School Ties: 2008, Spring Issue - St. Michaels University School

Transcription

SPRING 2008 • ST. MICHAELS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL
The Pillars of Leadership
Five Views
SMUS Alumni Weekend
A Preview
Focus on Alumni
The Diplomats
Creating tomorrow’s leaders,
one grade at a time.
At St. Michaels University School, we are educating the
leaders of tomorrow. That means integrating principles
of leadership into all levels of our curriculum.
Starting in kindergarten, students at Junior School are learning the
foundations of leadership through the Virtues Project. By their final year
at Junior School, students are taking on active leadership roles in the
school, reinforced by events such as the Grade 5 Leadership Assembly.
In Middle School, students continue
to develop leadership skills and
character traits through programmes
like the house system, student council,
exloratory units and outdoor education.
By the time they reach Senior School,
our students are ready to take full
advantage of the many lessons and
opportunities that are available to them.
At this level, principles of leadership
have been actively incorporated into
all aspects of the school – in classes,
councils, the boarding programme and
extracurricular activities.
At the end of their time at SMUS,
our students are prepared to take on
further leadership roles and make
their marks on the world.
For more information about our leadership
curriculum, contact our Admissions office at
(250) 370-6170 or [email protected],
or visit our website at www.smus.bc.ca.
• Co-educational • Day School - Grades K-12
• Boarding - Grades 8-12 • ESL - Grades 8-10
• Financial assistance available
Outstanding preparation for higher learning and for life.
Kimbell Hall and David Heffernan are the Centennial Year Head Girl and Head Boy.
See page 6 for details.
School Ties is distributed to more than
5,500 members of the St. Michaels
University School community, including
current families, friends, and current and
past staff and students. The goal of the
publication is to communicate current
activities and initiatives and provide articles
and reports on the alumni community. If
you have any comments or suggestions
regarding this publication, please contact
Louise Winter at (250) 370-6176 or email:
[email protected]
Published by the Advancement Office
St. Michaels University School
3400 Richmond Road
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada V8P 4P5
Telephone: (250) 592-2411
Admissions: 1-800-661-5199
Email: [email protected]
School Ties magazine and archive copies
can be found in the publications section
of the school website: www.smus.bc.ca
If you are interested in attending
school events, call (250) 592-2411 for
further details, or visit the school’s
website Calendar of Events:
www.smus.bc.ca
Editors: Laura Authier, Lisa Clement,
Louise Winter, Cliff Yorath
Contributors (in no particular order):
Robert Snowden, Robert Wilson, Ian
Hyde-Lay, Louise Winter, Cliff Yorath,
Laura Authier, Kent Leahy-Trill, Brenda
Waksel, Erin Anderson, Lisa Clement,
Peter Gardiner, Sean Hayden, Emma
Houghton, Keven Fletcher, Doreen
Metcalfe, Kathryn Wizinsky, Michael van
der Westhuizen, Sam Witt, and SMUS
community members. We apologize for
any omissions.
Photos: Evan Effa, Mike Jackson, Kent
Leahy-Trill, Erin Anderson, Lisa Clement,
Cliff Yorath, Peter Gardiner, Gordon Chan,
Diana Nason, Kirsten Davel, George
Floyd, Sam Witt
Cover Design: Krucible Solutions
Design and Layout: Reber Creative
Printed in Canada W
by Hillside Printing Ltd., Victoria, BC
Contents
2 The unexamined life
What does it take for a student to turn
the beam of light that questions the lives
of others onto their own lives and onto
the world they are beginning to possess?
In the answer, says Bob Snowden, lies the
beginning of leadership.
4 SMUS Review
News stories from all three campuses
published on our website between
September 2007 and February 2008.
8 CESI Report
The results are in – a summary of the
report from the Canadian Educational
Standards Institute’s visiting committee.
8 National Debate Seminar
SMUS recently had the honour of hosting
a portion of the Canadian National
Debate Seminar. Organizer Sean Hayden
gives us a review of the event.
9 Studying Abroad
Grade 11 student Emma Houghton on the
Overseas Summer Credit programme.
10 Athletics Highlights and News
Sports highlights from September 2007 to
February 2008. Plus a basketball revival
at SMUS.
13 Arts
Arts highlights and news featuring
our students, alumni, and Advanced
Placement Studio Art programme.
17 Feature: The Process
Behind the Pillars
20 Feature: The Pillars in Action
Head prefects Kathryn Wizinsky and
Michael van der Westhuizen give the
students’ perspective on how the Pillars
have impacted school life.
21 Feature: On a Quest for Leadership
Recent grad Sam Witt ’07 finds his first
lessons in leadership beyond the SMUS years.
23 Focus on Alumni: The Diplomats
The US Ambassador to Nicaragua meets
his new Canadian counterpart at a
cocktail party in 1982. What happens next
is one of those small-world coincidences.
24 Focus on Alumni: Reginald Edward Bailey ’43
25 Alumni News
An update from the Alumni Association,
kicking off the Mentorship Programme
and the Heritage Walk.
26 Alumni Events
Review of alumni events between
September 2007 and February 2008 plus
SMUS Alumni Weekend preview.
30 Alumni Updates
News from our alumni around the world.
36 Continuing the
Conversation
We share some of the letters and emails we
received about the last issue of School Ties.
This issue of School Ties was printed on New Leaf Reincarnation matte paper,
manufactured with Green-e® certified renewable energy, 100% recycled fiber, 50% postconsumer waste, and processed chlorine free. St. Michaels University School saved the following
resources by using this paper: 16 fully grown trees, 3,504 gallons of water, 7 million Btu of energy,
766 pounds of solid waste and 1,295 pounds of greenhouse gases.
Calculations based on research by Environmental Defense and other members of the Paper Task Force.
School Ties - Spring 2008 • Rev. Keven Fletcher on how the building
blocks of our Leadership curriculum
evolved, and Doreen Metcalfe talks about
the Virtues Project at Junior School.
head of school
The
What does it take for a student to turn the beam of light that questions the lives of others
onto their own lives and onto the world they are beginning to possess? In the answer, says
Bob Snowden, lies the beginning of leadership.
T
• School Ties - Spring 2008
unexamined life
he unexamined life is not worth living. It is wonderful to work
at a school where many of the students know who Socrates is.
The dictum is double-edged, of course, especially when the
life the students don’t want to leave unexamined is the life of their
parents and teachers, rather than their own.
What does it take for a student to turn the beam of light that
questions the lives of others onto their own lives? What does it
take for students to turn the beam of light that questions the
world they feel they have inherited – therefore not their own –
onto the world which they realize they are beginning to possess?
Thus begins responsibility for themselves, and thus begins
responsibility for their world. It is the beginning of leadership.
Know thyself, the oracle at Delphi said. The questioning
spirit lights the way to understanding of oneself and the world.
Questioning can’t be unrelenting, and can’t spray like a shotgun
at every target. If it is unrelenting, it doesn’t wait for answers; if it
doesn’t want to wait for answers, then the questioning cannot be
judged sincere. And if it sprays on all possible topics and targets,
then it is uncritical, unintelligent, and more than likely designed
to demonstrate how little everyone else knows than how one
desires to know more oneself. More likely to be a metaphorical
shotgun pellet, designed to wound the target, rather than that
beam of light designed to illuminate the mind of the questioner.
If I may resort to one last image from the ancient world: in a
school with a Chapel, where the adults are apt to focus on the
many stories of Jesus the teacher, it is actually the one story of
Jesus the student, staying behind in Jerusalem to question the
priests and elders, which is the emblematic story. Similar stories
are found in all faiths. All faiths, after all, are interested in the
pursuit of truth and goodness in leadership and learning.
Leadership and learning: at the moment, the meaning of
these two words is one of the central dialogues – in the sense
of Socrates’ dialogues – at the school. The dialogue begs the
obvious: couldn’t all schools be said to be engaged in this
discussion, in one form or another?
Our current discussion is special, we believe. At least we
believe our version of it is fresh, for us. A historic approach
in many schools – and I dare say, our school, too – is that
the institution’s learning is measured by the preparation of
those brightest students who are the exemplars of the school’s
academic performance. They are the ones who get perfect scores
on provincial exams, and win scholarships to famous universities.
The school’s academic programme, in other words, rests its laurels
on pushing those top students to their greatest heights, and this
propulsion of them will, by association and momentum, pull all
other students along to do their best also.
Similarly: in the discussion of leadership, the historic approach
in schools like ours is to create a system of responsibilities, teams
and opportunities that allow students to demonstrate their
leadership capabilities, and eventually they will rise like bubbles
in champagne – the true leaders in the student body – to the top.
These will be the prefects, the yearbook editors, the valedictorians
and the team captains.
Many people will recognize both of these models, either in
our school or in schools that they know or perhaps attended.
Both of these models suggest that the quality of a school’s
learning programme is measured by the performance of its top
students, and the quality of a school’s leadership programme is
measured by the quality of its most prominent student leaders.
We are questioning the adequacy of these models, because
we doubt they are complete enough for a school that aspires to
fulfill its own excellent promise. After a few years of examination,
we have come to realize we are not alone in questioning them; a
few other schools are doing likewise. On the learning question,
the fact is that research has discovered that the brightest students
are motivated and inspired by approaches to learning that don’t
Vivat
be the underpinning of the Principles of Leadership stream –
and, by extension, of character development in the school.
These pillars are honesty, service, courage and respect. We are
not dispensing with our prefects, or team captains, or other
leadership roles, but we are certainly altering the ground from
which these opportunities will sprout, and we are altering the
way in which students will conduct themselves in these roles. In
the meantime, in preparation for the world beyond the school’s
walls, all our students will have meaningful experiences in these
areas, with the foundation of these pillars to support their
capacity to influence the world for the better.
The unexamined life is not worth living. Our entire
school tries to live up to this ideal. Our school is a member
of the Canadian Educational Standards Institute, which is the
accreditation body for Canadian independent schools. As a
member of CESI we are inspected every seven years by a team
of approximately twelve members of other Canadian schools, a
team that would include heads of schools, directors of schools,
a business manager, advancement professionals, and classroom
teachers. This team looks at every aspect of the school’s operations:
academics, athletics, finance, advancement, the Board, boarding
life, the Alumni Association, and everything in between. Prior to
this visit the school completes its own self-study in eleven areas, a
report that extends to about 175 pages. This was our second visit.
Until now, we have been the only school in British Columbia
to undergo CESI accreditation; two other schools are about to
undergo a similar examination. In simple terms, as I have said
to our staff in some of their long-suffering moments during this
process, in order to achieve all our school can achieve, SMUS has
to be willing to open itself up to the scrutiny of well-informed
peers in Canadian education. Elsewhere in this issue of School
Ties you can read a summary of the report of the CESI team.
It was extremely positive, and its recommendations are very
constructive. We have to practice what we want our students –
and by extension all members of our community – to preach.
I am struck that the three references I invoked at the beginning
of this rumination are all over two thousand years old. At a school
like SMUS, students have the benefit of moving into the future with
a solid grounding in traditions that have preserved the best of what
the school has been doing for decades. The school, at its founding,
reached back similarly to the best of educational traditions: mens
sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body), and nil
magnum nisi bonum (nothing is great unless it is good), the mottos
of the two founding schools of St. Michaels University School.
Nonetheless, education is about the future. These days there is no
shortage of prognosticators who tell us what the future will be like,
and most of their forecasts are tinged with apprehension, or even
desperation, whether they are talking about climate, population,
disease, or civilization itself. Authentic learning and leadership will
be the surest preparation for taking responsibility for the world
of the future, and it is the surest antidote for the helplessness that
threatens to paralyze our thinking about tomorrow.
Our athletes, going into a game, use the cheer “Vivat!” –
shortened from the phrase, “long live the school!” It is a word
that spreads its hope and promise into all our students do, and
there is no better word to take into the future.
Vivat.
School Ties - Spring 2008 • serve the less-than-brightest very well. Not only that: in the past
many of the “brightest” have been overlooked by the ways in
which we have traditionally taught such students – by pushing
them, challenging them, goading them, inspiring them, or
whatever else happens to be in the teacher’s bag of tricks. We
now know much more about what happens in the moments
between ignorance and understanding; it is commonplace
now to observe that science has learned more about how the
brain works in the past twenty years than was learned in the
prior history of humanity. We now know explicitly what great,
born teachers always knew by instinct: that we have to create a
variety of approaches to success, so that we meet the needs of all
learners in the school. All students have the right to fulfill their
potential, along with the “best and brightest.”
In the same vein, shouldn’t our leadership programme
benefit all students? What has the model of leadership in our
schools looked like in the past? It depends how far back we go. I
have met alumni whose experience mirrored mine, decades ago,
in a school similar to SMUS. At this time there was a quasimilitary order and set of expectations among those who did
or did not have power and authority. In this world we climbed
out of the ranks of the powerless to the ranks of the empowered
by instilling respect or fear, and we did so according to a law
of the jungle that was acted out against this backdrop of order.
Once we had successfully navigated the various challenges,
responsibilities and opportunities that tested us, the actual roles
we played were more along the lines of wielding authority and
power on the quad or in residence or in the dining hall and less
along the lines of trying to make the world a better place.
Our school believes, now, that leadership is about developing
in all our students the capacity to make the world a better place.
When we were prefects at school, having risen through the
gauntlet of experiences that got us there, the purpose of that final
prominent position was never described to us as developing our
“capacity to make the world a better place.” It was more about
our capacity to sway others, and keep them in line, and so on.
When the school now undertakes the discussion of leadership
around the notion of “making the world a better place,” we end
up with a model that looks quite different from the traditional
one. We have been having that discussion, and we have arrived
at some conclusions that are described in this issue of School
Ties, and in the past two issues.
In brief, our answer is that developing qualities of leadership
should be an experience for all students, from kindergarten to
Grade 12. Likewise our approach to learning now makes use
of the significant advances in research that have taken place in
the past two decades. Therefore, learning at SMUS serves all
students, according to their learning styles and strengths – an
advantage that was often focused in the fullest sense on those
perceived “best and brightest.”
Returning to the theme of leadership, we have identified
five “streams” of experience we want our students to have –
all of our students, that is, from kindergarten to Grade 12 –
in order to prepare them for the world they will be entering.
These five streams are: global responsibility, the principles of
leadership, experiential learning, service, and sustainability.
