Alumni

Alumni Notebook - December 2021

Founder’s Day - Looking Back

This past Founder’s Day, we had the opportunity to engage with our alumni online and in person through a combination of virtual programming as well as regional gatherings.

We kicked off the morning with a live-stream of our signature Founder’s Day Chapel service, which included an address from Harriet (Guard) Klumper ‘09 and a musical presentation by Amelia Macintosh ‘19. The service can be watched in its entirety here:


Chapel was followed by Virtual Founder’s Day Reunions for those who would have had their reunion years on campus this October. While we were glad to offer this opportunity to reconnect our alumni, we look forward to welcoming back those reunion years ending in ‘1 and ‘0 to our inaugural Summer Reunion 2022 event.

The cornerstone of alumni engagement is the ability to connect in person, and so we were thrilled that on October 23rd alumni in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, Washington DC, Celaya, London, Seoul, and Hong Kong met up to celebrate Founder’s Day together. We are particularly grateful to our outstanding Alumni Ambassadors who helped orchestrate these events around the world, without whom none of this would have been possible: Isaac La Roy ‘19 (Victoria), Enza Thanas ‘03 (Vancouver), Hugh Cape ‘08 (Toronto), Ed Steidl ‘91 (Seattle), Reid Dagul ‘11 (Washington, DC), Don Song ‘09 (Seoul, Korea), Justin Leung ‘98 (Hong Kong), Alberto D. Barriga-Carrillo ‘94 (Celaya, Mexico), and Liam McKay ‘15 (London, UK).

With over 200 alumni registered for these events around the world, we plan to continue these Regional Founder’s Day gatherings in future years alongside our on-campus programming in an ongoing effort to include our global alumni population.

With a number of Alumni events on the horizon, we encourage you to stay tuned to our alumni social media network and the alumni website for updates. Thank you to all who participated!

Matthew ‘07 and Stephen Sager ‘09 (Copeman’s) - New TV Series “Lost Car Rescue”

Photos courtesy of HISTORY
 
Matt ‘07 and Stephen ‘09 Sager are starring in a new TV show “Lost Car Rescue” on the History Channel, premiering January 13, 2022.

This series is launched on a long-standing passion of Matt and Stephen’s: their love of old cars. When employed in Alberta for a job that had Matt flying his own planes to bring equipment to remote locations, he noticed from this aerial view a number of old cars that were abandoned or out of use. He would note the GPS coordinates of these cars, and come summer, would travel out to these remote locations, meet their owners and purchase these cars to be refurbished and sold. In their first summer they rescued and sold 150 cars, and in the second they reached 200.

When a fellow alum Alex Taye ‘05 (Lonsdale’s) filmed a clip of them rescuing these cars, they realized that they had a fantastic opportunity to highlight their work. After creating a promo trailer, they pitched their show to multiple companies in California and elsewhere and ultimately secured a deal with Toronto’s Boat Rocker Media and their production company Proper Television.

Following multiple years of delays due to COVID, Lost Car Rescue was filmed in the summer of 2021 for 150 days straight over six months. Matt hosts the program, with Stephen supporting; Matt describes the TV show as a band of friends with different personalities and backgrounds all working together.

The series premieres on January 13th on the History Channel, Stack TV and Global, and we encourage all our alumni to tune in!

Lost Car Rescue - New Series January 13, 2022

Beth Jones '00 and Sarah Jones '96 (Groves’) Campus Visit


Beth and Sarah Jones' visited the School on November 12 with their families. They decided to drop by during their weekend get-together on Vancouver Island. Thanks for stopping by Beth and Sarah!
 
We always welcome alumni to visit campus and, reminding everyone of our healthy financial aid program, encourage you to bring your kids, nieces, nephews, and/or grandkids! If you would like to schedule a visit to campus, please contact alumni@shawnigan.ca. Please note that at this time all guests to campus must provide proof of vaccination and be accompanied by a Shawnigan staff member at all times.

Model UN Montreal Trip & Alumni Pub Night

 
Shawnigan’s Model UN Team traveled to Montreal to participate in the SSUNS (Secondary Schools United Nations Symposium) in Montreal hosted by McGill undergraduate students at Le Centre Sheraton. Current staff member and Head of Social Studies Paul Klassen, led the group and organized a meetup of students and alumni one evening, offering Shawnigan students past and present a chance to connect. Paul shared that it was “a fabulous turn out with nice exchanges between students, recent grads and even older ones.” Thank you, Montreal alumni, for coming out to meet our students!

Kingston Alumni Pub Night
 

While on a visit to Kingston, current staff member and coach Jeff Williams organized an Alumni Pub Night, with 14 people in attendance including Board Member and alumnus Rick Bourne ‘69 (Copeman’s) who regaled the attendees with stories of Shawnigan in his era. The group was comprised mostly of recent grads from the last two years who have all remained connected post-Shawnigan. Thank you all for attending the event!

