April 2010

By Tony Ahn

Andrew Jones, the head of MacMillan floor and

Courtney Klassen, the head of Woodward floor, will be stepping down from their positions next year.

“I knew that I was going to step down after the Olympic break. I’ve made that decision during the break. But, my role finishes on July 31,” says Jones.

Jones has been the head of boarding for five years at Saints, and seven years in England. He says that even though he loves the job, being in a boarding house requires a great deal of time. He comments that he would like to spend more time at home with his wife. He also says that he had planned to be the head of Mac-millan house for only two years.

“Without a doubt, this year is becoming the best year I’ve ever had. To come up to the second floor is wonderful for me because it means I’m reconnecting with students that were on my floors a couple of years ago or even lon-ger,” says Jones. “I’ve thorough-ly enjoyed and absolutely loved it. But I think 12 years is a long time and now is the right time to step down.”

In addition to spending more time at home with his wife, Jones would also like to have more free time to enjoy Vancouver. He notes that he has been so busy with boarding that he hasn’t had much time to discover and enjoy Vancouver.

Klassen has very similar rea-sons for leaving the boarding

By Matt Yensen

Dr. Tom Matthews, the new-ly selected successor to

Nigel Toy, says he was thorough-ly impressed by the St. George’s community during his four-day trip to the school in late January.

“My first impression of Saints is that it is a very impressive school with outstanding facilities, a wide range of programs and dedicated staff,” says Matthews.

Along with speaking at assem-bly on January 25, Matthews was given a tour of the school by se-lect prefects and grade representa-tives. Matthews was able to view a typical day at St. George’s, and understand the workings of the student body. He later recalled this as the “most memorable part of my visit.” He added, “The con-

house. Klassen has been the head of Woodward for six years, and says it is time for him to move on. Klassen stated that the boarding house takes at least two nights per week from him, thus taking away from personal and family time.

Klassen says, “If you think about it, most boarders start in boarding in grade 7 or 8. Some-body who’s been here sine grade 7 has been here for six years. That’s the same as me. Some of the guys who are graduating this

year were boarders when they were grade 7, and that’s when I came in.”

Klassen will move out of his cuurent apartment in Harker Hall and find a place of his own.

“On the one hand I’m excited about finding a new place. At the same time I feel bad because there’s guys I’m just getting to know and the guys that are new boarders,” says Klassen.

“One other thing I’m looking forward to is not carrying my boarding house phone all the

time, no matter where I am. Even on the nights when I’m not work-ing at the boarding house I get phone calls from boarders. It’s going to be nice not to take those calls, when going to the movie theatre and such.“

The news of these departures has surprised the students in the Harker Hall. There were various opinions from the students, but most of them agreed on how Jones and Klassen were great with their duties during the years.

“I believe that Mr. Jones’ res-

ignation is going to have an im-pact. For me personally, he has been my housemaster for grade 8 and grade 10, and I have had many good experiences with him over the years. I know that he is a very confidant man and he un-derstands people’s feelings when people need to be understood,” says Vanket Soma, a residence on Macmillan floor.

Peter Ding, living in Woodward floor said, “Mr. Klassen is pas-sionate about helping boarders get along with academics and sports activities. He is also very humorous. The two cats he has also gave us fun as well.”

There hasn’t been any informa-tion about replacements, and the student’s expectations for the new head of houses were mixed. Some students simply wished their suc-cess, others wanted someone similar like their current head of house, and few expressed that it wouldn’t really matter at all who became the next head of houses.

“I think the head of house should be very head-strong. I think they should take the reins straightfor-ward. They could possibly make a few tweaks and changes within the boarding house according to their preferences, but I think overall they should very confi-dant with their positions,” states Leo Chang, a student living on the second floor.

The decision for the new head of houses has not been made yet, as Klassen says, “We don’t know who’s going to take over, but the leaving of the housemaster has been confirmed.”

Heads of Boarding To Step Down

Incoming headmaster approves of school; will officialy join on July 1

Andrew Jones (left) and Courtney Klassen (right) will be stepping down for the 2010-2011 school year

versations I had with these boys are helping me as I begin the pro-cess of trying to see the school through the eyes of its students.”

Matthews also explained that he was very excited about “the high level of engagement among stu-dents, faculty, staff and parents.” He further stated, “Everyone I met seemed to care about the school.”

During the four day tour Mat-thews managed to spread his time throughout the St. George’s com-munity. “I attended a number of meetings and receptions involv-ing the search committee, senior management, the auxiliary, the boards, Georgians, faculty and staff. It was a packed four days!”

