A St. George’s School Student Publication May 1, 2010

By Josiah Tsang

Team Superfast Jellyfishes, Tony Lee and Edward

Ngai, will be starting their 243 km bike ride for the BC Cancer Foundation’s 2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer on June 19. Both participants were inspired to compete in this event due to relatives in the past having cancer and the thought of having a good time. “Today, I prepare for this cycling journey in memory of Grandpa and the other people in my life who have been affected by cancer. Although cancer seems to be an irrepressible foe, with our combined efforts I believe that we can finally defeat it,” said Lee. “The Ride is both a mental and physical challenge, and the money raised through the ride can make a difference in the future of cancer research.” Lee worshipped his grandfather. According to Lee, he was also a healthy man who exercised daily but lost the fight for his life due

to liver cancer. He is the 16-year-old rider’s main inspiration and his driving force going into the event.Ngai said, “I wanted to throw down the gauntlet and challenge myself to do something I hadn’t thought I would be

able to do. Besides, it’s for a great cause and I’m showing my peers that anyone can take initiative and get involved.”Currently both competitors are training every week on the bike with the school’s triathlon team, but Lee looks to add more

times to prepare for the event. “I’m planning on going for two-hour rides twice a week, focusing on keeping a steady pace and drafting techniques,” Lee stated. The event spans two days and two continents, Canada and U.S.A. All participants compete in a 243 km course starting in

downtown Vancouver, B.C. and ending in Seattle, WA. The course is split into four rest stops, where cyclists have a chance to rest up and get food. Their main rest stop is at a camp, halfway between the start and finish, where all competitors set up tents, eat food, enjoy each others’ company and sleep for the night.To enter this event there is a minimum of $2500 per rider and team Superfast Jellyfishes plans on raising $8000. Currently Lee and Ngai have a combined total of $1500 raised through online donations and are still fundraising for the event. All proceeds for The Ride to Conquer Cancer helps the BC Cancer Foundation directly to support the work of the BC Cancer Agency in British Columbia.Donation site http://w w w . c o n q u e r c a n c e r .c a / s i t e / T R / E v e n t s /Vancouver2010?pg=team&fr_i d = 1 3 3 1 & t e a m _ i d = 3 3 6 9 0

By Josiah Tsang

Fi f t e e n - y e a r - o l d S a i n t s long track and short track

speed skater Aedan Giffin has competed at the provincial, national and international levels and is now training to compete at the Olympics. Giffin recently competed in the Oval Finale, an international competition of all ages, where he ranked 18th overall after a cumulative score. “I have competed at the provincial championships where I placed first in the U17 mass start division and second in the U21 Olympic style division,” said the 15-year-old skater. “I have also competed in various Canada Cups, BC Winter Games, Junior World Trials, Can-Am Internationals, and the Intact Oval Finale. Right now I am looking forward to the Canada Winter Games in Halifax next year.” Out of the six events available to race, Giffin’s favorite events are the 1500, 3000, and 5000 meter competition. “I am most proud of my 1500 meter, skating it in 2:00:70 and my 3000, skating an average lap time of 32.9 and finishing in a time of 4:11:52,” added the

skater.His coaches know that he has the potential to compete at the Olympics and are now developing his skills to reach that goal.Giffin said, “My coaches, Jacques Thibault, Angela Seulean, Nancy Goplen, and Ailsa Le May are currently building me up to the level where I can join the Junior National Team, and ultimately the Canadian Olympic Team.”Currently Giffin is ranked in the top 20 as a Canadian junior skater. “In Canada overall, with a cumulative points system, I am ranked 20th, although in the longer distances, the 3000 and 5000 meters, I am ranked in the top 10,” said the junior skater.The speed skater has an intense training schedule consisting of weight training and dry-land skating excercises on top of the time spent on the ice. He trains four times a week on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 1½ hours per session. At the age of ten, Giffin started his skating career in the ‘learn to skate’ program at the Kitsilano Community rink. “I started speed skating at the Kitsilano Community rink at

the age of ten mostly because I liked to skate fast and the coaches at the ‘learn to skate’ couldn’t get me to stand still. I needed somewhere that I would be encouraged to skate fast,” said Giffin. After graduating from high school, Giffin plans on taking a year off to focus on skating before starting university. Also, the skater is thinking of taking grade 12 at the National Sport School in Calgary.

