January 3rd, 2021 HILL Message (from Academic Director Rick Kunc): Welcome to 2021. As I joined The Hill team, I was drawn to the positive energy. The Leadership team’s grounding in the HILL principles has allowed them to deal with the immense challenges of the past year with grace, professionalism, and a positive attitude. As I interacted with the faculty over the summer, they brought passion and excitement in preparing how to bring a quality program to our students. Our coaches and staff focused on “how might we” rather than what we could not do, and our families showed that you believed in us by making the continued commitment to the Hill. Finally, and most importantly, our students arrived each day with a smile, a willingness to work hard, and the commitment to leadership and growth that we ask of each of them. If we reflect on the start of this school year, I am sure that we were all hopeful that by now we would be in a world that was closer to “normal” than we are. We were hopeful we could be back competing, training, and attending classes in a “normal” way. But we are not. In fact, we may be in a position where we must take greater precautions because the weather means it is more difficult to spend time outside. So, this is what tests our resolve as a community. We must stay strong, positive, and committed to following the safety protocols that are in place. Right now: Highest Level of Achievement – means following protocols all the time. Independent Thought – means identifying the supports we each need to get through this and asking for the help that we need. Leadership – is what we all need to show right now. Notice your teammates. If they are struggling, help them, and if they are struggling to follow the rules help them to do so. We need each of you to lead right now. Legacy – We can do this together. And if we do, our COVID-19 legacy will be that together, as a community, we were able to face these unprecedented challenges and come out the other side stronger than ever. Failure to follow the rules could result in the school closing for an extended period and none of us want that to happen. Each of us is a link in the chain that determines our success. Be the strongest link you can be.
Quote of the Week: The weakest link in the chain is the strongest because it can break it. Stanislaw Lem (Polish writer) _____________________________________________________________________________
Other Notes and Important Information:
Monday Morning Assembly:
There is a Monday morning assembly tomorrow. Students will tune in by clicking the Zoom link below at 8:30am:
Monday Morning Assembly
OUAC/Ontario Universities
Grade 12 /PG students who plan to apply for an Ontario University should note that applications are due to the OUAC by January 15th, 2021. Please note that this date falls in the remote learning time following the holidays. Students should have received their log-in information before leaving on December 17th.
Students can collect their OUAC login information by emailing guidance@thehillacademy.com
Community Involvement
Students who plan to graduate in June 2021 will require a total of 20 community involvement hours. These hours can be accumulated through various activities. However, due to the continuing COVID-19 restrictions, we are not expecting students to complete these hours within the community as we would traditionally. If you would like to investigate how to meet the requirement of community involvement hours, please start your search at the Hill Guidance website here.
Ministry of Education Announcement:
We will be following the provincial guidelines and will be conducting remote learning in January:
Junior School – will run remotely from January 4th to January 8th. Returning to face-to-face instruction on January 11th.
Secondary School – will run remotely from January 4th to January 22nd. Returning to face-to-face instruction on January 25th. Please note that the updated calendar can be found on our website. January 4th, January 11th, and January 18th are non-athletic days. The week of January 25-28 is all non-athletic and January 29th is a PD day.
Mental Health Resources:
There are a lot of valuable resources available to families who are navigating this unusual time together. One such resource is the CMH page on COVID-19 Mental Health response found here. Our staff is also available and we encourage students or families to reach out to us - please contact us.
Hill Feather- Holiday Newsletter:
Ms. Campagna’s writer’s craft class put together a Holiday Newsletter for the Hill community to enjoy.
Holiday Edition Newsletter
HILL Athletics (From Athletic Director Brodie Merrill): I think we are all looking to 2021 as a fresh start with a sense of cautious optimism. Hill athletes in 2020 have been impacted in a unique way. Our standard routine and progression has been knocked off course. It’s been easy for most to trivialize sports understanding there are bigger priorities in the world. Although we acknowledge that we can live without sports, athletes will argue that life is better and richer with sports! The impact that sports can have and the support system it provides has been amplified during this time. Sports are a vehicle to help us learn about ourselves, challenge our limits, gain confidence, build relationships, and express ourselves. We move forward with a deeper appreciation for the simplicities of the game and everything that comes along with it. We know this has been a difficult stretch for our athletes. There are brighter days ahead. Bus rides, competition, unabashedly hugging teammates, and so many of the other things that have been restricted all await. In the meantime, let's continue to hold our ground and seek out little victories every day. If we focus on refining/improving our habits and our trajectory, rather than dwelling on where we are right now, breakthroughs will eventually happen and time will be your ally. If you are struggling, please know we are here for you to help you stay on track and never hesitate to reach out. Shout out to Lucas Hucal, Colton Woods, Kobe Handsor, Coach Magnan, and Hill Alum Nils Thompson for sending me their Christmas workouts, it was great to hear from you on Christmas Day, and definitely held me accountable to do my own workout! Knowing that field and ice time would be unpredictable in the fall and the winter, we tried to squeeze in as much practice time in as possible—much more than a typical year. We pushed back things like team sessions, guest speakers, film breakdown, which we can dive into in our remote learning time to begin the semester. We want to look at sports from all angles and try to maintain a holistic approach to our programming.