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

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Awards Day Address Honoured Guests, Parents, Friends, Faculty, Senior Class and Students: It is an honour and a pleasure to welcome you today to our Awards Day Ceremony. As I do so, however, may I, with great regret, offer to you all the sincere apologies of our Headmaster, Mr. Bill Ross. Mr. Ross ' family ex- perienced a tragic death in a car accident earlier this week, a circumstance which prevents his sharing with us this unique day in our School year. He sends us his warmest wishes for a happy day, together with his special farewells to all members of the graduating class. May I at this point introduce to you our platform guests for the day, The Honourable Brian Smith, Minister of Education for the Province of British Columbia, Mr. and Mrs. J. McLernon, (Mr. McLernon is Chairman of our Board of Governors), and Mrs. Janet Brackenbury, our Librarian. Unfortunately, time does not allow us to include our sports and fine arts awards in this ceremony, so those who have excelled in these areas over the year were recognized in a special awards assembly held last week. Nevertheless, I must take a few moments to review the achievements of our artists and athletes. The British Columbia Ministry of Education sponsored a Christmas card design contest. Out of 600 entries from all over the Province, second place went to our Grade 9 student, Chris Scott-Kerr. He received $200 for himself and the School Art Department also benefitted by $200.00. Brentwood students took 14 out of the 20 possible awards in the under-18 drawing, painting and printmaking categories at the Cowichan Valley Spring Arts Fair. Almost all of our 30 entries received com- mendation ranking or higher. At the same Arts Fair, our potters won both categories in the under-18 divisions — Hilary Denny for handbuilt pottery and Harry Worsley for wheel thrown pottery. The Creative Dance group thrilled the School with the grace and precision of the display they presented before Easter; their workshop for 80 local school children was a great success, and Grade 12 choreography this year has been of a particularly high standard. We also have been well entertained by our musicians. The Band and Choir presented three concerts, one in the Brentwood Auditorium, one in the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel in Vancouver, and one for the benefit of the patients at the Shaugnessy Hospital. The Band and Choir also set Christmas in motion for us with the Carol Service. Ben Butterfield and Erin Thrall received awards in voice competition at the Victoria Music Festival. And then, for the delight of us all, our music and dance departments formed the Brentwood Musical Club and a cast and supporting crew of 7 5 spread a bright light of joy over a time of year that was plagued by bad weather, a ' flu epidemic, and winter doldrums. I would like to take this opportunity to again thank all those involved for bringing us such a great amount of pleasure with their production of The Gondoliers. Under the direction of Mr. Rob Maclean, Brentwood ' s Debating Club argued its way to the top. Our senior debating team, represented by Diane Farlowe, Angela Keller-Herzog, Donald Stanley, and Ken Creighton, was named the best four person team on Vancouver Island. Leslie Szamosi rated as the top junior debater on the Island and Patti Hodgson won the Cowichan Valley Rotary Club Speech Contest and was named the best junior speaker and overall runner-up. As you know, Brentwood seeks to develop the physical as well as the mental and cultural strengths of our students. Although the main purpose of our sports program is to present our students with athletic challenges and to build them to and keep them in top physical condition, I must, nevertheless, bring to your attention some of the glories our athletes have brought back to Brentwood. Our Rowing Club commenced their 1981 82 season on June 20th last year when they set off on a cross-Canada tour. Seventy-six rowers and three coaches logged 32,000 vehicle miles in the biggest, longest trip ever to be undertaken by a club on this continent , Brentwood placed first in 27 races on this tour, the victories including a sweep of all three lightweight eight events in St. Catharines, Ontario, and a heavyweight eight upset against the highly rated United States National Youth Eight in Philadelphia. Our girls beat the Canadian youth crew in Toronto. Not content with these triumphs, in September the crews and coaches were again on the water and in the weight room, training hard. The net result of this dedication was that in addition to winning at local regattas, often against crews from U.B.C., U.Vic, and other universities, the Rowing Club, after winning the B.C. High School Championships, travelled East to compete in the Canadian High School Rowing Cham- pionships held in late May in St. Catharines, Ontario. There our crews established the finest record ever for a Canadian school. They won the Sigma Kappa Psi Trophy (Junior Men ' s Heavy Coxed Four), the J. Wright Trophy (Junior Men ' s Heavy Eight), the Laddie Cassels Men ' s Trophy (Senior Men ' s Lightweight Eight), and the Calder Cleland Men ' s Trophy (Senior Men ' s Heavyweight Eight). Brentwood students do not stop rowing after graduation. Our congratulations and good wishes go to our 1980 graduate, Harold Backer, of Princeton University, and our 1981 graduate, David Ross, of the University of Victoria, as they have recently been selected to row for the Canadian National Men ' s Eight at the International Regatta in Vienna, Austria in July. Another cross-Canada tour started from Brentwood on this day last year. Mr. Pitt and a hardy group of cyclists set off on a ride to Kingston, Ontario, to raise money for

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STEPHEN PAXTON SPRAGGE August 19, 1963 - February 18, 1982 Eternal Rest Grant Unto Him. Stephen Spragge who was tragically taken from us on February 18th, 1982 will long be remembered by all his contemporaries at Brentwood. Steve was many things to many people: an entertaining student, 5 seat on the Lightweights, goalie for the 1st XI, fullback on the 2nd XV, and a loyal and enthusiastic supporter of all Ellis House activities. Whoever Steve was to you, he always could be trusted and counted on to do his best. None who counted Steve as a friend will forget the good times shared together and the devotion he had for our School and for his friends. I feel that Steve would have preferred, rather than idle tears for his memory, that we remember him for the way he made us smile and laugh, and for the fact that he had the courage never to give up. R. Mountfort

