Finally Amanda Tibbutt finished 3rd in the senior women's triple jump competition with a distance of 10.13 metres.

SLHS medalist

Sharbot Lake High School athletes also competed in the EOSSA meet. The best finish by an SLHS athlete was Jessica hole, who finished in 2nd place in the midget women's shot put competition with a throw of 8.37 metres.

Sydenham Eagles won the final KASSAA senior girls volleyball match against KCVI at Queen’s on Feb. 21. Photo courtesy of Rob Kendrick.

Sydenham High School’s senior girls’ volleyball team gave it more than their all on Feb. 21 at the Queen’s University ARC court in Kingston.

A supportive crowd from Sydenham attended the game, and after having a pre-game moment of silence to remember Gavin Davis-Young the Sydenham High School student who passed away tragically in a car accident last week, the girls focused on the challenge that lay immediately ahead: meeting KCVI in the final match of the KASSAA (Kingston and Area Secondary School Athletic Association) playoffs.

The Sydenham team stands tall, with three players over six feet, and plays a totally different style than KCVI. “KCVI is a team that goes for the corners and likes to keep digging at the ball, which is not the kind of game that we play. We are a power team and our strength is in playing transition offence and what it all comes down to for us is communication between the players,” said Sydenham coach Brian Rombough.

Undefeated, the Sydenham Eagles Senior Girls Volley ball team take the KASSAA trophy at their final game against KCVI at Queen's

Though the two teams’ styles are different, both fought hard in a match that seemed to get closer set by set.

The Eagles came out strong in the first set taking an early lead and holding it for a 25-14 win.

In the second set KCVI battled back, returning some tough shots and leading for the first half of the set. But the Eagles clawed their way back, eventually tying it up and then taking the set 25-23.

In the third set the Eagles dove, rolled and skidded, trying to return some tough balls from KCVI. This seemed to frustrate the Sydenham squad, causing them to lose some of their focus. KCVI played hard, making some incredible returns and gaining points in the corners to capture the third set 25-21, forcing a fourth.

The fourth set was very close but in the end the Eagles came back bigger and harder than ever, regaining their focus and concentration. They clinched the last few points in some spectacular blocks, making hard returns and amazing volleys to win the match 3-1 and claim the KASSAA trophy.

Following the medals and trophy presentations I spoke to coach Rombough about the game.

“KCVI played a great game and is really well coached. They played great defense. We started losing focus after the first set and gave KCVI hope, which is a dangerous thing to give to an emotional team. I strongly believe that you have to take hope away from the opposing team somewhere between the 9 and 15 point mark. That’s a crucial part of the game.”

Jennie McNichols, the Eagles’ setter, said, “It definitely wasn’t my best game; I tend to get really nervous but the team fixed that. I’m very excited for the win and can’t wait to play at EOSSA.”

The Sydenham Eagles will play next at the EOSSAA (Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association) tournament in Pembroke on Feb. 23, where they will face Fellows High School in their first match.

Coach Rombough sounds confident.

“We have a big blocking team and are a power team that likes to play big. We play a lot better against hard-hitting power teams. We like matching power with power, which is what we will be coming up against at EOSSA. Our team just has to stay focused,” he said.

In other volleyball news: Before losing out to the Sydenham Eagles, KCVI ended the KASSAA season for the Sharbot Lake Panthers on February 18.

The Panthers took the first set of that match 25-19. In set 2 the Panthers ran into trouble serving and passing the ball and KCVI took it 25-20. According to Sharbot Lake coach Bryan English the team “seemed to lose their urgency in the third” and lost 13-25.

In the fourth the Panthers rallied together and tied it up 18-18 but ended up losing the match 3 sets to one. Nonetheless Sharbot Lake had an impressive season and will be heading into EOSSA, where they will compete in the small school division. They are confident that they will be able to advance to the provincial playdowns.

Shelley Brooks and her Organizing Committee, Front Row, L to R: Laura Gabriel, Emma Peters, Kelsey Ross, Shelley Brooks, Shelby Vicker, Samantha Perry. Back Row, L to R: Rebecca Mills, Kylie Holden, Megan Ross, Melody Patterson, Jessica Warmington, Raquel Pauls, Victoria Hill, Emily HOle, Laura Sands, Elwin van Alst.

For 40 years, Sydenham High's annual fashion show has been a popular sold-out spring event. This year's show will feature fashion from 20 local stores, with music from four decades and the local band Rock Bottom. The audience will compete for real prizes in interactive game shows from the past 40 years and there'll be a retro peek at fashions from the 70's.

