MDJH students will once again have the opportunity to take part in the Student Vote program, casting their (unofficial) votes for the federal election on April 28th. This national program, run by CIVIX, encourages student engagement in politics at all levels of government. Grade 9 students will be discussing the importance of voting, the different parties and their platforms, and the perils of mis- and disinformation.

After the election, CIVIX will release the results of the student vote, and we will compare our results to the actual election outcome.

For students interested in participating in TrackFest 2025, please formally express your interest to the NL Athletics Association (NLAA). As part of your expression of interest, kindly provide the name and email address of the individual who will be managing the event registration on behalf of your school.

1) SPRING INDOOR TRACK & FIELD MEET – ELEMENTARY / JUNIOR / SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Saturday, April 12, 2025, MUN Field House, St. John’s
Event website: https://www.nlaa.ca/track-and-field/spring-meet/index.php

2) TRACKFEST 2025 (GRADES 3/4 & 5/6)
Saturday, May 10, 2025, MUN Field House, St. John’s
Event website: https://www.nlaa.ca/trackfest/index.php

3) NLAA HIGH SCHOOL PROVINCIALS
Saturday, May 24, 2025, Pearlgate Track and Field Complex, Mount Pearl
Event website: https://www.nlaa.ca/track-and-field/high-school-provincials/index.php

4) ATHLETICS NORTHEAST SCHOOL MILE (road race)
Sunday, May 25, 2025, The Boulevard, near Bandstand, St. John’s
Event website: https://www.athleticsnortheast.com/Mile/

5) NLAA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday, June 7, 2025, Pearlgate Track and Field Complex, Mount Pearl
Event website: https://www.nlaa.ca/jhsc/index.php

The April Newsletter is ready for you!

Click here to view it.

During the weekend of March 21, our MDJH Grade 9 girls basketball team played in a competitive St. John’s Minor Basketball (SJMB) March Madness tournament that consisted of some of the top club and school teams.

Our MDJH team beat the St. Paul’s Grade 9 team in a very close championship game 78-75.

Way to go, Grizzlies, and good luck in the Grade 9 provincials this weekend at St. Peter’s!

MDJH Families:

We are planning a European tour of France and Italy during the Easter break in April, 2026. This tour is for students that will be in Grade 8 or 9 during the 2025-2026 school year (not just French immersion students).

Please click here for the itinerary, pricing, and registration information.

There will be a meeting for those interested on Monday, April 7, at 7pm, in the library at MDJH.

Registration will open on Friday, April 11, after an approval process.

If you decide to register your student, please email jodisauve@nlschools.ca to seek approval before you register. You will be contacted either way.

Only students with excellent attendance and behaviour can participate in this tour.

Congratulations to the MDJH Hockey team, who defeated St. Paul’s Junior High last night 7 – 4 at the Mt. Pearl Glacier.

Way to go, Grizzlies!

Congratulations to the MDJH students who participated in the Regional Science Fair this past weekend at Memorial University. It was a great experience for all!

Here are the results for the MDJH team:

Bronze Medal – Physical Science

• Eva Churchill
• Poojitha Kata
• Ava Barry

Gold Medal – Physical Science

• Devika Dhar
• Dishita Dhar

Bronze Medal – Life Science

• Arnav Ganesh
• Bridget Smith

Silver Medal – Life Science

• Aya Saady
• Matilda Carr

Conservation Corps Newfoundland and Labrador Climate Change Education Award

• Aya Saady

Department of Chemistry Award

• Dishita Dhar

Department of Ocean Sciences Award

• Nathan Stanley and Leo Shinkle

Department of Physics Award

• Devika Dhar

Honorable Mentions – Physical Science

• Neha Ligin
• Nathan Stanley and Leo Shinkle

Here is a video of the students and their displays:

Good Luck to the students attending today’s Regional Science Fair, being held at Memorial University.

Way to go, Grizzlies!

Saturday April 12, 2025 from 9 AM – 12 PM

Dear Macdonald Drive Junior High Families:

Over the past two years, we have done a lot of planning and fundraising to establish a ½ acre school – community garden in the empty field, next to the school. This garden will become an active teaching and learning space where students will combine various curriculum with growing sustainable and healthy food. In addition, the garden will allow for community access where organizations and families will also be able grow with us.

Over the next few weeks, you will see the first of a number of phases of the garden take shape as we have a fence built around the garden space. From there, we will have a large greenhouse and garden beds installed so we can begin growing this season.

To accomplish these garden goals, we are reaching out to you to see if you might have any gardening tools that you are not using, that you would consider donating to our project. If they are not in perfect shape or maybe a little rusty, that’s OK. We can clean and get them ready for use. Anything and everything is very appreciated and will be put to good use by our gardeners.

Drop off will be at the school on Saturday April 12 from 9AM – 12PM

If you are interested in learning more about the garden or would like to help out, you can visit the site here: Grizzly Gardens or contact me: chesleywest@nlschools.ca.

Thank you for your support

On Friday, we celebrated the end of Heads Without Beds, a fundraiser for the Home Again Furniture Bank. The MDJH community went above and beyond, raising $6952.09 – almost $2000.00 over our target of $5000.00! This will help the Home Again Furniture Bank in their mission to deliver free beds, tables and other essential furniture to individuals and families throughout the Northeast Avalon.

As part of the fundraiser, Mr. Tobin headed up our first Bucket Drop, where students bought tickets for a chance to dump water on some of our brave teachers. Mr. Tobin was the first teacher in the tank, taunting the students to try and hit the target to release the water. Congratulations also to Homeroom 9-4, who won a pizza party for most balls purchased for the Bucket Drop.

Congratulations go out to Homeroom 7-7, as they were the class that raised the most money during the fundraiser, and earned themselves a Cineplex Movie Night on Friday night. A great night was had by all!

Way to go, Grizzlies!