Athletic Council: The A.C. consists of volunteers who promote active involvement in athletic activities. This is an enthusiastic group that is very involved in organizing and running numerous events. Council runs the popular annual semi-formal, lunchbucket intramurals, and volunteers at elementary school athletic events.
Ambassador Club: The Ambassador Club students provide school tours, address questions and concerns of new students, act as a welcoming committee, involve members in a variety of school related activities and promote good public relations.
Concert Bands and Vocal Ensembles: The JDSS Music Department has a variety of musical ensembles for all levels both secondary and elementary. These ensembles rehearse and perform all year and attend a variety of music festivals. Our bands frequently travel across Canada and on occasion to overseas destinations.
Lights, camera, action: Every year the school puts on a number of exciting presentations, events and assemblies. Become a part of it - no experience necessary, but you must be willing to spend some of your own time learning how to set up and operate some of the school's new audio and visual equipment. Come out and be a part of the energetic team that helps make things happen.
Math Contests: The Canadian Mathematics Competition, run by the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo), extends an invitation to students to participate in math contests. The aim of the contests is for students to have fun and to develop their mathematical problem solving ability. The contests are written at JDSS. The contests include multiple choice questions, ranging from easy to difficult. Rankings of contestants are provided at four levels: school, zone, provincial, and national. Grade 9 students write the Pascal contest. The Cayley contest is written by grade 10 students. Grade 11 students write the Fermat contest, and grade 12 students compete in the Euclid contest. Prizes are available. Copies of past contests and solutions are available free of charge from the CEMC on the web at cemc.math.uwaterloo.ca/contests/past_contests See a math teacher for more details.
Model United Nations: Members of this club apply to attend the Southern Ontario Model United Nations (SOMA) run by the University of Toronto schools in the spring. The Model United Nations is a large-scale simulation that provides a forum for debate on world issues. All delegates represent countries and sit on specific committees such as European Union, Unicef, World Health Organization, General Assembly etc. Participants research and write a series of position papers on subjects including peace and security, the environment, economic development, human rights and international law. At the conference, the delegates debate issues, make resolutions and practice skills of diplomacy along with hundreds of other student delegates from across the province. In school we work as teams preparing for SOMA.
Snowdogs: If you like to ski or snowboard, this club is for you. Join the many other snow-loving JDSSers at Blue Mountain for four days on the slopes each winter. Beginners and advanced skiers/riders alike, everyone in the club participates in lessons, followed by time on the hill to practise new skills. A great way to enjoy winter!
Skills Canada: The team gives the students the opportunity to demonstrate their technical and leadership skills in different subject disciplines in a supervised, friendly and competitive environment.
Students' Council: The Students' Council at John Diefenbaker consists of two groups - the executive council and the grade representatives council. Co-Presidents, treasurer, assistant treasurer, secretary, assistant secretary, executive officer, and student trustee form the executive council. Three representatives from each grade level form the grade representatives council. Elections are held in May of the preceding year to determine the students who will hold each position.
Youth in Action: This club is open to anyone in the school. Members learn and raise awareness about social justice issues within the school. They work to raise money for Free the Children projects and other local and global initiatives. If you are interested in learning more about global issues and making a difference in the world, join this group. Campaigns include Hallowe'en for Hunger, Vow of Silence, Adopt a Village Brick by Brick, etc. Initiatives each year are determined by the group.