Endorsements

1
Endorsements 2009
2
September 2009
Hello Mr. Watts! Sorry I haven't replied back to
you sooner its been a busy ummer. I've been
roofing as a summer job to pay for school so
ithas been rough. YES! I am enrolled at mcmaster
in the bachelors oftechnology program and my
field is biotechnological engineering. It isa
brand new degree/diploma program offered by
mcmaster and inco-operation with mohawk. My class
is the very first of the newbiotechnology
program. We have the brand new building that has
beenbuilt in front of Mac. I'm now going into my
second year. Last year first semester I was
actually top of biotech with a 9 GPA...it did
drop in my last semester however so I ended with
a 7.2 GPA. Please make sure to tell Mr. Robinson,
thank you, without his grade 12 physics class I
definitely would not have passed with a 9 GP in
first year physics. You will be glad to know that
you taught me well in biology. I was more then
prepared for first year biology, not only was it
my highest mark, I was top in my class with an 11
GP! Thank you! I look forward to this year as we
are now splitting from the other sections of
B.Tech and focussing more on biology
(biotechnology, cell biology, biochemistry,
genetics, and microbiology). I look forward to
hearing from you again and wish you the best of
luck with the new flock in the upcoming school
year. Sincerely,
3
June 2009
Hey sir i just wanted to say thanks for
everything when mr heart said you were the best _at_
this school he wasnt kidding ) you really always
do do your best and its greatly appreciated, even
if it didnt seem like it thanks so much! take
care and enjoy ur summer )
4
January 2009
Ive been a student for 13 years, never have I
been asked to share my opinion about a school?
Well my last 2 years in high school were the best
years of my life. I moved to Canada 3 years ago
and went to Hill Park high school. Now I have
graduated from high school and starting
University at McMaster University. When I got a
tour of the university I was astonished and
overwhelmed at the same time, it was a completely
new environment. It was a big step for me, it was
totally different from high school. In high
school, teachers would take attendance, help you
if u need help, advice you when possible. In
University no Professor knows you, youre in a
class of 500 people, Big change from a class of
20 to a class of 500. The main point is that when
it came to the category of studying at university
I was prepared. My teachers in grade 12, Mr.
Watts, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Potvin, and Mrs. Ramson,
have been a great help in my success in
university. They dedicated there time to help
there students succeed and thrive for their goal,
they pushed us to the limit were they know we
will achieve our goal in life. Without them I
would not be in university and in fact would not
be writing this letter. Thank you hillpark for
the preparation you have given me and I hope many
students, realize this n the future, that it was
them who gave them this opportunity.
5
Endorsements 2007
6
January 2007
Hi, My name is Sara Cormier and I am a recent
graduate of Hill Park. Currently I am studying
science at McMaster University. During my grade
12 year at Hill Park I completed a co-op position
at Dr. Tangs lab in St. Josephs hospital. This
position is still available to students at Hill
Park. For me, this co-op was instrumental in
helping me with which program to choose at
university. I encourage anyone who is
considering a career in the sciences,
specifically biology/chemistry or even medicine
to take advantage of the opportunity to be a
member of Dr. Tangs lab. Dr. Tangs lab is
truly a hands on laboratory experience that very
few (if any) high schools are able to offer their
students. The amount of responsibility that I
was given in carrying out various experiments was
much more than I had expected. I was given the
opportunity to participate in various tasks
including DNA gels (which you may have seen in
Mr. Watts gr. 12 bio class), I learned how to
handle different chemicals, used different
complex machinery and learned procedures to carry
out various experiments. Dr. Tang is an
amazing supervisor in that he really helps in
explaining complex concepts and theories behind
experiments being carried out. However, be
warned that this co-op position is not designed
for the student who wants a co-op position to
ease work load. Each day is different, and this
is NOT a co-op where you will be performing the
same, dry procedures day after day. It is a
great learning experience, and is truly
interesting I highly recommend it! Thanks and
good luck! - Sara Cormier P.S. As a side note,
if you are currently in Mr. Watts bio class, and
are finding it difficult, you are not alone. If
you are successful in his class, you should have
very little problem with first year university
biology (or at least this was my experience), he
prepares you very well.
7
October 2004
Mr. Watts, The one message that I would like to
pass on to your grade 12 students is not to get
overwhelmed. There was lots to know for your
class and lots of assignments, and I remember
actually getting mad at you ( just in the
beginning ) because I thought well why is Mr.
Watts giving us all these weekly assignments on
top of all the reading and chapter questions, as
well as our other classes. I can honestly say
that because of all the work and deadlines we had
to meet in your class and  not being reminded to
hand stuff in has saved me so much stress now, it
also has made me an independent student. All you
think about your whole grade 12 year is I better
do well to get in to university, trying to manage
school with all that pressure can be very
difficult. Your slides instead of notes can be
very intimidating for some students but if they
are university bound they mite as well pick up
the habit of making their own notes now. At the
time students don't know what to expect from
University and they don't realize that your style
of teaching is really preparing them. So tell the
grade 12's that your not trying to make it hard
for them to do well, you are only trying to
prepare them for next year. If they keep up in
your class I'm sure they won't have a problem
adjusting to college/university. They will
appreciate it so much next year!!. . .k thats a
long msg but you can shorten it up! Thanks
8
October 2004
Dear Mr Watts,      I just thought I would send
you a quick note to thank you for preparing me
for university biology so well. Most of the
students at HP were scared to have you as a
teacher because of your work load and high
expectations. I spent many nights stressing
over assignments and unit tests in SBI4U, but
now I can admit the difficulty was well worth
it.  I remember you putting up a letter like this
on the overhead during one of my SBI4U classes
and thinking "yeah right! Mr. Watts is sooo hard
and I'm not going to get a good mark in high
school bio, therefore I won't even get into
univeristy". I can assure you that we (Hill
Park students) are much more knowlegable and
prepared going into university. University bio
may be extremely hard but I feel like I have a
better foundation than most students in my class
thanks to your teachings. I am currently at
taking a concurrent double major program
in Health Science and Business Administration and
hoping to fit in a minor in genetics. So, thanks
again for making my transition from high school
to university much smoother.                     
                                                  
