NJC News – Fall 2010 - Neuchâtel Junior College

fall 2010 issue 2
NJCews
1970 – 1971
Graduates Celebrate 40th Reunion
by David Tait (NJC ’71)
Way back in 1970, we had cool, rainy weather during our
Fête des Vendanges weekend so we were not surprised to find
similar weather on Friday, September 24, 2010. However that
was not enough to dampen the spirits of 14 NJC classmates
and ten spouses who gathered to celebrate our 40th reunion.
This was our third reunion during the Fête (25th, 35th being
the others) and over 40 alumni from our year have attended at
least one of them, and ten have attended all three reunions.
The College kindly organized the skeleton of activities
around which we planned other get-togethers. We had a
cocktail party at the Foyer Building and some current students
took us on a tour, as it has changed somewhat since 1970.
On Saturday, we all attended Désalpe Lignières to participate in
a celebration of the cows coming down from the high meadows
for the winter; and boarded a hired bus to a very nice place
in the country, Pinte de Pierre-à-Bôt, for a great fondue dinner.
Our class organized dinners at two Neuchâtel restaurants for
the Thursday and Friday night dinners and we all stayed at the
Beaulac Hotel.
The Fête had its usual “carnival” atmosphere and provided a
party feeling to those who wished to participate… The wine
tasted better than I remember… Some just lingered over dinner
and found a terrasse to chat away, catching up on friends’ news…
I must report that our late night bumper car tradition lives on.
This time, we did take the watered down version, however!
Left to Right: Alpenhorns and cows at Désalpe Lignières; David Tait (NJC ’71)
and his classmate Cindy Farmer (NJC ’71); Gail Sumanik (NJC ’61) and
Dr. Violaine Dupasquier Barrelet, from Gail’s pension family; Bob McCreery
and Judy Barrett McCreery (NJC ’71) with Dave Brebner (NJC ’97) and
his wife, Terianne Brebner at fondue dinner.
continued from front page
1970 – 1971 Graduates Celebrate 40th Reunion
On a personal note, my “pension”
roommate, David Goldbloom (NJC ’71),
and I had lunch at our old pension with
our “madame” (87 years old), her son
and daughter. It was memory lane, as
Dave’s wife and mine witnessed a
certain amount of reliving of our lives
as 17 year olds; very fond memories
with very special people… I know of no
other international school where the
students are lodged in “local” homes.
Everyone from our year had organized
European trips (either individual or in
groups) around the Fête des Vendanges
time; so after three days together,
the various groups headed out to explore
other European destinations, some more
beautiful than Neuchâtel (if you can
believe that), but none with the magic
that we were able to relive…
We all enjoyed meeting a large
number of alumni celebrating their
50th anniversary. They seemed to be
enjoying themselves as much as we
were and the interaction was very relaxed
and enjoyable. See you in 10 years!
A big “thank-you” to the school
for helping make the reunion weekend
particularly special.
Regards, Dave Tait (NJC ’71)
THANK YOU to David Tait (NJC ’71),
Judy Schwartz and Anna Whitley (both
NJC ’61) for organizing their respective
class reunions.
SPECIAL THANKS also to Caves de
La Ville, for generously donating the wine
for our Homecoming Welcome Reception.
Did you know you can purchase Neuchâtel
wine and have it shipped to Canada?
Visit the website at www.cavevillenetel.ch
For photos and more about
Homecoming, visit our Alumni
webpages at www.njc.org
LECTURE SERIES
Peter Dalglish
Empowers NJC Students
by Emma Kowal (NJC ’11)
Class of 2011 inspired by lecture about working
with street and war-affected children.
On Tuesday, October 19, Neuchâtel
Junior College enjoyed an inspiring talk
from Peter Dalglish. Not just any
humanitarian aid worker, Mr. Dalglish
is the leading authority on working
with street and war-affected children in
developing nations across the world.
He is an alumnus of Upper Canada
College, Stanford and Dalhousie Law,
and is known primarily for founding
Street Kids International, a global
leader in organizing self-help projects
for impoverished urban children.
