The Spirit of Giving Back Student Philanthropy and the Complete Man Contents
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TheAndreanSPRING 2017, VOLUME 61 NUMBER 1 THE SPIRIT of GIVING BACK Student philanthropy and the complete man Contents Features TheAndrean Spring 2017 4 Schooled in Giving Volume 61 Student philanthropy is alive and well at SAC Number 1 PUBLISHED BY 14 J.A.D. McCurdy Commemorated St. Andrew’s College for Old Boys, parents, and Grandson shares memories of Canada’s first aviator friends of the School EDITOR 16 A New Path to a Bright Future Cindy Veitch St. Andrew’s launches a new Strategic Plan ASSISTANT EDITOR Nicolette Fleming 18 Old Boy Lunch and Learns SENIOR WRITER New peer-to-peer networking seminars Jim McGillivray OLD BOY CORRESPONDENT 19 The Tragedy that Brought Me to St. Andrew’s Nicholas Weedon ‘02 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Schoolmates became an extension of family for Bill Holmes ’56 Edna Collins Scott Hayter 20 Robertson Laidlaw Sue Hayter SAC’s longest-serving teacher had famous connections CONTRIBUTORS Len Gurr Gerald Haddon 22 The Million-Dollar Legacy Sue Hayter The Towers’ estate remains our largest legacy…ever Bill Holmes ’56 David Joiner 23 Heartfelt Gift Connects Families Julie Wilson The Tingling-Diakuns and the Elliotts share a SAC bond ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN Fresh Art & Design Inc. 24 Infographic PHOTOGRAPHY SAC by the numbers Paul Mosey TELEPHONE 905.727.3178 ext. 237 EMAIL [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Columns WEBSITE www.sac.on.ca 2 View from the Top Front cover: 84 shrubs were planted on the 26 Sports News lower fields by grade 5s in conjunction with Ontario Streams. Arthur Wang (left) and Jared 30 Community News & Retirements Reinemo in foreground, Matthew Virgillio (left) 34 Old Boys News and Michael Wang in background 50 Obituaries 52 Editorial: From the Head of Geography, David Joiner EST. 1899 The Andrean magazine supports the St. Andrew’s College mission to “…develop ST. Andrew’S COLLEGE IS A MEMBER OF THESE ASSOCIATIONS: the complete man, the well-rounded citizen,” connects Old Boys and parents to the School, and is a reflection of St. Andrew’s College’s enduring value to the constituents it serves. A few grade 10 art students took the opportunity to paint outside on a surprisingly warm and sunny late-winter day. After visiting the AGO’s Mystical Landscapes exhibition, the students were asked to produce their own Mystical Landscapes, with the SAC campus as their subject. Inspira- tion from master painters such as van Gogh, Harris, and Monet, is evident in their work. (l-r) Jacky Guo, Daniel Park, and Harry Zhao Letter to the Editor Editor’s Note Mystery Solved! My classmate Jeff Long ’81 was visiting last Thanks to Dr. Sue Hayter, Librarian and The whereabouts of the Christmas edition weekend and we were trying to remember who Archivist, who has made The Review and The of the 1954 Review was a mystery. Now, were house captains in our year. I couldn’t put Andrean available online. As well, the SAC pho- thanks to some serious sleuthing by Old Boys my hands on my yearbook, so we went to the tograph collection is constantly being updated Michael Wood ‘56, Jim Wyse ‘57, and John School’s website. What a pleasant surprise to and many photographs are currently available Swinden ‘56, the mystery has been solved. find our yearbooks so easily accessible and for viewing. To visit the Online Archives, go to There was no Christmas 1954 edition! Instead readable. Fantastic! Thanks for doing that. http://archives.sac.on.ca. of having three editions a year, a decision was George Jackson ’81 Cindy Veitch, Editor made to move to a bi-annual publication. Therefore, the Christmas 1954 edition was delayed to become the Winter 1955 edition. Sue Hayter, Librarian & Archivist WWW.SAC.ON.CA 1 View from the Top Strategic Plan 2017-2022 Innovative &Interactive Andrew’s College has launched its new Strategic paper copy of the Strategic Plan for your reference. Plan—and in a first-ever twist—an interactive Our boldest step was the creation of an interactive website St . website to go with it. to complement it. