Written by: Olivia Robillard

“When I was 3, my mom took me to my first ballet class at a community center. That was the moment my life of dance started.”

Astrid takes drop-in ballet classes at the Walter Carsen Center for the National Ballet of Canada. She has danced in the Nutcracker for a few years.

“I got to be a part of Nutcracker with an open-call audition for the battle-scene. That was the only scene students could do. Dancing on stage was very overwhelming. I felt the pressure to match my peers in such a professional environment; it was intimidating. Keeping up with the other dancers was difficult. It was very high-caliber, the dance was complex, the costumes were heavy, but overall the experience was worth it. To be able to see everything behind the scenes of such a big production was an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.”

Continue reading Astrid Amador →

By: Karina Leung

November 22, 2019

This is Michelle Lin. She is in grade nine and a student at York Mills. Michelle is Taiwanese and speaks Mandarin and English. She moved to Canada just two years ago. She attended Windfields Middle School to improve her studies in English. Over the past few years, she has developed a passion for the arts, such as dancing, modeling, rapping, and singing. 

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By Jenny Zhao

Lucia Lee is a Grade 12 student at York Mills who has been involved in a lot of extracurriculars. She is the captain of the school’s badminton team, a photographer of Spectrum, a member of the Robotics Club and the Symphonic Band. According to Lucia, she was interested in and wanted to do a lot of things when she was little. “Thankfully my parents had enough money to let me get lessons which I am really grateful for”. As a child, Lucia took ballet and piano lessons which made her expand her knowledge. She also learned the violin for about 3 years and passed the Grade 8 exam. When Lucia was in Grade 7, she started to learn the clarinet in band class and transferred to tenor saxophone, which she now plays for the school’s Symphonic Band.

In spite of her involvement and interest in sports, photography and music, Lucia wants to get into electrical engineering program for university. Under the influence of her dad who is a programmer, she started to get into programming and determined her passion in this field.

By: Elizabeth Xu

Ms. Katz is so passionate for the club Free the Children because she thinks its is very helpful and powerful when we support charities. She loves how students come together to give to help to other people around the world. This year, Ms. Katz is very proud that Free the Children won a certificate of participation for donating sixteen big boxes of food to the North York Harvest Food Bank, and that last year the club donated 1000 dollars to charity. She is looking forward to the club’s next event where students will stay silent for a day so that other students around the world who don’t have a voice can be heard. 

She might be just a business teacher by day but she’s a model by night. Endorsed by Vasanti Cosmetics, a cruelty-free brand that promotes diversity. The makeup industry has come a long way finally embracing diversity. Not only does Vasanti cosmetics go beyond light, medium and dark shades, this brand is the definition of fresh take on inclusivity for women all around the world, making everyone feel beautiful in their own skin and feel a sense of belonging and self-worth. On top of that, Ms. Persaud is strongly passionate about raising mental health awareness hence the BOH class she’s teaching, hosts a mental health awareness events that offer good support, and teaches students how to enhance their safety and well being in a pressured environment.