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Founder's Day Welcome

It is a pleasure and privilege to welcome our alumni, former staff, governors and other guests to Founder’s Day on behalf of the community here at Shawnigan.

As some of you might already know, I am an enthusiastic fly fisherman – who read, as a boy, fishing tales of Scotland, Southern Africa, Norway and British Columbia. My career has followed a love of rivers.

I am therefore going to start with the story of the Coho salmon to try to capture the spirit of this occasion. Through my reading, I have come to understand that the Coho salmon is a symbol of several First Nations’ tribes, representing instinct, perseverance and renewal.

On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, Scott Noble of our Science Department kindly invited the Lamont family to watch some local conservationists catching hundreds of migrating Coho salmon at the estuary pool at Mill Bay and then releasing them in the Shawnigan creek, well above a series of impassable waterfalls.

The salmon is an extraordinary and powerful fish. Born in a British Columbia river, it migrates out to the Pacific, stretching from Alaska to California – until, years later, its sensory hairs surrounding the magnetite particles in its lateral line trigger the navigational circuits in its brain to head towards the coastline in search of its natal river. 

The salmon responds to this call of the wild, this call from its birthplace – and, following the recognisable and unique river scent, it enters the fresh water and begins its journey upstream in order to contribute its genes, its DNA to the next generation of salmon – a gift to the river that gave it birth.

The returning Coho salmon heads west along Shawnigan creek and upstream and through our campus – past the Prep, Lonsdale’s, Strathcona and the hatchery – and onwards towards its journey’s end, and its spawning grounds. 

I encourage students in the coming weeks – and once the rains are here – to look beneath the bridge near Lake Omar for our very own Shawnigan returning salmon – that symbol of instinct, perseverance and renewal. 

In part, there is something magical about the Shawnigan salmon’s loyalty, navigational instincts, and sense of homecoming – and applicable to our alumni community gathered here today and our collective sense of responsibility towards the next generations of students to come.
Today is, of course, Founder’s Day.

EM Forster urged in his novel Howards End that we should ‘only connect.’ With this in mind, we have put together a program for Founder’s Day centred on the principle of connection so that it provides you, as alumni, with opportunities to connect with each other, to connect with memories (some still fresh and some in a state of temporary hibernation), to connect with staff, to connect with the campus and this unique landscape, and to connect today with the rich tapestry of education currently on offer here at Shawnigan – from the robotics lab to cabaret acts, from the observatory to the playing fields.

We also hope that you take time to connect with our current students. I rather like the tradition that you are invited to sit here in Chapel with the students in your houses this morning.

I ask you to rewind and consider the thrill, excitement, trepidation and dreams when you too embarked on your first few days here – some of you as the first female students to step onto the campus.

This year is the 30th year since the introduction of co-education at Shawnigan. We have come a long way in terms of our delivery of co-education and recognise that we must continue to evaluate our delivery to ensure that we are creating a level playing field for male and female students across all programmes. 

I am delighted that Becky Anderson – from the graduating class of 1993 and currently Director of the Junior School at SMUS – has agreed to be our Founder’s Day Speaker.

I am pleased to report that the school is in good heart and good spirits.

My challenge this summer and fall has been to listen and learn from many sources as to the unique identity and magic of this school.

It is impossible for me, at this stage, to define ‘This is Shawnigan…’ – the spirit of the place – but what I can tell you is that the three structural pillars of a successful and flourishing boarding school are ‘conversation, compassion and community.'

All three are at the very heart of Shawnigan.

Again and again, I meet members of staff, students, parents, former staff and alumni who identify the unique sense of community at Shawnigan.

What underpins our community is our unstinting commitment to the vision of C W Lonsdale. Both dreamer and builder, he believed that Chapel – the epicentre of the Shawnigan community – should help create what he called ‘true citizenship’ and ‘a high comprehension of the world’s needs.' He hoped these things would be breathed in the atmosphere of our Chapel.’ 

I like to think that they still are. 

With the ambition, vision, and spirit of our founder in mind, we must all take on the challenges of our time – and challenge Shawnigan to continue to be relevant, purposeful and of service in a changing world. 

Thank you, as alumni, for your continued support of the School – you act as our ambassadors, our network, our voice beyond the lake. 

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff for their tireless and meticulous preparations for Founder’s Day. 

And, finally back, to the totemic Shawnigan salmon. 

We hope that through your lifelong migrations, as alumni, you have retained and continue to retain that vital connection with your former school – responsible perhaps for giving you the initial confidence and strength to explore uncharted waters beyond our streams and shores.

We are delighted to be hosting you for Founder’s Day.

 
19th October 2018
Richard D A Lamont
Headmaster
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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.