Junior Chamber International called
him one of the ten outstanding young
people in the world. Pierre Trudeau
appointed him as the first director of
Youth Services Canada. He is the Chief
Technological advisor for the UN child
labour program in Nepal and the
executive director of South Asia Children’s
Fund. For all his work in the field, he is
the recipient of three honorary doctorate
degrees as well as the fellowship of man
award and the Dalhousie Law School
award for public service. He has
published a book called The Courage of
Children, developed a film about HIV
prevention, and next year will be working
with the UN in Afghanistan to take care
of impoverished school-age girls across
the whole country.
No one was quite sure what to expect
when it was announced that Mr. Dalglish
would be speaking about his work –
by all the buzz from the teachers, we
knew it would be interesting, but the
real surprise came in Mr. Dalglish’s
emphasis on what we as students can
do to help and the number of volunteer
opportunities there are for us out
there. He highlighted many of the life
decisions we will soon be making and
described the incredible power vested
in us as young, worldly individuals to
solve the problems on the Earth today.
He described his own lifestyle and
the changes he has effected and seen
effected in countries around the world.
Most importantly, he made this invigorating
Left to right: Emma Kowal, Dr. Patricia
Frankie-Deverell, Deputy-Head of School,
Danielle Broadfoot, Peter Dalglish and
Michael Dougan.
scenario reachable and realistic for us,
by offering us his help in organizing
volunteer trips and the opportunity to
contact him later through email.
As a speaker, Mr. Dalglish was funny,
candid, engaging and inspiring; he
warned us against the toil of office jobs,
described his experience working in the
field of Law as well as humanitarian aid
and encouraged students to give a
hearty thanks to their parents for the
opportunity to be here at NJC and
experience a greater part of the world
through travel. I think we all walked
away struck with the potential that we
have to help others, and the duty we
have to give back to society by effecting
positive change through service trips like
the Nepal trek or the Me to We trips
affiliated with the school.
We are incredibly lucky to be here,
and we owe Mr. Dalglish thanks for
taking the time to speak to us about
what we can do with that luck to make
the world we live in a better place. *
ANNUAL FUND
Amy Bourne (njc ’00)
Honorary Chair of the NJC Fund
After graduating from NJC in 2000,
Amy Bourne earned a journalism degree
at Ryerson University and has worked
for the past few years in radio and
television, primarily for CHUM stations.
Amy moved to Calgary three years ago,
where she founded her own video
production company, 1050 Productions.
“Looking back, attending NJC was
one of the best decisions my parents and
I ever made,” she says. Amy grew up
dividing her time between Canada and
Florida, and heard about NJC from a
classmate in high school who registered
and persuaded Amy to come along. She
had no idea what she was really getting
into – the amount of freedom and
independence she would have. Amy soon
discovered that she loved travelling around
Europe on the weekends with her friends.
“The people from Neuchâtel are still
some of my closest friends to this day,”
says Amy, “and it was the time at NJC
that led me to go to journalism school.
I realized I wanted a career that would
allow me to keep travelling, exploring
the world and learning new things.
My NJC experience made it easy for me
to take advantage of an exchange
semester in Australia during my Ryerson
years. I went there without hesitation
and had a great time!”
Last year, Amy was in a position to
make her first significant philanthropic
donation and chose to give her $10,000
gift to NJC. ”I give to NJC because of
all the places I’ve been to school, it’s the
one that most influenced my life today,”
Amy explains. “Being at NJC gave
me the confidence to believe I could
do anything, be who I wanted to be,
go anyplace in the world.”
Amy directed her gift to the renovation
of the sunroom in the Foyer building.
By upgrading the windows and adding
heating/cooling, NJC will create a space
that’s accessible year-round and will be
known as the Student Club Room.
Bill Boyer, Head of School, was
so impressed with Amy’s gift of support
that he has invited her to serve as
the Honorary Chair of the NJC Annual
Fund for 2010 – 2011. “I hope all
‘Neuch grads’ will make a donation to
help support this amazing place that
has given us such great experiences
and memories,” says Amy.
Last year, the NJC Annual Fund campaign raised $150,000 and this year, the target is $200,000.
