Will M. ’20, Lakes (Portland, OR)

I come from Portland, Oregon, where there is a large homeless population due to the mild climate of the Pacific Northwest. As a kid, I was exposed to a city culture that provided me with the opportunity to connect with street people more than most people would. While I’ve been at Shawnigan, I have been going on the Wednesday morning service runs to Victoria with the Dandelion Society, to help feed and clothe the homeless. Here you talk to people in the mornings, and get to know their life story. Everyone has a story, and it just makes me realize that sometimes your path can change and it’s not always your fault. You should not judge, because you do not know what they have been through in their life to have got them to this point. 

 

Weirdly, I feel like I connect with this because I feel like it ties into my own life. I feel like I have always been a misunderstood person, and many people don’t really know who I am even here at Shawnigan. I am slowly finding my niche in the school, and I am really getting behind some things that I am very passionate about, and slowly people are seeing the side of me that has been hidden for so long. In the past, I have tended to stand out in the wrong way, but now, finally, it’s all come together for me in my fifth and final year at Shawnigan. I am really starting to find ways to stand out in a positive way, by lending my voice to things like Movember and starting a debate club. 

 

I think a cause like Movember is something really great to get behind because we can reach out into the world and help people who aren’t just in our immediate community. Initiatives like Movember and the Dandelion Society exist not only here but everywhere. All education is about taking the information you learn in the classroom and making connections with the real world. 

 

Even if you are helping just one person, you are making a difference. Helping make somebody’s day better is the feeling that I am after, because that feeling is something you can’t buy or artificially create, it’s genuine.

 

My brother always tells me that it’s too bad that I didn’t get to experience “regular” high school. But I say back to him that it’s too bad that he never got to experience Shawnigan, because I experienced things that people outside of Shawnigan will never have the opportunity to experience. I am eternally grateful for the things that I have learned, the people I have met, and the connections that I have built here.  

 

SLS has made me who I am and who I will be for the rest of my life, and there’s no doubt about that. Coming here was the best decision I will ever make in my life, and I can say that with all the confidence in the world.

 

I am very grateful for Shawnigan, but even more so for the people here. Especially people like Mr. Plater and MCB, who despite my imperfections and struggles, have been my champions and never given up on me.

 

In my final year, I hope that I have made them proud. 

 

Will M. ’ 20, Lakes (Portland, OR)