However, today, I am breaking away from the familiar and tentatively exploring the wonderful world of science.

 

And I am going to start this Closing Day address by telling you a story from just under 100 years ago.

 

One afternoon in the 1930s, the physicist Albert Einstein and his driver were heading to a lecture at the University of British Columbia — yet another lecture in yet another college lecture hall — when Einstein had an idea. He longed to escape the speakers’ circuit and pined for his laboratory and experiments back at Princeton.

 

Speaking to his faithful chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks and manner), the scientist said, “I really don't feel up to giving my lecture tonight. Why don't you deliver it?” “Me?” gasped the shocked driver.

 

“Yes,” replied Einstein. “You have heard me give it hundreds of times. I'm sure you must have memorized it by now. And none of these Canadians really know what I look like… we’ve both got unruly hair and white moustaches and you can hold my pipe.” “What if there are questions?” asked the driver. “There are never any questions, as you know. There is absolutely nothing to worry about,” returned Einstein.

 

And so the ruse was planned. They would change clothes and switch roles with Einstein putting on the chauffeur’s hat and jacket. On arriving at UBC’s campus, the driver was given the welcome appropriate for a famous Nobel-winning physicist, and Einstein tagged along behind, as was suitable then for a man of his chauffeur status. The lecture went beautifully, as Einstein knew it would.

 

At the end of the lecture, the chauffeur dutifully asked for questions. To the horror of both the driver (and Einstein), a professor (and alumnus of a Mainland boarding school) — Professor T. Salmon of UBC — known to the rest of the audience for being supremely pompous and self-important — stood up in the audience and — digressing here and there to let the audience know how clever he thought he was — asked a detailed, rather obscure and challenging question about anti-matter formation.

 

The chauffeur — on the stage and at the lectern — looked momentarily at the back of the auditorium at Einstein with fear in his eyes but then regained his composure in a flash and began to smile before looking directly at the rather egocentric professor. With a steely stare, he replied, “That question is a very simple one to answer.” Then gesturing to Einstein, who was at the back of the hall dressed in his driver's uniform, the chauffeur continued, “In fact that is such an easy question that even my driver sitting at the back could answer it!”

 

Sadly, the story is a bit of an urban myth. It appears to be a reworking, in a 20^th century setting, of a Jewish folk tale. It sits alongside the other myth that Einstein played as goaltender for a season for the Canwood Canucks in Saskatchewan!

 

As an aside, Canada has held since 2017 the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Albert Einstein!

 

The story of Einstein and his chauffeur certainly points of the dangers of taking oneself too seriously, as the UBC Professor seemed keen to do. Institutions, like Shawnigan, can also lapse in this regard…

 

It also illustrates the importance of playfulness, risk-taking, quick-wittedness — and an absolute disregard for stuffiness and egocentricity.

 

Picking up my Class of 2023 kaleidoscope there have been moments of playfulness, pure laughter, occasional madness, delight, tears and heartfelt pride when I remember the time we have spent together.

 

For some of us it has been five years together.

 

It is hard to isolate and capture the most memorable moments of this Grade 12 year for me:  surprises at every turn on April Fool’s Day including the wicker stag transplanted from the flagpole to my office; was it the Grade 12 semi-naked ski run down the mountain at Manning Park; was it finding the ‘Larry Longhorn - Wanted: Dead or Alive’ posters around campus for the Stampede party – at least they didn’t say ‘Unwanted: Dead or Alive’ as happened once upon a time to another Head at another school… or was it the fun of yesterday’s late-night tour of some of the Houses. I haven’t yet read the security report to find out what else happened after I went to bed!

 

As the Class of 2023, you have brought a distinctive sense of belonging, community and laughter to the campus — the perfect antidote to some of the challenges we face in the annual cycle of a school year.

 

I hope that during the course of today you find a moment to think of your loved ones unable to be here whose unstinting support, daily sacrifices, and dreams for your futures have guided you to this point. It is your achievement; it is their achievement.

 

They are with us in spirit today.

 

It is also a very special moment for 11 families here today — from Mexico to Rocky Mountain House, Alberta — whose children are ‘legacy’ students – in other words, one of their parents graduated from Shawnigan back in the mists of time.

