This Is Where WE COME from Traditions at St
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THE FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD > MAGAZINE SAINTSUMMER THE OF ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL | 2013 1 This is where WE COME FROM TRADITIONS AT ST. GEORge’s schOOL SUMMER 2013 > THE SAINT THE MAGAZINE OF ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL MANAGING EDITOR SENIOR COPY EDITOR Bruce Elbeblawy Jason Fearon Nancy Kudryk Nigel Fearon Photography 04 FroM THE HEADMASTER Head of Communications Jason Fearon PRESIDENT OF THE Jason Liu GEORGIANS EDITOR GEORGIANS AND OUR MISSION: Roger Pimenta FroM THE CHAIR OF THE BoarD Chris Blackman THE ST. GEORGe’S 05 Dan Poh We build fine young men. Head of Alumni Relations OLD BOYS’ ASSOCIATION William Qian Michael Skene '85 GRAPHIC DESIGNER Patricia Sayer > SAINTS’ life Bruce Elbeblawy PHOTOGRAPHERS St. George’s School Archives Richelle Akimow Photography Irene Teraguchi-Charney OUR vISION: Chris Blackman Catriana Van Rijn 06 THE SAINTS GALA Canada’s World sChool for boys. CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF 08 arcHITECHTURAL HEritaGE OUR cORE vAlUES: 10 THE BUILDERS OF > CONTENTS ST. GEORge’s sCHOOL empathy is the ability to move beyond 12 MODEL UN ourselves, to identify with others, to walk a mile in another’s shoes. 14 ST. GEORge’s DaY humility 16 Latin is the ability to be humble, not to be big-headed or boastful, and to recognize that we all still have a 17 GREEN THUMBS lot to learn. 18 HONOURING lonG SERVICE integrity is an extension of honesty; it is > TRADITIONS AT SAINTS doing the right thing even if no one is watching. 22 THE FAIR SAINTS’ LIFE COVER StorY resilienCe 06 The Builders of St. George’s School. 20 Traditions at St. George’s School. is an extension of courage. It’s the 26 THE HAMPER DRIVE ability to recover quickly, and to not give up when beset by 28 REMEMBRANCE DAY setbacks and disappointments. 30 34TH SCOUT trooP respeCt is feeling regard and even admiration for yourself and for 32 GRAD PRANKS others; it is being thoughtful and considerate of others. 34 EUroPEAN BAND toURS responsibility 38 SCHOOLREacH is being accountable, doing our best to meet our commitments, and to keep our word. > THE GEORGIANS HONOURING OUR VERY BEST GEORGIANs’ photo ALBUM 42 This year’s Georgian Honours recipients. 46 All Georgians’ Events. 40 THE PRESIDENT This is 41 GEORGIAN RElationS THE SAINT is published twice per year, expressly for Georgians, parents, and friends of St. George’s School. It is also distributed to other Canadian independent schools and selected public or private institutions. Comments about any of the articles are always welcome. 42 GEORGIAN HONOURS Address all correspondence to: who Jason Fearon, Managing Editor, THE SAINT | St. George’s School | 3851 West 29th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6S 1T6 CANADA Phone: 604-224-1304 Fax: 604-224-7066 Email: [email protected] THE SAINT is copyright © 2013 St. George’s School, Vancouver BC Canada. Reproduction rights: We encourage you to circulate or copy 46 GEORGIANS’ photo ALBUM this material unmodified for your own private use. You may quote any article or portion of article with attribution. Quotation of any article or portion of article without attribution is prohibited. THE SAINT , its contents, or material may not be sold, intact or modified, nor included in any package or product offered for sale. Please contact our office to be added to the mailing list. we 52 SAINTs’ notES ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL IS PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH: are. Publications mail agreement no. 40580507. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: St. George’s School Society | 3851 West 29th Avenue, Vancouver BC V6s 1T6 > FROM THE HEADMASTER FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD > HISTORICAL ROOTS TRADITIONS Tradition, the theme of this edition of The Saint resonates with me on many different levels. As an It seems somehow fitting that I should address you for the first time as Chair of the St. George’s historian, I recognize the importance of understanding where we have come from. In a world in Society Board in an issue of The Saint focusing on tradition. Apart from my new role at the School which change seems to be the only constant, one of the great strengths of an independent school I am also the mother of three Old Boys and one current fourth grader, the wife of Michael, a such as St. George’s is our appreciation of the past. Key traditions, such as Remembrance Day, the Georgian (‘80), and the daughter-in-law of Peter, also a Georgian (‘47) who was the first Old Boy House Supper, our School motto, and our defining symbol—a shield emblazoned with St. George’s ever to serve on the