Last year, a lively and thorough consultation among staff
and the entire student body identified four “pillars” that will
School News
Highlights from the SMUS Review
T
he SMUS Review publishes weekly on our website (www.smus.bc.ca) and covers school news from all three campuses. The following
highlights were taken from stories published from September 2007 to February 2008. You can read more about these stories by going to
our home page and clicking on the red “Read the SMUS Review” button.
September
from more than a dozen countries
worked together to discuss issues, draft
policy, report news stories, decide court
cases, address security crises, advise the
president, and represent the needs of
individual states and regions. Each of our
students earned certificates of excellence
and 11 were honoured with distinction.
■Senior School held its first Prefect
Council retreat, where 20 students
spent a weekend examining values,
team-building and drafting their credo.
Prefects are leaders within the student
body, elected by staff and students. This
is the highest level of leadership at the
school and includes the six heads of
house from boarding as well as the head
boy and head girl. The retreat focused on
how the Prefect Council can implement
the four pillars of leadership at SMUS,
which are respect, honesty, service and
courage. (See the article in this issue
“Pillars in Action” on page 20.)
Outdoor Education programme
participants learn to sail with the Sail and
Life Training Society (SALTS).
The prefects participate in a trust game
during the first annual prefect retreat.
■Junior and Middle School students
participated in the 27th annual Terry
Fox Run. Junior School children donned
bandanas as they ran together, sometimes
hand in hand. Meanwhile the Middle
School students went above and beyond
in their fundraising efforts, bringing in
$4223.14 for cancer research. Fulfilling
a promise they made if the students met
the goal, teachers Nancy Mollenhauer and
Bruce Kuklinski had their heads shaved
while teachers Jerome Foenander and Jim
Williams lost their characteristic facial hair.
■Grade 10 students took part in some
of the many adventure opportunities
Vancouver Island has to offer during
the yearly Outdoor Education trips.
About 140 students, led by 24 Grade
12 student leaders and adult guides,
enjoyed activities such as sailing, hiking
and rock climbing. Students, who each
chose one of a possible 12 trips, could
learn to sail, work towards their openwater diving certification or tackle “the
Island Sampler,” which included surfing,
kayaking and camping.
■Thirteen students accompanied
by teachers Mr. Tony Goodman and
Ms. Kirsten Davel participated in the
Harvard Model Congress (HMC) Asia
in Bangkok, Thailand. The event is
the largest congressional simulation
conference in the world. Delegates
Junior School students wear
bandanas and run holding hands
in the 27th annual Terry Fox Run.
Michael Zhou is one of 13 students who
represented SMUS at the HMC Congress
in Thailand.
■Grade 7 student Sophia Ducharme
started a programme for the new class
of Grade 6 students to help ease their
transition from Junior to Middle School.
The new Grade 6
students learned how
they can get involved
in clubs or sports,
navigate the Middle
School campus and
balance classes. Sophia
ran her programme
by donation and with
support from Middle
School
teachers
Lindsay Ross and
Kim Firth.
Grade 7 student Sophia Ducharme
initiated a new programme to help ease
the transition for Junior School students
entering Middle School.
■Middle School started its own
E-team that focuses on recycling more
materials than the usual pop cans and
paper. The students worked to promote
the recycling of items such as soft plastic,
including candy wrappers and Styrofoam.
SMUS has been recycling organic waste
since November of last year, but Middle
School is spearheading the soft plastics
initiative to reduce waste dramatically,
which in the end saves the school money
on waste removal.
■The Grade 5 class ventured to Fort
Langley, a Parks Canada National historic
site considered by many as the birthplace
of British Columbia. They learned about
life in the 1800s by trying their hands at
building a house, carrying bales of fur,
sawing planks and writing a contract
with the Hudson’s Bay Company, which
gave students an appreciation of the
challenges of the era.
Grade 5 students Jennifer Shan, Athene
Kerin and Sage Friswell, hoist bales of fur
on their field trip at Fort Langley.
■At this year’s SMUS Debating
Tournament, in which five other schools
participated, our students took first place
in the Senior and Grade 8 categories,
as well as second place in the Junior
competition. Grade 8 student Julia
Milden took first place in the individual
category with 87 points, while Kristijan
Gjorgjevik, Charles Leitz, and Robyn
Hope each placed in the top five.
The boarding community goes ziplining,
where students glide along a suspended
steel cable 125 feet above the ground.
■The boarding community held
their second activity weekend of the
school year in October. The boarders
had an opportunity to go ziplining or
visit the Titanic exhibit at the Royal BC
Museum. Boarders also participated in
house games, including soccer, where
they competed for house points, which
determine who is awarded the house
trophy at the end of the year.
■Junior School held a special
assembly for this year’s Grade 5 students
to mark their new role as school leaders.
The students each read a short speech
on what they considered leadership
to be and how they planned to fulfill
their responsibilities to their younger
classmates.
■More than 800 SMUS students
and 100 staff lined the driveway to the
Richmond campus, anticipating the
arrival of 26 riders from the 10th annual
Tour de Rock, a Cops for Cancer event.
Each fall, Vancouver Island RCMP,
municipal, and military police officers
cycle the island to raise funds for paediatric
cancer research and kids’ programmes.
Many faculty, students and parents also
shed their locks for cancer, with the annual
Cops for Cancer head shave.
School News
October
Curtis and Colin Smith make bald look
cool as they get their heads shaved at the
annual Cops for Cancer event.
November
Lincoln brought the ocean theme into
arts and crafts, reading time and handson scientific study. Senior School science
teacher Mrs. Christie Johnson brought a
live collection of sea creatures, including
starfish, crabs and a sea slug, which the
children were able to hold while the
specific features were examined and
explained.
■Former Olympic rower Jason
Dorland visited campus as the first
speaker in the Academic Council’s Scholar
in Residence series. His talk focused on
attitude and personal development and
he stressed the importance of process
over results; development
over trophies.
■The youngest SMUS class spent
November under the sea, learning about
its aquatic inhabitants. Teacher Margaret
continued on page 6
Visit the SMUS Review www.smus.bc.ca
School Ties - Spring 2008 • Jason Dorland speaks
t o s tu d e n t s o n t h e
importance of athletic
development.
The Kindergarten class wear snorkels and
diving masks as part of their under-thesea study of ocean animals.
■The Senior School paper, The Ivy,
started a new school year with the aim
to produce more issues on a regular basis,
as well as to ramp up the circulation.
Armed with this desire to make The Ivy
what it was designed to be, this year’s
team of reporters and editors published
the first issue of the The Ivy a mere six
School News
weeks into the school year and promoted
the first issue with teasers sent to staff
and students by email and volunteer
“newsies” who hawked the paper to their
fellow students on its release day.
■At this year’s annual general
meeting, Board Chair Stephen Martin,
who has served in that capacity for the
last six years, handed the baton to David
Angus ’62. David Angus, a resident of
Edmonton, Alberta, has been on the
Board of Governors since 2003. During
his school days, he was Head Boy, was
an active participant in sports, marched
with the Cadet Corps, and participated
in the construction of the Chapel.
■American
boarding
students
celebrated
Thanksgiving
with
a
traditional dinner prepared by the
Brown Hall kitchen staff. Surrounded
by an American flag and many redwhite-and-blue decorations, the students
enjoyed the holiday with a delicious
meal and good friends.
■Both campuses held Remembrance
Day services in honour of the many
people across the world, past and present,
affected by war. At the Richmond
campus, parents and alumni joined
students and staff in a service filled with
music, hymns and reflections. At the
Junior School, Grade 8 Strings students
performed music, while the Grade 2
students recited the poem “In Flanders
Fields” and the Grade 5 students sang
“Ordinary Miracle.”
At the Remembrance Day service, a
Senior School group acts out some of the
most famous passages in war literature.
December
■With over 900 students, it’s rare to
get the whole SMUS population
under one roof, but December’s allschool assembly got all students from
kindergarten to Grade 12 together with
faculty, staff and parents to celebrate
the Christmas season and the end of the
school term.
The Grade 3 class perform the Reindeer
Rap for the enjoyment of the All-School
Assembly.
■Students involved in service went
out into Victoria to connect with local
organizations in need of some assistance.
Working with Our Place and the Victoria
Youth Empowerment Society, the groups
spent an afternoon answering phones,
cleaning, packaging donations and
anything else they could do to help out.
With 35 members, Service Council is the
largest council on campus.
■Led by Mr. Jake Humphries, the
Philosophers’ Café is a club that provides
a casual atmosphere for interested
students to come together to debate
some of the questions that inquiring
minds have examined for centuries. The
Philosophers’ Café at SMUS is part of a
Harmon Moon discusses the purpose of
the universe at the Philosophers’ Café.
world-wide idea of the same name, which
includes any and all opportunities for
free debate and intellectual discovery by
people interested in philosophical topics.
January
■Three Grade 8 girls have been using
their lunch hour to put leadership into
action. Isabella Holt, Christina Chwyl
and Michelle Wood started a lunchtime
Grade 8 students Isabella Holt, Christina
Chwyl and Michelle Wood used their
lunchtime to mentor Grade 6 girls.
group for Grade 6 girls, giving the
older students a chance to mentor their
younger counterparts. So far, activities
have included baking, watching movies
and making crafts. The Grade 8 girls
initiated the programme to give students
something to do at lunch, but the sessions
have turned into a much more valuable
experience for everyone involved.
■The Parents’ Auxiliary opened
a Used Uniform shop located at the
school’s Shelbourne Street facility.
All proceeds from used uniform sales
and other PA fundraising activities go
directly back to the school in the form
of funding allocations. Last year the
Parents’ Auxiliary raised more than
$58,000, $22,000 of which came from
used uniform sales. So far this year, the
Parents’ Auxiliary has raised close to
$16,000 with used uniform sales.
■SMUS welcomed Tony Quainton
’42-’44, a Distinguished Diplomat in
Residence at American University in
Washington, DC. Mr. Quainton spent
three days on campus speaking to classes
and gave a public lecture at the Copeland
Lecture Theatre. He is the former United
States Ambassador to Kuwait and
Nicaragua and former Director of Office
for Combating Terrorism. (See “The
Diplomats” on page 23.)
Grade 12 student Hudson Allison gives a
piggy-back ride to a little girl at Hope of
the Child Orphanage.
■Grade 12 student Nicole Cook was
named the Save-On-Foods A-Channel
Amazing Kid of the Week. Nicole was
awarded $1,000 for her accomplishments
in academics, sports and the arts as well as
for her community involvement.
■In all the excitement of tournament
play, it’s easy to forget all the behind-thescenes work involved to make an event like
the Victoria Police senior girls’ basketball
tournament a success. More than 15
Senior School students volunteered for the
weekend event to work the scoreboard and
shot clock as well as to record game points
and statistics. The students volunteered
more than 900 hours. SMUS parents
and community members, including two
police officers overseeing the tournament,
commented on how well the weekend
rolled out thanks to the volunteers.
School News
■Over
winter
break,
Senior
School students and staff went to the
Dominican Republic to participate in
Orphanage Outreach, a programme
dedicated to providing support to
orphaned and disadvantaged children.
At the orphanage, the students played
with the children, taught English, and
helped with maintenance. They brought
suitcases filled with clothing along with
a $1,000 donation. The Grade 5 class
also contributed to the visit by making
Christmas stockings filled with candy
and toys for each child.
February
■Middle School French teacher Ms.
Karen Oraas went to Winnipeg to teach
an Accelerated Integrated Method (AIM)
workshop, a programme designed for
educators to learn how to teach French
as a second language using interactive
methods. Ms. Oraas is one of four
teachers in the French department
using AIM, which enables students in
Kindergarten to Grade 8 to converse
comfortably in French at a basic level
with less than 100 hours of instruction.
■SMUS welcomed John Dunn,
a wilderness explorer and National
Geographic photographer who has made
more than a dozen expeditions to the
Arctic. Mr. Dunn presented a series of
lectures to students in both Middle and
Senior Schools, discussing topics such as
the spirit of adventure, the value of proper
planning, the feeling of satisfaction after
tackling challenges, and teamwork.
He also spoke about the geography of
the Arctic, climate change and global
warming.
■The school welcomed Ms. Lori
Adam, who joins the Advancement
office as the new Director of Annual
Fund. Ms. Adam comes to us from York
House School in Vancouver, where she
was Associate Director of Development.
In her new role, Ms. Adam will help the
school to raise $750,000 in the current
school year.
arrived in pyjamas and were paired with
an older buddy. This annual event allows
the older boarding students, including
some who have left younger siblings
at home far away, a chance to connect
with younger students. And it allows the
Grade 2 students a chance to learn about
the Senior School and the boarding
community.
■During Mid-term break, students
in the Outdoor Leadership programme
embarked on a two-day trip to Manning
Park, where they endured tough
conditions in order to gain winter camp
experience, a course requirement for this
intensive programme. Students enrolled
in the programme trained for more than
a year for the weekend excursion, which
included skiing in back-country terrain
and spending the night in snow caves
they built.
John Dunn speaks to Senior School
students on the spirit of adventure,
describing det ails of many of his
expeditions to the Arctic.
■The boarding students hosted an
afternoon pyjama party in residence
for the Grade 2 students as a way to
build cross-grade and cross-campus
connections. The Junior School students
The Outdoor Leadership group stop along
their trek to look at a map and navigate to
their next destination.
Visit the SMUS Review www.smus.bc.ca
School Ties - Spring 2008 • Boarding students welcome Junior School
students to residence for a pyjama party.
School News
The CESI
S
Report
t. Michaels University School has received a glowing report
by the Canadian Educational Standards Institute (CESI). After
a rigorous evaluation process that started in January 2007 and
culminated in a visit from a CESI evaluation team in November,
Head of School Bob Snowden recently received the report of
the visiting committee, which contained 24 recommendations.
A typical report, according to the CESI team, contains 50-60
recommendations.
First accredited by CESI in 2000, SMUS is currently the only
independent school in British Columbia that is fully accredited.
The full CESI evaluation is a two-step process. First, a
self-evaluation requires the school to thoroughly examine its
practices in key areas, which cover everything from the learning
environment and curriculum to the school’s financial and
operational capabilities. The second part of the evaluation is a
peer review, which is conducted by a visiting team of colleagues
from independent schools across Canada.
“This particular team was a very strong one,” says Head of
School Bob Snowden. “Chaired by Ted Staunton, Head of St.
Andrew’s College in Ontario, it included two other heads of
school, which is quite unusual.”