You may direct your tax-deductible donation to the following areas:
HEAD OF SCHOOL’S FUND
TRAVEL BURSARIES
STUDENT CLUB ROOM
The Head of School will direct your
donations to where they will have
the most impact – upgrading
classroom equipment, purchasing
books and computers, maintaining
and enhancing the campus.
A gift of $10,000 will give qualified
students financial aid to take part in
an educational travel opportunity
they will remember all their lives.
Renovating the Foyer’s sunroom
to make it accessible year-round for
student clubs and other NJC
meetings. Gifts of any amount are
helpful and much appreciated.
To donate ONLINE:
To donate by PHONE:
Please visit www.njc.ch
(click on Support NJC)
Please call 416.368.8169
or 1.800.263.2923
Donations may also be made with VISA, Mastercard or American Express.
To donate by MAIL:
ext. 223
Send a cheque, payable to
The NJC Fund
Neuchâtel Junior College,
44 Victoria Street, Suite 1310
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1Y2
ALUMNI PROFILE
Robert Blackburn (njc ’61)
Travelling Man
If you dream of a career that takes you to
countries all over the globe then you will want to trade
places with Robert Blackburn.
I
f you dream of a career that takes
you to countries around the globe,
then you will want to trade places
with Robert Blackburn (NJC ’61).
He is Senior Vice President at
SNC-Lavalin International, responsible
for relations with Government and
International Development Institutions
and for markets in Africa. SNC-Lavalin
is one of the leading groups of
engineering and construction companies
in the world and a global leader in
the management and ownership of
infrastructure. Robert is also Founding
Chair and a Board member of the
Canadian Council on Africa. In addition,
he is a member of the Boards of the
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters,
the Energy Council of Canada, the Defense
Science Advisory Board (DSAB), the
Trade Facilitation Office Canada. He has
also been involved in the Board of the
Commonwealth Business Council based
in London since its founding in 1998.
Previously, Robert had a 30-year
career in the Canadian federal public
service from which he retired in 1996. In
government his assignments included
Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for
Priorities and Planning in the Privy
Council Office, Assistant Deputy Minister
for Policy at the Department of Industry
Science and Technology, Deputy
Administrator of the Canada Oil and Gas
Lands Administration and Assistant
Deputy Minister for Policy at the
Department of Public Security. Starting
his career in the Canadian Foreign
Service in 1966, Robert served in the
Department of External Affairs in Ottawa
and on assignments in Paris and twice at
the Canadian Embassy in Washington.
His current portfolio has taken him to
many countries in Africa, including
Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana,
South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique,
Algeria and Nigeria.
In a lifetime spent traveling to all
these exotic destinations, what stands
out the most for Robert?
“By all odds, that year I spent at
Neuchâtel was the best year of my life,”
he says. “I will never forget the travel,
the people I met, the cultural richness of
Europe. The experience shaped a series
of things in my life afterwards. I have made
a point of going back to many of the
places I visited while I was at Neuchâtel.
I remember pulling out of Neuchâtel that
last time on the tour bus after the end
of exams in June 1961, looking back and
wondering if I would ever see all this
again. In those days, people traveled less
and there were many Canadian kids who
just never left the country.”
“By all odds, that year I spent
at Neuchâtel was the best year
of my life. I will never forget
the travel, the people I met,
the cultural richness of Europe.”
In Grade 13 English class, he wrote
an essay assigned by Miss Grace
MacNaughton, who moved to Neuchâtel
to teach after retiring from a long career
as the Head of Branksome Hall School for
Girls in Toronto. “She was a terrific old
dame,” recalls Robert. “I wrote an essay
about how I wanted to have a diplomatic
career. I forgot all about that until the
final year of my M.A in History at the
UofT when I came across the essay again,
re-read it and realized it was what I
wanted to do. I spent the next 15 years
working in the Canadian Foreign Service.”
“Many of us came from all boys
schools or all girls schools, so the
opportunity for socialization for the first
time was terrific! I made sure I shared a
double desk with a girl in every class
There were three times as many girls as
boys, so wherever we traveled, each of
us boys would have a harem – the girls
stuck close to us because we Canadians
were a bit of a curiosity, and the girls
would have crowds of Italians, Moroccans
and Spaniards following them.”
