Running the race

Perseverance.

Determination.

Today was a chance for our Beacon cross country team to give it their best.  Beautiful trails in Dundas Conservation Area, many area Christian schools, and awesome team spirit provided a great backdrop for our students to run.  Whether it was their finest race, their first race, or a race that brought tears, all of our Beacon students persevered and finished.  

Though running a race is an individual effort, all the students encouraged each other to run hard.  The teamwork was awesome!

At the beginning of the week, the team heard Hebrews 12:1-2.  They were reminded that Christ is the one who receives the glory - and He is the one who gifts them with the strength and energy to run.  He will run alongside them, and He has already run the most important Race for them.

A special congratulations to Lauren who ran away with third place in the Junior Girls division.  Congratulations!

What a great way to spend a sunny fall day!

God Worshipping - A Video Diary

Our throughline this month is God Worshipping. Wednesday morning began with another wonderful chapel on what this means for us each and every day. We began with the above video. We sang some awesome songs including "You Are Holy" led by Grade 5.

We also heard some student testimonies on what God worshipping looks like in their lives on a daily basis.

And although Professor Avery Squinch couldn't make it, he did send a video postcard for us all to see! He's always thinking about God's creation, every square inch, even when he's travelling!

What a wonderful chapel to again remind us that we can worship God everywhere and any time!

Grade 8 Guest Blogger

From time to time, we will feature guest student bloggers. It's great to hear from our students themselves on life here at Beacon!

Toronto Reflection Blog

Sara V.

I really enjoyed Toronto! We went to Toronto to learn more about the

history and the biome. We also went to prove that we can travel all the way to

Toronto without using a car, so we used public transit. I really liked the public

transit. My favourite way that we travelled was on the train. I liked the train the

best because it was fast and smooth, although I didn’t like waiting for the train

because it was very cold outside. There was lots of beautiful scenery and we saw

a lot of God’s creation on the way. Many different people take the train. We saw

some old, some young, some French, but most English. On the way back, Abbey,

Haley, and I sat beside a quiet middle-aged woman. The woman kept to herself

and I was wondering why. Then the woman took out her phone and started to

talk in French! It was wonderful to see all the different people on the train. And I

loved to sit backwards.

I didn't like the subway as much because it was dark through the tunnels

and it was loud. On the subway there were a lot of people and we couldn’t all sit.

Some of us had to stand up. I felt like the subway was rushed because the doors

closed right on Katie’s lunch! If it weren’t for Mr. Mulder trying to open the doors

and Rhoda waving to the driver, most of our class would have travelled much

farther than Toronto.

I liked the bus because it was a little more private. It was two to a seat

and we were all facing forwards. On the bus there were a lot of people, but

there were less than on the train, and the subway. We could all sit in partners

and no one had to sit with strangers. I think this way of travelling was the most

peaceful and quiet.

I think that if you lived in Toronto, it would be very busy. Mr. Fullen said

that he had never owned a car before in his life. I think that if we had no car, we

could explore many other things like the subway, a train, the bus, or just walking

around in God’s creation, although, it would take a lot longer than driving

straight there in a car. Also in Toronto, there were some homeless people. If we

had to walk everywhere, I think we would often be asked for food or money.

Rhoda was very kind, thinking of them, and brought us some granola bars to

give to them.

Mr. Fullen’s class and Rhoda showed us many interesting things in

Toronto, but the thing that stood out to me most was the Varsity Stadium,

which Usain Bolt ran in. It’s very cool that a celebrity runner was in Toronto!

There was also a building that was shaped like a peacock. There were a lot of

different shaped buildings, too. There were some old-fashioned churches and

some brand-new glass buildings. It was neat to see all the different buildings.

And all the different shapes had different purposes too. Some libraries, some

restaurants, some offices, and some churches too. Going to Toronto was an

amazing experience, seeing all the different places and learning more of this

history.

Grade One Trip to the Safety Village

Grade one had fun at the Children’s Safety Village in Thorold!

Watch out! Some of the drivers of the jeeps were crazy drivers! Yikes!

Student Guest Blogger - Grade 8 Trip

From time to time, we will feature guest student bloggers. It's great to hear from our students themselves on life here at Beacon!

Toronto Reflection Blog by BK Jeong

The main impression about the public transit was that while it wasn’t all that bad, it

wasn’t as good as in South Korea, the country I’m from. We walked to the bus stop in

Fairview Mall; the bus took us to the train station; we rode the GO-train to Union Station,

and then took a subway. In all, the public transit (excluding the return trip) took about

three hours. In South Korea, we could have gone the same distance in 30 minutes, using

the bullet train. Nevertheless, just like there, we can go almost anywhere without using

a car, but I’m sorry to say that it is not nearly as fast, comfortable, pollution-free or customer friendly. Also, there are a lot of people using the mass transit, so it was very hard to find a seat, and there were a lot of graffiti and litter.

I found the subway particularly uncomfortable, because there were a lot of people from

many countries, and there were not enough seats or poles to hold on to. Some of the

people smelled weird, mostly smelling like too much perfume. Also, the doors are open

for a very short time, so a large group of people couldn’t get out completely and become

separated. This almost happened to us. There was the same problem with the GO-train.

The city itself was quite pleasant, mostly because there were a lot of trees, especially

deciduous trees. Rhoda (Mr. Pot’s sister-in-law) explained to us that coniferous trees

don’t do well in cities because their leaves stay on longer and so pick up more pollution.

She also explained that urban trees are types whose roots do well in tight spaces. (She

was also the person that told the subway driver to re-open the doors during the subway

incident.)

Even though the main streets and open areas were pleasant enough, in the back alleys

that we went through with Mr. Fullan’s class from the University of Toronto during our

Jane’s walk, there were much more garbage, a lot of graffiti, and few trees, so it was

quite freaky for me, rivaling the subway for bad experiences on this trip. I mostly took

photographs of these.

One interesting fact that we learned from Mr. Fullan’s class; the library building of the

University of Toronto is designed to look like a peacock. At first I didn’t get it, but then

we went to the main entrance and we saw that it really did look like a peacock.

This trip was for me a preparation, since we will be doing our own Jane’s walk soon. I can’t wait!

Grade 6 Builds Community

Today was the annual Mike's Miracles Grade 6 soccer tournament. It was a wonderful day of sport, fellowship, community building, and fun! It's wonderful to celebrate community outside our 4 walls.  See the CHCH News coverage here

Grade Eight Interprets Building Community

Last week, our Grade Eight students led us in chapel and shared their version of building community. Check it out!

It's a wonderful blessing when we can learn from each other, student from student, students from teachers and teachers from students. Learning in community!