Celebrating the Arts

Posted on March 4, 2011 by admin

While in grade 3 or 4, I had a fascination with the cliffs of Acapulco, Mexico. I had seen diving competitions on television and thought it was the perfect scene to try and recreate in a painting in art class. I paired up with another keen young boy and we worked diligently on our painting for a couple of weeks. We each had pretty limited artistic talent. Although we received minimal direction, we were determined to depict a scene that was colourful, vibrant and alive in our minds.

In those days some teachers were a little less focused on encouragement and specific skill improvement than they are at today’s LCC. Unfortunately, my art teacher was also a real grouch. So to our shock, when our tableau was finished, she approached the painting, expressed immediate dissatisfaction and ripped it in half. Art trauma!

I remember that moment so well. In fact, it is more firmly embedded in my mind than the details of most of the classes I attended in primary and middle school. Why is this significant to me today? This story reinforces that the arts provide for active and meaningful experiences, which embed themselves in each person and are critical to building personal identity. Artistic activities tend to be more active learning experiences and draw on students’ creative juices. For good or ill, artistic ventures are particularly memorable. Do you remember the first time you performed in a play or performed music in public? In short, the arts allow for creativity, expression and meaningful personal growth—and studies have shown that the development of work habits in art, music and drama simply make people smarter. Over time, students become more able to see the complex connections between disparate information —what one writer, Daniel Pink calls the “symphony of life.”

I am proud of what I would like to call the renaissance of the arts at LCC. In recent years, we have placed a significant emphasis on the value of the arts in education. Through this, we are helping to educate more confident and capable students, ready for the complexity of modern life.

I commend LCC’s outstanding arts teachers for providing inspiration and creative skill development to so many students. The many arts and cultural opportunities available here are notable difference-makers in our students’ school experience.

What is your art?—Chris Shannon, Headmaster

Weeks 3&4: Adelaide, Australia – Just Can’t Get Enough

Posted on February 28, 2011 by admin

Two more sunny weeks have gone by, and although I can barely believe it, I have now been in Adelaide for one awesome month. I nearly feel Australian, as I have picked up some new lingo and some new favourite foods. Unfortunately, no accent yet, but I have been working on it.

Geared with my iPod loaded with my new Australian tunes, my exchange family and I headed for the breathtaking countryside of South Australia. Our destination was the little town of Clare, where the farms are plentiful and the vineyards stretch for kilometers. We went to a winery for “afternoon tea” and enjoyed scones and juice while overlooking the grape vines and the picturesque garden. Afterwards we drove up to the lookout of the valley, where the view was magnificent. The next day we were off to a friend’s farm and got to go horseback riding and motor biking.

The past week has been spent getting organized and excited for the 12-day outdoor adventure trip we are going on with a group of students in our “year” here at Westminster. There is much planned, including lots of running, kayaking, sailing, group activities, games and overnights at spectacular sights. It is, for most, the highlight of their experience at the school, and I am so happy I get to take part in the trip. All in all, it will be “heaps good.”–Sarah Salzman ’13

Dernier blogue!

Posted on February 24, 2011 by admin

Cette dernière semaine d’école était excellente. Capucine a dû étudier plusieurs examens, mais nous avons quand même eu le temps de regarder beaucoup de films français et de nous amuser. Il ne fait pas très chaud, pas de soleil en ce moment. En fait, ce matin, j’avais du mal à distinguer l’école à travers la brume !

Ce jeudi, je suis allée encore une fois à Paris. Le matin, nous avons fait des courses. À midi, j’ai rencontré ma cousine et nous avons passé le reste de la journée ensemble. Alexandra a 21 ans et vit à Paris depuis un an. Elle m’a emmené dans tous ses endroits préférés, j’ai réalisé qu’elle connaissait tout le monde ! Nous nous sommes promenées dans le Marais, nous avons visité la Place des Vosges et nous avons acheté de délicieux chocolats chez François Pralus, un chocolatier bien reconnu.

La semaine prochaine, ma dernière en France, sera folle ! Samedi, nous allons visiter les plages du débarquement de Normandie. Puis, de dimanche à mardi nous serons à Londres. Finalement, jeudi nous irons à Disneyland.

Je dois dire que ces cinq semaines ont passé beaucoup trop vite. J’ai rencontré plein de personnes sympathiques, avec qui (grâce à Facebook) je resterai en contact. Tout le monde me dit que je ne suis pas restée assez longtemps, il va falloir que je revienne. Ils ont définitivement raison !