“I vividly remember one of our first
trips – setting off for Morocco and going
through France. The stand-up toilets
caused a sensation and my mother had
warned me about bad water in France.
Observing this warning my roommate and
I at the hotel in Montlucon bought a half
bottle of Beaujolais and after brushing our
teeth – you can imagine all the pink foam
and mess! – drank the rest, only to find a
pickled cockroach in the bottom.“
“It was wonderful to be given great
independence, the chance to think for
one’s self,” he recalls. “I remember when
I told the Headmaster at my high school,
UTS (University of Toronto Schools),
that I was thinking of going to Neuchâtel,
he told me I would be wasting a year
of my life! In the last Grade 12 math test
my marks were the highest in the class
and had written to Leonard Wilde (the
founder of NJC) listing the 12 courses
including the long list of Science and
Math courses which I wanted to study in
Grade 13 at NJC. He replied that if that’s
what I wanted, he could schedule them
all – but he wondered why I would bother
coming to Switzerland if I was going to
be working all the time without time to
profit from the Neuchâtel experience. It
made sense to me! I reduced my courses
to the basic 9, dropped all of the tougher
sciences and math then and there, and
never took another math course in my
life! What’s more, I achieved the highest
grades I had ever had – and that year,
Neuchâtel achieved the best Grade 13
results of all the high schools in Ontario!
I wrote to the UTS Headmaster to share
the good news – but I never did hear
back from him…”
To recognize the Neuchâtel experience
which meant so much to him, Robert
gives every year to the NJC Fund. NJC is
proud to include Robert Blackburn
amongst our distinguished alumni. *
ALUMNI PROFILE
Jennifer Stoddart (njc ’67)
Protecting Your Privacy
Blazing a global trail for privacy protection,
Jennifer Stoddart has taken on Internet giants
Facebook and Google.
A
ppointed Canada’s Privacy
Commissioner by the
Governor in Council,
effective December 1, 2003,
on unanimous resolutions
adopted by both the House of Commons
and the Senate, Jennifer Stoddart
(NJC ’67) has earned international
acclaim for taking on Internet giants
Facebook and Google to protect privacy.
After graduating from Neuchâtel
Junior College, Jennifer earned a Master
of Arts in History from the Université
du Québec à Montréal, and a License
in Civil Law from McGill University.
Her career has spanned the Federal
and Québec public services, including
her first job out of law school working
for the now-defunct Advisory Council
on the Status of Women. She then went
on to work for both the Canadian and
Québec human rights commissions
before becoming President of Québec’s
Access to Information Commission.
“One of the interesting things about
her was that as an Anglophone from
Toronto, she so immersed herself in
Québec society,” says David Flaherty,
former B.C. Privacy Commissioner. While
most English-speaking Canadians at the
time looked to the West for a career,
Jennifer’s exposure to French, living with
a pension family in Neuchâtel, resulted
in a move to Québec, where she
became a member of the Québec bar
and has lived ever since.
“NJC opened my mind
to different languages and
cultures. I came to really respect
and appreciate the values
that exist in other cultures.”
“NJC opened my mind to different
languages and cultures. I came to really
respect and appreciate the values that
exist in other cultures,” she explains.
“Toronto at that time was not as
cosmopolitan as it is now, and the
contrast back then between Toronto and
Europe was mind blowing. It was a
fascinating time to be there, a unique
time to see Europe, barely 20 years after
the end of the Second World War, and
there were still a lot of vestiges of that
experience around. It was very intense
and life shaping. The whole experience
helped me feel very much at home in
Europe, and to deal with my European
colleagues in a more relaxed way.”
Since taking on her role as Privacy
Commissioner, Jennifer has overseen
a number of important investigations,
including those concerning the
privacy policies and practices of the
popular social networking site Facebook
and a massive data breach at U.S.
retail giant TJX, which owns Winners
and HomeSense stores in Canada. The
Commissioner also led efforts to help
private sector organizations understand
their obligations under the Personal
Information and Electronic Documents
Act (PIPEDA) in the first years after the
legislation came into force. She is
working to promote online privacy for
young people through the Office’s new
website, www.youthprivacy.ca.
