August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1

Message from Chairperson – Maria Shea

This year, we are honored by OPC to receive the Ex-

ecutive Director’s Award (2013-2014) -2nd Overall

Sponsoring Committee in OPC

Congratulations to all our cadets that we break our

record for Fall tagging and maintain Spring tagging

by offering 2 shifts to minimize the interruption on

their weekend schedule.

I would like to say thank you especially to all our SSC members and parents helpers. Without them, 351 cannot be as successful as today. I am pleased that we have a great and strong SSC team in our squad-ron. We can work together in harmony. Thanks for all your help. I am looking forward to working with all of you in the coming year.

We are always looking for volunteers in our events. So parents do join us and work together to help our cadets as a SSC member, CV (Civilian Volunteers) or monetary donations.

We would like to hear from you. Please feel free to email me at ssc-chair@351silverstar.com.

Welcome Message from Commanding Officer

– Major Adam Mobbs

Welcome to a new training year! The staff and I are

excited to tackle the 2015/16 training year with great

enthusiasm. We once again have high expectations

for our cadets, we expect them to embrace their du-

ties and strive to become high performers within this

dynamic organization. For this upcoming training

year, you can expect the following minor changes: 1.

New Staff: 2Lt Wallace Sit will be joining us from 110

Squadron as Assistant Training Officer. 2Lt Sit will

oversee Thurs evening training; 2. Continued In-

vestment in Marksmanship: We will be investing in

some additional training tools to further the marks-

manship program; 3. New Level Officers: A slight

tweak to Level O’s (to be announced in

Sep); 4. LHQ Cleanup: We will be working with the

SSC to ‘cleanup’ the LHQ. As always, if you ever

have any comments, suggestions or concerns,

please feel free to approach me after final parade. It

is always a pleasure chatting and gathering insight

from those who believe and support the program.

SSC Finances

Due to our exceptional good tagging result, we had

surplus this year, so we expect to fund more extra

activities coming year. Every year will be another

challenge for us. Due to unforeseeable tagging re-

sult, rising expenses, etc, we are welcoming parents’

suggestion to find more sources of income to main-

tain extra activities for our cadets.

Nevada Program

The OPC Nevada program is a shared fundraising

initiative across the province. It is fully voluntary, but

does provide a good opportunity to generate extra

revenue for any Air Cadet Squadron.

Nevada Break-Open Ticket is a lottery ticket that

sells in the participating location; funds will go directly

to our cadet and benefit our Squadron.

How Can You Help….

August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1

Sell the Nevada Tickets!! Parents, if you are holding a

business or know someone who is and are interested

in being one of our Nevada Retail Locations, please

kindly contact SSC and we will be happy to provide

you with a full detail. The OPC have created a reve-

nue sharing opportunity with the license to increase

your profit and support our local fundraising activity.

Help in the Nevada Program!! Volunteers, please

contact our SSC members if you want to help out in

this program. The more assistance we may be able

to get, the greater support for our Cadets.

Halenda’s Pepperoni Stix – NEW

OPC is launching a new SSC Fundraising Program

by selling Halenda’s Pepperoni Stix. We will be plan-

ning to sell them at our canteen during our coming

cadet year.

Ontario Provincial Committee of the Air Cadet

league of Canada (OPC) Lottery

The OPC Lottery is a long-standing annual project

and an essential source of revenue for the Air Cadet

Program in the Ontario province. Based on the size

of the squadron, each squadron is required to sell a

minimum number of books of tickets (quota). In 2014

– 2015, we sold 270 books.

A portion of the sales proceeds is used to pay for all

lottery costs (ticket printing, prizes... etc.). The re-

maining proceeds are used to support OPC gliding

program, the Air Cadet Effective Speaking Competi-

tion and to cover the hosting expenses associated

with the International Air Cadet Exchange Program

as well as to contribute to the OPC overhead costs

associated with supporting the Squadron Sponsoring

Committees.

We need to fundraise in order to offer a full and at-

tractive program. One book per cadet is mandated in

order to be considered for the prestigious senior

courses such as Gliding and Power courses. It is

very important to recognize that it is every cadet's

responsibility to buy or sell OPC tickets. Exceptions

will only be granted if there is a valid reason and the

cadet must inform the Commanding Officer in writing

from his/her parents or guardian. Cadets who do not

purchase any book will be reported to the Command-

ing Officer. Selling of books will begin in September.

Each book is $50.00. Cash only and no cheque

please.

The coming year, we had been assigned again

with 230 books and will need parents/cadets to

help selling extra books.

Tag Days

Tagging is the major fundraising event. We are

only allowed to have it twice a year on fall and

spring. It is mandatory that ALL cadets to partici-

pate in this event. We will need parents’ full sup-

port by STAYING BEHIND to drive their sons &

daughters to and from the tagging stores

Squadron Photo Sales

Every year, we will have a photo night. Please sup-

port the Squadron by ordering those photos when

available. All photo proofs will be posted during pa-

rade night for selection and ordering through SSC. All

August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1

funds collected will be going back to the Squadron’s

activities.

