Shawnigan Lake School | News & updates

Roboteers Rewarded at Regionals

3/13/2025

Shawnigan’s robotics program narrowly missed qualifying a team for the VEX World Championships, but still collected some impressive awards at the Regional Championships hosted by Brentwood College School last weekend. The School sent two teams to the event, and both posted what robotics instructor Dr. Ed Taylor called “amazing results” and brought home trophies.

The team of Kaho H., Eric H., Zoe C., Christian W., and John P. won a Judges Award, which recognizes attributes judges feel are deserving of special recognition. The judges commented that the team members were "very organized with their time management and had a clear understanding of the Engineering Design Process." The team made it to the quarter finals of the main competition.

The team of Tony Z., Justin T., Bella Z., and Aaron N. won the Create Award, which recognizes “a creative engineering design solution to one or more of the challenges of the competition." The team made it to the semifinals of the main competition.

Shawnigan Celebrates Holi

3/13/2025

Shawnigan students enjoyed a joyous and colourful sendoff before Spring Break with a celebration of the Holi festival on Wednesday evening.

Celebrated throughout India and around the world by members of the Indian diaspora, Holi has multiple meanings within the Hindu culture, including rejuvenation and the arrival of spring. Part of the celebration includes the tossing of coloured powder, and this was central to the event at Shawnigan on Wednesday, as hundreds of students gathered in the Quad to throw coloured powder at each other, creating a chaotic and exuberant rainbow.

That was followed by a delectable Spirit Meal in Marion Hall, as the kitchen team treated students to an Indian feast including butter chicken, palak paneer curry, naan, papadum, rice, onion pakora, lentil daal, roasted cauliflower and green beans, and gujiya for dessert.

Lessons from Moccasins

3/7/2025

Students learned valuable lessons and skills and came away with hand-crafted footwear following a weeks-long moccasin-making workshop run by Outdoor Education Instructor and Teacher Mr. Devin Ryan.

Mr. Ryan has received direct instruction in leatherwork from an accomplished Annishnaabe artisan, and wanted to share those skills, and the appreciation that comes from learning them, with Shawnigan students.

While Mr. Ryan was studying Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the university’s Indigenous student centre had an open-door policy and offered moccasin-making workshops with Helen Pelletier of the nearby Fort William First Nation. Through those workshops, Mr. Ryan learned leatherwork and how to bead, and most importantly, patience.

“There are lots of lessons to be learned from perseverance,” he said.

Spanish 12 Fiesta

3/7/2025

Spanish 12 students capped off a chapter about recipes by preparing several food items from Spain and Latin America in a special event hosted by Señora Andrea Carballo last Friday.

After studying several recipes from Spanish-speaking countries, the students chose four to make, then used their lunch break and Spanish class period to travel to Señora Carballo’s home off campus to create the foods.

The selections included pupusas, a Salvadoran tortilla filled with beans and cheese (and meat, for the non-vegetarians); guacamole, a popular avocado-based dip that originated in Mexico; and tortillas españolas, a Spanish omelette made with eggs and potatoes. For dessert, the students made plátanos en tentación – plantains caramelized with cinnamon and sugar.

A Rewarding Deans' Dinner

2/28/2025

A longstanding tradition at Shawnigan, Deans' Dinner returned to the School on Tuesday, celebrating some of our top students with a special evening in the Hyde-Lay Pavilion.

Historically, Deans' Dinner has been held after each assessment period to recognize students who received the top scores in terms of effort. Over the years, so many students became eligible for the criteria that the event became less extraordinary. The last time it was held, two years ago, more students attended the dinner than didn’t. Mrs. Kirsi Lupton, Academic Dean (Junior Years) noted that the dinner “fizzled out.”

Recalling how special Deans' Dinner has been in the past, students pushed for its return. Earlier this year, Academic Prefect Olivia C. and the Academic Captains came forward with a proposal to bring back the event.