Attracted by the convenience and
fun of on-line social interaction, many
people do not realize the risks they
are taking if they do not check the
privacy settings. In Canada, Jennifer
has demanded that telecom, financial
and retail companies stop tracking
or sharing customers’ digital footprints
without permission. It’s interesting to
note that in the USA, where the head
offices of many of these corporations
are based, there is no national privacy
act or regulator. The persistent Privacy
Commissioner from Canada must
have caught them by surprise when,
in 2008, she launched the world’s first
investigation into Facebook’s privacy
safeguards. The regulator also slowed
Google’s plans to send cars armed with
cameras to capture and post images of
the country on its Google Street website.
In more recent months, the Internet
companies appear to be pushing back.
In March, Jennifer travelled to Paris to
urge her European counterparts to take
a public joint stand against Google
Buzz, which launched in February with
a rollout that revealed the g-mail
habits of millions of customers. In April,
she and nine other regulators held an
unprecedented press conference in
Washington warning that Google Buzz
was “the last straw”.
“… one of the important things
about life is what you’ve
contributed, what you’ve done
for your society, what you’ve
added to it in a positive way.”
“I realized that if we continued only
to deal with the paper world we would
lose our relevance to Canadians,”
Jennifer says of her decision to take on
Facebook in 2008. “We can’t continue to
accept willful disregard or needless
disregard of the privacy rights of citizens.”
Her work is demanding and her career
has been very much focused on public
service, which is sometimes a thankless
task. “I guess when it’s all said and done,
one of the important things about life is
what you’ve contributed, what you’ve
done for your society, what you’ve added
to it in a positive way,” she says. *
NJC Class Notes – Saying goodbye to an inspiring woman
We are saying goodbye to Clare Mazzoleni Piller
(NJC ’64) after her valiant battle with cancer.
Clare passed away on Sunday, October 11, 2009.
As a Neuchâtel alumna, she spoke vividly of
the beautiful Swiss city and recounted lively
anecdotes of her adventures all while highlighting
the wonderful leadership of Mr. Wilde.
Clare worked ceaselessly for the betterment
of the arts through the Canadian Conference for
the Arts, The National Ballet School and a variety
of other organizations. Lately, she became a valued
and respected contributor to the Canadian film
industry. She sat on the boards of the Canadian
Music Centre, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the
MacMillan Foundation and served as President of
the C.H. Ivey Foundation. Her wicked sense of
humour, clear, analytical thinking and wise council
enriched us all.
My mother was an amazing woman to whom
I am grateful for sharing her Neuchâtel experiences
with us and for introducing us to the delights
of European culture, inspiring me to follow in her
footsteps to become a fellow NJC graduate.
~ Erika Piller Randlesome (NJC ’92)
Clare Mazzoleni Piller
(NJC ’64)
CLASS NOTES WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!
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M5C 1Y2
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Printed on recycled paper.
Remembrance Day VIGIL Project
Acclaimed Canadian actor R.H. Thomson is the
driving force behind the VIGIL project, which
commemorates the 68,000 Canadians who lost
their lives in World War I by projecting their names
on the wall of the church in Ypres, starting at
sundown on November 4 and concluding at sunrise
on November 11. Many schools across Canada
participated via the web, with NJC as the only
Canadian school actually in Ypres. Our students
also learned about World War II from historian
Robert Johnson, who presented a lecture about
the rise of Nazism, preparing the students for their
trips to Munich and Krakow and the Nazi Death
Camps of Dachau and Auschwitz. Our students
were profoundly moved by the ceremony at Ypres
and many said it was the first time they had fully
understood the meaning of Remembrance Day.
NJCews
Charitable Registration Number
#883241630 RR0001
Head of School: William Boyer
President of Swiss Board: Ivan Deschenaux
Chair of Canadian Advisory Committee:
Max Thompson (NJC ’88)
Left to right: R.H. Thomson, with
current students André Charbonneau,
Marissa Del Mistro, William Desrochers,
Caroline Fraser, Philippe Vennat and
Dr. Patricia Frankie-Deverell, DeputyHead of School.
For questions, comments or change
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