In its introduction, the visiting team commended the school’s
mission, calling it “a living and breathing phrase that permeates
all that the school does, in its daily actions and future planning.”
“A visit to St. Michaels University School is a wonderful
experience,” the report said. “From kindergarten to grade 12, there
is a culture where excellence is encouraged and recognized.”
The committee also commented on the strength of the SMUS
Board of Governors, which it called “a group of dedicated and
skilled volunteers,” who provide “excellent direction by looking
at the big picture,” citing their commitment to the school’s
strategic plan and their determination “to make the school the
best it can be.”
The Junior and Middle Schools received praise for being
“efficient and happy places,” and the Senior School English,
Music and Mathematics departments were singled out for
their strengths. The role of character education and the place
of the Chapel in that education was found to be pervasive and
laudable.
As for the recommendations themselves, a good number of
them are initiatives that are already planned or under way, such
as curriculum mapping, a residential curriculum, planning the
school’s management of debt, and renovating and expanding
Brown Hall.
Recommendations having to do with health and safety,
such as attention to venting in the Science labs, or paper
hanging from the ceilings and walls of the Junior School, will
be attended to immediately.
“The recommendations are all sensible and constructive,” says
Bob Snowden, “and in some cases they identify issues we would
not have noted without the scrutiny of external eyes. At the
same time, the observations by the committee are an important
affirmation of key strategic or tactical undertakings that we have
devoted a lot of energy to – justifiably, it appears.”
A copy of the report will be available in the office of the
Directors of the Senior School, Middle School and Junior
School, and in the office of the Head of School for any parents,
alumni or staff who want to come in and read the full version.
SMUS Hosts Debaters from Across Canada at National Debate Seminar
Each year the Canadian Student Debating Federation holds
the National Debating Seminar, an event which aims to expose
students to the art of debating while providing an opportunity for
cultural exchange between young people from all regions of the
country. Over the course of a week-long event, delegates attend
workshops, are paired with other students for various styles of debate,
perform public speeches, sit as members in a model parliament and
experience a variety of events related to the specific cultural identity
of the host province.
The Fall 2007 National Seminar was jointly hosted by
Vancouver and Victoria, with St. Michaels University School as
the venue for the model parliament portion of the event.
Parliament is in session: the Chapel was transformed into the
Parliament of Canada during the recent National Debate Seminar.
After three days of extensive debate competition in
Vancouver, National Debate Seminar participants travelled to
Victoria for the second stage of the event, which emphasized
learning, sharing, consensus and collaboration.
Student debaters spent their first afternoon on the Island
attending debating seminars, which included sessions taught
School News
Studying Abroad
by Emma Houghton
W
hen the opportunity arose for me to go on a 4-week
international summer school programme, I immediately
jumped at the chance, as I knew it would be an experience I
would always remember.
Shortly after landing in Heathrow, all 55 students,
accompanied by teachers from SMUS and Collingwood,
boarded a short flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. Our home for the
next two weeks would be the residence at Edinburgh University.
In spite of being very jet lagged, the group’s excited energy was
unmistakable. Our two weeks in Edinburgh included a few
hours a day of school, where every student was working towards
acquiring their next year’s English requirements, then visiting
famous landmarks such as Edinburgh castle, Robbie Burns’
birthplace and Loch Ness.
The two weeks spent in Edinburgh went by quickly and
before we knew it, we were packing our things and heading for
Oxford, England for the second leg of our trip. The school at
which we stayed was hosting about 150 other students from
a range of countries including Austria, Poland, Cyprus, and
Spain. During our stay, we met many people and made many
friends. The last two weeks of our international programme
were incredibly busy as the teachers prepared us for our exams
that would take place during the remaining few days of our
trip. However, academic activities were not limited to the
classroom: what I most appreciated was how day trips were
arranged that related to our studies. I believe that this enhanced
our learning greatly as we were able to visit sights such as the
Botanical Gardens, which was the main setting in the novel my
class studied, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.
Every day we had class until the early afternoon, at which
time we would usually go on a short trip such as punting on the
Thames River or visiting the locations where the Harry Potter
movies were filmed. Some days we had early mornings in order
to catch a bus to London. Because many of the students were
studying Shakespeare during our time in Oxford, we were all
taken to see Othello at the Globe Theatre and again later in the
week to see The Merchant of Venice.
In spite of a few hiccups, it was an incredible trip that I
definitely would recommend to anyone and would love to
experience again. This programme not only gave me knowledge
about English 11 but has given me a sense of independence and
a newfound love for travelling. Every day brought something
new and something learned.
Kathryn Wizinsky. Debate began in earnest over the three bills
proposed by the government, then in Question Period, affairs
heated up as all parties began to make their positions known.
At the end of this first “session” of Parliament, students
went to Committee in various classrooms. After several hours of
passionate committee work, the students returned to the chapel
for closing debate, which turned out to be a very stimulating
affair. By the end of debate, the Government was in danger of
falling after only two days in session.
By the end of the model parliament, all students had put in
amazing energy and effort and were elated by the experience.
All of the participants left the seminar filled with new sights,
thoughts, and ideas and it was a privilege for our school to host
such an exuberant and inquisitive group of individuals from all
across the country.
The organizers for the Island portion of the National Debate
Seminar included Sean Hayden (SMUS), Tony Goodman
(SMUS), Ruth McGhee (Pacific Christian), John Baty (Glenlyon
Norfolk) and Neil Bryant (Shawnigan Lake).
School Ties - Spring 2008 • by current World’s competition coach Martin Poirier and
Camosun College philosophy professor Megan Shelstad.
Later that evening, the model parliament began with an
orientation session at which students were organized into the
four main political parties: the Conservative Party of Canada
led by Kristijan Gjorgjevik, Katrina Gong and Ross Prager; the
Liberal Party of Canada led by Christopher Groot and Matthew
Warner; the Bloc Québecois du Canada led by Charles Leitz
and Eric Protzer, and the New Democratic Party of Canada led
by Harmon Moon.
Once grouped into parties, the students quickly filled
leadership positions within the party and collaborated to esablish
the party line. Soon afterwards, several proposed bills were
“leaked” to the Opposition parties and the National Seminar
students were off to the races, planning possible amendments
to the bills for committee sessions on Sunday.
The “41st session of Parliament” opened at SMUS the next
morning with mock opening ceremonies in the Chapel followed
by a five-minute Speech from the Throne by SMUS student
The Grade 11 English class visits the Botanical Gardens, the
main setting in Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.
SPORTS
Highlights from the Athletics Week in Review
You can read more about these stories by visiting our website at www.smus.bc.ca and
clicking on the red “Read the SMUS Review” button.
■Our rowing team did exceptionally
well at the 22nd Annual 2nd Regatta
at Elk Lake in October, taking first in
Junior Girls doubles and Junior Novice
Boys quad categories, as well as second
and third in many other events. The twoday regatta featured over 20 events and
included two singles competitions for the
first time in high school rowing. SMUS
duplicated the success they had last year
at the event, which involves 35 schools
from Lower Vancouver Island.
■Beau Parker and Mike Fuailefau
participated in the National U17 Rugby
Tour. The Canadian Team was in Wales
in November and both Beau and Mike
represented the school and the country
with honour.
Grade 7 student Graeme Wheeler
battles a rival school runner for the finish
line at the Beaver Lake cross-country
competition.
The 2007-2008 SMUS Rowing team.
10 • School Ties - Spring 2008
■The SMUS field hockey team played
in the Bridgman Cup, a tournament
that features 16 of the best high school
teams in the province. Coach David Kerr
was impressed with how his AA team
fared against some tough competition,
including AAA teams. Although the team
didn’t place in the finals, they qualified to
participate in next year’s tournament.
■The Middle School Cross Country
team participated in the Beaver Lake
competition. Jeremy Chan and Leanne
Farmer both finished in the top ten while
Michael Rossi completed an amazing
sprint finish. All members of the team put
in solid efforts, with some even running
further than the required distance.
The Senior Boys soccer team in a match
against St. Andrew’s.
Grade 11 student Ceilidh MacLeod at the
Bridgman Cup Tournament.
■The Senior Boys’ Soccer team
finished their season by defeating
Spectrum 4-2 to bring home the Colonist
Shield. Benson Ling made some crucial
saves and kept SMUS in the game.
Congratulations to the team on a great
finish to a successful season.
■In the Rowing City Championships,
SMUS competed against 16 other high
schools. Our athletes made the final of
every event they entered and became the
city champions. SMUS brought home
15 trophies from the event including first
place from the Senior and Junior Girls,
while the Junior Boys took second place.
In the Senior and Junior divisions, our
teams took first place for overall aggregate
performance and overall efficiency.
■Three SMUS swimmers qualified
for
the
Swimming
Provincial
Championships, which were held at
Saanich Commonwealth Place. Jeremy
Bagshaw made the finals in four events
and became the provincial champion
in the 100m freestyle. On the girls’
side, Raquel Solmer was in the 100m
breaststroke event and finished third in
the consolation round. Vanessa Loewen
was in the 100m backstroke event, and
made the finals and finished 5th in the
province.
Grade 9 students Vanessa Lowen and
Raquel Solmer and Grade 10 student
Jeremy Bagshaw swam in the Provincial
Championships.
SPORTS
The Junior Girls Basketball team against
Oak Bay in January.
The Senior Girls volleyball team pose with the Vic Lindel Cup at the city final.
■The Senior Girls Volleyball team
participated in the city final where they
were matched against Lambrick Park. In
what was their best game of the season,
the girls rose to the challenge and won
the game. For their efforts, the girls took
home the prestigious Vic Lindel Cup, a
first for the school. The win took them to
Island Championships in Nanaimo.
■Beau Parker (Grade 11), John
Humphries (Grade 11) and Mike
Fuailefau (Grade 10) were named to
the Canadian U17 rugby team. The
three SMUS students were among 26
players selected to represent Canada in
the Millfield Festival that will be held in
England in April.
Junior School students are having fun
at Sports Club, a non-competitive, afterschool programme.
younger SMUS students a chance to
explore a few of the sports that they can
pursue at Middle and Senior School.
Graham Henry spends some coaching
time with the SMUS 1st XV.
■Junior School started the Sports
Club, an after-school programme
dedicated to improving athletic skills.
Once a week, Grade 4 and 5 students get
together to exercise and have fun. The
programme is not competitive, which
allows all students to participate and
feel comfortable no matter their athletic
background. Sports Club also gives
The Senior Boys basketball team play in a
game against Esquimalt High School.
■Grade 12 student Andrew Crow was
recently honoured by BC Premier Gordon
Campbell as one of BC’s top athletes for
2006-2007. The Premier’s Athletic Awards
recognize the top female and male athletes
from the provincial sport organizations and
post-secondary institutions participating
in the 2006/2007 BC Athlete Assistance
Programme. Andrew was recognized for
his achievements in rugby which include
captain of Rugby Canada U17 team at
the International Millfield Festival in
England; member of Rugby Canada/BC
Rugby High Performance Academy 2007
National Championships; Captain of BC
Rugby U18 Provincial Men’s gold-winning
team; and member of SMUS BC High
School Championship-winning team.
■The Senior Boys Basketball team
wrapped up their season and went
on to compete in the South Island
Championship as the number four seed.
In their first match, the boys played the
number one team, Gulf Islands Secondary
School. The boys managed to upset the
top seed earning a spot in the semi-finals,
and put themselves in a favourable spot
for the Island Championships.
■The Junior Girls Basketball team
finished their season in the playoffs. The
team’s win/loss record this season reflects
the excellent improvements these girls
Grade 12 student Andrew Crow poses
with BC Premier Gordon Campbell.
School Ties - Spring 2008 • 11
■The SMUS rugby teams received
world-class coaching when Graham
Henry, the New Zealand All Blacks coach,
paid a visit to the school. Mr. Henry led
the All Blacks to the World Cup semifinals against Australia in 2003 and was
named Coach of the Year in 2005. Mr.
Henry spent the afternoon on campus and
presented a lecture to both Middle and
Senior School students, and then followed
up on the field with the rugby teams who
participated in a skills workshop.
have made both individually and as a
team, and their ability to play some great
basketball.
SPORTS
Alumni Sports News
■Peter Jawl ’07 recently made the rugby
world stand up and take notice during his
debut for Canada U20 against the USA
in Lakeland, Florida. Jawl, according to
Rugby Canada News, “showed off a triple
threat of skills, kicking from hand with
pinpoint accuracy, goal-kicking to a seven
for nine afternoon and to cap it off scored
a try in the second half for 21 points.”
Rugby Canada is calling his performance
a debut record at that level.
■In the meantime, Jawl’s Canada U20
teammate Alastair Crow ’06 has been
garnering attention of his own. A fly-half
on the McGill rugby team, Crow was
named McGill University Athlete of the
Week in September for his record-setting
performance with the Redmen squad,
earning 28 points and nine conversions
in a single game.
■David Spicer ’03, Ed Fairhurst ’97
and Mike Pyke ’02 played in the 2007
Rugby World Cup as part of Team
Canada. In their opening match, the team
took a surprisingly strong lead over Wales
only to have the Welsh team rally in the
last half-hour to win 42-17. Despite the
promising start, Team Canada ended the
World Cup winless.
■Jelena Mrdjenovich ’00 hung on
to her World Boxing Council super
featherweight title after 10 rounds with
Dominga Olivo in December that ended
in a draw. In September, Jelena added
another title to her record when she
became the WIBF Lightweight World
Champion after a 10-round unanimous
decision over Kelli Cofer.
■In May, Gareth Rees ’85, a former
Team Canada rugby player who played
in four World Cups, will be inducted
into the BC Sports Hall of Fame’s Class
of 2008. Many consider Gareth Canada’s
finest rugby player, who obtained 487
points throughout his career. The former
SMUS and UVic Vikes star captained
Team Canada in two of his record four
World Cup appearances.
■NBA basketball star Steve Nash ’92
is among 61 new appointments to the
Order of Canada. He was acknowledged
for his sports achievements and charitable
work with the Steve Nash Foundation.
He was honoured as an Officer of the
Order of Canada, which is the middle of
the three levels of membership.
■Vancouver Canucks fans were excited
to welcome Matt Pettinger ’93-’96 back
home after the Washington Capitals
traded the player to his home province.
Originally from Victoria, Matt is excited
to be back to reconnect with his family
and friends. After leaving SMUS, Matt
accepted an NCAA athletic scholarship
to play at the University of Denver. He
then went on to win a bronze medal with
Team Canada at the 1999 World Junior
Championships and was selected 43rd
overall by the Capitals in the second
round of the 2000 draft.
