The Tragic Loss of Jason Peagram ’05

Posted on January 18, 2011 by admin

Monday in the USA was, Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday. It was a day for reflection and an opportunity to celebrate the great black Civil rights leader who did so much on behalf of all African Americans. In fact, Reverend Martin Luther King Junior dedicated his life to building bridges between peoples of all different backgrounds in the great American melting pot. So essentially, the national holiday was a day to celebrate diversity, racial equity, peace and compassion. It was well timed on the heels of the traumatic shooting only days ago in Tucson Arizona that killed or injured more than a dozen people, including a member of the House of Representatives who has miraculously survived a bullet to the brain.

So as America reflected and searched for avenues toward a more peaceful society, here at LCC we are also reminded of the callous impact of violence. Sadly, Jason Peagram, 22-years old and an LCC graduate from the Class of 2005, was killed late last week in a shooting here in our fair city – Montreal’s first homicide for 2011.

Monday, as America celebrated Doctor King’s important message of peace, I joined colleagues from LCC and attended Jason Peagram’s funeral. It is always tragic and somewhat unnatural to watch a mother bury her son. The fact that he was a victim of such a violent act only made it more difficult.

As the presiding priest shared with the congregation, this untimely and violent death of a 22 year-old with his future before him, reminds us that there is indeed evil in the world. That the grace and sanctity of life was taken from Jason in the street in a violent manner was shocking and brutal. We were advised to be cautious of violence that is creeping onto Canadian streets and into our households. Indeed, we should all be alarmed. We were also asked to consider what we have done for others recently. You see, Jason was a regular volunteer. A love of service was an attribute he picked up while at LCC–most recently as a volunteer with kids involved in basketball programs at the Trevor Williams Kids Foundation. The priest at the funeral also asserted that we should all be wary of selfishness, narcissism, and a tendency for all of us to be too self-absorbed. So how can we counter reckless, illogical violence? It is only through love, sharing and community outreach that we will defeat brash violence. Together we have to smother it. It begins in our daily lives at school and in our homes.

A young LCC brother was buried on Monday. He was a victim of a willful act of violence and we should all feel a sort of inner personal outrage. However, we cannot allow violence to triumph. Stop and reflect how you can respond through a personal gesture or act of compassion or empathy. However small or large, let’s each dedicate an individual private act of kindness to the memory of Jason Peagram, Class of ’05.

Jason’s Irish roots were evident at his funeral and the final words of the following traditional Irish prayer provided a fitting farewell.

Jason: “May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. May the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.”
—Chris Shannon, Headmaster

Happy Reading!

Posted on January 17, 2011 by admin

Now that the excitement of the holidays has abated and we settle back into our normal routines, we have an opportunity to re-establish the daily reading practices we might have cast aside during the pressure-packed social season.

Parents ask me about creating a reading climate in the home—an invaluable asset for personal and intellectual growth. Although there is not one tried and true approach, I can offer some suggestions that will assist you in fostering and, in some cases, re-kindling (pardon the pun) your child’s interest in reading.

I have mentioned in previous posts that it is imperative to begin by focusing on your child’s passions. If your son or daughter is an avid hockey fan, for example, you can start with the Sports section of The Gazette. You can share with your child articles that you find interesting, whether they be Red Fisher’s “Red Line” on Saturdays or Stephanie Myles’ daily column that gleans entertaining items from other sources. You may want to give your child a subscription to Sports Illustrated for Kids, Sports Illustrated or Hockey News. Sports biographies and autobiographies are also excellent resources for stimulating young fans’ interest in reading. Of course, I am referring only to the world of hockey. However, you can find print material and online resources for any hobby or activity your child finds fascinating.

To adapt Ernest Hemingway’s famous phrase, all one needs is a “clean, well-lighted place” to cozy up with a good book, magazine, newspaper or e-reader. In fact, you don’t even need light if you have an Apple iPad. Create attractive spaces in your home away from the television where you and your children can read either alone or together. As reading is usually a private act, reading nooks tend to be the most desirable areas for snuggling up on a cold winter’s evening to enjoy the pleasures of an alluring story. In any event, a comfortable chair or sofa and light are the bare necessities.

As e-readers become more popular, books and bookshelves may eventually disappear. Although this reality makes me sad, as I am an avowed bibliophile with a personal library of about two thousand books, I realize that technologies change. After all, we are no longer reading papyrus scrolls. However, creating a home library over time is a wonderful way to foster reading. Not only is a wall of books attractive, but it also contains millions of words and ideas that may be absorbed by your family. A library is a sanctuary, a physical space that cannot be replaced by an electronic screen.