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handicapped children. They collected a total of $10,424.91 in pledges. This summer our Cycling Club placed second in the annual Tour-du-Lac around Shawnigan Lake. Our sailors had a highly successful year — they won the Independent Schools Regatta, the Rogers Cup in com- petition with Shawnigan Lake School, and qualified for entry into the National Regatta. Marcus Rockliff and Andrew Clark are not with us today because they are participating in the National Single Handed Regatta in Victoria. In tennis our junior boys are Independent Schools Champions. The Tennis program was very popular this year with some 100 students playing hard. Our Cross- country runners won the Independent Schools Cham- pionships and the juvenile division of the Basil Parker Memorial Race. In soccer our senior boys are Indepen- dent Schools Champions and our Girls ' Soccer Team emerged unbeaten against all female opposition. Our Golf Team made it to the Island finals after a delightful season in the sun. Our senior boys track and field team was second in Independent Schools competition. I cannot allow comment on track and field to pass without men- tioning our student who was once described by a covetous rival coach as a track animal — Mark Williamson. Last summer at the Canada Games Mark won gold medals in the 400m. and the 4x400m, and a silver medal in the Canadian Men ' s Open Race. At the Canadian Indepen- dent Schools Meet this summer he won, in a single af- ternoon, the 100m., the 200m., the 400m., anchored the winning4x400 m. relay team, and won the shot put. Brentwood participants in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme served the local community in a number of ways. They raised money for the B.C. Lions Fund for Handicapped Children, visited and assisted elderly people in the neighbourhood, served as sellers for Vic- toria tag days, and worked so effectively with the Mill Bay Salmonid Enhancement Project that the Department of Fisheries offered lavish praise. Andrew Maile received his silver award in a recent ceremony at Government House and three other Brentwood students received certificates from the Lt. Governor for surviving Mr. Wingate ' s winter camping course. In October four of our students will receive gold medals under the Duke of Edinburgh ' s Scheme, 10 will receive silver medals and 16 bronze. The Girls ' Field Hockey Team won the Independent Girls Schools tournament for the second year in a row. In Double A school tournaments we finished a close third on the Island and 7th in B.C. As last year, we were the only single A school (fewer than 200 girls) to qualify for the double A Provincial Tournament. Our reputation as a force in the field hockey world is now Province wide. The Boys ' Field Hockey Team finished second in Independent Schools competition. Our first term Aquatics program culminated with 80 awards presented in Royal Life Saving. The second term was spent in the classroom instructing junior and senior resuscitation and first aid, with 60 students receiving awards, and in the third term nine students participated in an Instructors ' course. Nine students received cer- tification as open water divers in the Scuba program. Our 1ST XV Rugby Team played hard but an injury- plagued season left them with a win loss ratio of six to ten. The Second XV, Third XV, Fourth XV, Colts, and Junior Colts were all Independent Schools Champions in their divisions. This year it is rugby that has not ceased with the closing of the School term. On June 28th our 1ST XV fly off to Aukland, New Zealand for a tour of the South Pacific. They will play 12 matches in various corners of New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji, and atthesame time will have a good look at some of the highlights, cultural ones we trust, of that corner of the world. Not content with earthly pursuits, a few of our students opted for an aery experience. John Holt, George Payne, and Fred Wallis, in addition to all of their other Sc hool activities, have qualified privately for their pilot licenses. With all this activity going on in the Sports and Fine Arts Departments of the School, you will be wondering where academics fit into the scheme of things at Brent- wood. Academics, of course, are the number one priority. We ask our students to pay attention first to their studies and secondly to their extra-curricular commitments. Eighty percent of our graduates last year entered university or college in September — one to Princeton, 11 to Queens, 15 to U.B.C., 10 to the University of Alberta, 12 to the University of Victoria, to name just a few of their destinations. Mathematics has a strong emphasis at Brentwood and in this highly competitive, computer age we must match our progress with that of other Canadians. In the Canadian Junior Mathematics Contest for Grades 9, 10 and 11 , Brentwood placed fourth in British Columbia. The Canadian Euclid Competition for Grade 12 students placed Brentwood as fifth in B.C., with Michael Cottam and Herman Schenck rating in the top 60 students in Canada. 210 students in Canada were invited to write the Canadian mathematics Olympiad and three of our students, Donald Stanley, Michael Cottam, and Herman Schenck were among this elite number. The Canadian Mathematics League presents six papers throughout the year — Brentwood ranks third in British Columbia and fifteenth in Canada in this competition. We also entered, for the first time, the U.S.A. International Computer Problem Solving contest. We have had no official results for this contest as yet. In addition to external Mathematics contests, the Science Department entered students in contests organized by the Institute of Chemistry and Physics and the University of Waterloo. In competition with Grade 13 students from Ontario our students scored well, and Herman Schenck placed in the top 10 % in each contest. I am sure you all will be pleased to hear that, in essence, those remarks cover my Report. Before proceeding to make awards, however, I feel that there is one vital aspect of the year which I have ignored, an aspect for which there is no award, no recognition, and little public glory. Nevertheless, I intend to pay tribute to it publically today. I speak of the good-will, the cheerful spirit, the kindliness, and unfailing friendliness of all members of our student body. Of course, I am aware that in my own case the students regard me as a somewhat