Jeff Williams was also present to cheer on Shawnigan alumni participating in the 2021 Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship. A number of alumni participated: Sam Ibbotson ‘17 (Duxbury), Malcolm Shields ‘20 (Ripley’s); along with alumnus Evan Norris ‘17 (Lonsdale’s) who went on to win the championship with the UBC team, and alumnus Graeme Norris ‘20 (Lonsdale’s) who was nominated Tournament All-Star.

San Francisco Alumni Pub Night


Our San Francisco Pub Night on December 6th was a great success, with a mixture of younger and older alumni, with representation ranging from the Class of 1965 to the Class of 2016. There was a positive buzz all around, with attendees keen to hear about the School and to meet our Head, Larry Lamont. Thank you to all who attended, and a special thank you to Alex Macintosh ‘09 (Lonsdale's) for helping host!

Robin Douglas ‘60 (Ripley’s)
 
Robin Douglas shared with the School the following piece written about him celebrating his 51st year in the investment industry. Congratulations Robin!


Shawnigan Female Prep Hockey Team Travel and Alumni Visits

Tim Coy, assistant coach of the Female Prep Hockey team, shared the following about their recent hockey trips and reconnecting with alumnae:

“We had three different alumnae visits in the past three weeks, and they all had a similar theme. In Calgary, Gillian Moore ‘19 (Strathcona) tracked us down to watch the team play. Her sister, Allison plays on the team now, and it was great catching up with her.

In Winnipeg, Paige Roddy's ‘21 (Groves’) family hosted the team for dinner, even though she graduated last year. They hosted us two years ago when we were in Winnipeg, and they kindly offered again this year. Paige even flew back from Queen's where she is going to school now. In Brampton, Kiara Stecko ‘19 (Strathcona), Maddie Nicholson ‘19 (Kayes) and Mishayla Christensen ‘19 (Groves’) all drove up from St. Catharines to see us and cheer on Shawnigan. They all attend Brock University where they play hockey. They commented that their teammates at Brock thought it "was weird to want to visit their old high school coaches and team." The coaches and the three girls laughed because it didn't seem weird at all. We have a culture on this team that feels very much like family.”

The Female Prep hockey team recently returned from their trip to Brampton where they participated in the Two Nations tournament, ultimately making the finals and coming 2nd place among 32 of the best female hockey teams in North America. Congratulations girls!

Coaches Carly Haggard (L) and Tim Coy (R) with alumna Gillian Moore ‘19

L: Coaches Carly & Tim with Paige Roddy ‘20; R: the Female Prep team

L-R: Mishayla Christensen ‘19, Tim Coy, Kiara Stecko ‘19, Carly Haggard, Maddie Nicholson ‘19

Allison Moore ‘21 (Strathcona)


Allison Moore ‘21 (Strathcona), recently signed with Brock University Women’s Varsity Hockey Team. Congratulations Allison on becoming a “Brock Badger!”

John Gibson ‘62 (Ripley’s)

John Gibson shared the following reflections about the successes of the 1959 rowing crew at the Canadian Henley regatta. To read John’s reflections in their entirety, visit the link below.

“It has been one of the summer highlights for the school to read in the press of the standards achieved by the eight which was sent to the Royal Canadian Henley. The boys, to quote one account "were an unheralded crew of giant British Columbian school-boy oarsmen who caused one of the major upsets in the seventy-seven-year history of the Royal Canadian Henley." By winning the high-school race, the crew from the school captured the Calder Cleland Memorial Trophy, symbol of supremacy amongst school-boy crews in North America.”

Read John Gibson's reflection

Owen Cumming ‘18 (Duxbury) – McGill 2021 Jean Béliveau Athletic Award recipient 


Owen Cumming ‘18 (Duxbury) was awarded the 2021 Jean Béliveau Athletic Award established to recognize outstanding McGill student-athletes for leadership in the community. Cumming is currently the co-president of the McGill Rugby program, and has led numerous charitable initiatives in his time with the team. Congratulations Owen on this fantastic achievement!

To read our recent alumni profile of Owen Cumming click here.

Announcements

Thea Klubi ‘11 (Renfrew) - Marriage


Photos by Kathryn Easton https://kathrynmclarenphotography.com/

In October, Thea Klubi married partner Mallory in Las Vegas and shared the following with us:

“We decided to skip over an engagement and eloped to Las Vegas! When you know, you know and why not go big! The idea of being in the spotlight and all the planning a wedding entails, we decided that it was just going to be the two of us. We booked a photographer and videographer from Vancouver and off we went. We wouldn’t have changed a thing; from our drive thru wedding to our sandstorm photoshoot!”


Passages

David Gueulette
November 25, 1966 - October 31, 2021
https://www.nanaimobulletin.com/obituaries/david-john-gueulette/

Steven “Steve” Diskin ‘72 (Lake’s)
1954 – 2021
https://morleybedford.wordpress.com/2021/04/21/steven-john-diskin-1954-2021/

Peter D. Piddington ‘75 (Lonsdale’s)
September 15, 1957 - October 19, 2021
https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/22786442/peter-david-piddington
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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.