Reflection from the Board Retreat

 

Thank you for coming.

EM Forster, the English writer urged in his novel Howards End that we should "only connect" – and this continues to be at the heart of our thinking at Shawnigan.

We have had an exciting day of discussions with student contributions to a smorgasbord of topics including:

Three members of our Board presented this morning on the skills required for the mid-21^st century – at university and in careers – and challenged us to consider what we need to do to ‘future-proof’ the School, students and staff.

We live in interesting times.

I read one rather dystopian snapshot of the future in the research papers we were asked to read in advance. As with Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984, the portrait of the future is compellingly accurate. It reads:

Gaynor awakens on Vancouver Island to the smell of waffles hot from the kitchen 3-D printer. Her virtual personal assistant, Julian, says good morning and mentions that it’s cold outside. He tells her that he’s purchased the sweater she’s been admiring and it has just been drone-delivered. After Gaynor gets dressed, her driverless taxi arrives. During the commute to campus, Gaynor enjoys a virtual reality call with her husband, Rhod, who is traveling overseas. When Gaynor arrives at her shared office space, she is notified that five sets of parents from across the world have enquired as to whether their children can teleport to the Admissions Department for an interview. One written request originated in China and has already been translated. On her way home after work, Gaynor’s implanted microchip alerts Julian to a higher than usual cholesterol reading. Julian announces that he has booked an appointment with a virtual doctor and has pre-emptively revised her menu plan. That evening at home, Julian ports Gaynor into her favorite Virtual Reality video game where she plays the protagonist, a stylish Parisian fashion designer. Later, as she goes to bed, Julian plays a soothing soundtrack of welsh hymns. The songs have been composed by an agent that understands Gaynor’s musical tastes and current emotional state. As Gaynor sleeps, Julian plans her next vacation….

Frightening stuff.

In today’s digitally and globally interconnected world, we need to pause to consider what it is to be human.

At Shawnigan, we are committed to developing the ‘human skills’ of emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity, initiative and originality – and seek to ground our students in our values and to encourage them to be the best version of themselves while bringing out the best in others.

The theme of this year’s Board Retreat is ‘Education and the 3Cs of Conversation, Compassion and Community.’ These are the three structural and essential pillars of a successful and flourishing co-educational boarding school.

I continue to remind the students in every address that I give in Chapel that ‘Conversation, Compassion and Community’ should define Shawnigan.

Our recent Ski Week at Manning Park for Grades 8 to 11 (with some Grade 12s) encapsulated the 3Cs in a different, wilderness location – the Conversations on chair lifts, by the blazing fire in the Lodge and in students dorms; the Compassion and support shown to beginners and those with injuries; and the sense of Community-building underpinning the whole week.

I am pleased to report that all three are at the very heart of Shawnigan.

However, there is still much to be done…..

I have invited Jo-Jo and Tolani, our Head and Deputy Head of School respectively, to give you an insight, after this, as to what they see as the prefects’ contribution this year to shaping the future of Shawnigan.

Some of the prefects also plan to perform for you. We stopped short of Atoussa performing aerial acrobatics from a beam above – though it is truly a sight to behold.

We are delighted that our guests have joined us for this reception – an opportunity to connect. We have many supporters here this evening – from alumni to parents past and present, from strategic partners to fellow educators.

It strikes me that we all need to work together to make Shawnigan the school we all want it to be.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our governors for their unstinting support and commitment to Shawnigan – and for persuading me to leave the fjords of Norway for beautiful British Columbia. My pillow still smells a little of chloroform...

This has already been an extraordinary year with unexpected challenges, from finding myself at the centre of a BC storm (in fact a full scale hurricane) about basketball (and how to disable rather than to enable children from playing sport) to investigating the underworld fate of a colonial black rhino horn – all part of Shawnigan’s rich tapestry.

My compass throughout has been my commitment to ethical decision-making – and I recognise that I am, in part, forged by the Nordic region and its commitment to the promotion of trust, openness, gender equality, inclusion and much more.

I am also blessed to have an outstanding Senior Leadership Team to guide me.

We have wonderful staff members.

Kathini and I are delighted to have joined this community.

Those of us working as staff and at Board levels are the custodians charged temporarily with the responsibility of developing Shawnigan and taking on the challenges of our time – and challenging Shawnigan to continue to be relevant, purposeful and of service in a changing world.

Part traditionalist, part heretic, I am so looking forward to this.

You will all know that a sculpture of a stag stands proudly and resolutely at the entrance to our School. The plaque at the base of the sculpture reminds passers-by that the Shawnigan stag will "Watch over all who enter these grounds."

A reassuring message to us all.

I love the fact that our school’s heraldic crest is a golden stag – graceful, alert, resilient, agile and curious…exactly what our School needs to be as it navigates the future.

Kathini and I received a lovely Christmas card from a neighbour and part-time art teacher, living on Hartl Road, with a present of stag candleholders – and a playful message punning on the homophones of ‘hart,’ a medieval term for a stag with mature antlers, and ‘heart,’ as in human heart, with this message:

‘I love that the stag pleases you both. I also love that it is also called a hart. Much like the school – heart felt’

We shall continue to ensure that we watch over the next generation of students and educate them as to what it is to be human – with the sustained presence of Conversation, Compassion and Community at the heart of our school.

It is always good to turn to the wisdom of Aristotle: ‘Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education all.’