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Helping Students Thrive
As part of the Shawnigan Journey, each grade is tagged with a unique word. For alumni, that word is “thrive,” as Shawnigan strives to prepare graduates to flourish even after they have moved on to the next steps in their lives.
One of the biggest parts of that preparation is Shawnigan’s Guidance Office.
“The job of the Guidance Office is to work in concert with students to help them thrive beyond the gates of Shawnigan, to plan their pathways post-secondary, whatever that looks like – if it’s university, college, a gap year, or something else,” says Director of Futures Mr. Paul Doig.
“We help students make academic decisions while they are here to enhance their plan after Shawnigan,” explains Head of University Guidance Mr. Greer Bevel, adding that this entails conversations and other work with both students and parents. At the start of the process, students often don’t know a lot about individual universities, and much of their information has come from the media, peers, and their parents. “Our job is to help them be able to choose the program that is best for their interests and where they will thrive,” Mr. Bevel says. “To let them know what’s out there and help them choose.”
It is an “increasingly challenging admissions environment,” says Mr. Bevel, who notes that Shawnigan prepares students very well for university life, both through boarding and academics.
Guidance counsellors start working with students early on in their Shawnigan Journeys – which don’t have to play out in a straight line.
“We mainly work with Grades 11 and 12, but we have discussions and planning with Grades 8, 9 and 10 as well,” Mr. Doig explains. “We want to help get them thinking about their aspirational goals as early as possible.”
Mr. James Pollock serves as the Guidance Office’s Athletic Advisor, liaising with coaches to help students who want to pursue sports as part of their post-Shawnigan lives. Sports are a big part of life at the School, and a lot of students want to leverage that into helping them get into a university or college.
The Guidance Office makes sure that students consider universities beyond BC and across Canada, including smaller schools that they may not have previously considered, which often have rural settings and values similar to those of Shawnigan. They are also exposed to universities around the world – last year, there were two students who applied to universities in three different countries; this year, 14 students did that.
The position of Director of Futures is a new one at Shawnigan this year that sees Mr. Doig, a longtime staff member, now responsible for three areas: the future of our students, the future of the School curriculum, and the future of campus development. It is as part of that first area – the future of our students – that Mr. Doig collaborates with the Guidance Office to ensure that graduates thrive in their post-Shawnigan lives.
As Director of Futures, Mr. Doig is the latest addition to a strong and experienced guidance team that includes Mr. Bevel, Mr. Pollock, and Counsellors Mrs. Alison Dewis, Mrs. Vicki Heywood, and Mrs. Sheena Matthews.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
