Brentwood College School - Brentonian Yearbook (Mill Bay, British Columbia Canada)

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Although I dearly hope that the education offered here is much more than what we do in the classroom, I want to deal, appropriately I believe, with academics first. A summary of university enrolment undertaken last July revealed that 70 of last year ' s 84 graduates planned to continue their formal education by applying for university or college places. Among that group, I should point out, were eleven provincial scholarship winners. In this competition, 20 scholarships were allotted to our local school district, which includes two major public and three independent schools. Our students, in taking eleven awards of twenty, dominated the competition and thoroughly deserve our congratulations. In addition, our government, in wishing to recognize scholarship, citizenship, leadership and athletics, gives a very small number of prestigious awards called the Nancy Green Scholarships. Faced with province wide competition, three Brentwood graduates, Kyle Marsh, Dale Ban- nerman and Tom Pankratz, were declared winners. This past week, fourteen of our present seniors wrote government examinations in pursuit of this year ' s provincial scholarships. I have a great admiration for the dedication shown by this group and its teachers. Our very best wishes for success in this provincial competition go to Michael Burian, Tab Cuthill, Brian Dillon, Christopher Foy, Catherine Hagen, Stephen Hayne, Peter Holmes, Sandra Kouritzin, Shelley Milner, David Nelles, Laurie Mook, Kelly Salloum, Brian Williams and David Williams. Within the academic section of this address I would be remiss if I did not refer to our Public Speaking Debating Club under the able leadership of Mr. MacLean. We finished a close second to Lester Pearson College in provincial competition, with Miss Shelley Milner and Miss Ruth Buchanan representing our school and our Debating Society. Furthermore, Miss Buchanan was judged the third best debater overall, was awarded a $300 scholarship, and was named to participate in the National Debating Seminar which this year was held in New Brunswick. Finally, I must mention Catherine Hagen and Lindsay Dutton, whose submissions to the University of Victoria Humanities and Science Symposium led to their selection as Presenters to the fine group of talented students from across this province who were chosen to participate. Although our subject prizes awarded later in this ceremony are intended to recognize academic excellence at all grade levels, I must point out that many industrious, if not talented students, ones who have either ranked near the top of their class, or have shown marked im- provement, will regrettably not be mentioned. Without naming the scores who deserve recognition, I want them to know that they, too, have our admiration for respond- ing to our academic expectations and, more importantly, to their own high personal standards. It is appropriate then, to say that we have set high academic standards; that our students, by and large, have responded well; and that in many, many cases, the degree of excellence achieved fully justifies the fine reputation for scholarship this school has achieved in Western Canada and, indeed, across this nation and in many other countries throughout the world. The foregoing reference to the international scene provides me with an opportunity to direct the attention of this report to the athletic side of the school. I am sure many of you know that last summer our lightweight and heavyweight rowing crews enjoyed a most successful tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The heavy eights won the Irish Junior Championship and reached the final at the Royal Henley Regatta in England, finishing second to an excellent crew from Eton. This past rowing season our Rowing Club, which has a membership of 96 students, virtually outclassed every other school in the Pacific Northwest that engages in this challenging sport. The heavy eight were once again provincial champions and represented the province in the national championships held in St. Catherine ' s, Ontario. Although we have won this championship on two previous occasions, this year we were disappointed as our crew rowed well in an ex- tremely competitive race and finished with a third-place bronze medal. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to our rowing coaches, Messrs. Carr and Queen, and to the Captain of the Rowing Club, Blair Horn, for their tremendously successful year. I also want to point out that 26 girls were enrolled in rowing this past year and the standard of these crews has increased considerably. Their coach, Mrs. Garvey, and the young ladies involved, are to be congratulated for the huge improvement that has taken place over the season. I cannot begin to give you a complete summary of our accomplishments in athletics, as we have at least 18 different sports. I must say a few words, however, about some of the more major areas of involvement. In Rugby, in a year in which we expected to be rebuilding, I must congratulate Brian Sharpe for giving such excellent leadership to the 1st XV which by the end of the season showed surprising strength both in terms of deter- mination to do well and in skill. For example, in the final game of the season we were beaten by a score of 3-0 in the last minute of play by the school which eventually went on to win the Independent Schools Championship. 7

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HEADMASTER ' S REPORT I am honoured and delighted by this opportunity to welcome so large a group of parents, friends and students to our annual presentation of awards. It is a particular pleasure to warmly greet and introduce our very special guests. To my right is Mrs. Marjorie Crookston, a dear friend (and the mother of a Brentonian,) a lady who is degreed in a most unusual manner: she holds the rank of Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League. Mrs. Crookston has kindly agreed to present our major awards. She joins her son, Sir Michael Butler, Baronet, Osgoode Hall Law School (Honours), Q.C., a member of the Bar of British Columbia, a 1945 graduate of this school, and now an industrious figure on the Brentwood College Govern- ing Board. Earlier today, at the luncheon held to honour our seniors, Sir Michael delivered a most thought-provoking and, if I may say so, inspiring address to the graduating class. Brentwood, in having Mrs. Crookston and Sir Michael with us today, wishes to recognize the huge contribution made to this school by this wonderful family during the past 35 years. Mr. Bunch who, of course, needs no introduction, sits to my extreme right and, finally, may I introduce Mr. Hugh Stephen, the Chairman of your Board of Governors, whose commitment to the goals of Brentwood knows no bounds. This past week the worried looks on some faces, the happy countenances of others who felt that their exams had gone well, the haggard, heavily smoking Mr. Martin, who at 2:00 a.m. last Monday morning struggled to complete the first term grass hockey report — due last December - rather abruptly reminded me that the wheel of academic, artistic and athletic activity would soon reduce its speed as the year, which officially began 12 months ago, began to approach its close. What meanings, what values, what purposes, underlie the action of forces, the highly energized human effort that constitutes our school? To answer that question, let me first identify some of those forces, review what your sons and daughters have accomplished, and thereby tell this year ' s story. 6

