St Johns Ravenscourt School - Eagle Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 60 text:

Vk Spedm The Spectres, that famed rock-n-roll group of great note, closed ranks again this year to form a new band. Well known drummer Lee choker” Trouth joined up, along with bass guitar virtuoso Dennis ' The Twitch” Riley. Guitarists Dave lightingfast” Everett and Doug I’m busy after school” MacKay reached new heights this year. Despite public demand, the Spectres played at the Football Dance, at the Winter Carnival Dance, and also managed to fight their way into the yearbook. k Oku CM The Chess Club has been highly successful this year, as the events have been varied and interesting. We started off with a Round Robin Tournament, which Peter Lemon won by defeating Wayne Mitchell and Jack Murray in a play-off. A new chess trophy will be the trophy for a school-wide tournament to be held in April. The trophy with the winner’s name on it will remain in the school, while the victor will have a knight-figure for his personal trophy. A great honour will be accorded us in late March when Mr. Abe Yonofsky, present Canadian Chess Cham¬ pion, Grand Master and former British Empire Champion will visit the school and demonstrate his abilities. He will play a large number of boys at once, and we will be pleased if anyone can manage even a draw with him. Other events coming up are a series of challenge matches with other schools and a challenge match between masters and boys. It is hoped that the foregoing events will become annual highlights of an interesting and popular Chess Club. yU (twiM Option Each Monday at three-forty five, the Current Affairs’ group assembled in the A-2 classroom. Here, under the supervision of Mr. Wellard, the group analyzed the problems of the world. Prepared topics were presented and discussed, and sometimes, conclusions were made. In the course of the year, the Current Affairs’ group met with some success in learning something about today’s world. An even better year is expected to begin in the fall.

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OfttiOM This year, a new program was initiated in the school. The success of last year’s compulsory cadet activities was rather limited and consequently it was decided that a new program for Monday afternoons, consisting of activities of the individuals choice, should be created. The initial organization and subsequent administrative duties involved in this year’s option program were appropriated to David Fitzjohn and Aaron Schwartz. Early in the year, they circulated a questionnaire throughout the Upper School which assisted in instigating the range of interests and organization of groups. From the accumulated information, several groups were es¬ tablished. Cadets claimed the greatest number of students for a single group, enticed by the options of judo, shooting, and the band. For those interested in science, physics, electronics, and biology, clubs were set up. The drama club attracted the more theatrically inclined, while the current events, debating, chess, camera, art, weight-lifting, and gym clubs constituted the remainder. We feel that the options program in its first year of existence was reasonably successful in achieving its aim of enabling students to participate in an activity in which they were interested, and in offering instruction and facilities which enabled the individual to obtain the maximum benefit from his particular choice of activity. We hope that the options program will be continued in the years to come, improving and offering more and more opportunities for the boys to expand and develop their interests. Mei jk Viurunj Before going further, I think it is necessary to clarify what I mean when I refer to weight-training. A popu¬ lar misconception is that weight-training is the same as weight-lifting. Such is not the case. When one weight- lifts, one attempts using specified techniques, to hoist as much weight in a given lift as one possibly can. When one weight-trains, on the other hand, one attempts to put one’s body into better condition through a prescribed set of exercises using barbells. It was the purpose of the weight-training club to do three things: to allow any interested boys to learn to train with weights safely and under supervision, to teach such boys an effective system of exercises with which to achieve the goals each had set for himself, and to help each member to understand and appreciate the capac¬ ities of his body and to wrok towards a more efficient body. I do not think that the weight-training club was as successful this year as it might have been. This was due to the fact, I think, that weight-training is hard work and that few who came to participate actually were pre¬ pared to stick with it. Those who did, surely reaped ample benefits and will, I hope, carry it on faithfully for themselves. ' 7 u m Option The physics group, composed of David Fitzjohn, Errol Naiman, Gregory Klassen, and David Sprague, and under the guidance of Mr. Olsen, has enjoyed a successful year. The Father’s and Son’s Weekend provided an opportunity for the physics group to show its mettle: Naiman and Sprague exhibited their first place entry in the 1965 Manitoba Schools Science Fair, A Study of Bodies in Motion,” while Fitzjohn and Klassen, using dry ice pucks, showed properties of unrestricted motion. After this event, Naiman and Sprague prepared anoth¬ er project, A Study of Motion in a Frictionless Frame of Reference” for the forthcoming Manitoba Schools Fair, while Fitzjohn and Klassen did advanced studies in P.S.S.C. experiments. All in all, we feel that this has been a most profitable year for all those involved with the activities of the Physics group, and we sincerely thank Mr. Olsen for his time and effort.

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KJM This year, for the first time, the school had a Drama Club, whereas in the past, only those associated with the School Play had an opportunity to participate in and learn about acting and the theatre in general. Under the direction of Mr. McLeod, the club started off early in the year by electing an executive, who were as follows: President: Aaron Schwartz, Vice President: Muir Meredith, and Secretary and Treasurer: Doug Mac¬ Donald. During the year there were read-through’s of various plays, followed by open discussions. The Adding Machine” by Edgar Rice, an expressionistic play, was given the most detailed analysis. In November, Mr. Edward Gilbert, from the Manitoba Theatre Center, presented an interesting and well-received talk on the forth¬ coming production of Andorra.” One evening, members of the Club went to see the play. The show was fol¬ lowed by Chinese dinner at Chan’s. The latter part of the year was spent mainly on working with the school production of Murder in the Cathedral.” Every member of the Drama Club took some part in helping with the production: some boys had roles in the play, others helped with costumes, make-up, lightings and props, while yet others took part in ticket sales promotion and advertising. Thus all members of the club had an opportunity to take part in an actual theatrical production, some of them for the first time. We feel that the Drama Club got off to a good start this year, and hope it will continue with increasing suc¬ cess in future years. The members of the Club wish to extend their sincerest thanks to Mr. McLeod for the time and effort he put into it. EImUoim The electronics option is an extension of last year’s electronics club. Its primary interest is the education of students in the field of electronics using a learn-while-you-work ” technique. In this direction the group has had a great amount of assistance. Quite a number of radios have been donated in a working or semi-working state. These have either been repaired or dismantled completely and used for parts. With these, a high voltage direct current power supply was built by George Black which will prove useful in future projects. The group has also received three television sets, of which one is in working condition and is now in use. The remaining television sets have been salvaged for working parts and there is talk of building an F.M. radio with them. The club is financially independent of the school and has its own treasury from which money is drawn to buy tools and other necessary equipment. The initial membership fee is five dollars and is made to go a long way. Operating from the school as the club is advantageous in a number of ways: there is a vast number of prospective donators of radio equipment; the club receives a fairly substantial discount on all equipment pur¬ chased brand-new. The group just recently received some amateur radio or ham” equipment and work is underway to set up a small radio station. As soon as one of the members becomes a licensed radio operator, the station will go into action. . . , Although the group is primarily interested in electronics, it does do the occasional electrical work, such as re-wiring the ovens in the lab, and, occasionally, designing electrical equipment that would be useful to the school. The school has been fortunate in having a plant laboratory with artificial lighting. Students have been using the lab to start many new projects. During the coming year, plant breeding experiments are to be started with a view to producing new varieties of some plants. Much of the material produced will be used in the future to beautify the school grounds. In the spring term it is hoped that at least two classes will visit the Pinewood Forest Nursery. Also, a new outdoor experimental plot is to be prepared where further work will be started. Growing plants and trees is a slow projectwhich takes time. The results of the work which has been started this year will become much more evident in the years which follow.