SMUS Basketball Looks to Recapture Former Glory
by Ian Hyde-Lay
W
ithout a doubt, SMUS had one
of the dominant basketball programmes
in BC during the 90s, with the Senior
Boys claiming six Island AAA titles
between 1991 and 1999, and a BC AAA
championship in 1992. The Senior Girls
also made regular appearances at the BC
provincials, with the 1998 squad reaching
the AAA semifinals, while, as recently as
two years ago, the team won bronze at
the AA event.
A big emphasis on basketball – in both
coaching and participation, particularly
at the lower levels – is now starting to
make some inroads, and hopefully the
investment will see the school back
among the provincial elite at the Senior
level within the next three years.
Indeed, in 2007-2008 alone,
SMUS won all but one division of the
Victoria-wide Elementary “Future Stars”
tournament (Grades 4-7), while both the
Grade 8 Boys and Grade 9 Girls, for the
first time in school history, qualified for
their respective provincial tournaments.
We hope these teams and players
will continue to flourish, with SMUS
senior teams again participating at BC
tournaments on a regular basis in the
very near future.
Our singers, musicians, actors and artists continued to do our school proud on stage
and canvas. Of the many creative triumphs from current students and alumni this
year, here are a few of our favourites.
ARTS
Arts Highlights
■Senior School students Jayne
Hammond and Charlotte McGee
were runners-up in the second annual
Teen Arts Competition, put on by the
Vancouver Island Arts Festivals Society.
The girls entered
the contest on a
bit of a whim after
an entry form was
passed on to them
by Mrs. Forbes
and Ms. Williams.
The girls won
second place for
a song they cowrote about teen
romance.
The cast of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).
Jayne Hammond
a n d C h a r l o tt e
McGee placed second in the Teen
Arts Competition for their acoustic
composition about teenage love.
■As part of Education Extension’s
annual Summer Musical Theatre
programme, 22 students in Grades 9 to
12 put on a production of High School
Musical as part of the Victoria Fringe
Festival. Directed by Mr. Cam Culham
and Ms. Donna Williams, the students
delivered four performances after
rehearsing for only two-and-a-half weeks.
Another unique aspect of this production
was its staging, which was set in a series
of locales on the Senior School campus,
with the cast leading their audience from
venue to venue as the show unfolded.
■Goodnight
Desdemona
(Good
Morning Juliet) was produced by a crew
and cast who presented four equally stellar
performances of the award-winning play
for students, staff and family. The theatre
group earned a couple of standing
ovations and much praise for their acting
and production skills.
■Three of our students took to the
Royal Theatre stage with the Moscow
Ballet for their production of Swan Lake.
Lindsay Solmer, Julia Milden and Julia
Rego performed marvellously in the second
act for an audience of over 1000 people.
Middle School students perform in their
first strings concert of the year.
■The assemblies at Junior School
became more musical than usual, as both
the Grades 4 and 5 strings ensembles
treated their younger schoolmates to
Julia Milden, Lindsay Solmer and Julia
Rego performed in Swan Lake with the
Moscow Ballet.
■The Senior School’s musicians and
vocalists put on a fabulous concert at
the Victoria Conservatory of Music in
December, performing jazz, swing, choir
and Christmas music for faculty and staff.
continued on page 14
■The first of several strings concerts took
place in November, with the Grade 7/8
Strings class performing for parents, staff,
family members and friends. Conducted
by Mary Smith, the students played six
different selections to a full house.
Students perform High School Musical on
the steps of School House for the Victoria
Fringe Festival.
concerts. Both ensembles demonstrated
that rehearsals have sharpened their
skills and prepared them for many
performances to come.
ARTS
■More than 300 Senior School
students showed off their musical talents
in the Large Ensembles concert at the
University of Victoria in January. For
those students in Grade 9, this was their
first Senior School performance.
Senior School students sing in an
ensembles concert at the Victoria
Conservatory of Music.
■At just 12 years old, Grade 7 student
Richard Cunningham landed a lead role
in the opera production Amahl and the
Night Visitors. Richard performed for his
Grade 6 peers in a matinee performance
at the Christ Church Cathedral, followed
by a weekend of evening performances
for the community.
■Grade 9 student Nuraiyah Kassam
sang with the Victoria Children’s Choir as
they performed Vivaldi’s “Gloria” with the
Pacific Baroque Orchestra, an ensemble
that performs on period instruments. The
choir is one of Canada’s top children’s
choirs and has performed many times with
the Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera
Victoria, and even for the Queen. The
choir is directed by Ms. Madeleine Humer,
head of Senior Choral music at SMUS.
Middle School
band students
showcase their
musical talents
at the W inter
Wonder Band
Concert.
■Middle School band students
proved hard work pays off during their
performance in the Winter Wonder
Band Concert. The evening showcased
just how dedicated the students have to
be in order to learn their instruments.
They have been practicing at earlymorning and lunch-time rehearsals since
September.
Alumni Arts Highlights
■Marc Destrube ’73 was in town
recently with the annual Pacific Baroque
Festival, of which he is founder and
artistic director. This year’s festival, entitled
“Vivaldi’s Venice,” celebrated Vivaldi’s
music, his influences and his rivals.
For the past decade Marc’s
interpretations of baroque and classical
repertoire on period instruments have
allowed him to perform with many of
the world’s leading period ensembles.
A founding member of the renowned
Tafelmusik Orchestra, Marc has been
a guest concertmaster with both the
Hanover Band and the Academy of
Ancient Music.
Recently, Marc was appointed first
violinist with the Axelrod String Quartet,
in residence at the Smithsonian Institute in
Washington, DC. Other recent activities
include regular performances in the group
L’Archibudelli. Marc also performs annually
with the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene.
■Keith Rogers ’88 and his wife, Nina,
are dealers in original fine art – oil on
canvas mostly. Their gallery, Diana Paul
Galleries, has recently relocated to an
historical building in downtown Calgary.
They have two children – Tedra (11) and
Miranda (6). Keith has taken a hiatus
from a career as an electrical engineer
specializing in commercial lighting
design. He writes: “Between running
the gallery and raising the kids it’s been
rewarding but busy. We especially enjoy
travelling and meeting artists in their
studios. I’ll be out for our 20th reunion
this May!”
■Hugh Fraser ’76 has been nominated
for a National Jazz Award, for best
trombonist. The winners in 27 categories –
who will be selected by fans – will be
announced on April 8 at a Toronto gala.
Keith and Nina in their gallery.
Mairi Babb in MTC’s production of
Our Town.
■It has been quite a year for Mairi
Babb ’94. The actress was in the spotlight
on some of Winnipeg’s largest stages. She
starred in three Manitoba Theatre Centre
main stage productions: the Sound of Music,
the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Our
Town. She was named by the Winnipeg
Free Press entertainment department as
Newsmaker of 2007. Mairi also took the
lead role in the comedy Educating Rita for
a MTC provincial tour. After wrapping
up a successful 2007 MTC season, Mairi
enjoyed a long holiday in Victoria.
Next on Mairi’s agenda are auditions
for a Toronto production of the Sound
of Music. Given the success of her role as
Maria in MTC’s production, Mairi is in
the running for a part in the Toronto show,
the casting process for which will air on
the CBC as a reality show, entitled “How
Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?”
AP Studio Art makes its mark on campus
by Erin Anderson
Grade 12 student Elysia Toporowski
sketches during an AP Studio Art tour of
galleries in Oak Bay.
AP Studio Art is an intensive and
expansive programme that challenges
students to create original and evocative
pieces in areas of concentration that
include Drawing, 2D Design or 3D
Design. “It brings a deeper understanding
and respect for the arts,” says instructor
Anna Forbes. “There’s a lot of critical
thinking; a lot of research.”
Unlike Art 12, where students
are taught basic techniques and given
opportunities to apply them, Studio
Art is end-oriented. “It’s more focused
than regular art,” says student Michelle
Cheimak. “The course is much more indepth, covers a wider range of art, and you
get to choose what your work becomes.”
The programme relies on a portfolio
instead of an exam. Students have to
produce 29 pieces by May, which usually
means producing twice that many and
selecting the best ones for submission says
Mrs. Forbes.
“You can’t do this course unless you’re
prepared to work out of school,” she
explains. “You have to be really passionate
about art.”
The portfolios are marked in three
sections. Students send in five pieces directly
to the board to be judged on quality and
synthesis of form, technique and content.
Half of the pieces submitted on slides must
show the student’s concentration, and the
other half must show the diversity of the
student’s studies.
“In the second term, they are selfdirected. They have to choose a theme,
and there has to be progression,” Mrs.
Forbes says. “I’m just here as a guide.”
Though each portfolio is intended
to be taught separately, Mrs. Forbes has
combined the two that are most similar –
Drawing and 2D Design – into one class.
This has meant that the Grade 11 students
in the class can use their pieces from this
year for their portfolio in Grade 12, or
they can turn in a portfolio at the end of
this school year and do a second, different
portfolio next year (earning them two
distinct credits if they score high enough).
“Many of the art institutes give credit
for scores of 4 or 5,” says Mrs. Forbes.
ARTS
Advanced Placement Studio Art began at SMUS this September and already the
programme has made its mark on students and staff.
Acrylic painting by Ceilidh MacLeod, Grade 11.
Acrylic painting in the style of Roy Lichtenstein
by Grade 11 student Shun Kinoshita.
ARTS
Though she was the staff member
who backed the addition of Studio Art
to an already extensive AP curriculum,
Mrs. Forbes credits her former students
Emma May and Diandra Barsalou for
the programme’s inclusion. “Because
the students asked for it, it was taught,”
she says.
Emma is now flourishing at the Nova
Scotia College of Art and Design, which
might see a few more SMUS students as
early as next September. “The students I
have are so committed,” says Mrs. Forbes.
“It’s wonderful.”
This year, the course included life
drawing sessions at the Vancouver
Island School of Art, a lecture from
photographer Ilja Herb ’93 and a visit
from print-maker (and SMUS parent)
Chiarina Loggia.
“They get solid techniques here,” says
Mrs. Forbes. “They learn the elements
of art.”
In the future, Mrs. Forbes would
like to see her students learn digital
media, establish a pre-AP class for
Grade 10 students and offer 3D Design.
This summer, she’ll be offering a oneweek course for students who are in or
want to enter AP Studio Art next year.
Watercolour by Min Ju Park, Grade 12.
AP Studio Art teacher Anna Forbes has a look at Lulu May’s collage during a trip to the
Vancouver Art Gallery.
Acrylic painting by
Liz Fenje, Grade 11.
Universities that accept AP Studio Art credits
UBC
Simon Fraser
UVic
U of Northern BC
U of Calgary
Lethbridge
Saskatchewan
U of Regina
U of Toronto
York
Western Ontario
Trent
Concordia
Bishop’s
Waterloo
Pillars
Behind every great programme is a solid set of principles to guide and direct our actions.
Tasked with identifying the underpinnings of our leadership programme, Rev. Keven
Fletcher finds that the strongest pillars are those built with the help of the community.
T
A major step in my own thinking
unfolded when I attended the Gardner
Carney
Leadership
Institute
in
Colorado, a week-long event drawing
on interdisciplinary research into
adolescent culture, brain physiology and
leadership development. Colorado was
my helicopter retreat experience. When I
left the Institute, I knew what to do for
my school. I had a detailed plan that had
been vetted by our gifted hosts. I assumed
that MY-VERY-SMART-PLAN would
become the foundation for our leadership
programme.
Soon after I arrived at SMUS, it
served its straw house purpose and found
its place in the recycling bin.
What became painfully yet necessarily
clear was that the Principles stream had to
be shaped by the community itself. Rather
than offering my plan for everyone’s
acceptance, it became a tool for drawing
others to shape our-very-own-plan.
This involved a great number
of discussions, formal and informal.
Combining my experience at the Institute
with previous thoughts and additional
research, members of the Leadership
Initiative Working Group offered
presentations wherever possible within our
community. Before the school year started,
our management team went on a twoday, off-site retreat centred on leadership.
Additional discussions were held with the
Board and selected parents. Eventually,
we agreed that our community needed to
get clear about our pillars (the qualities
we value in leaders) and our curriculum
(both directly and indirectly related to
leadership).
Selecting our pillars created a focal
point for discussions on leadership. At
all three schools, leadership became the
dominant theme in Chapel. Through story,
song, spoken word and YouTube clips,
students and faculty were invited to reflect
on leadership and what values they most
wanted to pursue in our communal life.
The question was set in a variety of contexts,
using realities spanning from locker room
scenarios to international incidents.
Along with Chapel, the Middle and
Senior Schools were papered with flyers
drawing their attention both to the Pillar
campaign and to some of the front-running
terms that arose from the Management
Retreat (Awareness, Conviction, Courage,
Empathy, Humility, Integrity, Legacy,
Respect, Self-Awareness, Service). For six
weeks, students were greeted with an evershifting variety of flyers, most serious and
some comical.
Towards the end of the campaign,
every student from Grade 6 to Grade 12
was given time during Chapel or their
grade meeting to suggest four pillars. In
the Junior School, every class was taken
through a scenario and invited to name the
virtues they felt played the most important
roles. The staff was also encouraged to
offer opinions. Through an article on our
website, the broader school community
(parents, alumni and Board members) was
here’s an iconic tale about a group
of executives who decide that they need
to articulate their organization’s desired
values. They board a helicopter which
whisks them to their retreat site. After a
day of forming, storming, norming and
performing, they craft a well articulated
statement. Arriving back at headquarters,
their words go to a graphic designer who
forwards stunning prints to a framer
who sets them in cherry wood casings
and hangs them on key walls throughout
the organization. Institutional trumpets
sound and a lead article appears in their
quarterly magazine.
It’s all very impressive, but in terms
of the day-to-day life of the organization,
the values are dead on the wall. Without
broad input from the community;
without some sense of having evolved
from existing principles; without some
structure for ongoing development and
integration, the framed statements are
little more than a sanctimonious decree:
a striking collection of words, but only a
collection of words.
In choosing our leadership pillars, we’re
doing our best to not repeat the tale.
Leadership development has always
been a part of St. Michaels University
School. Since its inception some 100 years
ago, there have always been opportunities
for a small group of students to rise to the
top. What became clear in 2005 was that
our vision needed to broaden, embracing
the potential of every student within our
school.
