From the Desk of Bjorn Kinding, Headmaster

Greetings,

The staff and students extend a warm Thanksgiving wish to our friends and families in the U.S.

The preparation started months ago and now the parent weekend is only a few days away.  The last minute preparations are present everywhere, students are cleaning their rooms, teachers are preparing report cards, and other staff members are making final touches on the various events.
As you read this newsletter, many of you will already be on your way to Oka, while others are only a short drive away. In spirit, however, you are all already here.

The campus is humming with excitement and students are looking forward to their parents’ visit. The HCC staff is also looking forward to getting to know their “extended family.”  After spending so much time together, students and staff are starting to gel into one big happy family. This is the culture we try to breed here at HCC, an environment in which everyone belongs together, and cares and looks after one another.

It is my personal hope that all guest this weekend, will feel part of the HCC family.  On that note, remember some students will not enjoy a visit from their own parents, so all parents, who are planning some fun activities with their sons, maybe it could add to the fun, if you brought another student along. Please let us know if this is something, you’d like to do, so we can make the arrangements and ask the student’s real parents for permission.

For those of you, who’ll spend the whole weekend with the school, there are plenty of activities scheduled.  The parent/student hockey game will kick off the excitement on Friday night.  On Saturday, the teachers and coaches will meet with the parents, and on Sunday, the lunch and silent auction will raise funds for the students’ leisure activities. Of course there will also be plenty of opportunities to see some exciting “Harrington Hockey.”  Please check the schedule below to confirm game times for each team!

The Sunday Lunch is a special event that we would like to emphasize.  The student’s fundraiser will be held at Vinnie Gambini’s from 10:30am-1:00pm.  Vinnie Gambini’s is known as one of the best restaurants in the area and is walking distance from the HCC home arena.  At this event there will be plenty of good food, a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy each other’s company, and a silent auction.  Among the items, HCC is honored to feature the artwork of renowned artist, Gordon Fiddler.

This an example of his work:

Gordon Fiddler was born in Cochenour in 1958. He is Oji/Cree. His father was from Sandy Lake First Nation, his mother from Sioux Lookout, Ontario. When he was a baby, his father, Samuel, was tragically killed when his boat hit a rock as he was on his way home from Cochenour to McKenzie Island. He had just left the Cochenour Hospital after being treated for an injury at the Cochenour Mine.

Without any means to support herself, Gordon’s mother moved to Red Lake where she had two more children. The family was very poor, and Gordon remembers stealing food from grocery stores and raiding people’s gardens to feed his sisters, when he was only seven years old. He was placed in a foster home for awhile, and sent to the McIntosh Residential School near Vermillion Bay for several years. He later moved with his mother to Wawa then to Elliot Lake, where he now lives with his wife Barbara and their two sons.

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Gordon began painting when he was eight, and made his first sale at ten. His first jobs were painting signs and posters for grocery stores. He was encouraged by an elementary school teacher, Gertrude Caffe’, who recognized his talent. He credits this teacher, who kept encouraging him over the years, for giving him the confidence to pursue an art career. He continued painting throughout his teen and adult years. Eventually, his art evolved to painting traditional Anishinaabe images, and today he makes a comfortable living as a commercial artist.

His designs can be found on clothing, blankets, glass etchings, and many different types of arts and crafts. He also paints stunning images on canvas that he sells to Canadian and foreign collectors.

Gordon has had exhibitions in prestigious venues such as the Chateau Laurie in Ottawa, the Canadiana Gallery in Vancouver, and various private and public galleries across the country. His art has also been shown at the Skydome in Toronto, as well as in Germany, Australia and Scotland.

Gordon says his future plan is to teach young people all aspects of Traditional Aboriginal Arts.

We are honored to feature several pieces of Gordon’s artwork at our silent auction.

We invite all of you to join us for lunch and to bid on these one of a kind works of art.  Remember all of the proceeds will benefit the student activity fund.

Make your reservations and payment at Click and Pay Here.

If you are not visiting this weekend, we will share stories and pictures in the next issue of the Harrington Post.

For those of you attending, enjoy the beauty of Oka as you drive to our campus, and look forward to a weekend full of sights, sounds, and yes, smells of a hockey boarding school!

The staff of College Harrington du Canada looks forward to your visit.

Sincerely,

Bjorn

Bjorn Kinding

Fri. Nov. 26th 2010 19h00  Repentigny vs HCC Mt BB at CESR 1 bus depart: 17h00
Fri. Nov. 26th 2010  19h30  HCC Coll. AAA vs Sorel at Cardin  bus depart:  14h30
Fri. Nov. 26th 2010 20h30 PARENTS vs  HCC Midgets, Bantams players  depart: 18h30
Fri. Nov. 26th 2010 20h45  HCC Bt BB vs Blainville at Blainville bus depart: 18h30

Sat. Nov. 27th 2010 16h30  HCC Bt BB vs St-Eustache at Florian Guindon depart: 14h30
Sat. Nov. 27th 2010 18h00  HCC Mt AA vs Seigneurs at Rosemere 1  bus depart:  16h00
Sat. Nov. 27th 2010 21h30  HCC Mt BB vs Lions at St-Antoine    bus depart:  19h00

Sun. Nov. 28th 2010 14h00  Conquérants vs HCC Mt AA at CESR 2  bus depart:  12h00
Sun. Nov. 28th 2010 16h00  Monteuil vs HCC Bt BB at CESR 2 bus depart:  14h00