Saints Student-Speedskater competes on the Intertional level with Olympic Team in mind

Students prepare for 243km Bike Trek to Seattle in effort to raise money for Cancer Research

Lee and Ngai will cycle 243km from Vancouver to Seattle to raise money for cancer research

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By Andrew Watson

Matt Hill has turned his tal-ents into a tool to help him

“save the world,” one step at a time. Hill and partner Stephanie, be-

came inspired to help the world by running across North Amer-ica, thus, founding Run for One Planet, his own foundation that would help raise money for their Legacy Fund for Kids. “We want-ed to inspire a continent through running and empower people to make single, simple, daily chang-es for our planet’s health and our future here on Earth,” says Hill.

Hill adds that he was inspired as a child to run after watching Terry Fox. “Terry Fox changed my life at the age of 10 when I watched him run across Canada to cure Cancer. I say, he’s our greatest Canadian.”

Hill trained for 18 months with 100+ mile weeks; he par-ticipated in team building, fund raising and garnering sup-port for his one-year marathon.

And so it began.

On May 4, 2008, Hill (and partner Steph) ran 11,000 miles (equivalent to 420 marathons) in a 369-day journey that saw him destroy 30 pairs of run-ners, burn three million calories, and as Hill put it “see the whole continent at six miles an hour.”

During his odyssey, Hill spoke to over 30,000 kids, raising $130,000 for his foundation. “It was an experience 28 feet deep

in every direction, with rich daily magic, local heros everywhere and enough stories to last Steph and me a lifetime,” says Hill. “We pledged when we ran our last steps (over the Lions Gate Bridge) we would be spent, have nothing left in the body and soul, except the knowing we did all we possibly could to reach our goals and make a difference.”

Hill’s achievements gave his

foundation its own special day. On May 8, 2009, the city of Van-couver proclaimed the day “Run for One Planet Day”, putting one final touch on Hill’s jour-ney. “This is, and will always be, one of my proudest moments as a human being,” exclaimed Hill. “I know what went into build-ing, training, and running this crazy endeavor, as does Steph. We feel incredibly fortunate to now be sharing in-depth stories, lessons learned, and a lifetime of memories with schools, lead-ership conferences, and corpo-rate events in North America.”

Hill’s foundation granted its first legacy to the School District of Powell River B.C., to fund an organic garden for four schools to share together and learn about growing and eating local and or-ganic food. Hill adds, “Each year our fund will grant a green dream in perpetuity with our partnership with the Vancouver Foundation.”

Tirelessly, Hill has been able to

do what he does best, to help the cause he cares most about. “Voice acting was our instant connection point with the kids while we ran. It was the only way we knew how to be successful in inspiring people to make small changes,” he said. “It was such a gift to en-ter a school gym, speak in one of my voices and feel the energy between us with everyone feeling connected and eager to help us ‘save the planet’ with their favou-rite cartoon voices. Pretty sweet!”

Hill is the definition of a true hero, someone who uses his gift to make a difference in the world. Hill wanted to thank Asics for their sponsorship and support and thanks anyone who has supported his cause.

To learn more about Matt Hill and Run For One Plan-et, visit www.matt-hill.com and his foundation’s website www.runforoneplanet .com.

Matt Hill’s inspiring run to “save the world”

Matt Hill and his partner Stephanie, around their worn-out running shoes

Matt Hill’s climb to successBy Andrew Watson

It is true that one’s voice can be heard through more than just a person’s mouth, and Matt Hill has proven that.

Born and raised in North Vancouver, Hill has been a voice actor since he was a high school senior, get-ting his first break after auditioning at CBC radio in Vancouver.

“I was 17, when my pal Jason Priestly had left [CBC] to begin filming his new TV show, Beverly Hills 90210 and they needed to replace him,” says Hill. “I got the gig and kind of never looked back as Van-couver, at that time, was beginning to really take off in the film and television industry.”

Since then, Hill has found himself a very successful career. He has appeared in numerous anime and cartoon shows, most notably, Ed, Edd n’ Eddy, Gundam, Transformers, X-men and many more. He has also done voiceovers on the radio for companies such as KFC and McDonald’s, and has appeared in a few films.

He is probably most recognized for his cartoon voice and for his role as the deputy in 2003 action comedy Shanghai Knights, where he got to work with famed action superstar Jackie Chan; a gig, he calls, his favourite acting moment.

“Going toe to toe with Jackie Chan in Shanghai Knights, just me and him, was an absolute blast,” says Hill. “If that was my last part in a film, I am complete. It was a magical experience working with Mr. Chan. It got me and my nephew into an exclusive bar in Calgary when we filmed there as someone recognized me. Membership has its perks I guess.”

Hill’s film career has seen him land parts in TV series Dead Like Me, The Sentinel, The X-Files, and Melrose Place as Hank, just to name a few.

