Cancer Walkathon

The walkathon was a major success this year with Amherstburg reaching their million dollar goal. For 12 days straight Amherst student showed their support for such a good cause by raising $30,000. Over the years General Amherst has raised just about $500,000 with all of the proceeds going to the Canadian Cancer Society which will go to finding a life saving cure for this deadly disease. Students did their walk with rain coming down, but this did not stop them at all which shows how dedicated they truly are.

The walk on Sunday October 4 ,2009 had the town showing their full support. What was most amazing was how people battling cancer came out and gave messages of inspiration to those affected by cancer and those that were coming out support. It’s just the morals that our school and town our built on . It is outstanding to start the academic school year off right and show the new administration what our school and town is built on. An event like this creates a better student body which gives them better morals and just creates better people for our future workforces and communities.

 

Extra, Extra, Read All About It !

Well General Amherst has done it again. Another successful and interesting event took place on May 27 at General Amherst High School. The event was the annual Health Fair. Men and women from around Windsor and Essex County set up information booths to inform students about everything from safe sex, to a crisis hot line. This is not only a very important event, but is also very informative. Everyone attending this event came back with interesting feedback. “I didn’t even know we had a crisis hotline around here,” was one comment that stood out.

Every 2 out of 3 women have had some sort of domestic violence in their lives, and in the past year there have been 572, 032 reported cases of domestic violence against women in Canada. This Community Crisis Center is located at Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital, and the number can be reached at anytime. It is not just for domestic violence, it can be used for sexual, mental or physical abuse inflicted upon anyone, as well if you’re just having problems and need to talk to someone about them.

Also at the health fair was information about HIV and AIDS, as well as STI’s in general, fats in foods, lung capacity (smoking information) general well being and stress. It was a very good turn out this year.

Thanks to Mr. Balogh’s leadership class who organized it. Hopefully this event will continue for many years to come, as it has very important topics that teenagers these days don’t learn enough about. -Bri

Bulldog Lottery

The annual bulldog lottery took place again this year with lowered ticket prices. In the past the prices were ten dollars a ticket but this year they were brought down to five dollars a ticket. A book has five tickets at five dollars and each student is asked to sell at least one book. The draw will take place May 6th, 2009 and the top prize is $5000. Second prize is $2500, and third is $1500. The top Amherst seller will receive a brand new Acer lap top and second top seller with receive $200 towards whatever he or she would like. Ticket Sales Ended April 30th, and the draw will take place May 6th. Proceeds go to help our school in whatever we may need for upcoming events. Thanks to all the students who made the effort in selling this year and hopefully next year we will have the same great results! Great Job Amherst!

AM

Amherst Half Marathon

The students at General Amherst are well known through our small town for their smarts of course, but also for their athletic ability. Are our athletes up for this years half marathon challenge?

Amherst is holding yet another half marathon this year, and some of our top athletic students are going to put themselves to the test. The marathon is run by volunteer students who are interested in testing their limits. Past runs have taken place in at Notre Dame and in Chicago. The marathon also comes with a twelve week training program, which will test the runners strength and their speed. The runners have a mandatory one run per week to train for this challenge.
Dedication and commitment are the most important factors that come along with this event, and our students will definitely prove that at the finish line on June 12th, 2009.

Support our Bulldogs in this year’s half marathon.

Good luck to all runners and we hope you do well!                AM

We all scream for ice cream !

A new event is going on down in our high schools cafeteria at lunch! Join everyone in the Cafeteria Wednesday April 22^nd for ice cream sundaes. Yum! For only $2.50 you will get two scoops of ice cream and three toppings of your choice. The flavours of ice cream are chocolate or vanilla. The toppings you can chose are chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, bananas, strawberries, and chocolate chips. Don’t miss this great deal. Remember to look for the ice cream booth and not any of the other booths that are trying to trick you into buying their product.

Bulldog Breakfast Basket

 

 

 

 

 General Amherst staff thought it would be a good idea to start up the Bulldog Breakfast Basket in the Guidance office, for those students who need some extra energy in the morning. Each month a different staff member sponsors the Breakfast Basket, by spending their own money on a bulk box of granola bars, in the hopes that the students who need a better start to the day will get one. If you need a morning snack to get your day going drop into the Guidance Office on the second floor and look for the Bulldog Breakfast Basket .

Christmas Fundraiser

The students of General Amherst High School are getting into the Christmas spirit this year with a brand new charity initiative that promises to change the lives of others just in time for the holidays. This week the school’s student council is kicking off its first ever fundraiser for the World Vision foundation.            