Our Head established a Leadership
Initiative Working Group, with an
overall coordinator guiding five faculty
members, each named to a stream: Service,
Sustainability, Outdoor Education, Global
Responsibility and Principles of Leadership.
Although a great deal of progress has been
made in each area, I’m going to offer a few
thoughts about the one closest to my heart,
the Principles stream.
FEATURE
The Process behind the
The Process Behind the Pillars
FEATURE
continued from page 17
given its opportunity. We heard from our
diaspora, who offered general thoughts,
specific recommendations and a great deal
of moral support. After every viewpoint
was compiled, two additional meetings
were held with keen staff members to
review the responses.
It wasn’t until the end of the summer
that the final decision was made. Three
people (our Head, our Leadership
Initiative Coordinator and me) decided
on four terms that were well represented
in the responses and spoke clearly to who
we are striving to be as a community:
Service, Honesty, Respect, Courage.
As is ever the case in these situations,
the value of the pillars lies in the process
by which they were chosen. The same
holds true for their integration into our
community. To this end, thoughts were
gathered on how to proceed.
Coming out of these conversations,
three realities are abundantly clear.
First, it is essential that the pillars
be understood as a reflection of our
continuing development, rather than
being something “new.” Second, the terms
should be incorporated into our language
and life in a natural manner, rather than
being “imposed” or “trumpeted.” Third,
the pillars need to become a consistent
part of our general culture, not relegated
to a particular aspect of our school’s life.
We are beginning the integration
journey. The pillars and their rationale
are being shared with the community,
particularly through Chapel. They are
highlighted during special gatherings,
like our Founders’ Dinner. Middle School
students are nominating their peers to
recognize when they live the pillars.
Rather than setting definitions and
asking groups to apply them, working units
around the school are being asked to come
up with examples of what it means for them
to live the pillars. For instance, our Prefects
were asked to give three concrete examples
of what courage looks like when one is a
Virtues, the Building Blocks of Character and Leadership
by Doreen Metcalfe
As I sat at the Junior School
assembly, I looked toward his parents,
beaming with pride as their son
addressed the audience. I will never
forget the first time I saw that same face
as one tiny fist clenched the pleats of
his Mom’s skirt, while the other wiped
a tear from his cheek. His crisp new
shirt, shiny black shoes and oversized
grey shorts were a definite sign that it
was his very first day of school. The
boy now holding the microphone
is such a contrast from our first
encounter. His confidence, courage,
and assertiveness are there for all to
see. How do such transformations
occur for our students?
At the Junior School, we believe that
the recognition and practice of virtues
are the elements that form the basis
of a child’s values and provide the
building blocks of character. Inspired
by two strategies from the Virtues
Project*, we strive to identify and name
the virtues inherent in the actions of
children. Using teachable moments
to guide behaviour, we encourage the
practice of virtues in every day life.
Virtues are integrated into the fabric
of our school. Each week we gather to
hear stories from Reverend Fletcher
and Mr. Snowden that teach moral
lessons connected to virtues. Mrs.
Richards chooses virtue cards and
reads them to the students, staff and
parents as a catalyst for clarity and
direction. Primary and Intermediate
buddy classes focus on a virtue,
such as respect, and create posters
to teach others. They make seasonal
cards for one another, using virtues to
describe their friend. A sense of unity
is developed as school-wide projects
offer service to those outside our
community.
If you take a closer look at the dayto-day interactions of students and
teachers you will find the heart of how
we bring out the best in children. There
is nothing more touching than seeing a
child’s eyes light up when you recognize
and name his character traits. You can
be guaranteed that the positive act
will be repeated. “Thank you for being
…courteous by holding open a door,
responsible and diligent by completing
the task in a timely manner, flexible by
saving your ‘show and tell’ until after
recess, or respectful and patient while
the string orchestra was warming up
for their performance.”
The boy takes a deep cleansing breath
as he prepares to read the concluding
paragraph of his essay entitled,
“Perseverance.” The heartfelt stories
he has shared about his friend’s parents
and grandparents who had carried
on with difficult and life-threatening
circumstances touch everyone. I am
reminded of the gift of compassion,
Doreen Metcalfe, Junior School Teacher
and qualified facilitator of The Virtues
Project.
a magic energy that is part of the
foundation of the whole St. Michaels
University School community. I feel
reassured knowing he will be in good
hands as he moves on to the Middle
and Senior Schools.
* The Virtues Project was founded by Linda
Kavelin Popov, Dr. Dan Popov and John H.
Kavelin.
essential starting point may become a
straw house which will be dismantled
and rebuilt by our community, who
themselves will determine what
happens next.
However, in the continuing process
of integrating our pillars, we are growing
clearer about what good leadership entails
and how we can broaden the range of
opportunities for all of our students to
exercise their potential. At the end of the
day, the pillars are simply a continuation
of what has gone before and a foretaste
of where we’ll delve more deeply in
the future. So, you can anticipate their
impact on our daily life as a community,
but expect very little in the way of
helicopters, trumpets and gilded frames.
Yet you’ll notice, we did
manage an article in
School Ties.
The Middle School has integrated the pillars into their house system and recently created a bulletin board that celebrates the pillars
and students who have been recognized by their peers for demonstrating characteristics of leadership.
FEATURE
Prefect. Our Chapel Team was asked to do
the same for what honesty means in their
work. When our teachers last gathered, we
broke into working groups to explore what
the pillars mean for us in our professional
lives. Eventually, similar tasks will be
undertaken by everyone from the Athletic
Council to the Grounds Crew.
Of course, some aspects of this
integration plan may well find their way
to the recycling bin. Like the plan that
arose from the Institute, this seemingly
FEATURE
The Pillars in
Action
by Kathryn Wizinsky and Michael van der Westhuizen
A
s prefects, we are often
faced with tough decisions that
require sober second thought;
in these situations, it’s very
important to have the pillars as
a waypoint.
When this year’s Prefect
Council came together for the
first time in September of 2007, we brainstormed about what we
wanted the school to be like for the students and how we as leaders
could serve them. To help us in our thinking, we drew the shape of
a body on a thermarest, which every prefect decorated with a single
leadership quality. As we created the ultimate prefect in the foam
shape lying in front of us, our ideas for how to serve the school
kept coming back to the four pillars: service, honesty, respect, and
courage. We agreed that there must be an environment that provides
support and encouragement so that students have the courage to get
involved and serve the school. We also agreed that students needed
to interact with each other in a respectful way where everyone is
welcome, and no one person is better than the other.
When we expanded upon the pillars, it was SMUS students’
actions that provided the greatest concrete examples. Service can be
achieved on a school level through Peer Counselling, or on a global
scale with Free the Children. Honesty is demonstrated at school when
a student is willing to pour their heart into a love poem that they
read in assembly or try to get others to “Stand Up Against Poverty.”
Simply by wandering through the school quad during Chapel or
lunch time, you see respect. Bags ready for next class are tucked in
every corner of the quad; students trust that no one will go through
their personal belongings. Courage shines through at drama nights
and acoustic concerts when people get up in front of their peers and
share their talents.
As our discussions continued, we came to the realization that
Prefect Council’s job was to build upon what SMUS students
already do innately. Students are fully aware of what is expected
of us; if we veer off track, a funny little skit or announcement
is usually all that is needed to promote a change of action. Our
environment of honesty and respect gives us the courage to lead
change and peers are comfortable reminding each other of what is
expected. In the end, the Prefect Council discovered that the role
we play in SMUS is supporting the continuous evolution of our
school culture and promoting the idea that living the pillars is the
“cool thing to do!”
As leaders in the SMUS community, it has been a powerful
experience interacting with our fellow students. People wonder why
SMUS is such a united community; it is because of the principles
instilled by the four pillars. These are not simply principles that
should be followed by the SMUS community; rather they are
essential maxims for any relationship. The SMUS community is,
in its spirit, a powerful group relying on the input of its members
to grow and sustain these pillars.
Service, respect, honesty and courage: four very
simple words that form the strong supporting
foundations of our school’s culture.
Service
Our school is extremely aware of the Global
Village, and does its best to take care of it.
With numerous service initiatives, some of the
prominent ones being visits to an orphanage
in the Dominican Republic, as well as building
schools in Kenya and several other local service
objectives, our school allows us to branch out
into the community, and give a serving hand.
The school puts huge emphasis on the necessity
of serving others, and ensures students know
that by having many service initiatives available
to them.
Respect
Our school community is built on relationships
between students, staff and the community
as a whole. Two key ingredients of these
relationships are respect and honesty. We have
a trust between the students and the staff,
and it creates a very special bond that brings
the two closer together than a professional
relationship.
Honesty
Honesty goes hand in glove with respect, and
the trust bond between the students and the
staff allow both to recognize these convictions
in each other. Not only are the staff looked up to
for their professionalism, they are also looked
up to for a much stronger reason: students feel
they can trust the teachers and that the teachers
have the students’ best interests at heart. By
trusting the students, teachers show that they
acknowledge the trust bond, and that they also
respect their relationship with the students.
Courage
Service, honesty and respect are all needed for
a community to live in harmony, and are also
necessary character traits for an effective leader.
However, these characteristics are nothing
without the one trait that binds them all together:
courage. Courage is what is needed to carry out
tasks involving service, honesty and respect, and
is often the difference between a good leader
and a great leader. Courage allows us to voice
our opinions, to be brave enough to stay honest
in times of distress, and to maintain respect for
others, even when we may doubt them. In times
of trouble, the great leaders stay courageous and
keep their minds on the task at hand.
On a Quest for
FEATURE
Leadership
After graduating last year, Sam Witt
joined the Sail and Life Training Society
(S.A.L.T.S) vessel Pacific Grace for
part of its Pacific Odyssey voyage.
As he discovered, lessons in leadership
continue beyond the years at SMUS.
07/23/07 | 127° Magnetic | Wind 15 knots | 5.1 knots
4° 38' 6.0" N 143° 46' 58.0" W
Last night we had wind squalls with lashing rain that lasted 1.5 to
2 hours. The sky was very dark all around the boat. Trainee Jamie
said she couldn’t see anything. It was probably the blackest night she
has ever experienced. The motion is extreme again – fore and aft as
well as side to side… – Bonice Anderson, www.salts.ca
I boarded the 138' schooner Pacific Grace in Honolulu on
July 11, 2007. The next day we left for a three-month voyage
in the South Pacific. We made many stops along the way: in
French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji,
where I left the boat. It was during that time that I made
amazing friendships, experienced unbelievable sailing, saw
some stunning places and transited a small portion of the
world’s vastness. I also had a lot of time to witness leadership –
true leadership, and I had an opportunity to uncover my own
views of what leadership is.
In a confined space, let alone in one you can’t leave,
individuals are in constant contact with one another. There is
virtually no privacy or personal space on board, which forces
people to display their true selves – there is no uniform or
curtain to hide behind. It is the interaction of pure character
that creates a sense of community, and on a boat like the Grace,
community is an important component of daily shipboard
operations. It allows the boat to run effectively and efficiently.
Building upon this, leaders are the people in this microcosm
that go the extra mile. Usually, but not always, they are more
experienced. The leaders that emerge are the people who help
and teach others, volunteer to work with the cooks in the galley
(in all sea conditions) and interrupt their much-needed sleep to
help with night sail changes.
There is a single wake up call: “Spare hands to raise the trysail
and furl the jib.” Voluntarily, a dozen sweaty and groggy individuals
fumble around in the darkness, tripping over sleeping bodies and fallen
bags, attaching night harnesses and slowly climb onto the deck, getting
almost instantaneously wet. Half asleep, the majority of the trainees
make their way to the stern to handle the lowering of the mainsail;
however there are five or so that head forward, a couple of which strap
themselves into another harness and climb out over the water – a
warm but frothing sea. They will spend close to 15 minutes wrestling
with a huge, wet, flapping sail and eventually lash it down. They
return to the deck exhausted and thoroughly drenched from the spray,
rain, bow height waves and the sail itself. In the stern, there are people
hauling on lines and letting others go. The mainsail is a monster –
thousands of square feet in size, and diligence is the key to success
when manoeuvring because a single mistake can be devastating. Then
the trysail gets assembled on deck and raised in the place of the main.
After the sail change is complete, people drift back down below to
continue their sleep; others stay a bit longer and snack on the previous
evening’s baking. At this point, the squall usually subsides, the wind
lightens, and there is a peaceful remainder to the night.
Our skipper Tony Anderson is one of the greatest leaders I
have ever met. He is an amazing teacher, capable of explaining
Local children wait to use the ship’s rope swing at the town of
Apitaki, French Polynesia.
Pacific Grace lies at anchor off the island of Tahuata in the Marquesas.
FEATURE
Sam Witt on Palmerston Atoll, Cook Islands.
On a Quest for Leadership
anything ship-related in a simple but effective manner. He is
also able to connect with youth in a way not many adults can,
and he uses this skill to successfully run a boat full of young
people year after year. Being in charge of a crew and a vessel
is a huge responsibility.
Every day there are stressful
situations to deal with, and
every leader on board must
keep situations positive,
otherwise the crucial sense
of community will begin
to weaken because of hard
feelings and frustration.
In the South Pacific, it is
very hot and humid. On a
boat such as the Grace, there
is no air conditioning, which
makes sleeping every night
an uncomfortable and rather A boy rests in the ship’s life ring.
damp experience. During the
day, however, the sun’s intense rays make the deck and the galley
even hotter. With the combined heat of the sun and the diesel
stove, cooking for 35 people in a small space that is constantly
heeled over to angles of up to 45° is an exercise in patience and
good balance. Cooks Gillian Hoyer and Katie Neale alternate
days cooking for the boat, always with a smile and never with
complaint. Same with the ship’s bosun, Jordan Campbell. His
office is a neat and tidy engine room, with temperatures that
range from 30° on a cool day to 55° on a hot day with the engines
going. Many of his days are spent in the engine room, fixing
problems, and the rest of his time is spent on deck making the
boat look pretty. Keeping a tall ship in working order is no small
task, and Jordan is always calm and collected, willing to teach, as
well as just hang out with whoever is around.
These crewmembers are just a few in a team of eight that
leads 22 trainees every hour of every day. They lead by example
– through hard work, courage and determination. Much of the
time they are tired, but they always find a way to dig deep and
keep going. On top of this, they care. They care about their fellow
shipmates like they were brothers and sisters. They have an open
ear in the tough moments, and always have a helpful response
for those who need it. What you see is what you get. There isn’t a
made-up outer shell, a fake interest, or short-lived commitment
and effort. They are genuine, open and honest. They possess the
qualities I think all true leaders should have.