Finally, show your children that reading is a worthwhile activity. Once they are beyond the age of bedtime stories, continue to model good reading habits. Read on a daily basis. Talk about the books you are reading. Leave good books lying around for your children to pick up in a casual way. Take your children to the local library and bookstore. Above all, show them that reading is a positive, fun activity. Readers tend not to be bored or lonely, as they can always find stimulation and companionship in the printed word. In the immortal words of Groucho Marx, “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” — Brian Moore, Department Head: English Language Arts, Communications Studies and Literacy Programs

Teeming with Potential

Posted on November 25, 2010 by admin

I had a special day last Tuesday. At the outset of the morning, sixteen bright-eyed members of Kindergarten visited me in my office. At this early stage in their development, every trip beyond the confines of “la Maison Maternelle” is a learning experience and journey of discovery. They asked what I actually do at LCC, and after some discussion, it still remained a mystery. The only “doers” in their eyes are their gifted teachers who teach, encourage, guide and support them everyday in their classroom. The children were satisfied with more pedestrian questions: what is my favorite shape (round) and colour (blue)? Why are all the “big kids” allowed to walk around without their teachers? Is the shovel in my office that was used to turn the sod on our new arena construction project in 2007 made out of real gold? What a fabulous group of children, teeming with potential and yearning to learn at all times.

Later that morning we had a visit from Walter Dean Myers, author of Monster, this year’s LCC Reads selection—our community summer reading/literacy initiative. Started six years ago by English Department Head Brian Moore and Head Librarian Maria Varvarikos, the program has been widely embraced by students and staff. Mr. Myers is the fifth author from the LCC Reads program to have followed our collective summer reading experience with a visit to 4090 Royal to address our Middle and Senior School student body. Mr. Myers was wonderful in explaining how he plies his craft: up every morning at 5 am for three to four hours of writing, always producing five pages of his novel—never six or four, always five pages. It is this kind of commitment and measured certainty that has allowed him to publish more than one hundred novels, mostly aimed at adolescent readers.

For many, the description of his early life was most interesting. Mr. Myers lost his mother at an early age and was placed in foster care. He suffered from a speech impediment that made him the brunt of many jokes among peers. Frustrated, he spent much of his youth in Harlem fighting, but not just with other boys, also girls, his teachers, and on one occasion, the mailman. Along the way he found comfort in books and became an avid reader. He claimed it was that skill that allowed him to mature and emerge. He slowly gained confidence in his own capacity to share stories with others as a writer. Mr. Myers openly encouraged all of our students to read as much as possible. Like our Kindergarten students, even our high school students need to remember that they too are teeming with potential. I am pleased that an accomplished writer was able to remind them that continuing to develop reading skills is essential to their success—and success they will experience because of LCC Reads! —Chris Shannon, Headmaster

The Wonder of Mr. Machai Viravaidya

Posted on October 27, 2010 by admin

I recently attended the annual Round Square international conference in Thailand along with six LCC student-delegates. This international association of 80 schools from across the globe continues to focus on key values and IDEALS we promote regularly in our school (Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership, Service). Active learning experiences such as the annual international conference connect students, teachers and administrators and open eyes to major issues and challenges far from home. In addition to a host of excellent keynote speakers, discussion groups and cultural activities, I had the opportunity to participate in two separate service days, including a memorable day connecting with young children and babies at a Thai orphanage run by the Catholic church.

Although there is much to reflect on from this eye-opening experience, I will share my impressions of a single speaker. Mr. Machai Viravaidya is an impressive and humorous Thai man who has led an incredibly accomplished life of service and initiative, mostly dedicated to improving public health at the broadest level in Thailand. Known as Thailand’s “Condom King,” Mr. Viravaidya has spent decades distributing condoms across the country—years before it was being done widely in most countries. This was a big deal in Thailand as it is a very conservative and traditional country. He made the topic of family planning fun, distributing free board games which educated people, giving taxi drivers and police thousands of condoms to distribute to the general public and holding an annual condom blowing championship. He also started a chain of restaurants called “Cabbages and Condoms,” hoping that condoms would some day be as common as cabbages. He joked with student delegates at our conference to remember that condoms aren’t dangerous, they are what he calls useful “weapons of mass protection.”

