This gallery contains 2 photos.
Namasté! That is the common traditional greeting used in India. Translated roughly, it means “the Spirit within me salutes the Spirit in you”, knowing that we are all made from the same divine creator. I offered this greeting to LCC … Continue reading
As our high school students prepare for exams we should all be reflecting on the journey that every student has experienced since we first gathered in late August. It’s a journey of learning and personal growth with a notable impact on mind, body and heart.
This morning I asked each Middle and Senior School student to reflect on their own personal journey – asking, what it has looked like and how it has felt?
Since September each student has gained new knowledge in various subjects. They’ve completed projects, in groups or alone, honed special technology skills, become better critical thinkers. They’ve all certainly experienced proud moments of achievement as well as difficult periods of frustration. I hope they are all learning how to handle both ends of the emotional spectrum well.
On this learning journey teachers have pushed and pulled, challenged and often inspired. Every student’s development and growth is complicated. Yet, as one parent recently declared after an evening of parent-teacher meetings, LCC teachers are “caretakers”. She was very thankful that our teachers are so supportive of our students.
Some of our students are quiet by nature, while some like to speak a lot and are still working on becoming better listeners. All have drawn on their capacity for creativity in their courses, but especially in developing what are called “Studio Habits of Mind” in Art, Drama, Music and Digital Media. This is the capacity to create, refine and improve work. In essence, they are developing skills for personal and academic resilience.
Pride is something we talk about a lot here – and it has often been on display in the classroom and in our many co-curricular activities.
For a large percentage of our students, athletics is a key aspect of the journey and involvement at school. With a focus on fitness, skill development and competition, most students have navigated dozens of practices, demanding coaches and high expectations.
Some teams won league banners while others fell short. However, the highs and lows of athletic competition have been an important part of their personal experience, providing many memorable learning moments.
Beyond sports, LCC students have been very engaged in many interesting activities. Dozens were Open House Ambassadors or hosts for “Student for a Day” events. They have stepped up as members of their Houses, iPride in Middle School, Grad Pride in Senior School as well as Student Council.
The journey has included debating competitions, Model UN, participation in the Destiny Quebec organizing team, Green Team, Yearbook, LCC Reads, Amnesty International, Duke of Edinburgh, Round Square, LCC TV, The Wire, Robotics, Movember, and roles as delegates to leadership conferences in Canada and Singapore. And of course they have all participated in a wide array of service initiatives across this city.
Our students prepared diligently for Monday night’s wonderful Holiday Concert and many are preparing the upcoming Middle and Senior School plays slated for the winter.
So yes, students should prepare well for their exams. But let’s remember, much of what they do here that is important has no exam at all, but does certainly test them. Clubs, activities, various inter-school competitions and performance opportunities are an integral part of personal and character development.
Since August each of our students has been on a marvelous journey. They have exerted a lot of effort, discovered some hidden talents, grown and matured. They should take genuine pride in that. No test or exam required!
Happy & safe holidays!
Chris Shannon – Headmaster
I was driving along highway 401 on the recent mid-term weekend. At Ingleside, Ontario we passed a large solar panel farm on the south side of the road. It’s an impressive facility that is situated on previously underused land, close to the Ontario Hydro power grid. It opened last spring and covers 100 acres. Forty-three thousand solar panels cover the land and provide enough electricity to power 1,800 homes (16.8 gigawats/hour). The private company is now looking for other similar opportunities in Ontario.
I was impressed by this facility. A quick look online also revealed that much larger solar parks are becoming quite prevalent across the world, especially in sunnier climates.
The largest are in California’s deserts. Whereas the solar farm I saw near the 401 had 43,000 panels on 100 acres of land, the largest solar farms in California are mammoth – with 1.7 million solar panels over 13 square kilometers. Impressively, a single such facility powers close to 150-thousand homes. Other parks use large mirrors that generate heat – another innovation that channels abundant natural energy available from the sun.
Solar parks of this size are also now emerging in India, Pakistan, China, along with smaller but significant projects across Europe.
So on the eve of the global UN environment conference in Paris – COP 21 – I think we should all investigate the growing application of renewable energy – solar, wind and other natural initiatives such as wave power. They are now becoming significant elements of countries’ national energy infrastructures and priorities. Let’s hope that innovation will continue to present new alternatives and help us to meaningfully diminish our dependence on fossil fuels. – Chris Shannon, Headmaster
In the week following the terrorist attacks in Paris, it was important to learn that every single attacker was born in Europe. Not one was from Syria, Iraq, or elsewhere in Middle East. The implications are quite significant. It says a great deal about the frustration of marginalized youth in Europe. Notably, not one of the terrorists involved was an observant Muslim, so the seeds of radicalism are less about being part of a marginal religious sect as they are about failed integration of immigrant communities into life in western cities.