09/07/07 | 220° Magnetic | Wind 35 knots | 7.8 knots
20° 39' 47.88" S 159° 10' 19.20" W
The day started out ok, but got progressively worse, with squall
after squall of rain and intense wind. Waves came from all angles,
some upwards of 30 feet high. In the moment, we were playful. I
was up in the bow with some friends riding the waves in my thin,
asparagus green rain suit, with mask and snorkel as extra protection.
In the stern, things were a little more intense. Skipper was especially
stressed, mostly about the boat. He’s been up most of the past few
nights running sail changes every few hours. In the galley, Gillian
was cooking with the help of Carolyn. They made foccacia bread and
hummus for lunch. It really is an amazing feat to make a meal when
most of the time everyone is holding on for dear life. At one point, a
huge wave slammed into the hull and the bowl of chick peas for the
hummus went flying across the galley, eventually ending up on the
sole, where they rolled back and forth like an avalanche. As the day
progressed, the storm dissipated, and we began work on creating a
Cook Islands courtesy flag, as well as some laundry and reading.
So what did I learn? I learned that it takes a great deal of
effort and commitment to keep a position of leadership in the
real world. I learned that leaders are the people who volunteer
to check on the rigging in a storm, teach people who have less
experience, and pick those chick
peas off the sole. I learned that
leaders are the people who strive
to help others, both directly and
indirectly and that they are the
people who guide others to their
true potential. I have also learned
that anyone can be a leader in many
different settings and capacities,
based upon what one finds on one’s
own quest for leadership.
FOCUS on ALUMNI
Focus on Alumni: The Diplomats
by Laura Authier
I
t’s the sort of story that makes that
off-hand phrase “small world” seem
inadequately descriptive:
Two diplomats meet at a cocktail
party. It is 1982 in Managua, Nicaragua
and all of Central America finds itself
at the centre of a Cold War drama. The
US Ambassador to Nicaragua, Anthony
Quainton, has just taken up his post in
March, while his Canadian counterpart,
Francis Filleul, arrived in the region a little
bit later, in September. The two have much
to chat about – the US cut aid to Nicaragua
the previous year for supplying arms to
leftist rebels in El Salvador, where a civil
war is raging. Contra rebels in Honduras
are conducting raids throughout northern
Nicaragua, driving refugees into Costa
Rica, and Panama is just starting a slow
boil that will eventually lead to the US
invasion in 1989.
nurse, and his father taught there for a
short time. In 1945, the Quainton family
moved to Mexico City, where Tony went
to the American School. He finished his
secondary education at Phillips Academy
Andover before going on to study
languages at Princeton and Oxford.
Francis (Chips) Filleul started at
University School in 1949. Like Tony,
Chips had lived a rather international
life, going to school in England and
Portugal and living in Morocco before his
family moved to Victoria. He graduated
from University School in 1953 at the
age of 15 and started his university career
at Victoria College before moving on to
the University of British Columbia and
then studying languages at Oxford and
the Sorbonne.
When asked why they chose to go
into the diplomatic corps, both men give
Tony Quainton looks out over the Richmond Road campus during his January visit to
the school as Scholar in Residence.
strikingly similar answers. “I didn’t have a
specific ambition when I left school,” Chips
remembers, “and it was a miracle that I
got through math (thanks only to Mr.
Timmis’ instruction), so I decided to focus
on literary subjects, and possibly a career
in teaching.” Tony also remembers being
more drawn to ideas and language, and
although he didn’t know exactly what field
he wanted to pursue, he was encouraged to
write the Foreign Service exam as a way of
expanding his career options.
Tony recalls that his first foreign
posting, to Australia as US Vice Consul,
was a bit of a disappointment. “It was
kind of the equivalent of being posted
to Canada – it didn’t require any foreign
language, there were few issues to deal
with, so it wasn’t considered one of the
more exciting assignments,” he laughs.
Chips’ first posting was to the United
Nations General Assembly as an advisor
to Canada in 1963. Tony’s career took off
after he expanded his language repertoire
to include Hindi and Urdu and over the
next decade he held posts in Pakistan,
Nepal and the Central African Republic.
After the UN, Chips was posted to
Ankara, Turkey and later become
responsible for the European Division.
For both men, Central America
marked a shift and they increasingly
found themselves taking up appointments
as ambassadors to the world’s hot zones.
Tony was the US Ambassador to Kuwait
in the 1980s while the Iran-Iraq war
was raging in the Persian Gulf. Chips
became Ambassador to Ethiopia, Sudan
and Djibouti in 1989, just as Ethiopia
was in the middle of a bloody civil war.
Chips later had to evacuate his family
when the fighting threatened the capital,
Addis Ababa. Violence came even closer
during Tony’s posting as US Ambassador
to Peru when his house was blown up by
a car bomb planted by a terrorist group
– fortunately, he and his family were
away at the time. In Haiti, Chips’ final
assignment before retiring, he recalls
looking out the window of his Port-auPrince office to see the US naval fleet
arrive for the United Nation-backed
invasion of Haiti in 1994. “It looked
like D-Day,” Chips says today from his
After the requisite amount of
politics, the ambassadors’ talk turns to
more personal topics: previous postings,
education. Before much longer, they
will discover that they share more than
Nicaragua in common, because they
are also both alumni of St. Michaels
University School.
Anthony (Tony) Quainton, a native
of Seattle, came to St. Michael’s School
in 1942. His family ties to the school
ran deep – his uncle Eric was a longtime teacher, his grandfather was Dean of
Cathedral and wrote the school’s hymn,
his aunt, Florence Oates, was a school
Chips Filleul before presenting his
credentials as ambassador to Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama,
September, 1982.
FOCUS on ALUMNI
Focus on Alumni:
Reginald Edward Bailey ’43
by Peter Gardiner
R
eg Bailey visited the campus in
September with his wife Gwyn and his
sister and brother-in-law. As Grade 12
student Sara Traubel toured him around
on a warm fall day, he noted the contrast
to the weather he faced as a student
journeying back and forth from his
home in Waterton Lakes National
Park, Alberta.
“At Christmas, they made a special
effort and got out the snow plough so
that I could get home,” he recalled. When
he couldn’t make it back to Alberta, he
spent his other holidays with day families
and the families of other boarders.
The tour led him past both his old
classrooms and the athletic fields where
he accomplished so much. In Grade 12,
Reg was Head Boy as well as a member of
the Gym VIII and First XV rugby team.
The Black and Red’s “Characters of the
First XV” describes him as a very effective
hooker and the backbone of the pack.
“His tackling was keen and his work in
the lineout intelligent.” In the Canada
Rifle Shooting Association competition
he scored 97.3 per cent, making him the
best shot in the school.
Inside School House, Reg passed by
the wooden plaque that commemorates
the winners of the Ker Cup, which he
won by unanimous selection in 1943.
On the fourth floor, he saw the picture
of Cadet Lieutenant Bailey and Cadet
Captain Gordon Coglin, who teamed
up to revive the Cadet band after they
discovered the armouries were full of
band instruments as well as rifles. As
Head Prefect, Reg Bailey went to the
formidable Headmaster Scarrett and
suggested that it was a terrible waste
to see these lying around. Mr. Scarrett
grumped, growled and chewed on his
pipe, but grudgingly agreed that they
could give it a try and so began the 170th
Cadet Corps Band.
One of Reg’s strongest memories from
those days is of the parades to St. Luke’s
Church with drums and bugles. When
he visited Victoria with his mother years
later, he was proud to see the University
School Cadet Corps Band playing at the
Sunset Ceremony on the grounds of the
BC Legislature.
After his time in the Cadets, it seems
natural that Reg went immediately into
the Air Force before he attended the
University of Alberta. After earning a BSc
in engineering, Reg went to work for the
provincial government, his first project
being a dam on the Hart River north
of High Prairie. He went on to become
Assistant Deputy Minister of Water and
Resources.
As Reg walked by Crothall, he
commented on the low windows and
recalled that in his day, students enjoyed
climbing out of windows during prep and
then circling around to join boys who had
Reg Bailey during his recent visit.
Reg Bailey with the Ker Cup, 1943.
asked to leave the room. Reg chuckles at
how the master didn’t seem to notice that
significantly more boys were entering the
room than had asked to leave.
This reflection leads him to think of
Reg Wenman, who, he says, doled out
commendation with a simple smile but
had an intimidating side as well. “If he
smiled on you that was reward enough but
if you got on his bad side then you were
for it!” laughed Reg. “He was one of the
finest gentlemen that I have ever known.”
After climbing the stepladder to the
bell tower – a place that was strictly off
limits when he was a student – he tapped
the bell and gave a broad grin. “I never
thought that I would see it.”
The last stop was the archives, where
Reg scanned through photographs
for familiar faces and helped archivist
Brenda Waksel recover some of the
missing names. He showed great
appreciation for the work that had been
accomplished on the archives of the
school before remarking that he and
his wife were recently invited to a 40sthemed event and when he tried on his
era-authentic school blazer, it still fitted
perfectly!
Focus on Alumni: The Diplomats
home in Ottawa, where he is enjoying
the relative quiet and the chance to spend
time with his grandchildren.
Since his retirement from the
Foreign Service, Tony has parlayed his
experience into a second career as a
teacher and lecturer, and is currently the
Distinguished Diplomat in Residence
at American University in Washington,
DC. In January, he returned to Victoria
and spent three days with us at the school.
Over lunch one day, he casually inquired
whether we had heard anything recently
from Chips Filleul. We hadn’t, came the
reply from Cliff Yorath, when did Tony
last hear from him? “Well, it’s a funny
coincidence,” Tony replied, and then told
us the story of Nicaragua in 1982.
Register in the Alumni Mentorship Programme
T
he Alumni Association, in
conjunction with the school, is planning
to launch a mentorship programme
that would enable current students in
Grades 10 to 12 to seek advice from
former SMUS students. Our alumni
community possesses diverse talents in
innumerable academic and career fields.
This vast reservoir of experience would
be of incalculable value to our current
students who are preparing themselves
for university and beyond.
The programme will be administered
by the University Counselling department,
who will match students to alumni
mentors and connect them through email
or telephone.
Contact [email protected]
and help give something back to the
current generation of students at your
alma mater.
ALUMNI NEWS
Alumni News
The Heritage Walk
T
he Heritage Walk was constructed
thanks to a very generous gift from
the Alumni Association in December,
2007 to replace the Heritage Wall, the
construction of which began in 1997.
In all, 1200 names were transferred from
the gym wall to the new quad walkway,
which is surrounded by School House
and the Crothall Centre. All of those
who have purchased bricks in the past
are featured in the walk.
The Heritage Walk will be dedicated
during Alumni Weekend immediately
after the Chapel Service on Saturday,
May 3 (approximately 1:45 p.m.).
It is never too late! If you wish to
purchase a brick to immortalize your good
name, it will cost you $100 and the proceeds
will be added to the Alumni Endowment
Fund. Contact [email protected] or
(250) 370-6175 for details.
Update from Gareth Rees
S
successful when Graham Henry, coach
of the world-renowned All Blacks rugby
team visited SMUS in January. He
coached an excellent session with the
SMUS 1st XV in the afternoon, which
attracted over one hundred local coaches
and rugby stalwarts. In the evening
Graham spoke at a wonderful dinner in
Brown Hall to an enthusiastic audience
of Alumni and other invited guests. This
kind of Alumni occasion has set the
standard for future events featuring other
distinguished individuals in a variety of
interesting fields.
Regional alumni receptions are
being very well attended so far this year
and I would urge you to show up when
one comes to your area. Over 2400
former SMUS students have re-engaged
with the school by registering on the
Alumni Directory which can be found at
http://alumni.smus.bc.ca. Please take a
few minutes to get connected.
We are kicking off our mentorship
programme and are looking for
volunteers from the ranks of our Alumni.
Your support of this initiative will help us
make a real impact in the lives of current
SMUS students.
I hope that many of you plan to
be at this year’s Alumni Weekend on
May 2-3 and the trustees of the Alumni
Association and I look forward to
welcoming you. There is a schedule of
events in the Events section to give you
a preview of the weekend.
Vivat!
Gareth Rees ’85
President, SMUS Alumni Association
ince I last communicated with you
in School Ties, more progress has been
made towards the vision and goals of the
Alumni Association.
The inaugural golf tournament at the
Cordova Bay Golf Course in September
was a huge success, raising over $10,000
for the Alumni Bursary Endowment
Fund, which is beginning to show a
healthy balance. Besides the photos
of the event published in this issue of
School Ties, you can see more (including
video) on the SMUS Photo Gallery at
http://gallery2.smus.bc.ca/gallery2
(login: parent; password: vivat). This
year’s golf event promises to be even
better, so mark Thursday, September 18,
2008 in your calendars and full details
will be available very soon.
Another
Alumni
Associationsponsored event also proved to be very
ALUMNI NEWS
Alumni Events – Fall/Winter 2007
Alumni and Friends Golf Tournament
September 27, 2007, Cordova Bay Golf Course
Stephen Selina ’81
John McIntyre ‘66, Colin Dykes ‘66, Jim
Wenman ‘66, David Helm ‘66
Chris Collins ‘63, Andrew Timmis ‘65,
Nick Walton, Rob Wilson
The SMUS community
raised $10,000 for the
Endowment Fund
through the annual
SMUS Alumni and
Friends Golf Invitational,
which took place at the
Cordova Bay Golf Course.
Over a hundred alumni,
parents and staff played
18 holes and had a chance
to win prizes that included
a baby grand piano, a golf
trip for two to San Diego,
and a BMW Mini.
