Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Vic West Honoured at VCPAC Awards


Our small and mighty school has yet another reason to be proud! Vic West Elementary teacher, John DiCicco, along with Esquimalt High School teacher, Trevor MacKenzie, are the recipients of the Parents Choice Award in this year’s Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (VCPAC) annual awards.

Mr. DiCicco and Mr. MacKenzie were recognized at a ceremony Tuesday night at Lambrick Park Secondary School for the literacy program they developed between Mr. MacKenzie’s grade 12 English students and Mr. DiCicco’s grade 2 class. Students paired up to read together and explore story-telling, culminating in a story book told and illustrated by the younger students and written up and assembled by their grade 12 buddy. This meaningful program between our two schools was such a success after one semester that it was expanded to include two more classrooms at Vic West.

This district-wide honour was the most-nominated category at this year’s VCPAC Awards, and our school PAC is incredibly proud that this wonderful program is part of the learning that goes on at Vic West.

Read more about this inter-school literacy program and the lessons that were learned by kids big and small (and their teachers, too!) on Mr. MacKenzie’s blog.

We were also celebrating our PAC President, Mercedes Calvert, on Tuesday night! Mercedes was recognized as a nominee for the Gail Edwards Memorial Award, an honour that recognizes a parent or guardian in our school district who has made a significant contribution to improve the quality of life in the school, who also gives unconditionally to the success of our children, and who inspires others to make a commitment to volunteering. Mercedes is all of these things and so much more, and we are incredibly fortunate to have her on our team of parent volunteers at Vic West.

Congratulations to Mercedes, John and Trevor!