Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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ASHBURY COLLEGE RECONSTRUCTION The necessity to expand the facilities of Ashbury College in order to ac- commodate a constantly increasing student population has been a problem since the School was founded by Dr. G. P. Woollcombe in 1891. Mr. Wooll- combe's School , as it was then called, was originally in the Victoria Chambers, moving to Wellington Street in 1894 and then to Argyle Avenue in 1900. The third and final move was made in 1910 when Ashbury moved to its present site at 362 Mariposa Avenue in Rockcliffe Park. The original structure was pres- ent in 1910 and additions since that date are listed here in chronological order: C19 Memorial Wing-1924, C21 I-Ieadmaster's House- 1926, C39 Classrooms E and B- 1928, C43 Symington Dining Hall- 1947, C51 Argyle Hall and Jun- ior School Classrooms I, J and K- 1953, C61 Library and Classrooms L, M, N, P- 1967. Despite the fact that Ashbury's facilities have been expanding for over seventy years, the need for further new classrooms, laboratories and dormitories has been felt for quite some time. Both the necessary money and organization came together this year and construction of this S600,000 project began on March 14th. The official sod-turning ceremony took place on this day with Ashbury's oldest Old Boy turning the sod with the help of a large front-end loader. Con- struction has been progressing rapidly ever since and no student or teacher can avoid involvement with the project. Locker-room walls have been knocked out and wooden planks line some of the halls. The noise of pneumatic hammers disturbs some classes, but never as many as the students would like. Both stu- dents and staff have been accepting these minor inconveniences happily, knowing that the new facilities will benefit all. The social studies project of one student sat around for years before serving a useful purpose. The project's plywood base was used to mix cement. In this fashion every student has been involved with the construction in one way or another and interest in the project has been high. Some parts of the construction seem to be more interesting than others, however, as exemplified by the follow- ing anecdote. Ten or twenty students dressed in summer uniform or gym kit stood at the top of the stairs outside the Junior School Director's office. All eyes were looking out of the huge plate-glass window towards the construction project. A dump- truck was unloading gravel beneath the window and the driver was sitting in the cabin filing through his collection of pornographic literature. A few seconds later a staff member came up the stairs and stopped, looking over the construc- tion. Then, looking down at the students, he said he was glad to see them taking an interest in the construction, I commend this to you boys? Looking down into the front of the dumptruck and seeing the driver's illustrated library, the teacher quickly realized that the interest in the construction at this point was negligible compared with the students' interest in reading. There is nothing to see here, boys, announced the member of staff. Get off to class. The construction can be divided into two main categories: C19 additions, and 121 renovations of existing structures. Renovations of the present building will include an extension of the Senior School locker-room and an extension of the dining-hall. In place of the duty master's office and front stairway foriginally leading to the Senior School flatsj a new entrance way and sitting area for visitors will be built. This will enable Ashbury's visitors to wait in comfort rather than having to sit, as used to be the case, on the old vestibule radiator. Other reno- vations are going on in other parts of the School, the main consideration being the enlargement of storage facilities beneath the kitchen. The main construction involves the addition of new passageways running parallel to the infamous tunnel which presently joins the Senior School to the Junior School. Five new classrooms will be built on the main floor level, enabling the School to get rid of the two blue mobile classrooms which have been sitting 22

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endowment for more bursaries and scholarships and for maintaining our plant and developing our curriculum. These are not frills either. They are the bone and muscle of a dynamic school. We are certain that interested organizations outside the Ashbury community will help us here. We have already, for example, been favoured by substantial donations from three of Canada's leading Chartered Banks. These organizations clearly view their contributions as investments in the future. We are certainly not alone in recognizing the value to Canada of indepen- dence in education. Help comes to those who help themselves. In the coming year Action Ashbury will turn every stone in this cause. A. B. GERMAN, Director of Development DEBATIN G The academic year '72-'73 has been in some ways a disappointing one for Ottawa as a whole. Its opening was marked by the complete failure of the 'GODS' fGreater Ottawa Debating Societyl, which was to be an independent organization whose function would be to