Because of these meetings, Mat-thews, however, was hindered

by time constraints. He said, “I didn’t have time to meet one-on-one with many staff members, but I did have the opportunity to meet with them in larger groups. I told them that my first priority is to get to know them and the school.”

As Matthews returned home, he was excited about his future as St. George’s saying, “Saints is a school with a heart and I look for-ward to joining the Saint George’s community as of July 1.”

Tom Matthews has been the Headmaster of Hillfield Strathal-lan College since 2003. A gradu-ate of the University of Western Ontario and McMaster Universi-ty, he later made the move to inde-pendent school education, where he tought at several schools.

By Roy YangThe Senior Concert band suc-

cessfully performed at Central Washington University music fes-tival amongst top bands in Wash-ington State.

The band per-formed three pieces: Nitro by Frank Ticheli, Irish Tune from Country Derry by Percy Grainger, and Ghost Train by Whitacre.

Marko Rnic, head of music department, was greatly impressed with senior con-cert band’s per-formance.

“Objectively speaking, the band did a brilliant job. I am really pleased and proud from their su-perb performance. I am person-ally impressed because they im-proved and played well beyond what was expected of them.”

The music festival was orga-nized by Dr. Gookin who also helped the senior band rehearse before the concert. After the per-formance the band worked in a clinic with Dr. Hammer.

For the Central Washington University Music festival, this is the first time a Canadian band visited and performed.

Rnic is honored and is proud to represent not only our school but

By Peter Ding

The varsity hockey team fin-ished 2nd in the Surrey In-

vitational Tournament this year, although it missed the chance to win the provincial champion. The hockey team, lead by Coach Dwight Hillis, earned 13 wins and 4 losses this year.

Hillis was impressed by the team’s performance this year.

He said that the team should not have played as well under the tough circumstances.

Hillis enjoyed seeing the play of Robert Rand and Naeem Ba-radai, who combined for over 90 points in 17 games. As well, the play of Andrew Watson, espe-cially against the Old Boys, was memorable.

As Hillis could recall, the hard-est game this year was the last game against Prince of Wales in the provincials where “the boys gave it their all yet still lost. They worked hard in both ends of the rink, yet luck was not on our side,” said Hillis.

Hillis appreciates the team’s willingness to adapt well to ad-versity.

“They worked hard on their systems in both the offensive and defensive zones.”

One of the captains of the team, Andrew Watson, said, “In the past two years, being the goal keeper, I tried hard to make saves when-ever I could. This year, being a captain, I used my experience to help the team. I want to be a role model for younger players and show them what to do.”

By Matt Yensen

After twelve years of school-ing, it can be a difficult

decision to immediately pursue a higher education, and subse-quently a life-long career. For many, the opportunity of taking a year off school to pursue their dreams of traveling the world is a very tempting option.

One way to take a year off, while visiting a foreign country, and yet still earn money is to spend a year of working abroad, otherwise known as a GAP year. Normally to participate in a GAP year, a student not affiliated with St. George’s would have to go through a service called GAP Year Abroad.

A GAP Year Abroad represen-tative described the adventure as “... a break from the day-to-day and the normal routines of life. A Gap Year Abroad is unique in that, unlike a week-long vaca-tion, it may only happen once in a lifetime and can last from a few weeks or months up to an entire year or more.” However, receiv-ing a job placement in another country through the GAP Year Abroad service can be incredibly

costly, as even regis-tering for a year costs close to $1,000.

However, “Saints can help you find a full-year place-ment in a school in either New Zealand or Australia,” said Sandi Cobb, who is in charge of Commu-nity Rela-tions at St. George’s. There are a variety of private schools in which to work and live, with the choice ultimately being up to the student. Luck-ily, the entire process is free of charge, except for transportation to and from the Georgian’s new home.

An added bonus of the GAP year is that a student is paid,

while at the same time receiving room and board from the school in which they are working. This undoubtedly helps to make the transition to an independent life much easier, according to both GAP Year Abroad and Sandi Cobb, who said “A GAP year is a great way to transition from a protected and structured school environment to

u n i -v e r s i t y or work, w h e r e you don’t have peo-ple mak-ing sure you get to lectures, or hand in work on time. It gives you the chance to b e c o m e more re-sponsible and ma-ture.”

Howev-er, Cobb

also warned students to thorough-ly consider taking a GAP year, before jumping into it too quick-ly. She said, “Some people might be homesick spending a whole year away. If you don’t plan your year carefully, you could end up committed to a situation that is not what you were expecting, so it’s important to be honest about

what you think you’d like to achieve in your GAP year.”

