A Year like no Other

Nothing can stop us now!

As we race to the finish of another academic year and classes, activities and events wind down, it is a valuable exercise to take a moment and reflect on the triumphs of the past year.

In retrospect – it has been a year like no other. The pandemic and its impact on all aspects of life was the overwhelming global concern. For educational institutions like ours, that translated into a number of issues and challenges. From a mandated shutting down of all classroom learning to ensuring the safety and return of our international students to their respective countries and then back again, we were constantly navigating between ministerial dictates and the responsibilities towards our students. It is a testimony to our resilience and the dedication of our staff that student performance this year has been outstanding and one of the best in the history of Kells Academy.

Though sports activities were curtailed due to obvious health reasons, our students excelled in every other activity that they participated in – from academics to extra-curricular activities. This was not just in their own classroom but across inter-school and national competitions.

We are particularly proud of our performance in the STEM related competitions. For example, in the Montreal Regional Science and Technology Fair, Kells Academy won 21 awards across all categories, with many students earning great distinction for their projects.

A 23 member team of Grades 9 through 11 represented Kells at the Mathematics Pascal, Cayley and Fermat Contest administered by the University of Waterloo in February 2021. Once again, Kells walked away with 3 medals and 14 certificates of distinction and was declared Champion School for the second year in a row.

In the CRC Robotics INVICTA Competition, that also had to be held virtually on Zoom because of the pandemic, Kells placed 1st in programming and 3rd overall among 12 teams from various schools and CEGEP’s across Canada.

Our Grade 9 Debate Club students won the Virtual Junior Debate Tournament hosted by Lower Canada College in May 2021, while our Middle School Chess Team made the playoffs in the True North ESports League and won the GMAA Silver Medal.

Our FLEX programs have been a great success in helping students dabble in various interests outside academics and further develop critical and creative thinking. Due to the pandemic, however, it was a challenge to adapt some of those courses on-line. We therefore introduced and encouraged students to take up a number of new activities in the Creative Arts like the Spring Journal Contest, Photography and Modern Art and to channelize their energies more productively. The results have been surprising and stunning!

The list of accomplishments is long. From Community Services to Social Work, we are impressed by what the students have been able to attain in one of the most unpredictable years in the history of the school.

We are proud to say that the challenges of the year did not weigh us down. Rather, as you will read in the stories that follow, it brought out the best in all of us and through sheer grit and determination, spurred us to even greater heights of achievement.

All of this could not have happened without the effort, help and dedicated work of Najma Ali our high school principal, Janice Ewanyshyn our middle school coordinator, and Marla Perlman our elementary school principal and all the teachers and the administrative staff who work tirelessly day after day to ensure that we continuously raise the bar in our performance.

We are also grateful to the parents who continue to cooperate and support us.

After three years as our language school coordinator and one year as principal of the high school, Ms. Ali will be leaving us to take up a position at another school. We wish Ms. Ali every success in her future position and thank her for all her hard work and dedication while at Kells. We look forward to keeping in touch.

At the same time we are happy to welcome middle school coordinator Janice Ewanyshyn to take up the position as high school principal. We look forward to an easy transition since through Flex and middle school Ms. Ewanyshyn knows the teachers and most of the students.

Irene Woods
Director