Canteen Sales

On every Thursday during break time, SSC will oper-

ate a Canteen for cadets’ refreshments. All funding

will be going back to Squadron’s activities. Please

provide some spare changes for your sons and

daughters to support this event.

Christmas Banquet

This year our Christmas Dinner was held at Rouge

River Community Centre. We had invited parents and

guests this year so we can join our kids and get to

learn more about the cadet program.

Awards Banquet

This year our Awards Banquet was held at the Dragon

Legend. Everybody enjoyed the unlimited supply of

food and drinks.

We invited parents and guests to share and recognize

their kids’ achievement and enjoy the fun atmosphere.

All parents are encouraged to join next year. SSC has

subsidized part of the cost to participate cadets and

this year’s grand prizes for raffle are 2 CASH prizes.

Please provide them with some money to support this

event for next year.

Annual Ceremonial Review

This year our Annual Ceremonial Review was held at

Markham Village CC Arena. We have a successful

28th year for 351 Silver Star Squadron. This is the

most important date for all cadets to show what they

have learnt for the whole year.

I would like to thank you for those parents’ donation

for a lot of different refreshments and drinks. Thank

you parents again…

Parents Info Night

With the successful

feedback in last year,

we held our parent’s

night again this year.

Hoping by hosting this

night, it will continu-

ously helping new par-

ents to know more

about our squadron,

the program and some

form of communica-

tion with our new and

existing parents.

August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1

Notes from parents:

1) I was thrill with the orientation presented on the

parent’s night because when I registered my son for

the Air Cadets Program. I had doubt and uncertain

fear in my mind hence I have only little knowledge of

this program.

After the parent’s night orientation I feel extremely

confident that I made a right decision for my son to

register such an amazing program. The parent’s night

not only gave me the confidence but also gave me

the information and knowledge that I need such as

who sponsor this program, what type of activities the

Cadets will be involving and who should you engage

if you have any questions and concerns. I would en-

courage parents to attend this extremely informative

parent’s night.

2) My son started to attend Air Cadet program last

September. We found out that there was a Parent

Info Night for the new member's family. Both my

husband and I attended it. The parent info night is

very helpful for parents like us whose kids are new to

the program. Firstly, it's great to get to meet the

staffs and the volunteers. The CO explained the de-

tails such as the events, uniform supply, the field

training exercises and summer training, how the ca-

dets are expected to perform, how parents can be

involved. All this gives us a good picture of the pro-

gram. Furthermore, it gives us a chance to meet

other parents. We make friends with a few parents

and exchange some ideas and information. Overall,

the parent info night is informative and helpful for first

year cadets and their family.

Testimonial from June Ng – Service Award SSC

member

I remembered when my friend introduced me to Air

Cadets when her sons were in it. I thought this

would be a fun after school activity for my daughter

so I got her to enroll. She didn’t like it going in the

first night, but she was sold by the end of it. She

ended up joining band and rifle coach as well. I

watched her learn respect and discipline as she

gained leadership and survival skills. Although

sometimes I worry, I’m glad that she fell in love with

aviation and achieved the glider pilot and power

pilot scholarships. I decided to join the SSC (what’s

the full name of this…) in her last two years to see

what was keeping her busy every night of the week.

Getting to know other cadets and seeing them pro-

gress in the squadron made me feel proud. It was

also a lot of fun making new friends, many of whom

I now consider close friends. Taking on different

responsibilities myself allowed me to use my time

productively. Overall, the experience was great and

I wish everyone the best of luck in anything they

chose to pursue.

Testimonial from Sylvia Chiu –1st year SSC

member

It is my pleasure to be a new Squadron Sponsoring

Committee member of 351 Silver Star Squadron.

Volunteering at 351 Squadron Sponsoring Committee

is a valuable experience to me. In the past five

years, as a parent of this squadron, I do not really

understand why my sons love air cadets much. This

program is full of fun and educated activities in avia-

tion. After joining the SSC, I am finally realized how

much fun my sons have in this program. Not only

him, I also have a lot of fun working with the staff

and our SSC members in the past year. I can see

the efforts that our SSC members put it on each ac-

tivity and event. From organizing and fundraising ac-

August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1

tivities to Christmas dinner and the annual ceremo-

nial review, our SSC members were very excited in

each involvement. Our members have shared a

common commitment to service our squadron better.

I feel excited to be a part of the talented, experienced

and enthusiastic team at 351 SSC. Our team is

based on trust, cooperation and supporting. I highly

recommended young people to join Air Cadets pro-

gram. The Air Cadets program allows a young person

to have a positive and discipline experience. Also I

ask all our parents to join our SSC and share our joy

to make the squadron better.

August 31, 2015 Volume 5, Issue 1