Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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lieve, and can thereby provide a leadership in the field of education which can in turn serve the interests of the public schools who have so many more prob- lems to overcome. Indeed we must remember that our first concern is not for the betterment of Shawnigan, but is for the service we can provide for our country in working at Shawnigan. I hope that in the establishment of our language laboratory, in the writing and setting up of Russian courses at the secondary school level for the first time in the province, and in the proven results of our physical training programme— to name only three examples— we are beginning at Shawnigan to make a distinct and valuable contribution. Before leaving the athletic side I should mention, for the benefit of those who have not yet heard, that in a few days our Rowing Eight and Four as well as the B.C. Independent Schools Track and Field Team, which we have organ- ized, are leaving for England and Europe. For the first three weeks they will compete against clubs and schools in England and on the Continent, and then for three weeks they will be taken on a guided tour of Europe. We believe that their exposure to good competitive standards in these fields, as well as their opportunity to visit the many fascinating countries in the Old World, will provide an educa- tional experience for them which will be of inestimable and lasting value. In other spheres I would like to mention particularly the excellent results produced by our Sea Cadet Corps this year. At the Annual Tri-Service Cadet Competition held in Victoria in April our Band again won first prize; and in the Annual Sea Cadet Competitions held at H.M.C.S. Naden in May our Corps won first prizes for the Band and for the smartest Guard, and the Trophy for the highest Aggregate including all activities. Finally, we have just received our 75

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take and because of their insistence that the boys should strive for excellence in whatever they take on. We believe that, if the boys can learn the importance of training and working for the best standards of which they are capable, and if they can learn in their games to realize that no effort but an all-out effort is good enough, this insistence upon excellence will carry across into the more important field of academics and will teach them to be dissatisfied with mediocre results and, in fact, with any performance which is less than their best. Those of you who have been part of the Shawnigan scene for some time will have some idea of what we are striving for in this connection, because you have seen it working; but, at the same time, I feel that you will be interested to learn that our efforts and results are now being recognized in official circles. As you may know, there has recently been a great deal of criticism in this country about the standards of physical fitness among young Canadians. Indeed a Commission has been set up jointly by the Department of Physical Education at U.B.C. and the Department of Education in Victoria to study the matter, and to produce some recommendations for all the schools in the province. During recent months this Committee has inspected the programmes in several of our leading schools and for their study have selected Shawnigan as representing the standard at which other schools should aim. In consequence, they are sending a team of experts over here in the fall to spend a week at the school in order to study our philosophy and our methods. They will also measure the physical achievements of our boys next May and compare them with those in Septem- ber, so that definite results of our programme may be assessed; and on the basis of this information they plan to produce a report which will serve as a standard toward which all our young Canadians may be directed. I am particularly pleased about this because I believe that, in this way, we are able to fulfil for the province one of the most important functions of an independent school. Since these schools are free from the trappings of representative Town Meetings and P.T.A.s they can resolutely put into effect the policies in which they be- 14

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results for the Annual Inspection, and we learn that out of the 26 corps in the province ours has come second. R.C.S.C.C. Columbia in the Interior and our- selves were rated well ahead of all the other and Columbia beat us by three- tenths of a point out of 150. This is the highest ranking our corps has ever achieved, and next year we shall work toward taking the final step. The Boy Scout Group have also continued their successes of last year. Five of the senior scouts were invested as Queen ' s Scouts last April by the Lieuten- ant-Governor. Four of the Queen ' s Scouts obtained the Bushman ' s Thong, and three of them earned the Gold Cords for all-round proficiency. Five others are now First Class Scouts, and several more have reached nearly that stage. s . fcflfc M . i h . 3 r F5 1 m Pi ' h Ik. Sp ; JS? r jp- 1 ««w A i Wi ' A ' 4 i |£ . C. S. C arfc The Queen ' s Scouts R. Curtis H. FAlis D. Lunam R. Clark That more attention has been given to Scouting out of doors this year is reflected by the successes achieved by the two patrols from our troop that were outstanding in the Cowichan Valley District Survival Camporee held one month ago. The most noteworthy item in the growth of our Scout Group was the establishment ten weeks ago of a Rover Scout Crew for the older boys who have completed their training as senior Scouts. As one of their projects of community service, these lads will help in the training of younger boys in the Troop. Another aspect of our school life, with which I have been particularly pleased, has been the great interest shown this year in drama, speech arts and music. In this connection I would like to congratulate the directors and all the boys who worked so hard and produced such a good standard in November in The Pirates of Penzance ' ' , and in May in The Devil ' s Disciple . In addition, 16