About
Welcome to the Cowichan District Hospital Foundation Gala
It gives me great pleasure to welcome members of our local Cowichan community to this event, hosted by Shawnigan Lake School.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish people.
I was thrilled to learn that Shawnigan supports this Hospital Foundation Dinner on an annual basis.
Hospitals are in my blood.
My mother is a midwife and my father a surgeon. Much of my childhood was spent reading books outside hospital wards – and my brother and I remember weekends, Easters, and Christmas Days spent in hospitals whilst my father was there for emergencies. The nurses always had special presents under the Christmas tree of the maternity ward for us.
Most mealtime discussions were, of course, dominated by medical talk – though fortunately, the details were spared for two teenage boys … given that our father was an obstetrician / gynaecologist!
Our parents taught us the significance of that line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem If: to ‘walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch.’
A hospital is made of many people – and how it critical it is for a surgeon to appreciate, support, and connect with patients, families, fellow doctors, nurses, receptionists, porters, the kitchen and cleaning teams, and many others.
I see many parallels with my own job now within a school and campus context.
It therefore feels very special to welcome the Duncan hospital community and its supporters to our campus this evening.
One of our staff members, Gary Dukelow, came to our house this morning, after chapel, to introduce me to the history of this event and I understand that one of our alumni, Matt Segers (Head of Copeman’s House), was one of the driving forces in establishing this event. Creative and innovative with the mantra of ‘Why do we have to wait so long to get things started?’ I look forward to meeting him and his family this evening – along many others who have contributed to the success of this event.
I am also very pleased that so many of our Shawnigan students have stepped forward to volunteer and support our wonderful events team, Ronni Brown and Marlese Plater, and kitchen team. Thank you to you all.
It is the expectation, here at the school, that we all make a positive and supportive contribution and make a difference to our local community – both within our school gates and also in the wider community.
Increased engagement with our local community and the development of partnerships are very much part of the strategic vision for the school.
This strikes very much at the heart of the school as I see us as helping to guide and train the current generation of students to be the community-builders of tomorrow – in whatever community – personal and professional, local and global – that they find themselves in during later life.
My wife, Kathini, and I welcome you to this Hospital Foundation Dinner on behalf of the Shawnigan community.
Richard D A Lamont
Headmaster
April 13, 2019
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 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