To celebrate the show's 40th anniversary, there will be a special evening just for alumni. Everyone who has ever participated in the show, whether as tech, backstage, model, or musician, is invited to come to an anniversary gala. Please get in touch with show coordinater, Shelley Brooks, at SHS, 613-376-3027; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

All profits go to the Haiti Fund run by two fashion show alumni, and to sponsor students in need at SHS.

Public show will be Friday, March 5, 7pm: alumni only evening is Saturday March 6, beginning with social hour at 6:00 pm. Tickets available at SHS and Sydenham One-Stop.

Long-time staff coordinator Shelley Brooks (L) with Adele Gualtieri Amado(R), who organized the show during the ‘80s

Sydenham High School wound up its 40th annual fashion show with a Saturday night gala for all the alumni who had taken part over the years. The first official SHS fashion show took place in Loughborough Public School gym, because at the time, the schools were sharing premises while SHS was undergoing extensive renovations.

It was a modest affair, featuring students modelling clothes they had made in ‘Home Ec” class. Forty years later, nobody’s heard of the traditional Home Economics class, and one of the most entertaining sets highlighted 1970’s

style clothes from parents’ closets. Other highlights included wedding dresses and sudent made fashions.

Teacher Mike Mol, students Matt Edmonds, Shane Caird, Mike Guindon, Mike Barr

Sydenham High School students in Mike Mol’s technology class received a small grant from the Limestone Learning Foundation last year for materials.

The students, Mat Edmonds, Shane Caird, Mike Guindon and Mike Barr designed and built a nifty bi-directional log splitter that will be featured at the Limestone Learning Foundation’s annual fundraising golf tournament next month.

There were plans to raffle off the splitter with proceeds to go to the Learning Foundation, but those plans have not been finalised.

In other news from SHS, Kole Hoover, an Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program student who takes a program in masonry that is jointly administered with St. Lawrence College, has received a silver medal at the provincial skills competition that was held in Waterloo last week.

Teacher Mike Mol, students Matt Edmonds, Shane Caird, Mike Guindon, Mike Barr

Sydenham High School students in Mike Mol’s technology class received a small grant from the Limestone Learning Foundation last year for materials.

The students, Mat Edmonds, Shane Caird, Mike Guindon and Mike Barr designed and built a nifty bi-directional log splitter that will be featured at the Limestone Learning Foundation’s annual fundraising golf tournament next month.

There were plans to raffle off the splitter with proceeds to go to the Learning Foundation, but those plans have not been finalised.

In other news from SHS, Kole Hoover, an Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program student who takes a program in masonry that is jointly administered with St. Lawrence College, has received a silver medal at the provincial skills competition that was held in Waterloo last week.

An experienced group of actors who work beautifully together, are performing a three-night run of The Importance of Being Earnest at Sydenham High this weekend. This last and best of Oscar Wilde’s plays is full of biting humour, poking fun at marriage, social hypocrisy, and rural life: “When one is in town, one amuses oneself: when one is in the country, one amuses other people.”

It’s the story of two young men living double lives of respectability, spiced with wild weekends in the city. Eventually, of course, their dual identities catch up with both of them in a fast-paced, very funny melodrama of confused identities and furious fiancées. There is a young heroine hoping to find a man who needs reforming, a governess with a shady past, and an elderly aunt who’s determined to uphold the family reputation at all costs (almost).

“Most of this group has performed together for several years, and they’re outstanding,” says Director Dan Raponi, “It’s a shame we can’t reward them with larger audiences.”

For most of them it’s their last year at SHS.

Earnest is playing this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, May 6, 7& 8, at SHS. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:00.

Sydenham’s Golden Eagles squad take second place at the Nationals. Photo courtesy of Miranda Roy

After placing first in their division in mid-February the Sydenham Golden Eagles competitive co-ed cheerleading team placed second at the Nationals, which were held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga this past weekend. The team competed against seven teams in the intermediate division from all over Canada. 

The Eagles put on a tremendous performance, finishing just 2 points (out of 800) behind the first-place winners, Eden High School from Hamilton. Seeing that of the 26-member team only one is an actual gymnast, they chose to focus on technical difficulty. Head coach Jenn Mizerovsky said, “We took a big chance and focused on big precision stunts like pyramids and tosses and it ended up paying off.”

In the preliminary round, worth 40% of their score, the Eagles finished in second place with a score of 280.5, just 1.5 points behind the first-place team. They incurred a small deduction in an otherwise clean performance.