One Saints student who has cer-tainly made the most of his GAP year is Eric Yensen. Working at Canberra Grammar School in Australia as a leader in the Out-door Ed program, Yensen has been able to see places he has never dreamed of visiting. “Kay-aking in the Whitsunday islands and exploring Budawang Na-tional Park are memories that I’ll never forget,” he said in a recent interview.

“Taking a GAP year is definite-ly one of the better decisions I’ve ever made,” said Yensen. “Be-ing completely independent has been a great change of pace for me, and I’ve never felt more pre-pared to go off to university on my own. Plus, while being here in Canberra, I’ve made lots of in-credible friends.”

While some people are eager to head off to university, a well-de-served break for some is the ulti-mate way to prepare to go back to school. And as Yensen says, “It’s the middle of winter here and it’s 35 degrees. What’s not to like about that?”

To be or not to be a GAP student?

Tough year for hockeyHe said when he played against

the Old Boys, he didn’t like the goals that he gave up and experi-enced a tough start of this year.

However, he finally fixed his problems and was comfortable with the way he could play. How-ever, to make a tougher team, Hillis demands players make their bodies stronger.

He also said that it would take the new group of varsity players to commit to their teammates, the systems, and the burden that comes with representing St. George’s.

“All teams bring their best to play against us, and the sooner the new players accept this, the better their chance for success.”

From Watson’s point of view, the team should have taken the games more seriously while hav-ing fun.

He said, “Everyone should co-operate with his teammates and take his own responsibilities. Besides a desire to win, the team also needs discipline to make fur-ther achievements.”

The Echo asked the varsity coach’s view on the Canadian na-tional hockey team’s victory over the Americans in the final of the Winter Olympics.

He said, “What is interesting is that the US modelled their game after a traditional Canadian style of play while we adapted a new system to complement the chang-es in the new game. The speed and selflessness took time to shape, but once they are shaped, we were unstoppable.”

also the country. “The festival is usually attended

by bands throughout Washington and Oregon. When we played,

we showed them that some of the best bands could come from Brit-ish Columbia and Canada.”

Despite the two weeks of Olym-pic break and only four days af-ter to prepare for the festival, the band managed to impress many listeners.

There were “minor tweaks and mistakes” according to Rnic but is said to be expected.

“There were minor mistakes such as miscommunication be-tween the Flute section or a mis-cued entrance in Ghost Train. However, this happens in any pressure situation and honestly, we pulled right though until the end.”

Another special occasion for this band tour was that it was the first time that Headmaster Toy accompanied the band for a

whole trip. The band did not disappoint in impressing Headmas-ter Toy.

“The band was out-standing in their per-formance. The boys rehearsed really well too and drew many compliments from adjudicators. I drew from that we had made a very good impression in the fes-tival. I thoroughly en-joyed the tour and the boys. I also admire and thank Marko

Rnic for putting in all this hard work and I felt proud to see and hear this fine band.”

Rnic is very enthusiastic about the outcome of the festival.

“I think that we made a ma-jor leap in every area of perfor-mance. Every element from tone to focus and concentration levels all increased. An example is a sports team.”

“If the team trains and competes in local club levels only, they will just stay at that level. When a club competes in a National Championship and wins, then the whole clubs’ standard and quality goes up. Our band has improved tremendously and will continue to do so.”

Washington band tour deemed a success by many; band future bright

“Objectively speaking, the band did a brilliant job. I am personally im-pressed because they im-proved and played well

beyond what was expect-ed of them.”

By Matt Yensen

While most students look forward to spending the

summer relaxing and enjoying their break from school, Grade 11 Saints student Harrison Xu will be working harder than ever.

On February 2 Xu along with Alphil Guilaran and Sarah Ong founded two business courses aimed towards high school stu-dents. The programs “Be a Port-folio Manager” and “Financial Literacy 101” will run through-out August at Summer at St. George’s.

The courses will be taught by Guilaran, who teaches the finan-cial portion of Planning 12 at St. George’s. Xu said, “The course would help students walk away with financial literacy life skills, allowing them to make better

investment decisions. Also, the course will help you to commu-nicate to post-secondary institu-tions that you are being proactive and ready for the challenges after high school.”

Students will learn about the methods of portfolio managers,

people who are leaders in the business world, people who are called upon to manage billions of dollars on behalf of investors, and corporations and govern-ments in the midst of challenges in the global economy.

Future entrepreneurs who take

this course will be taught by the “... best of the best,” said Xu, “... the likes of Nathaniel Wong, an analyst at Phillips Hager and North, Parminder Dhaliwal, a CFA of Fidelity Investments, and Jeffrey Nairn, a VP of TD Asset Management.” Also to enhance the understanding of course ma-terial even further, students in the “Be a Portfolio Manager” class will visit a top local financial firm, where they will be able to meet and question a top execu-tive.