Cathy Dixon, Joanne Turner, Mieke
Wizinsky
Matt Geddes ‘93
Brian Kliman ‘82
David Angus ‘62, Sasha Angus ‘90
Nick Grant ‘84, Damian Grant ‘93, Peter
Robb ‘92, Chris Isherwood ‘92
Okanagan Alumni Reception: November 20, 2007
Those in attendance: David Finnis
’72-’75, Jeremy Harris ’92, Bruce
Falkins ’70, Elizabeth Walton ’89’90 and Margaret Anne Rose
(guest), Tony Stewart (current
parent), Ron Solmer (current
parent), Eric ’73 and Kathy
Heffernan (past parents), Susan
Saunders and Peter Gardiner
ALUMNI NEWS
Held at Quails’ Gate Estate Winery (With thanks to current parent Tony Stewart)
Edmonton Alumni Reception: November 21, 2007
Held at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club (With thanks to David Angus ’62)
Left to Right: David Angus ’62,
Susan Angus, Peter Gardiner, Greg
Clarke ’90, Yori Hagi ’02, Spencer
Goodale ’84, Leo Caffaro ’92, Keldi
Forbes ’02, Katy Rich ’89, Michaël
Strocel ’06, Chris Wynters ‘80-‘85,
Kim Nordlund ’99, Sue Saunders,
Gerald Drews ’84, Randy Schafer
’79, and Chelsea Phipps ’04
Calgary Alumni Reception: November 22, 2007
Held at the Ranchman’s Club (With thanks to Hugh McGillivray ’64)
Then and now: Rob Oswald and Peter
Gardiner, June 1976 at John Humphrey’s
house the night before speech day; Rob
Oswald and Peter Gardiner at the Calgary
Alumni Reception
Left to right: David Angus ’62 (Board Chair), Peter Gardiner, Lindsay Giles ’77, Ash Jaffer
’91, Michael (Mehrdad) Mohtadi ’81, Rob Oswald ’76, Shiraz Jaffer (past parent), Bruce
Burns ’68, Michael Witwicki ’76, Chris Holenderski ’99, Keith Kerr ’65, Alastair Handley
’81, Morgan Price ’01, Denis Gourdeau ’76, Ann Behennah ’92, Joanna Wynn ’02,
Kathryn Watson ’99, Shannon (O’Sullivan) McGregor ’87, Bryan Pullman ’86, Kelly
(O’Sullivan) Whitley 83, and Robyn Ivany ’97
ALUMNI NEWS
Tokyo Alumni Reception: November 30, 2007
Held at the Westin Tokyo (With thanks to Shingo Hirao ’97)
Peter Gardiner, Koji Masuda ‘88 and John Davies
Left to right: Ryusuke Matsui ’95, Peter Gardiner, Michael
Passmore ’00, Shingo Hirao ’97, Paul Speed ’00, Satoshi
Kikuchi ’93, Maya Ikezawa ’99, Olivia Limbu ’97, Eun Young
Kim ’00, Chihiro Takahashi ’00, Yuri Saito ’96, and Susan Sin ’98,
John Davies
Hong Kong Alumni Reception: December 1, 2007
Held at the Hong Kong Club (With thanks to Tony Souza ’72)
Left to Right: Cliff Sun ’72, Peter
Gardiner, Tony Souza ’72, John
Davies, Renton Leversedge ’93,
and Mel Reeves ’70
Vancouver Alumni Reception: January 31, 2008
Held at the Terminal City Club
Joanna Forbes ‘95 and Rory Forbes ‘90
Gareth Rees ‘85 with Graham
Snowden ‘99
May 2-3, 2008
Friday, May 2
4:30 pm
Billy G. Alumni Basketball Classic
(Small Gym) – all Alumni welcome
6:00 pm
Official opening of the Monkman
Athletic Complex. Alumni from the
Class of ‘68 and earlier are invited to
attend the opening and the reception
that follows in the Double Gym.
ALUMNI NEWS
SMUS Alumni Weekend Schedule
Reception for all other Alumni
in marquee on field with
complimentary appetizers and
drinks – many of your former
teachers will be in attendance
8:00 pm
Class gatherings in various locations
Saturday, May 3
10:30 am
Alumni Association Annual General
Meeting (Copeland Lecture Theatre)
11:30 am
Complimentary brunch in Brown Hall
for all attending AGM and/or Chapel
Service
1:00 pm
Alumni and Graduates Chapel Service
Dedication of the Alumni Heritage
Walk
International Market and Cultural
Extravaganza
Student musicians
Campus guided tours
Campus Store open
2:15 pm
Senior Girls Soccer vs. Pacific
Christian School
Bar open at Wenman Pavilion
3:30 pm
1st XV Rugby vs. Oak Bay
The band Nova (featuring Tony
Cordle, SMUS grads and parents)
Everyone is welcome, in particular
the special year classes of ’58, ’68,
’78, ’83, ’88, and ‘98
5:00 pm
Complimentary barbeque and cash
bar in main marquee
alumni
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
The Alumni Updates section is a very
important part of our School Ties
magazine. It is a fabulous way to keep in
touch with your former classmates and
teachers, and also a great forum to share
the interesting and enriching experiences
of your lives after SMUS.
Please take a moment to tell us about
your studies, travels, careers, weddings
and additions to your family.
We also encourage you to register on
our alumni email directory; if you
haven’t done so already. It’s simple! Visit
the SMUS Alumni website to register
(http://alumni.smus.bc.ca/).
If you would prefer to give us a call, Cliff
Yorath can be reached at (250) 519-7508
and Louise Winter at (250) 370-6176.
Many thanks for keeping in touch!
Cliff Yorath
Director of Alumni Relations
([email protected])
Louise Winter
Alumni Relations
([email protected])
updates
The ’50s
Glen Simpson ’59 wrote to us in February,
from his home in Fairbanks, Alaska:
“Hello, fellow Old Timers who are
the University School class of 1959.
Concentrate, do the math and you’ll
discover that 2009 will mark the passage of
fifty years. GPS coordinates will be mailed
to all of you to help you find your way
back for our fiftieth high school reunion.
Don’t trust your memory alone to guide
you; geological events and vandalism
have greatly altered the landscape. For
example, Mt. Tolmie weathered away and
in the spring of 1993 it actually inverted
to become a shallow canyon! Come check
it out for yourselves. I’ll see you there.”
The ’80s
Marvin Nicholson ’89 is back on the
campaign trail! After working as a
personal assistant to Senator John Kerry
in 2004, Marvin is now Barack Obama’s
chief travel planner. As the man in charge
of logistics for a relentless schedule of
rallies, fundraisers and public events, he
books flights, reserves hotel rooms, clears
up scheduling conflicts, organizes venues,
and works out security details.
The ’90s
After graduating from SMUS, Sasha
Angus ’90 went off to pursue an honours
degree in economics from Carleton
University. The ensuing years saw Sasha
move back to Alberta, where he founded
a successful investment practice before
going to work in provincial politics as the
Chief of Staff to the Minister of Economic
Development in Alberta. Sasha is glad to
be back in Victoria, recently appointed as
the Economic Development Officer for
the newly established Greater Victoria
Development Agency. A third-generation
SMUS alumnus, Sasha and his wife Dr.
Li-Shih Huang are expecting their first
child, and future fourth-generation
“SMUSer” in July of this year.
Kristian Gustafson ’92 sent news of his
new book, Hostile Intent, published in
December by Potomac Books, Washington
DC, and available now through Amazon.
It is the history of the CIA in Chile during
the 1960s and 1970s.
Paul Malin ’92 sent this update in
November: “I have just graduated with
an MBA from the Joseph L. Rotman
School of Management at the University
of Toronto and I am currently working at
Vortex Mobile in Toronto as the Director
of Business Development.”
Kari (Badwi) Stein ’92 sent this note
in February: “I have finally walked the
road to becoming a pediatric dentist,
graduating from University of Buffalo,
NY in June 2007. My husband and I
drove across Canada (a first for me) to get
reacquainted with our wonderful country
after living in NY for the past seven years.
Over the last few months I have worked
hard to build a dental practice just for
kids in my hometown of Calgary, AB. It
was a long road, but I love what I do. Hi,
to all my fellow alum!”
Tamara Knott ’93 earned her BA from
Queen’s, followed by a BComm from
Royal Roads University. She spent eight
years as a pharmaceutical rep and then
two years as a project manager for a
hydroelectric development. She wrote
this update in February: “I have opened
up a 3/4D Ultrasound clinic for fetal
imaging in Vancouver at 205-1545 W8th
Ave. We have a spa-like atmosphere so
that parents-to-be, family and friends
can bond with their baby in a relaxing
atmosphere before it is born. We project
all of the images on a 50" plasma screen
TV and parents can take home pictures,
a CD and DVD of the experience. Often
babies can be seen sucking on their
thumbs or yawning among other things
and it is a good way to involve fathers in
the birth process. The clinic is called 3D
BabyVision Fetal Imaging - Vancouver
and the website is at www.3dbaby.ca”
Eric Kerr ’95 has relocated to Vancouver.
He joined Bull, Housser and Tupper LLP
Sara Perry ’96 earned her BComm from
Queen’s University in 2000 and went
on to work as an Advertising Account
Manager for Grey Worldwide Northwest
and Rethink Communications where, in
2003, she was recognized by Marketing
Magazine in “Ones To Watch: Marketing’s
Next Generation” as one of Canada’s top
marketers under 30. After earning her LLB
from UBC in 2006, Sara has been working
as an associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City
in the mergers and acquisitions and project
finance departments. In May 2007, Sara
founded a not-for-profit organization
called the Earth Rising Foundation (www.
earthrisingfoundation.org) with her
brother Adam Perry. The organization is
dedicated to building homes, orphanages
and other structures using natural and
sustainable materials and techniques for
families and orphans in Africa who have
been affected by AIDS/HIV poverty, and/
or illness.
Eric Larsen ’99 is an investment
banker with Citibank, San Francisco.
He graduated from the University of
California, Berkeley in 2006 with a
degree in business. He also continued
the SMUS tradition of playing rugby,
playing for Cal during his college years!
Graham Snowden ’99 is pursuing an
exciting new endeavour and told us
about it in a recent email:
“Last fall I joined a fundraising
program called Team in Training, which
is part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society. For the past 20 years TNT has
provided coaching and support for over
340,000 people to participate in endurance
events: half marathons, marathons, walks,
century rides and triathlons. Since its
inception TNT has helped raise over $850
million so that blood-cancer patients can
live longer, better lives.
“On May 18, 2008 I will be
participating in the Honolulu triathlon –
a 1.5-km swim, a 40-km cycle, and 10km run. In addition to training six days
a week I have set an initial goal of raising
$15,000 to help find a cure for blood
cancers. Over the past 9-10 weeks I have
successfully raised over $10,500 and I
am reaching a point where I may in fact
decide to increase my fundraising goal.
“In re-establishing my goals I am
also trying to focus some of my efforts
on broadening the exposure of Team in
Training and the purpose of its mission.
I would love to have people contribute
towards my campaign but I would also
love to have people decide to participate
with TNT themselves. It is truly a
rewarding experience that I am only just
beginning to understand.”
The ’00s
Sandy Lont ’00 wrote to us in February:
“I am happy to say that I have been living
in Australia now for two years with my
girlfriend (who is Australian) who I met
in Europe. We did some travelling around
the country and now I am currently
working as an automation and controls
engineer for Honeywell here in Perth.”
Farhad Merali ’01 graduated from
McGill with a BComm in finance and
international development studies. He
received the 2006 Stephen S. Goldbloom
Memorial Prize for academic achievement
and outstanding contribution to school
life. Farhad passed the CFA Level I exam
in June 2007 and will be taking the Level
II in June 2008. He is currently working
at CIBC World Markets as a corporate
banking associate in Calgary.
There were bells...
Doug Easdon ’88 and Heidi Ewing were
married twice last year – once at her
parent’s home with family and friends in
Franklin Village, Michigan and a second
wedding in Mazunte, Mexico with a few
friends. In attendance at the Michigan
Doug Eadson ’88 and Heidi Ewing
Graham Snowden is raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through
the organization Team in Training.
You can learn more about what
Graham is doing at http://www.active.
com/donate/tntvan/GrahamSnowden
ALUMNI UPDATES
(www.bht.com) in January as an associate
with the firm’s real estate group, where he
assists senior counsel in the various aspects
of real estate transactions including
acquisitions, development, commercial
leasing, sales and due diligence. Eric also
has considerable experience in corporate
and commercial businesses, Canadian
chartered banks and credit unions and
various levels of government.
ALUMNI UPDATES
wedding were Murray Anderson ’88
(best man), Susie Stewart ’88, Michelle
Pollard ’89, Leigh Ann Hazell ’88, Mike
Druce ’89 and Taylor McLeod ’89. Steve
Robb ’88 and Chris Talbot ’87 joined
Doug and Heidi in Mexico.
Stephanie Lewis ’88 married Timothy
Sorensen on November 3, 2007…
a beautiful fall day at the Rosedale
Presbyterian Church in Toronto with
200 guests attending. Her sister, Pamela
(Lewis) Kilburn ’91 was Matron of
Honour and Leigh Ann Hazell ’88 was a
bridesmaid. Other alumni in attendance
included Michelle Pollard ’89 from New
York, Derek Kilburn ’91, Jill Dorazio ’96
and Ann Glazier ’85. The reception was
held at the Gardiner Museum. Stephanie
is a PR consultant in Toronto and Tim is
Head of Sales in Canada with Macquarie
Bank. Stephanie may be contacted at
[email protected]
Adam Molineux ’96 married Samantha
Scott on September 15, 2007, in Victoria.
The best man was John Thomson ’96, the
groomsman was Karl Molineux (19781980), and the MC was Chris Molineux
(1978-1980). The marriage was blessed
by former SMUS Chaplain, Rev. Lynford
Smith.
Brad Stevenson ’96 and Laura Query
were married on November 3, 2007
at Thornewood Castle in Seattle, WA.
SMUS alums in attendance: Marcus Kirk,
Steve Lobb, Jack Wong, Matt Wenman –
all class of 1996, and Andrew Dewar ’98.
Brad and Laura live in the Green Lake
area of Seattle; Brad is a Lead Program
Manager at Microsoft and Laura handles
Strategic Communications for Regence
BlueShield.
Bruce Holms ’71 and his wife, Abigail,
welcomed their son Bruce Patrick
Mackenzie Holms on December 31,
2007.
Bruce Patrick Mackenzie Holms
Lindsey Larsen ’01 married Mariusz
Sawicki on September 24, 2007, in
Seattle. Mariusz has his Maritime
Engineering degree from the University
of Krakow, Poland. He came over to fish
on his father’s boat, The Ocean Prowler,
when he decided to join the US Navy and
became an American citizen. Lindsey has
her degree in business from the University
of Alaska, Anchorage, with a minor in
languages. They spent their honeymoon
touring Europe for three weeks.