When asked how he prepares to do a voice, Hill talks about how everyone’s way varies and that he prefers the open grounds of nature than the office.

“It’s a different process for everyone,” Hill explains. “I like to work on my material in nature on a run in the woods, or somewhere I can play and not feel confined. I just mess around until I feel happy with the character.”

Hill also comments that there is a difference in voicing for radio versus animation and movies. Time and budget were two of the biggest differ-ences between the two.

“Radio tends to be the shortest in terms of work hours,” the voice actor said. “Anima-tion shows take up to four hours to record one episode and films have way larger budgets which allows for more rehearsal.” Hill recalls that one of his favourite moments was voicing the lead character in A monkey’s tale.

Hill feels the best part of his work are the projects which push his imagination to his limits.

Hill said, “I get to work on projects that fulfill me creatively, work with a stellar posse of actors which have become my second family, never have to go to ‘the office’, which has allowed me to have a great life in the greatest city on the planet, in Vancou-ver. What could be better than that?”

By Tony Ahn

Eight students and staff in six different Vancouver

schools have contracted measles in recent weeks.

According to Vancouver Coastal Health, measles have become very rare in Canada due to the use of a measles vaccine. Most cases are now usually related to a foreign traveler with measles bringing the disease in to Canada.

“Everybody gets two shots when they are babies,” said the school nurse, Kelly Bodutch. “If you didn’t get a shot when you were a baby, we would say go and get another shot, but we went through all the boys’ records

and made sure that everybody has their shots. So if we didn’t call you, you should be fine.”

Bodutch claims that the school doesn’t need more precautions, since checking the status of boys’ vaccination is the precaution itself. According to the school nurse, students need not worry about contrating measles, as most have had vaccinations against the disease. Those who had vaccinations are safe even if he or she has come into contact with someone with measles.

Meanwhile, there was speculation that the boarding house might close down again, as it was during last year’s swine flu epidemic. In that instance, the boarding house closed down for a week without warning.

Bodutch said, “If people did get sick in the boarding house, we would have to figure out how to protect those of you who hadn’t had your shots. It’s contagious only if

you haven’t had your shots.” It is highly recommended

that all parents and staff check their vaccination records,” the nurse continued.

In a letter to students and parents, Medical Health Officer

Dr. John Carsley, of Vancouver Coastal Health said, “If your child has not had the measles vaccine, and is exposed to someone with measles in his or her class, your child may be excluded from school for up to three weeks or longer.”

Vancouver Coastal Health states that one can find more information at ImmunizeBC, www.immunizebc.ca. One can also consult family physician, nurse practitioner, public health nurse at HealthLink BC (8-1-1)

“Students need not worry about contract-ing measles”

School safe from measles

3

By Ian Brackman

It is now crunch time for Saint George’s graduates

playing high-level university basketball in both Canada and the United States.

Saints’ has two representatives on the No.3 UBC Thunderbirds playing in the CIS Men’s National Basketball Championship in Ottawa.

Melvyn Mayott and Alex Murphy, both from St. George’s will play large roles as UBC looks to build on last years’ second place finish in the CIS tournament. “Really simple, our goal is to win a national championship,” said assistant coach at UBC Randy Nohr in a recent interview with the Echo.

Mayott, a 6’4” guard, averaged 6.4 points a game in the T-Birds’ regular season. “Melvyn is a great person and pleasure to coach,” said Nohr, “ He has really become a big part of our team’s defensive success as well as being one of the best pure shooters in the country.”

While Murphy, a 6’1” guard, put up 4.0 points each game to accompany his three assists and two rebounds.

“Alex is a 4th year guard who has been to the nationals all four years since arriving at UBC. Alex is all about winning and has been a big part of our team’s success,” said Nohr. The Thunderbirds will play No.3 Lakehead at 2:30 on Friday, March 19.

The NCAA Division I tournament in the states will also have a representative of St. George’s.

By Ian Brackman

The St. George’s JR. B (Grade 10) rowers took

on Vancouver College in the Annual Saints-College Rowing Race on Saturday, April 17 at False Creek with the Saint’s boat coming out on top in the tightly contested battle.

It is one of the longest-standing races between these two age-old rivals, with bragging rights on the line for both schools. The eight of Jack St. John, Calin Manea, Nathan Hawkins, Adam Hildebrand, Shane Mullen, Matthew Segal, Graham Lee and Cam Howie hopped into their boat “the 75er” (in honour of 75 years of rowing at Saints) and started the approximately 2000 meter race in False Creek with a firm plan in mind.