Board. For our family St. George’s is tradition! cross and a maple leaf, provide us with stability and continuity, while reinforcing the importance of I am struck by how tradition and progress, rather than being exclusive our historical roots. As I often say, St. George’s School consists not only of its current community of of each other, are so tightly wound together at St. George’s. In 1930, the students, Georgians, faculty and staff, and parents, but also of everyone who has been here before Harkers founded the School in the tradition of some of the great English us and everyone who will follow in our footsteps. boys’ schools like Eton and Harrow. But great schools aren’t just founded and then left to stagnate. Schools need building and they need constant rebuilding, renovating, and restoring both in terms of program and in terms Since its founding in 1930, St. George’s has changed enormously. We have of the physical structures. While morals and ethics are constant, practices moved locations, acquired new buildings, and renovated old buildings. change over time. Just as we still hold to our Core Values of empathy, Beloved faculty and staff members have come and gone. We have expanded humility, integrity, respect, responsibility, and resilience, we recognize that our population, and we have developed a rich array of new opportunities embedded in these values is the responsibility to ensure we are always for our students. Despite these changes, at our core we are the same School delivering the best education possible for the future even as what that today that we were 10, 20, 50 or even 75 years ago. Most importantly, we education looks like changes. The world now is moving faster than ever and DR. TOM MATThEwS are deliberately a boys’ school. Moreover, we are a school that will always HEADmAsTER as a school we need to show resilience as we work to understand what the lESlEy bENTlEy 4 be committed to a broad and inclusive education nurturing the development world will look like going forward and how best to prepare our boys to be CHAIR OF THE BOARD 5 [email protected] of the well-rounded boy. Recalling the words of former Headmasters such responsible, caring, and productive members of society. [email protected] as John Harker and Alan Brown, I have no doubt that they would have Ethical business practices and strong family values are constant; however, embraced our Mission of building “fine young men,” just as they would the way we work and the way we live as families has changed, and so too have embraced our Core Values of empathy, humility, integrity, respect, have the kinds of spaces we work and live in. Education is no different. As responsibility, and resilience. To quote a well-known adage, the more things a Board we commit to continue to enable our leadership at the School to change, the more they stay the same. build fine young men, recognizing that as we move further into the 21st One of the great strengths of our Strategic Plan, One Boy at a Time, is that century the ways that happens and the kinds of spaces we need to do that it charts a bold and exciting course for the School while also building upon are changing. To that end we have, as a Board, and in broad consultation and reinforcing the traditions of the past. Priority A, for example, focuses with educational experts, faculty, students, and neighbours, spent hundreds on a boy-centered approach to teaching and learning, highlighting our of hours developing a Campus Master Plan. This blueprint for our future is belief that boys learn differently and that as a boys’ school we have a unique specifically designed to ensure that we have the appropriate spaces and opportunity to build our programs and shape our instructional strategies facilities we will need. to meet boys’ learning needs. Priority B reinforces our School’s traditional So we thank those who have brought us to where we are today. The School focus on character education, while Priority C highlights the importance of we enjoy today was not built by us, but by those who came before us. We environmental stewardship and global-mindedness. Priority D recognizes recognize that without their vision and execution we would not be here. the fact that we have always been a boarding school, and it commits us to We also recognize our role in providing for the future of the School. So, in building a world-class Residential Life program. The world is constantly the tradition of all the families who came before us, we are committed to changing, and a school like St. George’s can’t stand still or rest on its laurels. stewarding this great institution into the 21st century so future generations In our efforts to make a great school even better, however, we must not may have the same benefits we enjoy now. At the heart of it, that is tradition.