News & updates

List of 5 news stories.

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  A Visit from the Past

  4/25/2025
   Being a Grade 8 student at Shawnigan includes learning about the School’s history, now at 109 years and counting. A big part of that is the annual trip to the School museum. This week, the current crop of Grade 8s heard directly from a Shawnigan alumnus about what it was like to attend the School in the 1960s.

   

  Don Manning (Copeman’s) graduated from Shawnigan in 1964, having started in Grade 7. He returned to the School this week to share some stories and context from his six years as a student. A lot of things have changed in the 60-plus years since he left.

   

  “When you drive in through the gates, it has the feel of the School, but it’s not the same School,” he said.

   

  The School was “harsh” and “not a caring environment” when Mr. Manning attended, and the student-to-faculty ratio was much higher than it is now. The senior boys – it was an all-boys’ school at the time – had more influence and control over the juniors, who often had to act as their personal servants. As things changed gradually, Shawnigan was a “marvellous place to be” in his later years at the School.

   
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  Going Back Beyond the Gates

  4/25/2025
  With the end of their time at Shawnigan now in sight, a group of Grade 12s took some time recently to revisit one of the highlights of their Grade 9 year.

   

  Twelve of the original 13 students in Shawnigan’s Beyond the Gates program reunited for an overnight camping trip on April 5 and 6 – an opportunity to get together and reminisce about a special and unique year in their lives. (The 13th student is still at Shawnigan, but was unable to fit the trip into their busy schedule.)

   

  “It was just a really cool experience,” said Marin D. “Grade 9 feels really far away, but we still felt a connection to Beyond the Gates. It was a cool opportunity for us to jump back into the past and relive the fun we had.”

   
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  Down the Rabbit Hole

  4/17/2025
  “Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
  “I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone: “so I can’t take more.”
  “You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “It’s very easy to take more than nothing.”

   

  The discourse was certainly more civil than it was at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, but the ambience was no less wonderful at the Alice in Wonderland-themed Down the Rabbit Hole fundraising dinner last Saturday evening.

   

  Following in the tradition of 2023’s Secret Garden dinner and 2024’s Great Gatsby dinner, the latest event took inspiration from another classic book that provided a wide range of ideas to work with.

   
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  Meet the Press - 10 Minutes at a Time

  4/15/2025
  For 10 minutes at a time, Comparative Government students at Shawnigan got to see what it’s like to be a world leader, a press secretary, or a member of the press corps covering national and international issues.

   

  During the last week before Spring Break, Mr. Paul Klassen and Mr. Remi Anctil’s Comp Gov classes held 10-minute press conferences in Mitchell Hall. Students were selected to represent either executive leaders, press secretaries, or members of the media from six different countries: Russia, Iran, the UK, Nigeria, Mexico and China.

   

  Each of the 10-minute conferences was opened with a two-minute statement from the press secretary, followed by eight minutes of questions from the reporters to the leader. Media members prepared specific questions for the leader from their assigned country, then afterward wrote newspaper headlines or a political cartoon based on the press conferences

   
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  Pulling Together: Shawnigan and Rowing Canada

  4/11/2025
  Shawnigan’s long-standing relationship with Rowing Canada Aviron is paying dividends for both organizations on and off the water.

   

  National team rowers regularly train out of the Shawnigan boathouse, where our student athletes get to work and learn alongside the best rowers in Canada. Those national team rowers can often be seen in Duke’s Café after their morning sessions, sipping coffee alongside Shawnigan students. Rowers also take part in workout sessions in the mezzanine, where they get exposure to high-end physical training.

   

  While students were away last November Break, Shawnigan and Rowing Canada furnished part of the Sportsplex with equipment for national team members and School athletes. The room gives all Shawnigan athletes access to the fitness equipment, which includes high-end gear for rowing training, such as rowing ergs and specialized bikes. The equipment is owned by Rowing Canada, and the space is owned by Shawnigan, and athletes from both organizations have access. During academic hours, Rowing Canada has priority, but after academic hours, or on weekends and holidays, it’s Shawnigan’s to use, with proper supervision.
  
  
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