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Tour de Rock Returns
All 540 Shawnigan students lined the main driveway on Tuesday evening to welcome the Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock back to campus to celebrate its long-running efforts to combat pediatric cancer.
The Tour de Rock is a two-week journey down Vancouver Island – from Port Hardy to Victoria – of cyclists representing police services and other emergency responders, raising money for children and their families affected by pediatric cancer, and Shawnigan has been an anticipated stop for the riders since the beginning.
Since 1998, Tour de Rock has raised nearly $60 million, including nearly $700,000 raised by Shawnigan Lake School over the last 29 years. Continuing its tradition of supporting Tour de Rock, Shawnigan handed the riders a cheque for $34,000.
The money raised will support the Canadian Cancer Society in fueling pediatric cancer research and sending 600 kids each year to Camp Goodtimes, a recreation experience for children and teens affected by cancer and their families. The very first Camp Goodtimes was held on the Shawnigan campus in 1985.
Following tradition, Shawnigan students wore this year’s word shirts, sporting the word “ignite,” with a definition provided by the students and Reverend Ruth Dantzer (“To awaken the fire within and transform a quiet spark into a guiding light”), and translations in French (“enflammer”), and Hul’qumi’num’ (“ma’tsup”).
After the riders arrived, they joined the students for presentations and speeches in the Schieldrop Amphitheatre in the Kaye Gardens, followed by a barbecue in the Quad, headshaves for brave volunteers, and bouncy castles.
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 12 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
