Academics
Thinking Outside – and Inside – the Box
The School thought outside the box when it came to this year’s Bruce-Lockhart Fellowship, and ended up with some thought-provoking boxes.
The Bruce-Lockhart Fellowship for Academic Excellence was launched in 2021 to bring in an outstanding local, national or international educator to Shawnigan for one year, with the idea of shedding light on aspects of academics that the School may not have previously explored. This year, the School looked inward and offered the position to someone who was already on staff: archivist and curator Mrs. Sarah Teunis-Russ.
Mrs. Teunis-Russ started as archivist and curator in early 2025, and added the Bruce-Lockhart Fellowship to her duties just after Christmas, concentrating on that position one day every week. She worked predominantly with the social studies department, which seemed like a natural fit with her history-related work as archivist and curator.
“I did research on my own, and took a couple of courses because I’m not a teacher,” she explained. “And I attended social studies department meetings.”
Inspired by a program at the Richmond Museum in Metro Vancouver that provides education kits full of historical objects and written materials that teachers can borrow for their classes, Mrs. Teunis-Russ proposed creating historical boxes for Shawnigan classrooms.
Department head Ms. Andrea Robertson, who Mrs. Teunis-Russ describes as a “big fan” of making learning more tangible, endorsed the project, and socials teacher Mr. Neil Robertson provided a lot of help in putting the first kit together.
Mrs. Teunis-Russ and Mr. Robertson quickly settled on the Second World War as a good starting point, then discussed their options from there: whether they should focus on the home front or one of the military theatres, based on what would be more helpful for the teachers. They picked the home front, which made more sense for the Shawnigan connection.
Inside the box are reproductions of propaganda posters, yearbooks from 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1945 (the missing ones are from years the School didn’t print a yearbook due to wartime paper and ink rations), original, 80-year-old newspapers – which can’t be handled, although Mrs. Teunis-Russ has included copies that the students can read – ration books and meat tokens, and letters to School founder C.W. Lonsdale from Old Boys who were serving. The box wasn’t complete in time to be used in classes this year, but teachers will be able to incorporate it into their lesson plans next year.
Other small projects came up as part of Mrs. Teunis-Russ’s role as Bruce-Lockhart Fellow, but the box – which she hopes is the first of many – was the biggest by far, and she hopes they will continue after her fellowship wraps up this month.
“The boxes show what is possible, and they create more resources, and if appropriate, tie in a Shawnigan perspective,” she said. “I’m pretty proud of it, especially with the little teaching knowledge I came into it with. I feel like it is something that would have captured my interest as a student.”
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 12 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
