Franco-Cité recognised for commitment to children with Autism

École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité
News Release

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Sturgeon Falls - On November 5th, École secondaire Franco-Cité will receive the prestigious Emmanouela Dimas Award, for Outstanding Community Involvement, following their public awareness campaign Together for Autism, which was held on April 27, 2007. The award also includes a $1,000 bursary, to the great delight of students and staff of West Nipissing’s only French-Catholic secondary school.

According to Franco-Cité principal, Jean-Luc Proulx, “students, parents, staff, and community members were more informed about autism, thanks to their participation in the public awareness campaign known as Toonies for Autism/Together for Autism”.

The school took part in the Together for Autism campaign last spring, with specific goals in mind. Louise Lanteigne, a special-needs teacher at Franco-Cité, who led the campaign in the school, explains. “We wanted our students to be completely involved in the campaign, and we wanted to raise money for research. Most of all, we wanted to create awareness, so that our special needs students could enjoy and benefit from their school years at École secondaire Franco-Cité, and from their involvement in this community, just like all of our students!”

Their perseverance and hard work has certainly paid off. Franco-Cité students raised over $1,500, organizing information booths for school assemblies, and parent-teacher night, and reached more than 5,000 homes, via articles, radio commercials, theme days, and information pamphlets. According to Ms. Lanteigne, the special needs students who helped organize these activities were doing a lot of learning as well, as the awareness campaign “incorporated a variety of learning situations related to the development of social, mathematical, organizational, and self-management skills”.

The school is counting on using the $1,000 bursary to purchase a quite innovative piece of equipment: a virtual-reality cycling bike. Autistic students often benefit from motivational factors and the use of visual cues in their learning process. “The visual and motivation factors encountered during a virtual cycling tour represent strategies that could benefit our students with autism in the development of many of their abilities”, declared Ms. Lanteigne. “What an investment for our youth’s future!”

The award and bursary will be presented to staff and students at 10 am Monday, November 5th, by Peter Woolford and Jean Woolford, of Autism Ontario. Ms. Anne Gingras, a local representative of the Nipissing Chapter of Autism Ontario, and a teacher at ÉSFC, will also take part. Members of the media are asked to report to the school’s main office, from which they will be led to the award’s presentation.

École secondaire Franco-Cité offers high-quality education to approximately 500 students. A tradition of excellence reigns in this school, which remains the cornerstone of the Francophone community of West Nipissing.

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