Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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Personal Word from the Headmaster Each Fall new students arrive on the Hill-top to begin a new phase in their educational career. Each June. students and faculty review the year. For some students final results and summary comments by their teachers complete the phase. For others. less tangible feelings of personal growth. increased experience independent of family ties, greater self-confidence. and increased self- awareness as a scholar and as a human being are the measuring devices used to close the prescribed period. What may constitute success from one quarter of the school community. may not from another. There is no one magic formula that guarantees an academic experience as successful. We at Pickering College attempt to meld numerous tangible and intangible factors together so that differing goals may be met by the people who compose our diverse educational community. ln the first place we need mature. caring adults who fundamentally like young people and want to share life's experiences with them within the context of a boarding school community whose spiritual heritage stems from the Religious Society of Friends. Secondly. we need a physical plant that promotes feelings of security and well-being and permits a variety of activities to be pursued which meet curriculum requirements. Thirdly. we need a program that is challenging, appropriate to scholars who aspire for university entrance and flexible enough to those who show talent in the arts, the humanities and the sciences. People + Program + Facilities : Education, may be a general formula which integrates the common elements of most educational experience. Given the limitations of any physical plant and a curriculum prescription from a ministry of education. then the people alone offer the greatest scope for creative variation. Incentives for most teachers involve job security factors, remuneration schedules. and vertical mobility. Teachers in the independent schools also like to be part of a philosophical framework. so that their job description and their philosophic attitudes may form a happy alliance. Students. too, like to feel they belong to something that is special and embodies a philosophical measuring rod for their testings of old values and new ideals. Therefore. it is the quality of the interaction between the people involved in the educational process that permits skills and knowledge not only to be imparted. but that permits intangible qualities such as Justice. Truthfulness, Loyalty. Peace of Mind. Willingness to Risk. Desire to be of Service. and Strength of Character to emerge. At Pickering the student government, the clubs. and the countless personal exchanges support the acquisitions of the intangible qualities listed above. The student government organized horizontally through the house system and vertically through the offices of the deans and the headmaster advises the morale of the school. Social activities. community meetings. matters of discipline. and program refinement are the purview of the student government. Clubs are specifically designed to allow teachers and students to work together at some activity each enjoys, wants to do and which permits friendly exchanges in a non-threatening way. The high performance clubs of drama. music. debating, the yearbook, and the Quaker Cracker give public recognition and have practical consequences. Bread making. art and carpentry produce satisfying products. Camping, horseback riding. parachuting, and conditioning are personally challenging. Games clubs are sports oriented. Each student may indeed participate in an activity in which he may find personal fulfillment. Personal exchanges may occur anywhere at any time. Good solid lasting friendships are encouraged by the school on many levels: teacher-teacher: teacher-student: student-student. lnevitably. out of these personal friendships some of the most profound testings occur. People want to know what other people, particularly friends, think about so-and so, or think about this-and-that. So-and-so and this-and-that are often the controversial people and the controversial topics. It is right and fitting that controversial matters be considered within the boundaries of healthy friendship. Often those who participate in student government and in the club system are the more confident students. They are the ones who are willing to risk stating opinions in public and are not afraid to assume leadership roles. Very often this type of student uses the public forum to work out his anxieties toward life in a clearly visible manner. Other students prefer to test

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THE VOYAGEUR il XX ff XE,-'ff Dedication Headmaster's Message In Memoriam: Don Kellock Faces ......... Graduates .... The Grades . . . The Faculty ..... The Staff ..... Fall Sports ...... Christmas Banquet The Junior School. The Houses ..... Drama ...... Clubs ......... Winter Sports . . . Athletic Banquet . P.C. in France . . . The Leaving Class. The Cookout .... Spring Sports .... Awards ....... International Baccalaureate Debating ...... Front Cover by Pickering s Art Master Jamie MacRae Editorial Board: Adrian Betts lEditorl Lorne Zacks Jonathan Knaul Eric Breton Massimo Lizzola Staff Advisers: Charles Beer Lu Taskey Barb Watts Reta Clark Harry M Beer

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their ideas and opinions. their philosophical attitudes and their personal characteristics on a more private level. lt is in this second more private sector of interpersonal action that the greatest good and sometimes the greatest harm can be done, Teachers enioy a special position with respect to their students. They are considered to be a blend of physician. clergyman. advocate. parent. favourite uncle, and friend. Very often teachers are party to conlidences that must be contained. At other times the weight of a shared confidence would be to guide the young person toward an apparently self-directed conclusion. Teachers tread a very fine line between the imposition of their mature judgement. and helping a young person liberate the Teacher within . Helpfulness, truthfulness, and genuine support are positive attributes to personal friendships. Power control, rumouring and iniustice are some of the dangers. People do not like to talk about people. People learn some things from books, but a great deal more is learned by watching. evaluating. and analyzing why. what and how people think and behave as they do. Personal testing of one's values. attitudes and judgement may in part be the result of a confidential discussion with a friend. either peer or someone older and more experienced. Some simple questions may lead to increased understanding and a confirmation of old values with new insights, These questions include: Who is saying what to whom and under what conditions? What is really taking place? ill ill l3l What are the consequences to the attitudes and actions expressed? f-ll How do the attitudes and actions affect the participants themselves as well as others? l5l What are the implications of the attitudes and actions to the wider community? l6l May the attitudes and actions stand up to the lest of The Golden Rule ? There are other similar questions which may be asked in order to test the cause and affect nature of any human relationship. People cement their friendships. discover their priority factors, learn their limitations. develop their value systems, evolve their sense of selffconfidence by asking questions and participating in personal discussions with their friends. A new student in September. can hardly anticipate the Hidden Agenda of learning that exists for him. He might only have an inkling ofa suspicion ol the adolescent sub-culture that exists within any group of students. Questions about drugs. drinking. sex. power. religion. politics. social acceptance. success and failure are part of the sub-text that is being studied while in the classes the Three R's are covered , l98-i-85. was one year of profound testings for all of us at Pickering College. Our friendships were tested and found solid and secure. Our attitudes and our actions were challenged to meet fresh demands on our emotional reserves of energy. The questions we were able to ask ourselves in the final analysis to test the Truth of our attitudes and our actions were good ones and have allowed us to move into the future with greater self- confidence secure in the experiential knowledge that the legacy that has been passed on to us from those who have gone before may be conveyed wholely to another generation of new boys, The first walk up the front steps and through the four pillars may be a bit awesome, The formal walk up the steps and through the pillars by the graduating class is a powerful and wonderful silent emotional experience of friends remembering all of the learning that has taken place at Pickering College. Sheldon H, Clark