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Stag Café community service
While Shawnigan students are now learning online from their homes across the province and globe, last week two local Entrepreneurship 12 students had an opportunity to support the local community while safely engaging in the real world hands-on learning the Stag Café is so famous for.
With safety measures in place to ensure both appropriate physical distancing and safe food preparation, Finn R. and Tessa H. came together in the Stag kitchen to prepare 60 burgers for the food bank in Duncan.
Just like Canada’s star-studded online concert “Stronger Together” that broadcast on April 26, this Stag Café community service action was designed to target growing food insecurity in the Cowichan Valley. “Local food bank numbers have doubled,” shares business studies teacher Gary Dukelow. “There is a whole new group of people now experiencing food insecurity. In light of this, the burger delivery was incredibly well-received.”
For Grade 11 student Finn, this project, coming four weeks into online class delivery, represented a chance to connect with the real world and engage in hands-on work on the School campus once again.
“It was nice to be on campus and in Stag as it made these times feel more normal,” he shares. “It will be sad to see Mr. Dukelow retire as he has made a lasting impression and a legacy at the school through various projects, activities and fundraisers like “wake-up” Wednesday, Costa Rica Valentine’s dinner, Christmas in the Valley, and elementary school relationships as examples. He has instilled a very important way of thinking in me through his art of giving back and caring for others; it feels good to be able to help others in the community in which we live.”
Finn shared the project on his SLS Instagram Stories takeover, while related conversation proliferated on the Shawnigan Alumni Facebook, with grads reminiscing about their memories of the Stag Café and sharing stories about Stag Café founder Georg Stroebel and current instructor Mr. Dukelow.
“For me, being able to come to school was bittersweet,” says Tessa. “I loved being able to see Finn and Mr. Dukelow and talk about what was going on in their lives rather than just school work, but at the same time walking through the main building or through the garden really made me miss the school. However, being able to come together as a team and help out those who need it is a testament to the Shawnigan community. I love being able to talk with all my classmates over Zoom and that we are able to get together in Mr. Dukelow's entrepreneurship class and brainstorm ways that we can not only help Shawnigan, but ways that we can help the community as well!”
There’s no doubt in Mr. Dukelow’s mind that his students are adapting well, and that their drive, enthusiasm and ingenuity hasn’t been dampened by the challenges they may have faced in making the shift from a close-knit boarding environment to online learning. The class have several other projects in the works, including a contest—tentatively called “Coronavation”—looking at innovative solutions to problems that have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Shawnigan’s entrepreneurship students would say: Stay calm and Stag on!
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.