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome, which is Visit the website at sac.on.ca/interactivestratplan17 and founded on innovation, creativity, and forward-thinking, and take a journey through the campus at our proposed improve- took 21 months to complete. Our new Strategic Plan will help ments and changes. Each pin is colour-coded to represent guide the School over the next five years, through to 2022. one of the four pillars. Click on a pin to learn more about I invite you to take a closer look at the ambitious plans each area of focus and the specific tactics that fall within it. we have in place. On page 16 you can read an overview of Each pin also contains a description of the tactic along with its four pillars: Academic Innovation, Wellness, Connected a picture, video, and/or article explaining why we think it is Community, and Positioned for the Future. There is also a important to implement this task. 2 SPRING 2017 Illustration: Steven McDonald ‘88 “ … we reminded ourselves that This theme carried into our interactive platform in a sec- tion titled, “This is our why.” Here you can read profiles on our purpose is the education current students and Old Boys from various generations. You will learn why St. Andrew’s is important to them, where their and development of young careers have led them, and/or how St. Andrew’s has helped them to achieve their goals. men—they are our why.” First, watch my introductory video to the School’s Strategic At the start of the strategic-planning process, we asked Plan, and then take some time to learn about all the amazing ourselves the all-important question: what is our purpose? things we have planned for the next five years. I am truly excited From this, we reminded ourselves that our purpose is the about what the future holds, and I think you will be too. education and development of young men—they are our why. KEVIN R. McHENRY, HEADMASTER WWW.SAC.ON.CA 3 Student Philanthropy Grade 7 classmates stock shelves at the Aurora Food Pantry (l-r) Jason Qian, Henry Paluch, Ethan Yen, Blake Iezzi 4 SPRING 2017 Schooled in Giving Student philanthropy is alive and well at SAC eeping homeless kids safe on the street and protecting rhinos in South Africa are two of the charitable efforts SAC students championed this year. K “We want to change attitudes and have stu- dents become more empathetic to the world around them,” says Melissa Tackaberry, faculty advisor to the Student Outreach Council (SOC), which is responsible for choosing the two chari- ties SAC will support each year. It seems to be working. Over the 15 years that Melissa has led the Council, she has witnessed an evolution in stu- dent philanthropy that reflects not only what is going on at home but also what is happening globally. This year’s chosen charities are per- fect examples. Protrack, an anti-poaching unit in South Africa, is dedicated to stopping the slaughter of rhinos, elephants, and other wild- life, while 360° kids provides care to children and youth in crisis in our community. WWW.SAC.ON.CA 5 Student Philanthropy “Your situation in life is often happenstance, depending on Throughout the year, Council members host several events the family you were born into or where you live,” Melissa such as casual-dress days, for which students, faculty, and staff reasons. Still, she realizes that everyone has a different level pay $3 for the privilege of dressing down, as well as the always- of ability to give back. “Time or money are both equally worthy,” popular brownie sundae sales. They also organize loose-change says Melissa. “The key is instilling the responsibility to give and clothing drives, a coffee drive-thru outside Rogers Hall, what you can.” and a 30-Hour Famine. This spring, students had the chance to The SOC’s mandate is to lead students in raising money bid for their own personal assistant for the day from a selection for outside charities in an organized and focused manner. Its of faculty up for the challenge. The caveat is that winning bids 15 members help centralize student fundraising to make the be paid in cash only—no charging to accounts—putting the onus greatest impact on their two chosen charities. on the student to come up with the money from his own pocket. Before deciding which charities to support, the Council “Small amounts can and do make a real difference,” leaders evaluate a charity’s cause, legitimacy, and adminis- Melissa says. trative costs thoroughly. Over the years, the group has lent a Having students’ eyes open to the need that exists around hand to a wide variety of non-profits such as World Wildlife them inspired some students to become change-makers Fund, Canadian Hero Fund, Save the Children, and World themselves. Parth Agarwal ’14 founded iParth.org Charity Food Programme. Foundation while in grade 11 to help combat the cycle of child poverty around the world. “I want people to realize that what seems like a small amount of money to us can literally mean the difference of life and death for some people,” he remarked at the time, when asked what had motivated him. With similar altruistic intent, William Deo ’17 started iWillSwim.org in partnership with the York Region Children’s Aid Society (CAS) to help promote safety and swimming among Canadians, particularly those with limited resources and new to the country.