            World Vision Canada is a non-profit Christian relief organization that started in the 1940’s. The main goal of the foundation is to bring relief, diplomacy and advocacy to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision is the largest charity of its kind in Canada, sponsoring hundreds of thousands of children in poor countries and donating millions of dollars in relief and food. Every year the foundation sends out its gift catalogue, showcasing some of the many gifts that Canadians can purchase for the needy in far away countries. Examples of such gifts include livestock, toys, medicine, shelter and education. The purchase price of each gift includes all costs of shipping, establishment and education regarding the gift, and many of the gifts multiply, causing the donated money to go much farther.

            The Amherst charity will involve each fourth period class to come up with a goal—be it a cow, a shanty or a few soccer balls—for which they will raise money. The teachers and students will be working together to achieve their goals over a two week period lasting from December 2 to December 16. To promote the event, students will be putting up posters and pictures depicting their goals, such as goats, banana trees or mosquito nets. The best part about this initiative is that the students can see and comprehend exactly what their money is going towards. At the end of the two week period the donations will be sent off by the school just in time for Christmas.

            The gifts that can be given through World Vision are more than just handouts. Many of these gifts are renewable, long lasting, and most importantly, they bring hope. We hope that through school spirit we can make this event a tremendous success. Anyone who is interested in making a donation towards our effort is encouraged to contact the school at 519-736-2149 or bring checks addressed to General Amherst High School to the main office. 

Matchmaker

Mrs. Kohuch and the semi- formal committee are promoting their Matchmaker fundraiser. Everyone in the school gets a questionnaire they fill out, for free,  with information to create a personalized result form which is then matched up with a student that has compatible answers. After the questionnaires are tabulated you can find out the results of what students are your match ! Results will be sold after all the questionnaires are tabulated. Stay tune for when the results will be sold.

Something You Just May Possibly Not(But should) Know

If I’m not mistaken, this article will be read by the kiddies at General Amherst High School. Awright, so here’s the deal; this goes out to the classy students who have to take an extra class but have no idea what they want to take. Maybe this certain student also watches movies with computer graphics and is all like, “What the F$#@! How did they do that!?” Well… Here’s a new opportunity you just might be interested in.

Animation is a class that recently branched off of the Communications Technologies class. You like the idea of crafting anything your mind can imagine on a computer and then making it move? I’m not going to lie, Animation just might be your new favourite class. Thanks to generous contributions from Mr. Catton and the experience of the class’ instructor Mr. Clarke, the learning experience is boundless. 

The class is run much like an animation company. You and your fellow aspiring animators work as a team to create a final video. The class has already created a few interesting projects you can watch if you surf around the school’s website. This semester the team is hard at work on two major projects. The first is a music video for a local band Lo Down, that is to be made 100% in 3D. This tedious task includes transforming each member of the band into a three dimensional character. If you think this is easy, try it and then hate yourself for your previous thought. The second project is making a few clips for a not-so-3D educational video. The task is to make a video that helps autistic teens make a smooth transition into high school life. If you haven’t already pieced it together, this class creates videos for real clients. If you’re looking to get into media as a career, projects from this class could add a lot to your portfolio. 

Are you still reading this? Good! Well, you now have a taste of what the Animation class has to offer. It’s definitely for people who are/think they are creative and want an outlet for it. If you’re an artist of sorts, then you’re going to find bringing your art into the third dimension is a mind-blowing experience. This is just one more class you should definitely look into if you’re a classy individual. Right about now I should be wrapping up the article with a crafty line or some such nonsense… I got nothing…

By: Kyle McGraw

Amherst Bulldogs “Take Bite”Out of Cancer

The General Amherst gymnasium was abuzz with excitement as the school’s student body waited to hear what changes would be made to Amherst’s usual autumnal drive to raise money for cancer research.  It was revealed at this assembly on September 17th that Amherst would shift from its traditional  walk-a-thon format to a teams-based challenge – an obstacle course – as a closing activity for the funds drive.Two weeks of fund raising followed this initial assembly.  A total of $36,341.00 was raised by 538 dedicated and caring General Amherst students!  

The final sum was presented to the Canadian Cancer Society on October 8th.  The thirty students responsible for raising the most money were awarded prizes, the Amherst class responsible for raising the most money was awarded a pizza party and the twenty-two teams participating in the Obstacle Challenge also won tokens of Amherst’s appreciation of the students’ hard work.  

Mrs. Candace Gibbons, one of the Cancer Challenge’s staff organizers at the high school, proudly stated, “The staff and students of General Amherst High School have once again demonstrated true bulldog spirit of ferocity and tenacity to join together with the community and take a bite out of cancer.” 

Given our area’s tough economic times, General Amherst would like to extend a sincere thank you to all in the community who supported an Amherst student’s efforts and – more importantly – gave financial support to the fight against cancer.