                                                 
                                                  
                                     
                                               
_at_.
9
October 2004
Hello Mr Watts. . .sorry it took so long to write
back, I have been extremely busy and overwhelmed
with work. The grade 12 biology program has
prepared me so much for Nursing. Everything from
action potentials, amino acids, DNA replication
etc has been a major help so far!! I have
practically pulled apart last years biology
notes to use them in Anatomy and Physiology, as
well as Biochemistry. and I were taking
about how your slides made us more independent
learners which is really helpful for our
lectures. Also, posting homework, assignments,
reviews and notes on the internet has helped to
get us in the habit of checking online. .
.because everything in University is online. I
wouldn't change anything about the grade 12
biology course. I'm learning about DNA
replication in Biochemistry and it feels like
such a review. . .I feel like I know way more
about it than what is just in lectures. I almost
feel like an expert!  The detail that we
learned last year is really helping, I am able to
spend more time on new material!   thanks
10
September 2004
hi there, i see you're on the cover of a
magazine! Thats exciting! i wanted to say
how well your course prepared me for university,
with time management, study habits and
understanding lectures, and thank you for
that. thanks for your time. I'll keep in touch.

11
September 2004
Hey Mr. Watts, it's from your
grade 12 bio class last year.  I'm emailing to
tell you about some of the courses that I'm
taking, you're probably interested in how they're
set up. The lectures for my Human Biochemistry
class are all on CD-ROM because there is no
room for our class to go for lectures (too big of
a class).  More than half of the material that's
covered in the course I learned in your grade 12
bio class and because the class is geared
towards nursing, I don't have to
memorize everything.  I just have to get a
general understanding so that I can relate the
info to reality in my case studys'.  Basically,
the biochem class is pretty easy.  In the psych
class that I'm in, we're learning about action
potentials!!  The hardest class that I have to
take is the Human Anatomy and Physiology class. 
The class average last year was 43.  The text
book is over 1000 pages long and the readings for
just the first week covered most of the grade 12
bio course!  The text book is so detailed and
complex! That's probably why so many people
failed last year and because the majority of the
students were first year nursing students.  The
heath science students don't have to take that
course until their second year! Well, those
courses (plus Gerontology and obviously Nursing)
are the courses I'm taking first year.  I'm
enjoying it so far, and since the terms are so
short (10 weeks left), the first year is going
to go by fast.  I'll see you at the Grad Ceremony
back at HillPark.  Bye.
12
December 2003
I just wanted to thank you for preparing your
students, more than any other teacher or class,
for university learning. The material and depth
you taught very much reflects what my first year
bio class emphasizes. I just wanted to let you
know that and again thank you very much for being
such great teacher that you are (even tho most
kids think your the 'hard' teacher- i think its
beneficial in the long run) P.s ??????? thinks
this 2! Happy Holidays and Best wishes in the
new year.