Jack Donohue Public School


Jack Donohue Public School is a public school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the neighbourhood of Morgan's Grant in the district of Kanata. It is named after Jack Donohue, coach of the Canadian national men's basketball team who played for Canadian men's basketball team for seventeen years.

Renovations

The school was extended to add 6 new classrooms due to the continuing population growth in Morgan's Grant. It was finished at the end of March 2010. A ramp was also added to the school.

Clubs

Jack Donohue PS has a variety of clubs ranging from the school council. to digital media club and many more.
The Student Council is the student body head of the school, planning many of the fundraisers, dances and activities at the school. It is made of representatives from each age group, and the executive council which is made up of 2 police officers from the school.
The intermediate students are the ones that take the lead, for example the chairs, vice chairs, secretary, treasury and publicist. Mrs. Purchase supervises the Student Council.
Another club is the Student Ambassadors, made up of students in grades 6, 7 and 8 who apply at the beginning of the year, to demonstrate that they are able to lead activities and be good role models throughout our school. Mrs. Manchen is the teacher who supervises the Ambassadors. They host many activities for primary students, such as Let's Play, Let's Read and tutoring. At assemblies they are in usher the classes to their assigned seating areas and create presentations, such as the Remembrance Day assembly presentation.
At Jack Donohue, the Digital Media Club, or DMC is made up of many grade 7 and 8 students who want work with computers who create digital presentations, blogs or articles for Wikipedia. They are the student technology leaders in the school and are supervised by Mrs. Smith.
There is a Cardboard boats club, were students can work together to design and compete with a small but technically "life-sized" boat of their own creation.
The band club is a club led by the music teacher. Where intermediate students meet at 8:00 am in the mornings before school to practice for performances, such as holiday concerts and Novemberence day concerts.
JDPS, also has started both student and teacher book clubs. Mrs. Cardill and Mrs. Tranton supervise the student book club. And hopefully we will have another book club coming up soon!
Solar Power Cars is a club run by Mrs. Purchase that meets after school, so that it the students can learn about solar power cars and create their own, at the end all their hard work pays off and they compete their cars in a race.
A club that is used by some of the intermediate students is the EMME club. EMME stands for Early Morning Math and English, which means that students are able to come in the mornings and work on homework and projects. This is always useful when you need extra help or time for the completion of your schoolwork. Although is often used as an excuse to come inside the school early on cold and rainy days.

Music

Mr. Stephen Eisenhauer is the music teacher for the school. He leads and conducts the junior, senior, concert and jazz bands, the guitar club, the senior choir, and strings club. The strings club is a new ensemble at the school this year and consists of a full string quartet! Mrs. Meghan Schuler also plays in the club as a violist. Over 250 students are involved in the music program at JDPS, and several teachers and parents. School trustee Cathy Curry plays in the concert band.
Stephen Eisenhauer is a composer, guitarist, pianist, and singer, currently living and working in Ottawa, he has previously lived and worked in Montréal. His early music training included lessons in piano, ‘cello, voice and organ. At McGill University, he completed a B.Mus. in vocal music and an M.A. in music theory. His choral experience began as a choirboy at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, and he continues to be active in several choirs, as a soloist and chorister. He has composed and published several pieces for these choirs, as well as instrumental music. Mr. Eisenhauer is also a fantastic teacher.
Jack Donohue puts on a musical every year. This musical is being run by Mr. Stephen Eisenhauer and Mrs. Dana Mercer. The name they use is the Jack-in-the-Box Players.
Mr. Eisenhauer is also the composer of the school song.

Musical Ensembles

Mr. Eisenhauer coordinates many of the musical programs at Jack Donohue. He runs the musicals along with Mrs. Mercer, but other than that he coordinates all of the beautiful music performed by the intermediate students. Here are some of the musical ensembles, coordinated by him:
The first ensemble is Concert Band, which is a mixture of grade 7 and 8 students. But this ensemble doesn't start until later in the year because Mr. Eisenhauer has to wait until the students are at the appropriate level to play the music. That is why during Term 1, the bands split up into a grade 7 band and a grade 8 band, they perform at the multiple concerts during the year, with music that is very graceful and that cheers up the crowd.
The second ensemble is Concert Choir, this is made up of grades 6, 7 and 8 students, who love to sing. Mr. Eisenhauer finds the appropriate music, and the choir spends one recess every week practicing their songs. During the year, they too perform their songs during the concerts.
The strings club is made up of a group of violin students. Mr. Eisenhauer often plays the 'cello in this group, and his wife often plays the viola.
The guitar club is for any grades 6, 7 or 8 students who own a guitar. They learn many fun songs and then rock out at the concert! Mr. Eisenhauer likes to sing because he is a rock star!
There is also a Primary Choir, this is made of over 100 grade 1, 2, and 3 students. They sing many very cheerful songs that talk about various topics. This group was coordinated by Mrs. Skinner.

Sports

The school has boys and girls teams in soccer, Canadian football, volleyball, bordenball, track and field, and basketball.
The school has won many titles, which includes the sports Borden ball, volleyball, track and soccer.
Mr. Peter Laughland also runs a sports program for intermediate students of any skill level to join without a tryout. The sports included in this program are soccer, volleyball, basketball etc.