Alumni News

Alumni Notebook - September 2019


Glenn Cameron ’78 (Copeman’s)
Glenn along with his mother, Beatriz and sister, Sandra visited the campus on their way to Alaska. Glenn and family are from Lima, Peru. This is his mother’s first visit since dropping Glenn off in 1975. Glenn studied at SLS for two years. He has fond memories of Derek Hyde-Lay. He attributes the superb direction he received from the school and its staff for the confidence he enjoyed later in life. He runs his own engineering company in Lima, Peru.



Ansel Kelman ’79 (Groves')
Ansel was on a bike tour of BC with his daughter. He popped into the school for a quick pit stop.



Walter van Halst ’84 (Lonsdale's)
Walt attended Shawnigan for 5 years and played rugby for the 1st XV. After graduation, he toured New Zealand and Australia with Derek Hyde-Lay, Ian Hyde-Lay and John Davies for 5 weeks on a truly life-changing trip. After earning a BA and an MA in Canadian political science, he volunteered and worked in politics before becoming a History teacher and rugby coach who has taken tours to California, the UK and 2 tours back to New Zealand and Australia. He is now serving in his 5th term as Commissioner of the BC Secondary Schools Rugby Union and would love to hear from alumni in his era at  vanhalst_w@surreyschools.ca . He is deeply grateful to all his rugby coaches and teachers, such as Rolf Grass, Stephen Lane and Horace McClelland who influenced him on and off the field.



Anthony Ostler ’87 (Ripley’s)
My wife, Victoria, my sons, Alex and James, my niece, Claire Carlton, and I commenced our buildOn trek to Malawi on Sunday, July 21st, with some trepidation and nerves as we were going to a small remote village that we had never been to. We had funded the engineering, project management and key materials for a primary school, and the trek’s key activities were to complete the groundbreaking and commence its construction. The village, Munye, sits on the border of the Kasungu National Park and is at the end of a long sandy and rocky road that is about a five-hour drive from the capital Lilongwe.
We knew that this farming village had no power, no running water, no school building, no clinic, no machinery for its farms and no general store for supplies. What we didn’t know was that this little village with a few hundred people was filled with joy, hope, energy, generosity, love, laughter and a sense of community that none of the five of us had ever witnessed. Our week flew bye and we left Munye with the Kaulauta School construction well under way. But we also left with our hearts widened and our spirits energized due to everything we experienced and shared with these amazing Malawians and the local buildOn team members.

Mike Mendelman ’88 (Copeman’s)
Mike, wife Joline and son James visited the school early June. Mike spoke to Gary Dukelow’s entrepreneurial classes. He spoke about his time at Shawnigan and his business career in Calgary, Banff and Canmore, Alberta. He also and visited our two commercial kitchens and has kindly offered to be an off-campus member of our food committee. He met up with his mentor Rolf Grass.



Spencer Tsai ’94 (Copeman’s)
Spencer with family.



Cynthia (Orlandi) Oberdan ’97 (Kaye’s) and her sister Maria (Orlandi) Vazquez ’94 (Kaye’s) visited in early July with their families
Maria lives in Los Angeles, California. Cynthia resides in Cairns, Australia. Their brother Tony Orlandi '99 (Copeman's) and his family, who also live in Cairns, Australia, joined them. They took time to visit the school while on a family ocean-cruise adventure to Alaska to commemorate a special birthday celebration for their father, Paolo Orlandi.



Justin Leung ’98 (Ripley’s)
Justin, wife Cynthia and children Juliette and Jeremy visited our campus early June. They live in Hong Kong. Justin is keen to be an ambassador for SLS in the city. He is the Director of a company named Ambition. He was pleased to catch up with some of his teachers including Mrs. Grass and Mr. Connolly.



Tearakau Houston ’98 (Lonsdale’s)
While attending the graduation ceremony at Brentwood College in late June, Tearakau popped by for a quick visit to see classmate and staff member Wes Plater ‘97 in action. Here he is with his wife Jody and three of his four children.



Tony Cape ’01 (Ripley’s) and Carly (Overton) Cape ’00 (Groves')
The Capes visited our campus late August with their four children William, Rosemary, Margaret and Jack. They were on the island visiting grandparents in Nanaimo. They live on the outskirts of Chicago where Tony works for Bain and Co.



Members from the Class of 2008 attend George Halse’s wedding July 2019
(left to right) Daf Samuel (Ripley's), Ben Kingstone (Ripley’s), Hugh Cape (Ripley’s), Alex Housser (Duxbury), Chris Linn (Ripley’s), Josh Noble (Copeman’s), and Brian Sirkia (Lake's).

George Halse ’08 (Lonsdale’s) was married at Merridale Cidery & Distillery in Cobble Hill late June. Wedding guests and family stayed on campus in Renfrew House. Pictured are George’s classmates, who were delighted to share this momentous occasion with George and his new bride Phoebe Tonks. Missing from the photo is the groom.



Amy Rawlinson ’08 (Groves')
Visiting the school with husband Brandon and son Ethan John Smith. They reside in Hamilton, Ontario.



Alex Hutchinson ’11 (Ripley’s)
Visiting Gaynor Samuel at the school with Brynn early this August.




Alumni Parents enrolling their children September 2019
(l-r)
New parents Ross Gilmour ’77 (Lonsdale’s), Amy (Jellema) Capern ‘96 (Kaye’s), sisters Zoe McKechnie ‘90 (School House) and Bryna (McKechnie) Cable ‘92 (School House) and Matthuw Ronald-Jones ‘93 (Copeman’s) gather outside the chapel after enjoying a welcoming address from Headmaster Lamont. Missing from the photo is Darren Earl ‘89 (Ripley’s). We are pleased to welcome alumni children Charlotte and Stephanie Gilmour, Lauren Capern, Annie Cable, Dennis Ronald-Jones and Dallas Earl this fall.  





Marika Pelham ’13 (Groves') 

Watch for exciting news in the next issue of Alumni News – including Marika Pelham’s hike from California to British Columbia, a distance of over 4,200 kilometers.



Chelsea Gladstone ’15 (Renfrew)

Meet UBC’s first Lieutenant Governor Medal winner. “When Chelsea Gladstone walks across the convocation stage to collect her diploma in May, she’ll become the first member of her family to graduate from university. She’ll also be doing it as UBC’s first Lieutenant Governor Medal winner, in recognition of her work in supporting and empowering Indigenous students on campus.”

Read more by UBC University News writer - Clare Hamilton-Eddy


Have something you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you!

Submit an Alumni Update
Back
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.