It turns out that the Paris attackers all hailed from a few struggling neighbourhoods – mostly from a place on the outskirts of Brussels called Molenbeek. The leader and the four others from Molenbeek had common elements: all European, they experienced issues at school, drug abuse, and petty criminal activity.
Globe & Mail journalist Doug Saunders wrote a powerful piece in last weekend’s edition that shifts the dialogue away from ISIS and religious Jihadists to immigrants & failed integration (see: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/saunders-avert-extremism-before-it-start-by-building-betterneighbourhoods/article27403775/ ).
Canada, the USA, and European nations really need immigrants to secure our economic futures (Canada admits about 300,000 people a year). So, a key question is how can Canada and other nations do a better job of building better and more welcoming communities, especially for those dominated by newcomers?
Experts tell us there are good examples of how best to welcome immigrants, educate immigrant children for success, create positive social dynamics, and provide meaningful economic opportunities for creative and motivated newcomers.
Mr. Saunders has been part of a major study for the World Bank on a shift on development thinking related to migration. The researchers kept arriving at one major conclusion: immigration works best when “cities and countries prepare the ground in advance by making small investments and institutional changes that give new immigrants precious footholds, rather than waiting for failures to occur and trying to correct them with big, expensive interventions.”
I hope that in coming days Canadians will welcome newcomers in ways that will truly allow them to build strong and lasting footholds. – Chris Shannon, Headmaster
We were all saddened by the horrendous events in Paris last weekend – 129 killed and several hundred people seriously injured in coordinated terrorist attacks across the “city of light.” French President Hollande has now declared France at war with ISIS and US President Obama has called these events “an attack on the civilized world.”
This violence by ISIS has been linked to the recent bombing of a Russian aircraft over Egypt and horrendous suicide bombings in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. In each case, the victims were innocent and unsuspecting civilians, who by virtue of travelling, shopping in public, sitting in a café, or attending a rock concert, they represented the very idea of openness that ISIS detests.
These activities and freedoms are what we often take for granted – the hallmarks of our free and civil society. To the ISIS terrorists, this way of life is the enemy – no distinction is made between civilians or combatants. All so-called “unbelievers” who don’t support a radical interpretation of Islam, are enemies and conflict and mayhem in the West is what they want.
In this week’s high school assembly I spoke to LCC students about the origins and motivation of ISIS, also known as the Islamic State. I noted that even Al Qaeda disowned the group in 2014 because of its sheer brutality, driven literally by a medieval interpretation of the Koran. This includes stoning, crucifixion, mass beheadings, and very limited rights for women.
ISIS controls some oil fields in both Syria and Iraq. It is estimated that by selling it on the black market, it earns about $3 million/day to fund its operations.
The group has effectively used the Internet and social media as a way to lure disaffected youth to join their twisted cause. It is estimated that up to 10,000 young people have gone to Iraq and Syria from the West to join the Jihadi movement – and the largest proportion of those people who have been radicalized from the west have come from France.
France has been targeted for being a former colonial nation in the Muslim world. Many second and third generation Muslim youth have found full integration into French society to be challenging – a perfect breeding ground for the unemployed and frustrated to be “radicalized” by ISIS.
France was first targeted in last January’s attacks on free expression at Charlie Hebdo France has also been fighting Muslim extremism for several years in Mali in West Africa, while sending more bombers to ISIS targets in the Middle East than any other nation. At home, France is a very secular society, with a very clear division in political life between religion and politics – the complete opposite of ISIS which is driven by a radical religious foundation – a twisted interpretation of a faith that is actually dedicated to peace.
ISIS believes in an unavoidable apocalypse – that the end is coming in a kind of modern crusade that will also destroy most Muslims who do not share their skewed medieval worldview.
They believe in waging war, not in creating treaties. So analysts tell us to expect more attacks and disturbances from ISIS. However, I recall similar claims years ago at the start of the 1st Gulf War against Saddam Hussein – and also following the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Sometimes these radicals find most satisfaction in the psychological aftermath of terrorist acts – the upset, unease and nervousness they unleash in the mind.
Since 9/11, collaboration amongst Western allies has actually tilted the War Against Terrorism in our favour. Like journalist Gwynne Dyer, who spoke to LCC students last year, I believe this trend will continue. Yet, we need to be prudent and remember what we value and what we are proud of in our open democracies. Let’s celebrate our core values, but not be drawn into an unwinnable war. That’s exactly what ISIS wants. – Chris Shannon, Headmaster