ImageThis week at Rotary we will see and hear a presentation about a program running at St. Mary's High School called "GST" which stands for the Good Samaritan Team.

Sandra Standish, teacher, coach, Student Council Advisor and PHE/Athletics Department Head co-founded this program in 2007 with her Vice Principal Stan Verschoore. The program is now entering its 6th year and is largely student run.

The program works to combat bullying behaviours that take place in our schools and to promote building and maintaining harmonious, supportive, inclusive relationships with others. Some of the school-wide mottos and slogans the school has worked with in the past include:  "One Person Can Make a Difference, but Together We Are Powerful!", "Love & Lead Out Loud", "StandUp 2 Bullying: If You See It, You Can Stop It!".

Sandra still oversees GST at St Mary's HS and has appeared this past year on Rogers TV "What's Happening in Woodstock". She was also asked to run a workshop at last year's annual  "When Faith Meets Pedagogy" conference in Toronto where over 2,000 Catholic teachers across the province come together to learn and grow as educators to better meet the needs of our children. The workshop spurred other teachers to start a program to promote a sense of belonging for all students and staff in their schools.

We look forward to learning more about this successful, engaging program. Meeting starts at 6.30 pm at the Quality Hotels and Suites. Costs for a meal is $ 15.00