‘Congratulations to the Gr. 7-8 teachers and students of Hawthorn School for your enthusiasm and participation in this year’s Mary Matthews Public Speaking Contest, organized by the Catholic Women’s League of Canada. You all were a very welcome addition to the event and we hope that you will be participating again next year.’ Céline Massaroni, CWL President, St. Bonaventure’s Parish.
Hawthorn was thrilled when Gr. 7 student Aila won the Parish Level of the Mary Matthews Public Speaking Contest on February 6th at St. Bonaventure’s Church. We received the above message of congratulations following the event.
In an exciting update, on Saturday, February 15, Aila went on to win the Regional Level, held at St. Luke’s Parish, 39 Green Hill, in Thornhill. We are all – the whole parish! – so proud of Aila and wish her well at the Finals, to be held on Saturday, March 1st at ST. ROCH’S PARISH, 2889 Islington Avenue, North York (Islington Avenue & Finch Avenue W) with speeches starting at 1 p.m. sharp (please arrive early).
With the gift cards that Aila won from the competitions, she chose to buy books for Hawthorn. When Ms. Yu mentioned that to some university students, they said, “If I was given Indigo gift cards, I would have bought books for myself.” In a message of thanks to Hawthorn and the CWL, Aila’s mom wrote, ‘Aila loves books and reading. When we went to Indigo on Monday with the two gift cards she won, she decided to get some classical literature and books to have in her classroom. She knew the books the school already had and wanted to add to the classical literature library the books that they don’t have at Hawthorn to inspire her class and future classes to read more.’
Thank you for your wonderful generosity, Aila, and good luck at the Finals on March 1st! Hawthorn faculty, staff, and students are most welcome to attend and cheer Aila on. Your support, in thoughts or in person, will be so appreciated!