SJR’s voice continues to resonate

Over Louis Riel Weekend, I was lucky enough to be a staff supervisor on the SJR Boarding Ski Trip to Asessippi Ski Area & Resort. It was great to spend time with this group of young people and watch their confidence and mastery of the slopes grow.

The school day is long at SJR as there is so much to do. Our boarding students are completely integrated and follow the same intense school day as our day students. Living on campus means they are in a unique position to make the most of a raft of co-curricular opportunities that develop leadership, self-belief and character.

This year we have boarding students from Austria, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Rwanda, Russia and Ukraine. They are living up to my high expectations in terms of their academic commitment and co-curricular attainment as well as their personal qualities of compassion, integrity and service. They bring a diverse and interesting perspective to daily life at SJR.

All our boarders are learning to show leadership and are contributing to our mission pillars of academic excellence, creative expression, active healthy living, and social responsibility. This can be seen in a snapshot of some of their recent achievements.

Kun, Felix, Eliza and Nancy, our four Boarding Prefects, continue to work alongside the SJR Student Council to raise the profile of SJR Boarding within the wider day student population. They successfully advocate for the boarding students. Additionally, they worked closely with our Resident Advisors and our team in the kitchen to arrange a celebration for the Chinese New Year.

Kun and Simon are regular peer tutors for students as supervised by Student Support Services. Ian, Michael and Olivia are away on the Senior School Dominican Republic Community Service trip. Anna was part of the cast in SJR Drama’s recent production of Blue Stockings and Johnson helped behind the scenes with sound operation. Nancy and James are enthusiastic musicians within the School music program.

Jonas and Aziz are key players on the SJR hockey team; Aziz is also a part of the soccer team and track & field team. Anna accompanied the Fernie Ski Trip. Carlos, Jeffrey and Lionel are regular players on the Junior Varsity basketball team for Coach Sean Tohme. Valentina and Paulina play soccer for Coach Diane Brueton, and Kosuke and Ian play Varsity basketball for Coach Brent Corrigan.

Along with day students, Simon, Mustafa, Ian, Artur and Montse continue to lead the World Issues Club every Day 8 with Ms. Campbell and Mr. McCready. Angela, Kelly and Mustafa contribute to breakfast discussions whenever the History Club meets with Mr. Berrington. Sebastian, Valentina, Camila, Montse and Paulina are regular attendees of the Multicultural Club, and Mustafa is a frequent Chess Club player. Ian and Kelly are working with the Model United Nations Assembly. Our four prefects, Artur and Simon are SJR Admission Ambassadors and have led tours this year. Aziz, Simon and Ania helped with the National Public Speaking Championships as judges and tabulators.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my plea for volunteer judges at this year's National Public Speaking Championships. SJR could not host this event without the support of our community. I am grateful to our faculty and staff and the Grade 10 Debating class, who organized the event and did a fantastic job. Ms. Gordon let me know that our student volunteers did a “tremendous job in helping to organize and facilitate the event. Grade 8 and Grade 9 students served as speakers and timers, which made running the various events possible. Our students demonstrated poise, and grace and many parents, judges, and coaches commented on their leadership abilities".

Our world-class public speaking and debate programs are an integral part of our academic offering, and Mr. Robinson reports that competitors from SJR met with great success at the Championships. The overall winner was Lillian (Grade 11). Owen (Grade 12) was eighth, and Maddy (Grade 11) was ninth. Lillian was the National Champion in Impromptu Speaking, and Owen was second in Impromptu. Lillian, Owen, and Maddy qualified for the upcoming World Individual Public Speaking and Debating Championships to be held in Toronto in April. This means that a quarter of the Canadian delegation will be from SJR! Well done to all the students who took part, and congratulations and good luck to Lillian, Owen and Maddy. SJR’s voice continues to resonate.

Jim Keefe
Head of School

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