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

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many prizes were won by our boys in the Cowichan Drama Festival and the Cowichan Music Festival and you will hear more about some of these later. So that everyone in the community gets an opportunity to contribute something in line with his particular talents, it is most important in a school that activities like these should flourish. In this connection, however, there is one aspect where I feel we are falling short and this is that we do not yet have a school orchestra. But we are making definite plans to do something about this next year, and if there are any of you who would like to join I would urge you to return with a musical instrument. Perhaps I may be permitted to appeal to the parents to encourage your sons in this direction if you know they have talent. Before I finish discussing our school activities I should like to express my most sincere appreciation to all our staff for their loyalty and their enthusiasm for their work. In all departments— academic, administrative, and domestic — we are blessed with a most co-operative and dedicated group of people. It would certainly not be possible to produce the results we produce or to have the happy school we have if it were not for the unselfish efforts of the staff— and I would like to extend to each one of them a very real and genuine expression of gratitude and appreciation. Unfortunately we shall be losing two of our Matrons and two of our Masters this year. They are Miss Webster, who has been our Head Matron for three years, and Miss Saunders, who has been House Matron in the Junior House for the past eighteen months. Both of these ladies have worked tirelessly in the interests of the boys since they have been at Shawnigan, and we shall sorely miss them next year. The two masters who are leaving are Mr. Webster, who is returning to his home in England, and Mr. Christie, who is returning home to New Zealand. While we are all very sorry to see these, our friends, moving on, at the same time it is easy to understand why they are doing so, and they leave with our best wishes for all prosperity and happiness in the future. At this time too, I would like to avail myself of the opportunity of saying thank you to our Board of Governors. I have heard from some School Principals of the difficulties which they encounter with their Boards, and I am always able to tell them of the easy rapport and co-operation there is between the Shawnigan Governors and myself. I feel quite certain that I must be very difficult to work with sometimes— it seems that I am for ever asking them to meet urgent needs— and, in spite of this, I am conscious of their continued understanding, sympathy and support and for this I must assure them I am deeply indebted. In addition, I should like to say a special word to our Parents ' Guild. The Shawnigan family could not be complete, nor could it be such a happy fellow- ship, without the magnificent support which is being given to us by our parents, and particularly by our Mothers. Some months ago, in their determination to do something for the school, they began to make attractively designed kneelers for our School Chapel. As so often happens in these matters, their enthusiasm for their project generated its own energy, and a great number of our Mothers have put in many, many hours of work on this most worthwhile project. Indeed, already some eighty have been completed and were in fact placed in the Chapel last evening by some Mothers, so that they would be ready for our Closing 17

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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

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Service. The clue to the success of this project is that they are all actively doing something for the School, and can come toget! zx frequently— while they do it — to exchange the happy fellowship which is growing up in our family. At this point, in fact, I would like to thank our Mothers most sincerely for the tremen- dous efforts they are making to help the School, and I would like to assure each and every one of them that their support is greatly appreciated. To you boys, I have spoken on several occasions during the year with re- gard to our hopes for you as future citizens. At this stage I would just say this: your parents have given you a great opportunity by sending you to Shawnigan —but with this comes the duty to serve, and to help others who have not been so fortunate. While there is no doubt that the record for this year reads well, this is due mainly to the training we are able to give you at Shawnigan. This does not mean that as boys you are better people than boys anywhere else. You may have had better training but you are not better people. Don ' t ever think you are, be- cause it just isn ' t true. There are many, many boys who, if they had been given the opportunities that you have had, would have done as well — if not better. However, the fact is that the opportunity has been given to you, and with this come most important obligations: of constantly maintaining Christian principles— not of seeking your own glory or your own advantage, but of serv- ing God— of serving the country in which you will live, and of helping your fellow men. You will find that there is a tremendous job to be done in the world, and society on this continent desperately needs leaders who have the courage of their convictions and who are not afraid to stand up and to speak the truth on what they know is right. At Shawnigan we have tried to point out the star by which you should direct your course; and it will now depend on the extent of your unselfishness, your courage, your determination and — most important— your faith, as to how far you will go and as to the contribution you will make. Indeed, to bring in also our parents and visitors, I feel it is important to enlarge upon a matter which is concerning many schools and many teachers in schools. There has probably never been so much perplexity and discouragement expressed by men and women who are close to the younger generation as that expressed over the past few years. To put it simply, they seem to believe that the manners and ethics and morals of a larger number of adolescents than ever before are very far from satisfactory and are growing worse. They see both a lowering of standards and rules of conduct, until they hardly exist at all, and the disappearance of parental control. I don ' t think that this is a case of the older generation constantly criticizing the younger or the teachers trying to pass the buck to the parents. Anyone, who does not deceive himself and has the courage to look at the facts clearly, knows full well that the young have more freedom to go to the devil, and that there are more devils waiting about to attract them than ever before in living memory. I think we should realize that the teen-ager of today does not remember at first hand any of the war years — 78