In the second round, worth 60% of their final score, they scored 287.7, just 0.7 points behind the leading team.

The team’s second-place finish was even more remarkable given that they lost seven members leading up to the competition, and were forced to make a number of last-minute changes to their routine just weeks before the event.

Jenn Mizerovsky said, “We were feeling pretty nervous going in and though we were still shooting for a top spot we all knew that it could either turn out very well or really badly.”

Grade 10 student and team member Katrina Roy spoke to me by phone after the win and said, “We’re all so proud. We practiced so hard for this and it all came together in the end.”

The team also took the award for most creative use of music, beating out the 150 teams that participated.

The coach credited the team for their drive and determination and said, “They did an outstanding job, and with so little time to prepare they performed with confidence and precision and also managed to keep smiling the entire way through.”

Shelby Vickery explored using tap water as a form of electricity at Sydenham High School’s Earth Day Carousel.

On April 22 as part of their focus on Earth Day, students at Sydenham High School participated in the Earth Day Carousel, a display of student projects whose focus was the environment.

Included in close to 40 displays were a number of projects that focused on environmental awareness and various practical strategies and solutions to reduce our carbon footprint.

Kieran Doyle, Jen Pople and Rachel Givens did a garbage audit of Sydenham High School, in which they examined 18 bags of school garbage that were collected on April 8.

Their findings were an eye opener- of those 18 bags only two were actually garbage. Four could have been recycled as paper; another four could have been recycled in blue boxes and the last four could have been composted. After crunching the numbers the group found that 89% of the garbage collected could have been recycled.

Doyle said about the project, “It was a messy job but it was well worth it since the statistics showed us that yearly SHS produces 37,000 pounds of garbage. We learned that if students made more of an effort to recycle, that number could be reduced by 27,000 pounds." Doyle hopes the results of the study will go a long way in raising student awareness and that after seeing the numbers, students will be motivated to take those 20 extra steps to the recycle bin.

Shelby Vickery, in her project titled “Tap Water: A Form of Electricity”, demonstrated how household tap water can be used to conduct electricity. Her display demonstrated how an electrical current produced from 6 glasses of house tap water is enough to produce 3 to 6 volts of electricity - enough to power a calculator and according to her, other household items like lamps. Shelby explained, “The technology could be used in emergency situations and for other household items that don’t require too much electricity.”

Tyler Hill, Adam Wilson, Brianna Jeffreys and Chris Lafontaine made a pop can solar heater that can be used as a home heater and another group explored the environmental impact of oil spills.

Most of the projects developed from Erik Rutherford’s grade 12 class on Human Environmental Resource Management. The day’s events also included a school-wide clean up of the Sydenham community, a BBQ, karaoke and a concert by Rock Bottom at the football field.

The day’s aim was three-fold: to explore various issues and alternative green options, and to raise students’ awareness of environmental issues while making a practical contribution to cleaning up the school and community.

Sydenham High School’s Assistant Vice Principal Kelly Roantree was pleased with the day’s event, and as acting chair of the school’s eco-team, is hoping to see the school take on more green initiatives in the near future in the hopes of earning gold status eco certification for this year. Last year the school received a bronze medal. 

The Sydenham High School drama club almost passed on the Sears Festival this year when they could not pull together a production they had been planning. Instead, they split into two groups and brought 20 minute long, three actor pieces called Philistines and Farmers and The Poetics.

Both plays won awards at the Festival, and the production of Poetics, by Canadian playwright Jason Sherman, was one of three plays chosen to move on to the Regional Festival in Cornwall.

Philistines and Farmers starred Curis Law, Geoff Hull and Courtney Sproul. It was an ensemble directed piece. Courtney Sproul was the stage manager and Megan Tidman handled the lighting.

The Poetics starred Dylan Parsons, Ana Donefer-Hickey (who won an acting award of excellence) and Emelie Myles-Gonzales. Stephanie Brown was the stage manager, Julie Sleeth handled the lighting, and the piece was directed by the ensemble.

Dan Raponi runs the drama department at SHS, and he has been working with this same group of students for four years.

“They really are the best student group,” he said, “and they are all graduating this year.”

Most of the above listed people worked on last year’s SHS Sears production of “the Virtuous Burglar”, which also moved on to the regional festival and on “Our Town” last June. They have been hard at work on “the Importance of Being Earnest” which will be the culminating production of this school year.

“It’s going to be an incredible production” Raponi said.

The Philistines and Farmers and The Poetics will be performed at the high school within the next couple of weeks.