administer and supervise all debating in the Ottawa area. The three meetings which were held were poorly attended and unproduc- tive. Possibly the situation will improve, but in the meantime Ottawa debaters will continue to feel the lack of an organization such as the 'GODS'. However, let us pass on to brighter things. The opening of the calendar year was marked by two evenings of debating at Ashbury, in which the School was well represented by N. Polk, G. Sellers, M. Rowlinson and N. Macleod. Immediately following upon these, the School hosted the first Ashbury Invitational Debating Tournament, which served to choose Ottawa's representa- tives to the Ontario final debates. The standard of debating upon this occasion was uniformly high, and, although they were, quite literally asked to debate at the very last minute, Graham Sellers, of Ashbury, emerged as the top debater of the tournament, and was closely followed by Nick Polk, also of Ashbury. We should like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to the Rev. E. E. Green, to Phil Pardo and to D. Lilly, without whose work, both before and behind the scenes, none of the above would have been possible. The next event on the Ottawa debating calendar was the annual Ottawa University Debating Tournament. Upon this occasion, the school was ably represented by Nick Polk, Graham Sellers and Matthew Rowlinson. Graham succeeded for the second year in a row, in distinguishing himself as the best debater at the tournament and, also for the second year in a row, the Ashbury team as a whole emerged as the best in the Ottawa area. Also held at Ottawa University were the Ontario Final debates. Nick Polk and Graham Sellers had already been chosen as part of the team that was to represent Ottawa, and, not wholly unexpectedly, Matthew Rowlinson was called upon a few days prior to the debate to fill in for a debater from St. Catharines. All acquitted themselves well, and Graham was once again chosen to be a member of the six-man team representing Ontario at the upcoming National Finals in Halifax. We wish him the best of luck upon that occasion. I should, in closing, like to extend our sincere thanks to all who have, in whatever capacity, helped out at or before one of the debates in which Ashbury was involved. Without you, nothing is possible, with you - everything. M. C. ROWLINSON 21

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on the front lawn for two years. Above these classrooms nine new student dormi- tories are being built.-lt has not yet been decided how these dormitories will be divided between the two Senior School houses. Across the hall from these second floor dormitories, showers, toilets and a master's suite and study are being built. Finding space for common rooms has always been a problem at Ashbury. The staff members and students of the Junior School did an excellent job of building a common room in an old attic above the Chemistry Laboratory, but the room is small and the noise level must be kept down while classes are being held below. For many Junior School students this defeats the purpose of having a common room at all. The three Senior School common rooms, tintermediate, senior and pre- feetsj are located in the basement under the dining hall and front entrance way. With the possible exception of the prefects' common room they are small and in a general state of disrepair at present. Fortunately the need for new common rooms was recognized during the planning stage, the result being the addition of new common rooms for both Junior and Senior students. These rooms are being built on the basement level beneath the new classrooms and will be easily accessible to both the Senior and Junior School buildings. The construction of a wood workshop is another welcome addition to the School. This is not a new idea for Ashbury in that the School had a workshop for student use a number of years ago. That shop has since been restricted to staff use in order that they may keep ahead of the School's maintenance problems. The second major addition is taking place in the area between the kitchen and the Physics Laboratory. A Biology Laboratory is being constructed in this area on the second story level with extended locker rooms beneath. This will bring to three the number of laboratories at Ashbury and will be a fantastic asset to Physics students who become irritated when someone's Biology experi- ment crawls over their intricately engineered series of electrodes. This has been a common occurrence recently, because the Physics Laboratory has been dou- bling as a Biology Laborotory. The completion of this project will by no means be the end of construction and renovation at Ashbury. Students have visions of indoor swimming and tennis facilities or a new gymnasium. I am sure the staff are looking forward to new construction as well. I doubt that there is one staff member who would not like a private parking place in a new, heated, indoor parking garage. The obvious point is that construction at Ashbury can be an indefinite process if priorities are not established. I think it is safe to say that all of the construction carried out this year is high on the list of priorities of both staff and students of Ashbury. P. W. WILSON 23