Stephanie Lewis ’88 and Timothy
Sorensen
Adam Molineux ’96 and Samantha Scott
New on the scene
Michael Andrew Elliot
Brad Stevenson ’96 and Laura Query
Desmond Patrick Higgins Clark Grant
Nick Grant ’84 and his wife, Colleen,
are happy to announce the birth of their
son. Desmond Patrick Higgins Clark was
born on February 2, 2008, in Victoria.
Sheryl Yung ’84 and her husband, Craig
Nicol, welcomed their daughter Olivia
Lynne on September 17, 2007.
Bion Dolman ’87 and his wife, Julie,
announce the arrival of their first child.
Jonah Rhys Dolman was born on
December 7, 2007 at 12:45 am at St.
Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC.
Elizabeth Middleton-Jones ’89 and
her husband, Justin Jones, announce
the birth of their second child – a boy.
Andrew Cameron was born on July 15,
2007. Big sister is Ella.
Sandy (McInnes) Rozecki ’87 and her
husband, Lance, welcomed the arrival
of baby number two. Bryce Alexander
Rozecki was born on October 10, 2007,
little brother to Kailyn.
Derek Kilburn and Pamela Lewis (both
SMUS ’91) welcomed the arrival of their
first child, Wyatt Lewis Kilburn, on July
6, 2007.
Kari-Lynn Murphy ’88 and her husband,
Peter van den Berg, welcomed their first
child, a girl. Kiera was born on July 8,
2007, in North Vancouver.
ALUMNI UPDATES
Stephen Elliot ’83 and his wife, Andrea
De Gorgey, welcomed their second son.
Michael Andrew was born on September
24, 2007.
Kristian Gustafson ’92 and his wife,
Christina, announce that their baby girl
Evadne was born December 17, 2007
at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in
Reading, UK.
Kiera van den Berg
Olivia Lynne Yung
Kristian Gustafson ’92 and his wife,
Christina, with daughter Evadne
Jonah Rhys Dolman
Avery Jun Geddes
Wyatt Lewis Kilburn
Henley Blanche Leversedge
Bryce Alexander Rozecki
Andrew Cameron Jones
ALUMNI UPDATES
Mathew (Franklin) Geddes ’93 and his
wife, Lindsay Brooke, welcomed their
baby girl on October 23, 2007. Avery Jun
Geddes weighed in at 8 lbs. 15 ounces.
Jenny Franklin ’98 is now an aunt!
Renton Leversedge ’93 and his wife,
Shannon, are pleased to announce the
arrival of their daughter, Henley Blanche
Leversedge. She was born on October 26,
2007, in the year of the Golden Pig, at
Matilda Hospital in Hong Kong.
Gethin Jones ’95 and his wife, Starr, have
a baby boy – Mason Rhys Jones was born
on September 30, 2007.
Steve Lobb ’96 and his wife Josie are
proud to announce the birth of their
first child, a daughter. Elliana Marie was
born in Victoria on February 27, 2008,
7 lbs. 10 oz.
Joywin (Cummings) Clayton ’99 and
her husband, Ryan, announce the birth
of their first child, a son. Caelum was
born on October 21, 2007. Joywin
writes: “Caelum is such a happy baby.
He has a smile for everyone, loves to chat
up a storm, giggles and laughs, and has
already pushed out his first tooth.”
Elliana Marie Lobb
Caelum Clayton
Passages
Richard Gardner ’31 passed away on
October 23, 2007, in Southern Alberta,
at the age of 96. He was born on the
family-owned Mt. Sentinel Ranch,
near Nanton, Alberta, and on leaving
University School in 1931 returned to
the ranch to work with his father and
later to run the operation until 1970,
when he moved to nearby Cayley for 20
years, followed by a move to High River.
Meanwhile, the ranch was passed to the
capable hands of his son Francis ’60.
Dick enjoyed a successful four years at
University School and was a prefect and
cadet officer in his final year. The Gardner
family has had further representation at
the school: Richard’s brother, Donny,
attended University School from 19261929 and his grandson, Ian, (son of
Francis), graduated from SMUS in 1993.
We recently received word that Edward
(‘Ned’) C. Dobell ’32 died on May 2,
2006, aged 92, at Lions Gate Hospital,
Vancouver. Ned attended University
School from 1930-1932, as a boarder
from Edmonton for his final two years
of high school. School magazines show
that he won his colours in gymnastics
and participated in debating. The school
alumni directory of 1994 listed Ned
as a retired entrepreneur from West
Vancouver. His son, Reid, also attended
University School for six years, graduating
in 1962.
Alan Patrick Izard ’36 passed away
February 9, 2008, in Victoria. Pat was a
member of one of the most supportive
families of St. Michael’s School. He
completed high school at the advent of
World War II, and attended Dartmouth
Naval College before enrolling in the
Royal Navy for the duration of the war.
Some of this time was spent in support
of the Murmansk convoys. After the
war, Pat returned to Victoria and was
an accountant for R. Angus Ltd. until
his retirement. He then went to the
University of Victoria to complete his
degree in history. Very much a family
man, he leaves seven children and fifteen
grandchildren.
Leslie John Creery ’39 died on December
3, 2007, in Vancouver, in his eightysecond year. He was one of a strong
Creery family presence at University
School. From 1909 to 1915, five Creery
boys attended University School and John
Creery was one of four more Creerys of
the next generation. He was a lifelong
resident of Vancouver, a law graduate of
UBC, and since 1951 has devoted himself
to his law practice as well as a keen interest
in gardening, car-collecting and trains.
Brodie Cupples ’42 was born in
Edmonton on January 20, 1926, and
died on November 14, 2007, at Ganges,
Salt Spring Island, BC. He was the top
University School student in the 1942
Junior Matriculation and went on to
Victoria College, UBC, and McGill, where
he completed his degrees in medicine. For
many years he had his medical practice in
Victoria, and in retirement spent much of
his time on Salt Spring Island.
Belated news reached the school that
Charles Arthur Panet ’42 passed away
peacefully in his sleep at his home in
Shawnigan Lake on March 19, 2007.
Charles attended St. Michael’s School
from 1935 to 1938 and University
School from 1938 to 1942.
Patrick Huus ’51 died on September 16,
2007. During his six years at University
School, he was remembered by fellow
students as a spectacular gymnast, a good
scholar and a fine person. He went on
to have a long career with the provincial
government’s mining sector. His interests
were centred on gardening, photography
and golf, as well as supporting a fund in
the name of his daughter – the Lisa Huus
Memorial Fund.
Donald Napier ’51 died peacefully in
his sleep on December 5, 2007, on Salt
Spring Island. He was a good athlete and
Captain of the 1st soccer team in 1951.
The 1994 school directory listed Don as
the Manager of Baton Broadcasting in
Vancouver. He suffered ill health in recent
years but his friends remember with great
fondness an outgoing, athletic, cheerful
companion with whom there was never
a dull moment.
a chiropractor in a sports medicine
partnership in Smithers, BC. Education
for Gary was a high priority and once in
practice, he followed up his studies by
achieving his master’s in nutrition and a
diploma in acupuncture.
Rob Wilson writes: “In the last 12
years I had seen Gary in both Victoria
and Smithers and was much impressed
by his incredible fitness and the fact that
he had changed but little. His sudden
passing came as a great shock to all
who knew him at University School. I
also remember him as a devoted family
man, whose children were successfully
involved at a high level of competition in
cross-country skiing.”
Gary Simonson ’64
Gary Murdoch ’62
Alexandra Cecchettini ’05 was taken
from us suddenly on August 11, 2007,
following complications that arose from
a car accident several months earlier. She
leaves behind her mother Laura, father
Gilbert, younger brother Julian and
younger sister Audrey, all in California.
Alex spent Grades 10, 11, and 12
as a boarder at SMUS. She participated
enthusiastically in campus life in such
diverse activities as rowing, dancing in
the musical Evita, and attending glacier
school for her Grade 11 outdoors trip,
while attaining excellent marks in her
courses.
After graduating from SMUS,
Alex attended Boston University and
University of California, San Diego.
Inspired by Doctors Without Borders
while on a visit to South America, she
intended to enter the medical profession.
Her intelligence, wit, vivaciousness,
humour and sensitivity would have made
her a wonderful physician.
During the period following her
accident, she was able to reflect on her
time spent at SMUS, and had made plans
to return to Victoria for a visit to reconnect
with her SMUS friends. Her death is
an incalculable loss – for her family, her
friends, and for the world at large.
In her memory, school friends and staff
have begun a named fund in her honour:
the Class of 2005/Alexandra Ceccettini
Fund. Donations have also been directed
to Doctors Without Borders. In accordance
with her spiritual explorations, another
memorial service will be held for Alexandra
in California on August 11, 2008, for
placement of her tombstone.
Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
Gary Murdoch ’62 was born in Dawson
City, Yukon, on October 8, 1944 and he
passed away on December 8, 2007. He
attended University School from 1957
to 1962 as a boarder from Whitehorse.
A scholar, athlete and fine character, he
was the worthy winner of the 1962 Ker
Cup. After earning his BSc degree at
UBC, he went on to attend the Canadian
Chiropractic College in Toronto. Gary
spent most of his working career as
Gary Simonson ’64 died in Seattle on
November 24, 2007. During his University
School career (1959-1964) “Simo” was a
great presence both physically and in his
devotion to the school. He was a great
athlete who will be particularly remembered
as a rugby player: three years on the 1st XV
and captain of the 1963-1964 team which
enjoyed such a successful tour of England
and Wales in 1964. Indeed, the tour was
a personal triumph for Gary. In the years
since his graduation, he has been a regular
attendee at alumni weekends and at the
annual Seattle alumni receptions. Always
a larger-than-life character, he would have
been pleased at the strong University
School turnout at the January 2008 wake
to celebrate Simo’s life. (NB: he loved
Hawaii and aloha shirts).
Alexandra
Cecchettini ’05
ALUMNI UPDATES
John Michael Turner ’53 died in
Vancouver on June 29, 2007. He
attended University School as a boarder
from Shanghai, China, where he had
grown up in an internment camp. He
came to University School as one of
the Brentwood College students who
transferred here in 1948 after the old
Brentwood College folded.
John completed
his Junior Grade 12
Matriculation at the
age of 17 and went
on to the University
of British Columbia,
after which he became a stockbroker in
Vancouver. At University School he was a
fine rugby player – an elusive wing threequarter who scored most of the tries for the
very successful 1st XV team of 1952-1953.
He also won the Middleweight boxing title
(1952 and 1953) and was a member of the
Shooting VIII (also 1952 and 1953).
John’s obituary portrays him as a
fascinating personality, a raconteur, and
a fine musician.
Continuing the
Conversation
In this new segment of School Ties, we share some of the
email and letters we’ve received in response to the last issue.
S
enior School Head of Geography
Kirsten Davel read the article “Our
Global Responsibility” with great
interest, but pointed out that we failed
to mention certain activities like the
World Vision 30-Hour Famine, which
intersects both the Global Responsibility
and Service streams.
She writes that “the World Vision 30Hour Famine has been a major part of [the
Global Responsibility stream] for literally
decades at the Senior School. Introduced
by the former Head of Geography Stewart
Dunlop many decades ago, it continues
to be a major event for our students who
have raised tens of thousands of dollars
towards fighting poverty and hunger in
both Canada and the developing world.
The event also has a major goal of creating
awareness of these issues in our students –
those who participate, are changed in
their attitude and outlook and they are
frequently moved to continued action
throughout their lives.”
Joe Barber Starkey ’32 also contacted
us in response to our feature on Global
Responsibility. He tells us “I encourage
you and your students to read Plan B
3.0, which gives in its first part a detailed
summary of the problems to be faced,
and in part two encouraging news about
what remedies are available.”
Mr. Starkey goes on to say that “the
biggest task is to educate and motivate
our leaders and the public – particularly
in the Northern hemisphere, whose
citizens choose to make efforts to help
our less fortunate world citizens through
NGOs or else to ignore their plight.”
“Congratulations on your project,”
he concludes, “I wish all senior secondary
schools would do the same!”
Former University School teacher
Nick Prowse (1960-1964) wrote to us
after reading about the passing of John
Graham ’66:
“I was greatly saddened by the sudden
and unexpected death of John Graham
(’66). John was one of an outstanding
group of young Americans who made an
important and lasting contribution to the
life of University School in the 1960s. I
was lucky enough to be the teacher and/
or coach of most of them including Herb
Watson (’62), George Abel, Chris Collins,
Jim Crumpacker, Jim Mousel and Tim
Yaryan (all ’63), Jack Allen, Jim Allen,
John Herpers, Mark Johnson, Matt Kelly
and Tom Seeger (all ’64), Porter Condon,
Chuck Holm, Bob Kelley, Chuck
Lenfesty, Tooey Meyer, Peter Wilde and
Tony Zedick (all ’65), John Graham and
Martin Seeger (both ’66), Mark Wyatt
(left in ’62) and Don Dillon (left in ’63).
“John brought energy, enthusiasm,
commitment and heart to all his athletic
endeavours and also maintained a similarly
responsible attitude in the classroom.
Above all he was a first class citizen of
great integrity with his usually serious
side enlivened by a wonderful sense of
humour. In this way he exemplified all
that was best about this phenomenal
bunch of young men whom I was lucky
enough to
teach
in
my earliest years in the profession. In
the forty years of my teaching career
that followed I came in contact with
many remarkable and talented students
but this group of young Americans has
remained special for the impact they had
on a young teacher just beginning his
chosen career. I thank them all.”
And finally, Mindy Mayo ’52 called
to tell us the photo that ran with John
Turner’s obituary was actually of Al
Tozer. Our apologies to Al, who took the
news of our premature celebration of his
life with good humour. We also send out
a sincere apology to John Turner’s family
for the mistake, and have run our tribute
to John again in this issue with the correct
photo. Thanks to Mindy and others who
made us aware of the error.
If you would like to continue the
conversation, email Laura Authier at
[email protected] or call her at
(250) 370-6164.
Young Americans: Mr. Nick Prowse with several of his American students in the 1963
basketball team photo. Back row, l-r: Harry Pollard, Tony Zedick, Dave Webster, Mark
Johnson, Nick Prowse, Don Dillon, Tooey Myer, Frank Hinman. Front row, l-r: Porter
Condon, Tim Yaryan, George Abel, Cam Crofton, Scott McCardell.
McPherson
Playhouse
March 4-8 2008
Photos by Evan Effa
St. Michaels University School
3400 Richmond Road
Victoria, BC, CANADA V8P 4P5
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School Ties: 2008, Spring Issue - St. Michaels University School

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