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A New Kind of Nurturing in Samuel House
When the Grade 8s in Samuel House first acquired a small clutch of chicken eggs to care for, it wasn’t long before jokes started flying. This one was going to be McNuggets. That one was going to be chicken pot pie.
Not surprisingly, the chicks won over even the hungriest of students – before they even hatched and revealed their fuzzy, fluffy selves.
Early in the school year, Samuel House bought an incubator, and Mila R., a Grade 8 student who lives locally, was able to bring in five eggs, which arrived on September 17. The students learned how the incubator worked, and the incubator was situated in the foyer of the House, where they could keep an eye on it daily.
As the eggs incubated, so the students warmed up to their galline guests. Co-House Director Mrs. Rainbow Bartlett watched students kissing their fingers and gently touching the incubator to wish the chicks-to-be good luck.
When it came time to candle the eggs – shining a bright light through the eggshell in a dark room to illuminate its inner contents – and the students saw the embryos moving, any talk of nuggets and pot pie dissipated.
“The kids got really attached and started thinking about names because it became real,” Mrs. Bartlett commented. “These were living things.”
On October 7, students were given the opportunity to sleep late as teachers held assessment meetings. There was no sleeping in, however, in Samuel House, as the Grade 8s woke up early and pulled up chairs around the incubator to watch the chicks hatch. The students were amazed as the shells cracked open and the little ones emerged, each with its own unique appearance.
“We ended up with five totally different chicks,” Mrs. Bartlett said.
The names selected by the Grade 8s were equally unique: Chipotle, Cheep Cheep, Chickira, Wendy Mara, and J.J.
Since they hatched, the students haven’t stopped playing with them – gently, of course – including taking them outside. Children of staff members have also enjoyed having the chicks climbing all over them. The chicks will stay at Samuel House until Founder’s Day this Saturday, when they will return to Mila’s family farm. Their sexes haven’t been determined yet, but if one turns out to be a cockerel (a young rooster), it will go to Buck C., another local student, to replace his rooster, which was killed by animals over the summer.
“Nurture” is the key word for Grade 8 in the Shawnigan Journey, and while it usually applies to the way we take care of our youngest students, this experience has shown that it can also apply to the students taking care of something else.
“The whole nurturing part has been pretty special,” Mrs. Bartlett said.
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.