Chère France, à bientôt !—Hélène Osterman ’12

Dernière visite à Paris…

Posted on February 21, 2011 by admin

Cette semaine était généralement très amusante. Samedi, je suis allé avec Pierre, Capucine et Hélène visiter le wagon dans lequel a été signé l’armistice. Après, nous avons visité le château de Compiègne. À mon avis, les autres châteaux que j’ai vus étaient plus intéressants. Nous sommes aussi allés à la soirée qu’ils organisent chaque mois. C’était tellement amusant et une bonne manière de rencontrer des nouvelles personnes.

Jeudi était ma dernière visite à Paris avec le Lycée. J’étais un peu malade, mais c’était quand même sympathique. Au début, nous avons fait un peu de courses et j’ai acheté des cadeaux pour ma famille. Après, la cousine d’Hélène est venue la chercher. Après le déjeuner, Katja, Fabianne et moi avons visité l’Arc de triomphe. C’est un endroit magnifique, mais le temps n’était pas très agréable, alors j’étais un peu déçu. À côté de l’Arc de triomphe, il y avait des breakdancers qui ont fait un spectacle superbe. Nous sommes montés dans l’Arc de triomphe mais la vue n’était pas très bonne. Il y avait trop de brouillard, nous n’étions même pas capables de voir la ville.

Généralement, mon séjour dans ce lycée était incroyable. Les élèves ont été gentils et j’ai bien aimé le temps que j’ai passé ici.—Samuel Ergina ’12

The Value of an International Perspective

Posted on February 17, 2011 by admin

Our gym has been adorned this week with 20 flags from various Round Square member-schools attending the Junior Round Square Conference. Most participating schools are from Canada, the USA and South America. However, some are from as far away as Denmark, South Africa, and Singapore. The flags are symbols of difference and diversity in schools in different countries with unique histories, cultures, languages and orientations.

A core objective of both LCC and the Round Square is to open students’ eyes to the broader world and create a sense of comfort with diversity and a genuine interest in developing an international perspective. This requires a focus on language skills, an appreciation of cultural traditions, as well as an awareness of key international historical and current events.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for each of our students to seek to know more about diversity at home and abroad. If education can be looked at as a tool kit, every student needs the tools to be a craftsman for success in the future. In addition to a comfort and interest with diversity, each needs another important set of tools: an awareness of major events in the world and major international trends and current events. Our world has become completely entangled and interdependent. We all need to be informed and take positions on a host of issues well beyond our back doors. For teenagers, there’s no time for “duck and cover” or avoidance because the issues are too complicated, and the world will catch up to them.

This past weekend we all saw amazing images and footage of the culmination of a people’s revolution in Egypt; swarming throngs of everyday people demanding their voices be heard after 30 years of living under conditions of virtual martial law with very limited personal freedoms. The resilience of the street protestors reflected a fantastic example of the depth of the desire for democracy. The events in Egypt send a powerful signal to other countries that have never had a democratic tradition.

Consider for a moment, what the impact will be on many other old monarchies and strongmen in the region of the Middle East & North Africa. Already since the weekend and the resignation by Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, people in Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and Iran have openly protested in the streets even though their governments frown on it. In several other countries without democratic traditions, rulers are nervous.

Note that authorities in those places did everything in their power during the past three weeks to make sure that their citizens could not witness the elation of the ecstatic freedom street dance in Cairo. In those authoritarian countries, state-run television refused to show the images of the Egyptian street protest and, in Iran in particular, Persian-language BBC International was scrambled to prevent the flow of information. State control and limitations on the Internet and cell phone networks have also prevented the sharing of images and ideas from Egypt.

But you know as well as I do that governments cannot shield their people from the truth. In this day and age, the images and information will eventually surface. They will surely see the images of the Egyptian peoples’ democracy dance, just as the Chinese people did following the events in Tiananmen Square in Beijing the late 1980’s.

So how do the events in Egypt impact relations with Israel? What are the broader implications for the region? What is Canada’s role in all this?

Students may have no idea how to approach these complicated questions – and if they’re in grades 7, 8, and 9, that’s probably excusable. However, if they’re in grades 10, 11 and certainly Pre-U, I believe they should take a view, form an opinion, and quite simply, care. Our times mandate it.

So I offer students this simple piece of advice: pay attention to world events or risk being marginalized in the long term. So maybe we all should take a fresh look at those diverse flags again in our gym and see them as a starting point. Interesting, aren’t they?! —Chris Shannon, Headmaster