HWDSB in the News – Winter 2024
Please see some recent media stories, featuring HWDSB students, staff, schools, and more.
Elementary teachers ‘Honour the Work’ at Mohawk College
By Robin MacLennan (Ontario Construction News) – January 23, 2024 
Mohawk College recently hosted Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) elementary teachers for a day-long “exploring the trades” educator, conducted by Honour the Work, an organization that promotes skilled trades education.
Hamilton-Stoney Creek MPP Neil Lumsden and Flamborough—Glanbrook MPP Donna Skelly joined HWDSB teachers while they tried plumbing, masonry, electrical, and gear activities.
Click here to read more on the Ontario Construction News website.
Black History Month celebrations begin in Hamilton
By Veronica Carvalho (CHCH News) – February 1, 2024 
Celebrations launched at Hamilton City Hall, to commemorate the start of Black History Month with the unveiling of a new honouree in a special initiative co-organized by Black-led organizations.
Political leaders, community members and advocates took to the podium to reflect on the trials and triumphs of the past and present.
Students from the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board paid tribute to the bravery of pioneers who led the way.
Click here to read more on the CHCH News website.
From concept to airwaves: student-led podcast amplifies voices and builds community at Bellmoore Elementary School
‘Podmoore: Voices at Bellmore’ was launched at Binbrook school in the fall
By Kate McCullough (The Hamilton Spectator) – February 3, 2024
Students at the Binbrook elementary school are all smiles as they finished recording their latest episode of “Podmoore: Voices at Bellmoore,” seated at a round table in front of microphones and a soundboard.
From conception to airing on the Bellmoore Instagram account, the podcast takes students — with the support of teachers and parent/podcaster Sara Fung, who co-hosts “The Gritty Nurse” — about a week to produce. This involves brainstorming a topic, enlisting interviewees, writing the script, recording and editing.
Grade 7 student Sawyer Mattioli, a self-taught editor with his own YouTube channel, has helped teach his peers how to record and edit the podcast, which typically takes a day or two, depending on length. The editing team works behind the scenes adjusting volume, adding intro music, which was created by a former student, and, occasionally, re-recording sections of the podcast where a student is speaking too quietly, or there’s an error or background noise. Other students work on the marketing and branding by creating graphics on Canva to share with the community.
Click here to read more on The Hamilton Spectator’s website.
He was cut from his Hamilton high school team. Now, he’s an NBA Megastar
A killer work ethic, supportive parents, visionary coaches and down-to-earth pals all had a hand in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s mind-blowing success
By Jon Wells (The Hamilton Spectator) – February 15, 2024
Lean and loose-limbed, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander strolls in bare feet across the hardwood of an empty gym in Oklahoma.
Hamilton’s only NBA player lives 10 minutes from the practice facility of the Oklahoma City Thunder, named for the mercurial weather of the U.S. southwest; the team’s arena has tornado shelters.
It’s a long way from home, where the 25-year-old’s image looms large on murals inside Sir Allan MacNab high school, in the Mountain neighbourhood where he went to class, shot hoops, and hit Venice Pizza down the street with friends.
Click here to read more on The Hamilton Spectator’s website.
Westmount senior girls win HWDSB volleyball championship
Westmount defeated Hamilton District Christian in three sets
By Cathie Coward (The Hamilton Spectator) – February 16, 2024
The Westmount Secondary School senior girls volleyball team won the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board championship Wednesday night at Ancaster High School.
Westmount defeated Hamilton District Christian High School in three straight sets, 25-11, 25-17 and 25-21.
Click here to read more on The Hamilton Spectator’s website.
John C. Holland Awards marks 28th year of celebrating Black youth in Hamilton
This year’s awards honoured nearly three dozen community members, including an elementary student.
By Fallon Hewitt (The Hamilton Spectator) – February 27, 2024
An annual gala honouring Black history, leadership and youth achievement in Hamilton celebrated its 28th edition over the weekend.
The Rev. John C. Holland Awards, named for the iconic Hamiltonian who died in 1954 and was the first Black individual ever named Citizen of the Year in a Canadian community, were hosted by the Hamilton Black History Council at Liuna Station on Saturday evening.
Nearly three dozen award and bursary winners were honoured at the event, which recognizes areas such as volunteerism, community advocacy and sports leadership as well as academic achievement.
Click here to read more on The Hamilton Spectator’s website.
Students in special education classes cheer on high school hockey teams at inaugural event
Students in special education classes at Orchard Park and Nora Frances Henderson cheered on their high schools’ hockey teams at a game Monday morning
By Kate McCullough (The Hamilton Spectator) – February 27, 2024
As a yellow school bus pulled up outside Valley Park arena, jersey-clad players scramble to form two lines, creating a corridor of blue Patriots. One by one, students step off the bus, welcomed by clapping and cheers from their high school’s hockey team, dolling out high-fives and fist-bumps as they file into the building.
Once inside, it will be their turn to cheer the team on as they face opponent Nora Frances Henderson in a game Monday morning.
“It’s an experience that these kids don’t get just because of busing and scheduling and supervision,” said Orchard Park Patriots coach Tim Harvey.
What started as a casual conversation between Henderson teacher Toula Corr and Huskies’ hockey coach Connor Rilett “ignited,” quickly developing into an interschool initiative to make high school hockey accessible for fans in special education. The teams’ coaches agreed to move a late-afternoon game to 10:30 a.m. on Monday, marking the inaugural event they hope to repeat next year.
Click here to read more on The Hamilton Spectator’s website.
Millgrove students spread kindness on Pink Shirt Day
The annual event started in 2007 in Nova Scotia and is now celebrated across the country
By Cara Nickerson (FlamboroughToday.com) – February 29, 2024 
Students across Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board wore pink shirts on Wednesday, but the anti-bullying message was a little different this year at Millgrove Elementary School.
Principal Priscilla Mochrie said in the past on Pink Shirt Day, students often talked about what it means to be a bully, which can single students out.
“Today what I’m noticing with the students is a real shift to the word ‘Kindness’,” she said, adding that the focus is less about telling students not to bully and more about teaching them to be kind to one another.
Click here to read more on Flamboroughtoday.com
