Ski Week 2015!

Taking the entire School to Manning Park is no mean feat! Special thanks to Michelle Rennie and Laura Russell for making the arrangements to transport us there, and to Jeff Gibson and Rich Finley for staying the week to drive us to and from the mountain multiple times a day.

360 students and 46 staff and their families arrived on Sunday evening in time to be served a wonderful dinner by the Shawnigan catering staff, who made sure we were fed beautiful meals for the entire week. After dinner and meetings, students enjoyed the freedom to hang out with their friends, play games like Pictionary, boggle, karaoke and ping pong, or get outside to ice broomball against the staff. We also had our first round of the ever-popular Inter-house Reach-for-the-Top competition, organized by Morgan and Kelli McLeod and Tim Coy.

On Monday morning, the Shawnigan search and rescue group had the lucky opportunity of a tour around an active medical response helicopter that was visiting overnight. Other students were waiting in line for the first bus up the mountain at 8:15am, while the rest took the chance to have a small sleep in and go up to the mountain by 9:30am. The grade eleven “Snow Angels” patrolled the hill in their bright yellow shirts to keep everyone safe and to help out where necessary. Many of our students also took part in lessons that were available all week. Every day at lunch, we were greeted by the catering staff at the mountain lodge with hot soup, hot chocolate, fresh sandwiches, and dessert!

A new and exciting addition to the ski week program this year was an overnight winter camping expedition led by Mr. McDaniels, Mrs. Ferris and Mr. Welsh. To learn about their experience and to see photos, read the article on the Shawnigan News.

Although our students spent all day skiing and snowboarding, they still had plenty of energy for Monday night's activities. The evening featured broomball, Polar Coaster, swimming, snowshoeing, and a bonfire by the ice rink.

The grade nines stayed down at the lodge on Tuesday morning to take cross-country ski lessons and after a morning of trial and success, they were taken up to the mountain while grade eights came back down in the afternoon to give nordic skiing a try. The evening program was full - after two years of absence, the staff revue returned to ski week under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. McLeod and Mr. Coy. The revue's hilarious skits and interactive game shows put on by the staff, left the audience laughing for the rest of the week. As always, broomball, Polar Coaster, swimming, snowshoeing, and a bonfire by the ice rink were options before and after the revue.

Student competitors lined up to participate in our downhill skiing and snowboarding races on Wednesday morning. Special thanks to Nigel Mayes and his crew for setting up the course and keeping the races organized and on time. In the afternoon, five students from each House headed down the mountain early to begin work on the mounds of snow and ice that would become great sculptures with a "white" theme. At 2:00pm, participants in the 10k cross-country race gathered at the bottom of the bunny hill where the trek to the lodge begins. Our first finisher crossed the line in an astounding 35 minutes and 10 seconds! By the time cross country was over and the afternoon light was fading, students were still working furiously on their snow sculptures to meet the 6:30pm completion deadline.

Another full evening with a presentation by current parent, Ewan Affleck, on his non-profit organization impossible2possible (www.impossible2possible.com), which offers experiential learning as a way to educate, inspire and empower youth. The evening continued with the exciting Reach-for-the-Top finals between Lonsdale's and Duxbury in both the Junior and Senior competitions, as well as the regularly scheduled evening activities.

Unfortunately, our last day on the mountain was a rainy one, but that didn't stop the keen skiers and snowboarders from hitting the slopes. Students took every opportunity to make the most of their last day despite the conditions, a few waiting until the last bus to come down the mountain. Early buses were available for students who wanted to enjoy a final dip in the Loon Lagoon, hang out with their friends at the lodge, or to get started on their packing. Thursday evening, we handed out awards in the junior and senior meetings to the talented student racers. Awards for the sculpture and the Reach-for-the-Top competitions will be handed out in Chapel at 8:00am on Thursday, February 12 and can be seen via livestream.

 

Thank you for all the hard work from faculty, support staff and families that goes into making this endeavour such a tremendous success. Special thanks to Katrina Cholack, Barry Welsh, and Nigel Mayes for all the countless hours organizing this unique Shawnigan tradition. Now, time to start planning for Ski Week 2016!