CANORA - To mark the start of a brand new year, the Students Representative Council circulated order forms for the brand new Canora Cougar merchandise. There were a number of options to choose from. New clothing offers included a black and red hoodie, a next level Cougar T-Shirt in red or black, and either black or grey sweatpants with red lettering. Since Halloween of 2022, the SRC has been hinting about the new clothing. This is the first clothing order Canora Composite has been able to offer since the 2020-21 school year.
January marked the start of a time of intense focus for Grades 10 through 12 students. Several semester based courses are coming to an end. To test the students, many high school classes had to write final exams or create projects. On Jan. 16, the Psychology 30 class wrote their final exam, which covered everything the students had learned since September. On Jan. 20 at 8:55 a.m., the Grade 11s wrote their Foundations 20 final exam, which covered a number of topics including quadratics, parabolas, unit rates, linear inequalities, z-scores and much more. At the same time, Grade 12s wrote their Pre-Calculus 30 final exam. The Psychology 30 students also began a final inquiry project about human development that was worth 20 per cent of their grade. Students are stressed, but excited at the same time for the upcoming start of semester two.
Global Stories of the Week
A near disaster ended up with no injuries and a lot of relief in Australia after a Qantas flight bound for Sydney, Australia from Auckland, New Zealand declared a mayday alert while flying over the Pacific Ocean. The incident occurred on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The Boeing 737 jet was transporting 148 passengers and crew. According to a report from Australian news outlet, 7 News, “Just after 2 p.m. on Wednesday, about an hour outside of Sydney, the pilot for flight QF144 from Auckland reported one of the twin engines had malfunctioned and was losing power.”
The plane was met with a massive emergency response at landing which was deployed at Sydney airport including federal police, airport fire crews, and ambulance personnel. Emergency crews stood by as the pilot managed to land the plane safely. Trying to keep passengers from panicking, the pilot chose not to inform passengers of the disruption until the very last moment. One of the passengers who was on the flight stated, “I just heard a bang, and maybe a slight shudder, but that was it.” The passenger also stated, “They were so professional about it and so calm about it.” According to The Australian and International Pilots Association an incident like the one is extremely rare. An investigation into the air malfunction is expected to be conducted.
This near disaster brings back memories of another near tragedy involving a Qantas aircraft in November 2010. A double-decker Qantas airplane carrying 469 passengers and crew flying from London to Sydney declared a mayday alert after one of the engines blew up mid flight. The plane managed to make a successful emergency landing in Singapore, avoiding what could’ve been one of the worst single aircraft crashes in aviation history.