 

I would now like to invite our students to show their appreciation to their families, to the staff and to the wider Shawnigan community for the unstinting support they have received on their journey so far.

 

On this note, I would like to turn to our departing staff members, for whom this also is an emotionally charged day — and to take a moment to thank them for their outstanding contributions to Shawnigan.

 

I recognized our three outgoing House Directors at Grad at Whistler and again in last night’s Major Awards Ceremony. I would like today, in front of our Grade 12s and their families, to mark two teachers who are retiring having made the Shawnigan 20-year club – Cari Bell of the English Department (23 years) and Darrin Austin of the Science Department (32 years).

 

All our departing staff — whether you have been here one or 32 years — have individually enriched our world, and the School will miss you. We wish you the very best for the adventures ahead.

 

‘…To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.’ [TS Eliot]

 

And back to our Grads.

 

Your ‘Grad Packs’ (full of letters, photos and cards) stand as testament to the affection and regard you are held in.

 

I turn to Einstein again as you step forward from Shawnigan and towards new beginnings.

 

For this closing address, I am going to draw on three messages/pieces of advice — taken from Albert Einstein’s writing — for all of you today. They complement the mission of Shawnigan Lake School: ‘Spark mind, kindle hearts, forge futures’:

 

Einstein observed, ‘I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.’

 

Class of 2023: always be curious and feed your imagination.

 

 

Einstein advised, ‘Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.’

 

Class of 2023: the difference you make to the lives of others defines who you are.

 

 

Einstein recognized that, "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school."

 

Class of 2023: we hope we have given you the education, the skills and tools, that you will need as you step towards the university of life.

 

Einstein, from what I have read, had a bubbling enthusiasm, a passionate and lifelong curiosity, and an engaging and mischievous sense of fun – as does the Class of 2023.

 

He also believed in humility and servant leadership.

 

Be generous, friendly, caring and compassionate as you head beyond our gates — be modest and act in word and deed.

 

If Einstein is too distant, too unattainable to envisage, think Mrs. Bell or Mr. Austin as role models for your future.

 

The best people I have met over the last half a century understand and model humility.

It’s the best advice I can give you: learn to be humble in action and in word.

 

And you understand that Shawnigan is as Shawnigan is, and it always seeks to be a better place. This is a great and unique school; it is not, of course, without its faults and failures but it is exhilarating and unstuffy in the way in which it fosters a deep sense of belonging and encourages its students to discover and develop your own talents and self-belief – whilst appreciating the gifts and needs of others.

 

And so the sun sets on the British Columbian flag and now sets on your time at Shawnigan.

 

I have caught myself on a number of occasions this week humming a tune — subconsciously — in my office and down the corridors of the main building [it has in fact been driving Mrs Miranda a little mad] from a song called ‘The Scientist” — and it gave me the inspiration for this Closing Day address:

 

Listen to the words of this verse:

 

“Nobody said it was easy

It's such a shame for us to part

Nobody said it was easy

No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start”

 

The Shawnigan Journey has been exciting, exhilarating and challenging — “nobody said it was easy.”

 

And now “it’s such a shame for us to part” and it’s time for you to go — and this ceremony serves as final celebration of our partnership but also the final act of “conscious uncoupling” of School and the Class of 2023.

 

In the spirit of the Founder’s Prayer (which I read earlier in Chapel) all of you graduates sitting in front of me have “thoroughly finished” your Shawnigan journey today and this moment “yieldeth the true glory.”

 

This afternoon, there will undoubtedly be tears of sadness, of relief, of exhaustion and of happiness – and you will have that sense of “half turn[ing] to go yet turning stay” [Christina Rossetti] as you draw strength for the next step on your journey, for a new beginning.

 

And as the coach or car you find yourself in this evening bumps over the familiar road towards the gates of campus, please take a moment to reflect on the magic of this place, this home-away-from-home.

 

We hope you have truly felt that you have belonged here.

We are going to miss you.

It has been a great privilege to be your Head.

 

Richard D A Lamont

Head of School

24th June 2023