The highly anticipated Groves' House Chapel presentation did not disappoint. The girls gave a fabulous presentation centred on their House motto, Ex Unitate Vires (Strength and Unity). After a powerful speech by the Head of House, they sang their House hymn a cappella which was beautiful. Then, a girl from each grade described their feelings about Groves' House, followed by the entire House singing "Home," by Phillip Phillips. Readings about sisterhood and family were also sprinkled throughout the presentation. Finally, we were entertained by a very talented group singing "Born This Way," by Lady Gaga. What follows is the speech by Tannis.

 

 

Welcome to the Groves House chapel presentation. The theme that we have chosen is our house motto: Ex Unitate Vires, which translates to Strength in Unity. I would now like to invite you to stand for our wonderful brothers' House hymn.

 

This year, there wasn’t much hesitation in choosing our theme, strength in unity, as it clearly reveals the connections and sisterhood that Groves’ established in early September. Since my arrival at Shawnigan in grade 10, every year has been different. They’ve all had their ups and downs and varying atmospheres, but ever since the fall, I could tell that there was something special about this year. I discovered that it lay in the reality of the growth of a special bond, emerging as one. Inevitably, I felt this bond in previous years, but by no means was it as prominent as this present one. I know that any of you would say the same about your house, but honestly, I’ve never met a tighter knit group of girls who support, care and laugh unconditionally with one another.

 

So, how is unity achieved? I believe that it is achieved by accepting one another, and then identifying and combining the discovered strengths to form one unit. This is important in all aspects of life -- to put the differences between us aside, and to accept and even learn from the variety of people in our lives. Last year, I was nervous and apprehensive about filling the grade 12’s shoes, I was unsure if my grade would be able to come together and lead the House. I know they could agree because, well, we were quite the scattered bunch. When you combine an eclectic group of personalities that include laidback attitudes, dramatic characters and procrastinators you don’t quite know what the outcome will be. In our case, when you combined the quirky ingredients it was a recipe for success and, despite our differences, we understood the responsibility and leadership that needed to form in order to have a successful year. Although we still have our flaws, somehow, we found a way to set aside our differences and come together to establish a strong relationship that flourished throughout the House.

 

Unity is present in all of the facets of the Shawnigan community. Whether it is singing amongst one another in chapel, the cheering and competing of inter-house or simply the company of one another in Marion Hall, we are nothing if not strong in our unity.

 

Besides the unified atmosphere in Groves’ that I have been lucky enough to be a part of, there have been two memorable moments of unity that I have been part of. The first was when I volunteered in Thailand last spring, when our team of twelve students arrived at the college in Banatoe to start our water line project. We joined together with the Thai students of the college, an Australian engineer, and Tai villagers. Some of the villagers were so old that they shouldn’t have been walking, let alone plunging into the ground with a metal hoe, but nonetheless, they would work at our sides for hours. To me, this was an incredible feeling, as the endless diversity and differences between each and every one of us melted away. These differences included our language, our strength capabilities and our cultural backgrounds, but what amazed me the most was that no matter how different we all were, we generated a type of strength that brought us together to work towards the same goal.

 

The second experience was winning Provincials in Field Hockey this fall, when our team of new and old players rose above, to achieve an unforgettable victory that still renders me with chills when I think back to it.

 

These two experiences link back to how Groves’ has revealed itself. Even recently, at Ski Week, what began as a disastrous mound of snow and ice was transformed into the winning sculpture, not by one but by all. When we came together to create this challenging structure, we were faced with discouragement and doubt in our abilities to tackle such an obstacle. However, we kept chipping away and, six and a half hours later, what was once a misshapen abstract glob took the form of our vision. This wouldn’t have been a success without the differing contributions and perseverance of each person in the group. We melded our strengths together and achieved what we thought wasn’t possible. In the words of Rumi “Like a sculptor, if necessary, carve a friend out of stone. Realize that your inner sight is blind and try to see a treasure in everyone.” This year, our entire house has chipped away at barriers, and unified a diverse group of young women. I couldn’t be more proud of our strength in unity.

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