Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

Page 11 text:

After the room change, the desire for rejuvenation dropped to the bull session level again. The spirit of change and the essentiality of experiment for progress has been planted in enough student minds, however, that the coming school year may show us a greater and stronger lust for improvement. This desire is not only the means toward the end but it is essentially the end itself. This realization of a stagnant condition and the resulting attempts to bring about the necessary change has been the most significant aspect of this year at Pickering and all of the other areas of activity reflect the conditions which promoted it. getting in the lust word S wiz PUT' THE MAGAZINE to bed. at three o'clock this morning. we feel that - there are one or two things that we ought to pass on. The most startling news that we have heard in the past week is that Mr. Donald Stewart is not coming back to the college in the fall. Don Stewart is going to the Department of External Affairs this summer and is changing his profession from that of teacher to that of diplomat. During Mr. Stewart 's years at the college he has been the inspiration behind much intellec- tual aetivity, and the Dramatic Club has been one of the many projects which owes all of its debts to this one man. A gentleman and a kind and earnest teacher, Mr. Stewart has won the respect of everyone whom he has taught. The English classes have been refreshing. a high spot in the student day. and the many innovations and experiments that have been tried in class have made the courses of grades eleven and thirteen both exciting and valuable. Mr. Stewart has had a series of nick-names. a sign of popularity in spite of their occasional disrespectful connotations. Beacon and Lobster have lasted out the years and although they may not be appreciated in some circles. we know very well that it has only been on rare occasions that there was any more malice in them than in naming at chum, t'Stinky . We realize that our housemasters absence will be sorely felt in the coming years and we can only hope that in his new work and new community he will find satisfaction and happiness. Another piece of news that some of the students may not have picked up before leaving school concerns Lou Lanier 's trip to Europe. To-morrow, on the twenty-third of June, Lou is leaving for London, England, Paris, Brussels, and other centres of interest. He will end up in Sweden where he is attending the Lingiad and will be studying physical education among other things. Lou will be spending the iirst half of the summer on his trip and will no doubt be overflowing with new ideas when the fall term comes along. Seven

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editorial s I SIT' AT THE TYPEVVRITER this morning I find it very easy to look upon the year as an entity. Since early last evening I have been reading articles for this magazine concerning teams and activities, highlights and low- lights of the school year. I have been selecting photographs for publication fr-om a file that includes every face in the community and pages from almost every day of the school year diary. The typewritten pages and glossy photos are no longer clear in my mind, but they have mingled to form a picture ofthe school year, nineteen forty-eight, forty-nine. I think I can now see this past year as it should be seen, not a series -of disconnected events and ideas but rather the development of a new kind of thinking in the school, and possibly the prelude to a new era in the school 's history. IN THE FALL TERM it became evident that there was the usual amount of criticism of the policy and outlook of the school. Much of this was turned against the students and some of it was in direct opposition to staff policy and the mistreatment of the ideals of the school as we had understood them. The first sign of this beyond the corridor bull-sessions appeared in a group of editorials in the December edition of the school paper. The editorials accused the students of lack ot' spirit and sense of responsibility. Student projects were proposed and it was suggested that the students could accept responsibility for s-ome of the tasks about the school. Another editorial accused the staff of having forgotten that we owed it to the greater community to carry out experiments in education. In summary, the conclusion that had been reached by those students in the fall term who were concerned with the state of our school community was simply that we were HSTAGNANTH. Some- thing was missing. Pickering needed a shot in the arm. In the second issue of the Quaker Cracker the editorial attacked the student committee as undemocratic and nothing more than a popularity poll. This jab served to wake up many of the senior students, and before the second term had passed its first week. Mr. Rourke hadgc-ome forward with a proposal for a basic change in the school organization. The committee had seen the need for change and the headmaster's suggestion that the academic and age-grouped corridors be broken up, received their immediate support. The new plan was to have students of all ages and academic levels living together on the same corridors. In addition, the students were to take the responsibility for keeping their rooms swept and clean as well as handling the evening duties themselves. After a measure of persuading and explaining the matter was put to a vote and with eighty percent student support, the plan was put into effect. Six

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Bob Mctfllure has gone off to Parry Sound and Ed Furlong has gone to the States on his way to Mexico as you all know. Many of us are wondering just who will do all the things that Bob used to do. It seemed that if there was anything going on on the building, Bob could be found in the middle of it. Never has so much been done by such at small man with so little fuss. Bob is departure means that the school is losing a fine teacher, a wonderful friend, and one of those people who has made himself indispensable. The way that we feel like saying it is simply-Bob is a swell guy and we hate to see him go. Although Ed Furlong was not with us for very long, some of us got to know him fairly well and with all of his quirks we are sorry that he cannot return for the coming school year. Ed is a. rugged individualist, and while he was here he was able to give some of us a few new ways to look at things. He has many friends here who will be looking forward to seeing him again when he comes back to Vanada. The only other people who are leaving are the members of the magazine staff. The Voyage-ur is finished and we are going to bed. the graduation class E PRESENT HERE the graduating class of this school year, those members of our matriculation classes who are leaving Pickering to begin university or business careers. To them as well as to students in lower forms who may be leaving us at this time, may we say - good-bye and best of luck! CHARLES AnAMs-XVith us for only one year from New Liskeard . . . played on the first, football and hockey teams and the Silver intramural team . . . member of the Root of Minus One f'lub . . . plans to take a business course next year and then enter his fathers business in northern Ontario. RICKY ARNOLD-HHS been with us nine years and entered fully into every phase of school life . . . onetime of England now of Toronto . , . active in Voyageur and Quaker Cracker . . . Dramatic Club . . . Polikon Club, president one term . . . chairman of the temporary school committee . . . one of the instigators of the corridor reorganization . . . winner of the NViddrington Award . . . captain of the soccer team . . . also played basketball, tennis, softball, track, lacrosse, volleyball . . first colour holder . . . major interests, reading, tennis, Quakerism . . . plans to take a year out for business or service and then to the University of Toronto. l3ONAl,D AZAR-Three years at Pickering from Sydney, Nova Scotia . . . played soccer, hockey and track . . . plans to take engineering at St. Francis Xavier Vniversity. Eighr