TORONTO - Catholic parents are looking forward to the Oct. 25 municipal elections so they can elect a new slate of trustees, says the head of a Toronto parents’ group.

Parents are “fed up” with hearing of another trustee scandal, said Murielle Boudreau, chair of the Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network, in response to news that Toronto Catholic District School Board chair Angela Kennedy had been found guilty of conflict-of-interest charges.

“We want Catholic supporters to be really ready and do something about it, to recognize that these trustees failed and that (voters) can bring about change through their vote,” Boudreau told The Catholic Register.

Michael Duggan has been appointed the first CWL Chair for Catholic Studies at St. Mary’s University College in Calgary.

This is the first endowed chair of its kind in Western Canada and is funded by the Catholic Women’s League. The permanent, senior academic position was established to encourage the advancement of Catholic education through exemplary teaching and research.

St. Mary’s is a Catholic, student-focused liberal arts and science teaching institute.

BRAMPTON, Ont. - For Notre Dame Catholic High School student Don Marcial Ragot, moving to Canada from the Philippines came with some hurdles, including adjusting to a new culture and learning a new language.

But it took just two years for Ragot, who was enrolled for a semester in the Brampton school’s English as a Second Language class, to finish with the highest marks at the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board. He ended his high school career with a 98.83-per-cent average.

TORONTO - Brianna Smrke had a perfect ending to her year final year of high school.

The 18-year-old Michael Power/St. Joseph High School student graduated as the top student in the Toronto Catholic District School Board with a flawless mark of 100 per cent in all six of her courses.

The secret to her success? Smrke says it’s been a supportive family and a positive school environment that helped her develop as a well-rounded student and person.

“I didn’t know I would be the best,” Smrke said, adding she just kept working hard, a habit she developed early. Her diverse experiences in sports, arts and community work also helped build up her skills, she said.

When his grandfather needed eye surgery, St. Robert Catholic High School student Albert Chiang was there to accompany him.

During the hospital visit, Chiang spoke to his grandfather’s doctor and was fascinated by the process and the profession. So this summer, Chiang is volunteering at North York General Hospital. He will be studying at McMaster University in the health sciences program in the fall.

Chiang, who’s 99.33 average at the Thornhill, Ont., school was just shy of Charis Lam’s 99.83 average for tops with the York Catholic District School Board, said this experience sparked his motivation to pursue a career as an eye surgeon. (Lam declined interview requests from The Catholic Register).

Whether it’s studying physics, her toughest subject, or being a member of the “Ecosaders,” Assumption High School student Eszter Gereb says she likes to challenge herself in everything she does.

Gereb, 17, graduated as Halton Catholic District School Board’s top student with an average of 97.2 per cent.

The Burlington, Ont., student hopes to add physicist to her list of accomplishments. Gereb said she found physics to be her most difficult subject, but adds it also turned out to be her favourite.

From preparing for school debates to raising awareness about poverty and homelessness, St. Mary Catholic High School’s top ace Timothy Ko says his high school experience has been a mix of academics and community involvement.

“Being part of a community is really important,” said the Pickering, Ont., student. “All my friends kept me in a good mood while at school... If I see someone else doing well, I want to do well.”

Ko had the highest marks in the Durham Catholic board, ending his high school career with a 97.7-per-cent average.

TORONTO - As a recent graduate from teachers’ college, Guelph, Ont.’s Jesse Lloyd, a non-Catholic, applied to teach at a Catholic school a few years ago.

But he says didn’t get the job because of the requirement to be Catholic.

In his college days, he remembers how a few of his colleagues talked about being lapsed Catholics and having to relearn their Catholicism — or at least put up an appearance of Catholicity — in order to qualify for a teaching position at a Catholic school.

As hints of back-to-school begin to drift into academic consciousness, professors and administrators at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ont., are still in labour negotiations.

The SJU Academic Staff Association was certified as a union by the Ontario Labour Relations Board April 24. The professors said they needed the legal protection of a labour contract in light of changes in how the Catholic college at the University of Waterloo is governed.

“Negotiations are underway, but proceeding slowly,” staff association president David Seljak told The Catholic Register in an e-mail.

TORONTO - With the dawn of the era of all-day Kindergarten for children three-and-a-half to six years old, Ontario will begin to see how much difference an early introduction to formal learning can make in the life of a child.

The program will begin in fewer than 600 schools province-wide when the school year dawns following Labour Day, but should be available in all elementary schools by 2015-2016. By September 2011 up to 50,000 pupils will be enrolled in upwards of 800 schools.