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

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Head Boy ' s Letter If I had written this letter at the beginning of the year instead of at the end, I might have said something entirely different for I am con- stantly surprised at how much I learned in these brief three terms. Many situations contributed to this, but the main influence came from people, from just being with them and dealing with them. The importance of the other guy really stood out for me this year and I found that, whether I liked it or not, I had to take notice of him. So, in taking stock of everything one day, it seemed to me that probably one of the most essential skills anyone can learn is listening. It may not sound earth-shattering, but few traits will earn friends so quickly or prove more valu- able. And, who knows? you might even learn something. There is a tendency at Shawnigan to shut out a lot of the sounds around yourself and only open your ears at the most demanding times. But there are people there with interesting ideas to be heard and experiencing them is a rich addition to anybody ' s life. But too many people, like myself, never fully realize this until their senior year, and some don ' t even realize it then, even though the op- portunity is there whenever they want it. The importance of getting along with your peers in the Shawnigan community has been stressed NHf often enough and this is one way of achieving it. Maybe responsibility is the mold which forms listeners, for those with a stake in life can ' t afford not to listen. But everyone has a stake in life and while they ' re at Shawnigan, they have a stake in the school and, if nothing else, it should convince them that there are other thoughts being kicked around besides their own. To my mind, the people this year showed a greater desire to listen than I had previously noticed and this applied particularly to the Grade Twelves. I suppose every Head Boy has words of praise for the Grad. Class, but this group, who inevitably had the toughest jobs, were tremendous and I owe them much. Yet you don ' t have to be a Grade Twelve just to lend an ear to your neighbour — the unique Shawnigan way of life affords the opportunity to everybody and you don ' t need any special talent to participate. There will of course come a moment when you won ' t be listening, but doing the talking and then is the time to test out what you ' ve heard and absorbed. Above all, it is important to be honest with yourself and stand up for what you believe in. Honesty of purpose is valued at Shawnigan as much as anywhere else and here you have a perfect chance to be frank and open. The school has honesty to its credit; its intentions are good if the results are not always exactly what we would like to see. One of Shawnigan ' s great values is that it is a medium of exchange, a meeting of ideas and a confrontation of personalities. The people are what make it so. Listen to them and it will help you to find out what education is really all about. — G.T. 18

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Glen Thompson Glen and his Grad Class Shawnigan has an ideal; the molding of a mature student of dedication and discipline from the loose end and raw materials presented in each new boy. Like all ideals it is seldom reached, but there are the few who manage. Glen Thompson, the head boy, was the only member of the Class of ' 70 to be among those few. Indis- putably the best prefect, he wielded his authority without d amaging his place in the view of his fellows as a friend and an equal and he maintained admirably an equilibrium between the demands of his superiors and those of his peers so that ultimately he gained the respect of both. Though positions of height have been, more than once, oc- cupied bv lovers of pomp and power, the esteem of his appointment to head bov never entered Glen ' s thoughts. It was a responsibility, and as with everv other resnonsibilitv he had had before, he accepted it and took it for granted that his best was the minimum he must do. His fellow grade elevens at the end of the ' 69 vear evidently realized this because in their vote for head boy his support was virtually unanimous. Thompson was by no means a first-impressionist; indeed, the first impression he gave earned him the image of a cave-man with the accompanying nickname ' Gronk ' . But this image disappeared quickly as one became acquainted with him. Immediately one realized that he was a great idealist and one was quick to discover, too, the accompanying dedication he displayed. His idealism, in- terestingly enough, was portrayed by his parts in two Shakespearean dramas (as both Hamlet and Brutus, Glen was acting almost as he, himself, would have in those situations), and his dedication was personified by his peculiar method of sprinting in which, when at his maximum point, he was virtually pounding the life out of the ground. But his tough physical appearance disguised the truly sensi- tive person inside. Memorable is the laugh of his, by which he endured the joking but long-drawn ribbing his friends would give him, but more memorable still was the day when Brentwood ' s 1st XV went to the lengths of causing three major injuries in order to leave Shawnigan in bitter defeat. It was the only time his sensitivity was really visible; it was in the form of a stream of tears down the length of his cheeks. 20