Attendees explore “Prioritizing Student Voice and Choice" at the 2022 Virtual CITE Conference

This year’s virtual CITE Conference, hosted by St. Clement’s School, brought together 21 CIS Ontario schools to explore and reflect on the theme of “Prioritizing Student Voice and Choice.” Author Iain Reid kicked off the event by celebrating teachers, sharing that his father taught high school English, and his mother was an early childhood educator who ran a daycare out of their family farm. When describing his winding path towards becoming a writer, Reid reminisced about leaving notes around his childhood home for his parents, and later the fun he had secretly writing stories in cafés and at the library during his year off before graduate school. While reflecting on this part of his life, Reid emphasized the importance of early support and encouragement when starting anything and the role a few key teachers played in guiding his creative path. Reid also shared some exciting news about the upcoming screen adaptation of his novel Foe. His earlier novel, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, was made into a movie in 2020, and is available on Netflix.

The 68 participants continued the morning with a choice of eight workshops, with topics ranging from “Prioritizing Student Voice through Conferencing” to “Anything but the Essay” to a “CIS Ontario Student Panel on the Importance of 2SLGBTQIA+ and Diverse Voices in the Curriculum.” 

Following the workshops, the winners of the INCITE 2022 student writing competition, “Write a Thriller” were announced. We were honoured to have Amy Stuart, author of Still Mine, judge the submissions and host an online writing workshop for the finalists, who represented nine CIS Ontario schools. Stuart praised the experimental, gorgeous, chilling, poetic, and haunting stories. Congratulations to the top three winners from each category:

Grades 7-8

• 1st place: Aryana Kapur, Toronto Montessori School
• 2nd place: Leah Shenishevska, The Country Day School
• 3rd place: Willow Torgerson, Bishop Strachan School

Grades 9-10

• 1st place: Anna Freitas, St. Clement’s School
• 2nd place: Bryony Chan, Bishop Strachan School
• 3rd place: Theo James Brennan, Elmwood School

Grades 10-11

• 1st place: Madelyn Tuns, Crestwood Preparatory College
• 2nd place: Chara Qi, Appleby College
• 3rd place: Ella Schoep, Trafalgar Castle School
• Honourable mention: William Wang, University of Toronto Schools

Thank you to Claire Pacaud and the English Department at St. Clement’s School for organizing such an engaging and seamless event.

The 2023 Annual CITE Conference, to be hosted by Appleby College, will celebrate “Joyous Speculation: Seeing the World Through Rose-Coloured Glasses.” We look forward to seeing you there!