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The prospects for next year, because of the talent coming through the school, are excellent. Because of this we are planning to send 40 boys on a rugby tour to southern France at Easter 1980. Mr. Cowie, who joined us a couple of years ago and who was asked to build a basketball program, has done a tremendous job. Our seniors did well in Independent Schools competition, so much so that next year we feel they will be a threat to the larger public schools who will form our main opposition. Once again, we seem to have fair strength coming through the school in the junior ranks, so Brentwood ' s future in this sport is bright. If I may continue for just a moment, the Swimming Club won all divisions at the Independent Schools meet, and our seniors were zone champions. Swimmers such as the McNeill brothers, Holley Kushniryk, Tricia Havens and Catherine Hagen made this a gala year. The senior team followed this victory with a fine performance in provincial competition. In Cross Country Running, a team of simply outstanding long distance runners led by Blair Crawford, Brian Carr, Brian Williams and Peter Holmes, and coached by Mr. Wynne, won the Independent Schools Championship, the Island championship, and the junior and senior divisions of the major cross country event in the metropolitan area of Victoria. Our Outdoor Education program continues to thrive under the guidance of Mr. Richard Wingate: we have 30 students pursuing various levels of proficiency in connection with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme. This group, by the way, quietly and happily devotes a tremendous amount of energy to their sport and from it the school benefits because their number provides us with many of the leaders in our community. In tennis, I was impressed by our junior boys and senior girls ' accomplishments, as both teams won Independent Schools Championships. Furthermore, I know you will join me in wishing every success to Michael Mills and Tom Dalton as later this summer they will attempt to qualify to represent Canada in the World Youth Sailing Regatta scheduled to be held in Italy this summer. Winning championships and finishing near the top is, of course, not the goal. Our objective here is to offer a mixture of team and individual sports with a view to in- volving every student in an athletic program that: — stimulates the competitive urge that I believe is present in us all; — promotes good sportsmanship and a life-long interest in games; — encourages excellence; — and emphasizes the value of maintaining one ' s body in a healthy state. I think we have reached our objectives in these regards this year and, whilst doing so, several individual students have offered noteworthy personal performances. In the performing and visual arts this school devotes thousands of student and instructional hours to development of talent. We have these programs to develop the creative potential that we believe forms part of the makeup of every person. In addition, through our fine arts programs, we are attempting to demonstrate the degree of hard work necessary to achieve excellence and also to acquaint our students with what is fine, with what is good, in painting, drawing, pottery, drama, music, creative writing and dance, weaving, and photography. Our performance season began with Mr. Queen ' s production of Gilbert Sullivan ' s H.M.S. Pinafore, a most successful event in which we were delightfully en- tertained by a cast of over 70 students. In addition, I must mention the work done by our Stagecraft group and their director, Mr. Getgood, who aJways give us fine technical strength whenever we perform. In addition to the Pinafore production, we presented an evening of drama, dance, music, and graphic arts in mid-May. This performance, involving over 250 students, turned out to be far too long, but at least it served, both in scope and quality, to let this community know that the fine arts, on behalf of nearly every student in the school, are alive and well at Brentwood College. In my reference to academics and sports earlier in this address, I was able to point to some exceptional individual performances. This thread of excellence, I must em- phasize, finds its presence not only in these two sections of our curriculum, but in fine arts as well. For example, our entries dominated the winners list in local Arts Crafts competition. Provincially, the works of Douglas Jung and Nikhil Patel were amongst the 182 selected from 7 ,000 entries to be shown as part of the Emily Carr Art Exhibit now touring this province, and which later in the year is to be shown in Ottawa. May I congratulate Douglas and Nikhil and their instructor, Mrs. Jackson. I began by asking what meanings, what values, what purposes are served by the story which I have just related about our academics, athletics and fine arts activities. Before answering that question I want to pay tribute to the many people who have made the year such a tremendous success. Last fall I addressed the senior class and requested that they provide us not only with their full co-operation but with all the leadership they could muster. To me they represent a Grade 12 class that has given leadership, has cared for each other and, more than that, has cared for their school. It has been a tremendous privilege having the opportunity to serve them and to provide them with the opportunity to work with us. Amongst their number, over fifty served as prefects and many of them did simply outstanding work. I want to pay special tribute to the house captains who were such tremendous sources of strength to those who worked with them in the running of their houses. Here I refer to Ellis 8