Shawnigan Now
Fishing in Tahsis Inlet
A great way to come back to school after a break—Jean-Jacques Receveaux, Mike M. and Milan V. spent two days of fishing in Tahsis Inlet on the West coast of Vancouver Island. An early morning followed by a breakfast of french bread courtesy of Jean-Jacques started off the trip. The fishing was good and the weather was great. We saw lots of fish but not a single bear—a little dissapointing. It was nice to get away, even though it was just overnight. A great time for the three of us. Hopefully, this will be the first of many trips to come.
– Milan V.
English 12 Really Cooks!
The English 12 class of B block has just finished the novel, The Kite Runner and was challenged to prepare a feast based on the food that is eaten in Afghanistan. There were 5 groups that were in charge of different dishes. When the cooking was done, we had an amazing feast and all the food tasted incredibly good.
– Antoine B., English 12
National Slam Poetry Finals
This weekend, my Writing 12 class and I went to the National Slam Poetry Finals in Victoria. The finals were hosted in a church and the atmosphere was incredible. It was interesting to see the strong traditions that slam poetry holds, like "spilling the blood" by having a new, non-competitive poets speak first. Going to the slam finals has inspired me to become a better performance poet and has given me inspiration for new poems. Some highlights other than the poetry included having a Shawnigan student judge the finals and taking a special trip to McDonalds.
– Morgan Lee, Writing 12
AP Literature & Composition
For the past several weeks, AP Literature & Composition students have studied Arthur Miller’s modern American tragedy, Death of a Salesman. To finish the unit, the class broke into groups, with each group taking responsibility for an important scene in the play. These they performed in front of their peers on Tuesday. The purpose of this approach, of course, is to drive students into the play, so that when the time comes to write about Death of a Salesman on the AP Exam, an individual student will recall not only specific lines, but also the emotional context of the scene. To succeed with this assignment, students must determine for themselves the mood of the scene and the struggles of each character. This impressive group met the challenge with remarkable maturity and achieved significant depth in their performances.
– Jay Connolly, AP Literature & Composition
Duxbury Chapel Presentation
This weekend, Duxbury House ran the chapel service. As a theme, we chose unity because we believe unity to be a great concept: to gather individuals' strength and wisdom in the purpose of participating in something larger than themselves. We performed a series of readings, skits, and songs all brought together under the theme of unity. I would like to thank the efforts of the staff and housemates for preparing this presentation and making it a memorable experience.
– Mike K., Head of Duxbury House
Photos by Stephen Lane
Commerce 10 Pizzeria
Our Commerce 10 class had a great first experience with the opening of the new Stag Pizzeria. Although it has only just started, we already have many customers because the Stag Café is well-known for providing great food. For most of us, it was our first time making pizzas, but we all had fun and managed to figure out that pepperoni always goes on the bottom, not on top of the cheese.
Cicy F., Commerce 10
AP US History
Dr. Stewart Hamilton (Shawnigan alumnus, class of 1968) spoke to Mr. Olson’s AP US History class about his time as a trauma surgeon at Kandahar Airfield in 2008. Dr. Hamilton began his talk by giving credit to Graham Anderson, his Shawnigan History teacher, for his interest in history and then spoke about the conflict in Afghanistan in an historical context. He showed us images of the beautiful and harsh landscape and outlined the factors of population density, education, religion, languages and health in that area. He talked briefly about the Communist and Taliban era and about Role 3 MMU (Multinational Medical Unit) of which he was a part. In this 16-bed hospital, 75 metres from the tarmac at the Airfield, Dr. Hamilton, and his team members cared for coalition forces, Afghan security forces, civilians, and any life threatening injuries that crossed their threshold. Dr. Hamilton brought to view the destruction caused by AK47s, suicide bombs, and IEDs, with photos from his operating room. We were captivated by his teaching and honoured by the time he gave us.
Remembrance Day
Our Shawnigan Remembrance Service was poignant, and the students’ sense of honour and remembrance made us proud. In the pre-service, Grade 8 program class, Dr. Moulaison spoke to students about his time as a surgeon in the military. Students responded by telling him about their families’ war experiences. Given the ages of the students, we were somewhat surprised by the number of stories told. Indeed, conflict has touched many lives at Shawnigan. This was also evident in the veterans who attended our Chapel service and by our Remembrance Speaker, Dr. Stewart Hamilton ’68 (Ripley’s), who served as a trauma surgeon at Kandahar Airfield while his eldest son, Chris ’02 was on a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The Shawnigan Choir sang “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” Click on the photo to hear them sing and to see photos of the service by Stephen Lane and Maureen Connolly. Thanks to Jay Connolly for the choir recording.
Challenging climate change
Shawnigan’s EnviroClub and their counterparts from Brentwood College School kicked off a ground-breaking program this week as they embark on the High School Climate Challenge.
The two schools are the first on Vancouver Island, and among the first in BC, to participate in the program which began in Ontario last year as a joint initiative of Clean Air Champions and the Sierra Youth Coalition. The program provides high school communities the tools to assess and reduce their school's carbon footprint and contribute to climate change solutions.
Although it is a “challenge” for each school to reduce its carbon emissions the most, “this is a unique situation to have two schools also working together,” said Karen Stroebel, HSCC Coordinator for BC. “Each school will have its own team for monitoring and implementing initiatives, but the tone overall is that they are working together on the bigger picture of reducing climate change.”
In a workshop at the Shaw Centre, representatives from the program explained how students will gather their baseline data over the next months on everything from heating, energy and transportation costs to calculating how much paper and water their schools use. The teams will also develop Climate Action Plans and will be able to monitor how those activities affect their schools’ carbon footprint.
Each school also has a mentor to help them. “We’ll be helping you guide the process, but it’s your project,” Shawnigan mentor Brian Roberts told the students. He is a teacher at Vancouver Island University and an expert in bio diesel waste recovery.
Parent Open House
Our recent Parent Open House was a great success and all of those who attended seemed to feel that it was enjoyable, useful and reassuring. My thanks to all the parents who made the effort to attend and to the staff who, as always, give so willingly of their time. Enhancing our relationships with families is a key aspect of the modern boarding school and last week's event did much to foster those aims. Well done!
– David Robertson, Headmaster