Alumni Notebook - December 2022

SAVE THE DATE!
Founder’s Day 2023 will be taking place on Saturday, October 23, 2023 where we will celebrate the following graduating classes: 1953, 1963, 1973, 1983, 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2013.

 

 

The Class of 1969 had a chance in September to reconnect as a class, and offered the following summary of the event:The ever-rebellious Class of ’69 held their 53rd grad reunion the weekend September 16-17 at “Vicero,” the Trethewey family ranch in Abbotsford (Bruce Trethewey - Copeman’s). Close to 25 members of the class attended. A few others really wanted to attend, but had other pressing conflicts. Our Chef de Cuisine was none other than the renowned “Ralphonso Shaw’nini”, known for his delicious seafood creations. There was lots of reminiscing about how spartan Shawnigan was in the 1960s (hello, unheated dorms and outdoor toilets), along with continuous recounting of numerous derring-do episodes of our lives on campus… Most embellished a great deal, which made them even funnier. Many eccentric masters of our era were recalled with great laughter. Their nicknames, like Fuzzy Chips, Skinny, Hans Wheaty, and Bing Bong, told all. A very meaningful and poignant time came while remembering each of our fallen brothers, recounting what each one meant to us. While our lives at Shawnigan had numerous ups and downs, we each came away with our own sense of gratitude for how meaningful our time there was. Love won – as it should. We are a close knit family of brothers…Shawnigan family.

 

 

In early October, a number of alumni were able to connect at our London Pub Night hosted at The Wellington pub. With approximately 20 alumni spanning many graduating classes, it was a great opportunity to connect our UK alumni.

 

 

A trip to Montreal in early November for the annual Secondary Schools United Nations Symposium gave a delegation from Shawnigan a chance to connect with several alumni now attending McGill University.

 

Among the Shawnigan grads the current students and teachers Mr. Paul Klassen and Mrs. Andrea Carballo met up with were Lea Charron-Duhamel ’18 (Groves’), Ryan Smith ’21 (Lake’s), Nnenna Onwukwe ’20 (Strathcona), Callum Ceyssens ’17 (Lonsdale’s), and Karimah Naguib ’12 (Renfrew).

Owen Cumming ’18 (Duxbury), an all-star scrum-half on the McGill men’s rugby team and grad student at the university sat down with Grade 12 student Ella H., who is thinking about extending her own rugby career into the post-secondary ranks. The McGill men’s rugby team, which also includes Dakota Stevenson ’19 (Lonsdale’s), travelled to the West Coast in late November for the national championships, where they finished second.

 

The Shawnigan Model UN delegation also toured the University of Ottawa during their trip east, and met with Shawnigan grad Charles Wolfe ’18 (Lake’s), who now works for the federal agency Export Development Canada.

 

 

On their way to Montreal in November for a Model UN conference, a contingent of Shawnigan students stopped in Ottawa to tour Parliament Hill and some of Canada’s national museums. While in the capital, they paid a visit to Mrs. Lucie Vincent, the widow of Anthony Vincent ’57 (Groves’), a former Canadian ambassador to Peru, who Social Studies teacher Mr. Paul Klassen calls “one of our most distinguished graduates.” (A photo is included of Mr. Vincent, far right, when he was a Prefect in 1957.) Click here to read more.

 

 

Adrienne Hollings ’07 (Kaye’s) spent the last year and a half creating an “off-grid” wellness retreat space on her family's fourth-generation farm in Shawnigan Lake. Rooted in the practices of yoga, meditation and back-to-nature experiences, Grow Wild Retreats is a space to escape the hustle of everyday life, reconnect the mind and body and “adopt the pace of nature.” She offers workshops, retreats, yoga, glamping, and – closest to her heart – the food and crafts harvested and prepared right from the land. The space is also available to those who wish to offer their own gifts – anything from educational workshops and team building to private nature-immersed wellness treatments. A space to pause, be slow and build long-lasting connections with ourselves, our environment and our community.

 

 

The U Sports Women's Rugby National Championship took place at the University of Victoria in early November, with a number of alumni competing for various teams. On the Wednesday-evening quarterfinal match, some of the Shawnigan team, as well as alumni, came out to support the University of Victoria and Queen's University teams with alumnae Maggie Banks ’19 (Renfrew) competing for Queen's and Alexie Pusch ’17 (Kaye's) and Avery Champion ’18 (Kaye's) playing for UVic.

 

At the end of the championship, Maggie Banks ‘19 was named to the Championship All-Star Team.

 

 

The Shawnigan Admissions team recently travelled to Asia for admissions events, and had the opportunity to connect with alumnus Don Song ’09 (Copeman’s) who ended up helping the Shawnigan team at a recruitment fair! Thank you Don for being such a passionate ambassador for the School.

 

If you are interested in supporting our admissions team as an Alumni Ambassador, contact alumni@shawnigan.ca to find out more.

 

 

At the end of November, approximately 20 Shawnigan alumni, staff and community members came together at the Seattle Yacht Club for an event following the SUSA (Shawnigan United States of America) Board meeting.

 

Thank you to all of those alumni who came out for a fantastic evening!

 

 

The Men’s Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship took place at UBC in early December, with a number of alumni competing. Staff and alumni gathered on Thursday night to celebrate our rugby community.

 

In attendance at the pub night were two alumni, Dakota Stevenson ’19 (Lonsdale’s) and Owen Cumming ’18 (Duxbury), who played in the tournament for the McGill Redbirds and ended up reaching the final against UBC, a first for a Quebec team at this championship.

 

Cole Dreyer ’17 (Ripley’s) was on the winning UBC team. Other Shawnigan grads who competed in the tournament included Graeme Norris ’20 (Lonsdale’s) and Jenner Teufel ’13 (Ripley’s) with the University of Victoria, and Guiseppe Du Toit ’13 (Duxbury) with Trinity Western University.

 

 

 

Alex Macintosh ’09 (Lonsdale’s) married Melissa (Missy) Mullins in a ceremony on the Shawnigan campus in July 2022. In attendance were nine alumni and three staff members, including best man Lachlan Macintosh ’09 (Duxbury), sister of the groom Amelia Macintosh ’19 (Kaye’s), and groomsman Alex Housser ’08 (Duxbury). Additionally, Maylies Lang ’10 (Groves’) was the wedding photographer, and Reverend Jim Holland officiated the ceremony.

 

 

In a ceremony in August 2022, Lachlan Macintosh ’09 (Duxbury) married Alexandra Little. They were joined by family, friends, and loved ones at Stonewall Estates in St. Catharines, Ontario.

 

 

 

Married in 2014, alumni Kaori Yamada ’08 (Groves’) and Matt Austin ’08 (Duxbury) moved to Calgary in 2019 after many years in Toronto. Kaori is a family medicine resident and Matt is a transportation engineer.

 

Matt and Kaori just welcomed their first child, Yuki Austin, on October 26, 2022. Congratulations Kaori and Matt!

 

In this section we recognize those members of our alumni and greater community who have passed away. Please reach out to Rhodri Samuel at rsamuel@shawnigan.ca if you have information or updates you would like to share with our wider community.

 

 

November 1, 1931 – October 26, 2022

 

The colourful life of a Shawnigan alumnus who had already experienced so much before he made his name as a yachtsman starting in his mid-40s came to an end in a town in northwestern France in late October.

 

Michael (Mike) Birch ’49 (Lake’s) was best known as the winner of the thrilling inaugural Route du Rhum solo transatlantic race in 1978, but that one moment offered a mere snapshot of Mr. Birch’s 90-plus years. Click here to read more.