Xu explained, “No prior knowl-edge of business or finance is nec-essary for either of the programs we are offering.” This means that if one has no idea what the terms capital markets, econom-ics, stocks, bonds, and govern-ment savings plan mean or how

to design a socially responsible portfolio, they are more than wel-come to take the course. “More pertinent to the course is a desire to learn about finance and a pas-sion for business,” said Xu.

To create this unique opportuni-ty for students, Xu and Guilaran worked together to create a busi-ness proposal. After submitting the proposal to Patrick Dyck, the Head of Summer at St. George’s, they received the approval to go ahead with three weeks of class-es.

Although knowing his summer is going to be incredibly busy, Xu is excited about what lies ahead. He reminded all those interested to “sign up early as the course will soon be full. It’s already in high demand and registration hasn’t even begun!”

Saints Student Creates Summer Business Course

By Alan Osiovich

St. George’s can be toured both on foot and on the

web. The new Saints360° Virtual Tours, an initiative headed by the school’s communication depart-ment, was recently implemented to give prospective families an in-depth, interactive and dynamic view of the school.

The tours, which are linked to the school’s website, provide 360 degree shots of multiple locations on the Senior and Junior campus-es, as well as Harker Hall.

Gordon Allan, Head of Com-munication, explained that the project is primarily intended for

people outside the St. George’s community. “For parents who are looking at sending away their most prized possession, being able to see where it is their child will be living is quite powerful.”

The initial work was started in early September and contin-ued through until the launch in mid October. Jason Fearon, the school’s communications officer, was responsible for stewarding most of the project. In September, Fearon spent two full weekends with a film crew, and spent many additional hours making sure the templates worked properly.

The virtual tour has its own in-

Virtual 360° Tour of St. George’s Campus Available on Website

terface system, which includes a virtual map of the school. Cur-rently there are 14 separate tours available for the Senior School. Locations such as the Great Hall, Library, and the Fitness Center are only a couple of the multiple locations available for viewing. Select classrooms in the Junior School, and select bedrooms in the boarding house are also avail-able for people to tour.

Allan explained that the idea for making the tour was brought up at an alumni function that Mr. Don Livingston, Chief Advance-ment Officer, hosted in Hong Kong. “The alumni at this event

were given a presentation of vari-ous ongoing developments at the school… a number of the attend-ees expressed an interest in seeing more photos of how the school looks today, as many of them had not been back to the school since graduating.”

The process of making each shot takes several steps. With an SLR camera and a special tripod, the designer takes about 11 separate images that are then transferred to a specially designed web tem-plate. Allan mentioned that over-all expenses amounted to $80 per shot; a private company assisted with the project.

By Roy Yang

The St. George’s senior ski team won the 2009-2010 provincial championship, capturing the honor for the seventh time in a row.

The boys won both the slalom and the giant slalom events, sweeping all competition.Hubert Wohlgemuth, head coach of the ski team, feels that the team’s performance in the provin-

cials was flawless.“We absolutely dominated at both the slalom and the giant slalom event. The team is at the top of

their game, and cannot {possibly} get any better. I don’t think we have any area to improve.”The ski team took the top three spots for both the slalom and the giant slalom event.In the boy’s slalom event, Justin Hayto finshed first with a total combined time of 1 minute and 20.

21 seconds. Matthew Segal finished second in 1 minute 27. 83 seconds and Isaac Penn finished third with a total

of 1 minute 28.32 seconds.In the boy’s giant salom event, Justin Hayto captured the top spot in 0:51.5 seconds, Isaac Penn

finished a close second in 0:51.74 seconds, and Matthew Segal won bronze in 0:54.51 seconds. “I am absolutely pleased with the ski team, “ said Wholgemuth. “They are the top and the best team

in the province.”In the entire provincial championship event, the top three skiers with the best combined time were

Saints skiers.Justin Hayto ranked first with a total time of 2 minutes and 11.71 seconds. Isaac Penn grabbed the

silver medal position in 2 minute 20.17 seconds and Matthew Segal stood atop the podium in third place with a combined time of 2 minutes and 22.34 seconds.

The St. George’s ski team finished with a total combined score of 144 points in the championship competition.

Wohlgemuth sees a bright future for the St. George’s ski team. “Most boys on the team have very strong [ski] backgrounds. They will continue to win many events

in the future.”

Ski and Snowboard Team Wins Seventh Provincial Title

Senior ski team from left to right: Jeremy Sayers (Coach), Hubert Wohlgemuth, Issac Penn, Justin Hayto, Liam Cook, Matt Gu, Brenden Bissett, Matthew Segal, Alex Smith, Jared Delarge, Reece Walford