As the founder of PDA, Thailand’s largest non-profit development association, Machai Viravaidya has played a key role in developing Thailand’s immensely successful family planning initiatives. This has led to one of the fastest reductions in birth rate anywhere in the world—falling from an annual increase of over 3% in the mid 1970’s to merely half of one percent today. During that time the average number of births per woman in Thailand fell from seven babies to less than two.

Mr. Viravaidya has also been instrumental in building Thailand’s comprehensive national HIV/AIDS prevention policies, radically reducing new HIV infections. In 2005 the World Bank estimates that these prevention measures helped save nearly 8 million lives and saved the Thai government over $18 billion in treatment costs alone. Amazing achievements resulting from one man’s vision and determination!
For his service toward improving Thailand’s public health, Mr Viravaidya has received many major awards, including the United Nations Gold Peace Medal and was acclaimed by Time Magazine as one of “Asia’s modern heroes.” Most recently he was recipient of the Bill & Melinda Gates Global Health Award and a prize called the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, with each prize having a value of $ 1 million—significant funds that he immediately put back to work fighting public health issues in Thailand.

Despite this success in family planning and fighting the spread of HIV, Mr. Viravaidya has not taken time to rest. Now he has turned to education, poverty reduction, and the promotion of creative solutions to complex problems in his country. He sees education as the key to success and has started a school called the “Mechai Pattana Bamboo School” which boasts the world’s largest geodesic bamboo dome (30 meters across), a climate change centre, a design and innovation centre, a democracy education centre, and what he calls a “Barefoot MBA and Philanthropy Academy” dedicated to teaching young Thai villagers how to make money and how to give it away. The students designed their own uniform, they sit on hiring committees for the selection of teachers, and there are no textbooks, just the Internet.

It was impressive to meet Mr. Machai Viravaidya personally and hear him speak. He is a global leader, an innovator and someone whose life motto could very well be “Non Nobis Solum.” His final message to his audience in Thailand was simple yet profound….. “If the educated and the wealthy don’t help with the world’s many problems, then who’s going to help? Go out and do something decent.” That’s a mantra we all should follow.

Check out his organization’s web site at: www.mechaifoundation.org –Chris Shannon, Headmaster

Grandparents Teach A Lot

Posted on May 26, 2010 by admin

There’s an important and unique event taking place at the end of this week at LCC; our annual Grandparents’ Day. This is a special occasion and it’s fantastic to see the grandparents of our Junior School children on campus. Both our youngest students and their grandparents get a lot out of connecting together at school. The children cannot wait for their grandparents to visit their classrooms so they can show off their work portfolios, and the grandparents can’t wait to be taken by the hand and proudly shown the work that represents effort, progress, creativity and an enthusiastic primary school fascination with learning. In fact, both research and general practice show that having to show off work, or read aloud to grandma or grandpa, is one of the highest incentives that exists for young children.

This Friday afternoon’s Grandparents’ Day includes a classroom visit, a short tea stop with a welcome from me and our Junior School Director, and of course, a performance by the Junior School Choir—all grandparents have a special love for children’s choirs! This is followed a visit to our annual LCC Book Fair in our Memorial Gym.

It’s actually curious that we don’t continue with Grandparents’ Day in Middle or Senior School. Something seems to happen when students become teenagers. It’s no longer as cool, fun or exciting to host grandparents at school. But maybe we’re making a mistake as a school. There’s nothing “uncool” or boring about grandparents. In fact relationships with grandparents are very important and special. These are people who have seen a lot, their wisdom is valuable, and perhaps most important, they are a few degrees removed from students and parents, so they are often less judgmental. It is easier to explore issues or ideas that maybe children wouldn’t with their parents.

In future years maybe we should also bring grandparents into our Middle and Senior Schools. Regardless, if grandparents are close by and live in Montreal, I suggest our students do themselves a favour and book a special date with them. They should ask a few questions they have never asked before….and tell grandparents something about school or their lives that they never really knew. I guarantee you the conversation would be interesting.

I lost all my own grandparents many years ago. But when I was a child and a teenager, they were very positive influences in my life; we were very close. I particularly remember hearing fantastic stories from my maternal grandfather who fought for Canada in WWI. He survived a gas attack at Ypres in Belgium and the Canadian assault on Vimy Ridge in France. Looking back, I probably took those times a little bit for granted, so I wish I could visit with them again.

My advice to today’s students: don’t take your grandparents for granted, they’re the best teachers alive. They should think about that next time they get together. —Christopher Shannon, Headmaster