With the shot of the gun the student-rowers bolted across

By Stuart Smith

What started out as a single man exercising has turned into an energetic coalition between teachers and students with a single goal: to have fun and get active.

New this year, the Saint George’s school P.E department bought a special workout DVD entitled ‘P90X,’ a home exercise program that aims for an improved physique in 90 days through rigorous interval training.

The workout was used in school fitness classes, and quickly gained a reputation for being a difficult exercise.

“It was ruthless. I was sore for days,” says Kristofer Norris, grade 10 student. Despite the challenge, Mark Sauer, a Saint’s art teacher, enjoyed the work level and soon other teachers such as Christian Duhme, joined in.

“I don’t know how the group officially started. Mr. Sauer just started to exercise and people joined in,” says Duhme. When Sauer was asked if he was the head of the group he said, “I’m not the leader. Duhme’s the man, I just follow him.”

The exercise group is not considered an official club yet, but has several students in attendance. “We only have grads in the group because the group meets last period on day two, during some of their spares,” says Duhme.

The group works together because it is simply more fun than doing it alone, said Duhme. “It’s fun. It has a great atmosphere because everyone is there on their own time. There is a lot of energy and the work out keeps us on our toes.”

According to Duhme, over 12 teachers have attempted the workouts on their own.P90X stresses the importance of “muscle confusion”. The program switches the order of exercises

and incorporates new movements during each phase. According to Tony Horton, the inventor of P90X, muscle confusion prevents the body from

adapting to exercises over time, resulting in a constantly difficult and demanding workout for the entire body.

Despite the hard work, students and teachers have come together for a fun, energetic workout.

Jr. B Rowers beat VC in Saints-College Boat Race

the water. “It was a back and forth race,” recalled Grade 10 rower St. John. “Personally, I don’t really like the course because there are a lot of other boats around.”

As the two crews neared 1500-meter mark the Vancouver College Cox surprisingly called

their sprint. The Saint’s boat was much more patient and commenced their sprint with 300 meters to go. College just could not maintain their high pace and with 100 meters until the finish line the “75er” pulled away and the Saints were victorious by a boat and a half.

“ It was a fun race,” exclaimed St. John. “We averaged 37 strokes per minute, a solid number, and our boat had great timing throughout the race. There was a lot of adrenaline pumping.”

At one point during the contest the two boats were

so close together that they started hitting oars! “That was interesting,” said St. John.

The race alternates each year between False Creek and the Fraser River, where Saint’s practice facility is located.

The senior crew was also victorious in their race against Vancouver College. The senior eight has five new members in its boat and they proved effective in this race.

On May 25 the rowing team will travel to St. Catherine’s Ontario for the National Rowing Championships.

On April 23 the rowers will travel to the Brentwood Regatta on Vancouver Island where there are many different categories of races with schools coming up from the States to participate. “In the lightweight fours, I think we have a good chance,” said St. John.

Bol Kong a 2006 graduate laced up for the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2010 March Madness tournament.

Gonzaga, an eight seed in the tourney, faced the ninth seeded Florida State Seminoles in their first round match-up on Friday, March 19 at 4:10pm at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. Kong finished up with just less than five points per game in almost 13 minutes of action in the regular season.

Even though there were no basketball championships for the Saints’ this season, there is still hope for a couple of former Saints to bring home some hardware in university action.

“It was ruthless. I was sore for days,” says Kristofer Norris

St. George’s Adopts P90X Workout SystemSaints Graduates Compete in National Championships for Varsity Basketball

Alex Murphy driving to the hoop

By Nabil Virji

After eleven years of teaching at St. George’s,

Peter Jamieson will be taking a year off to travel during the 2010-2011 school year. The social studies teacher and rugby coach will be travelling around Southeast Asia, to destinations including Thailand, Nepal and India.

“I’m taking a year off not only because I need to recharge my batteries but because I want to go learn about different cultures and places,” Jamieson explained. He also believes that as a socials teacher, it’s important for him to go out and see the world.

Starting in Thailand, he is planning on backpacking in Nepal for two months, before living in the Kathmandu Valley for four months. For the remaining six months, Jamieson may spend time in India or China. After his year of travel, Jamieson is planning on returning for the 2011-2012

By Peter Ding

On April 24, the top AAA rugby teams from around

BC descended onto the Saints’ rugby field to celebrate the Saints’ Rugby Festival in honour of Headmaster Nigel Toy’s final year at St. George’s.

The eight teams were from Oak Bay, Carson Graham, Earl Marriot, GP Vanier, St. Michael’s University school, Argyle, Shawnigan, and St. George’s School. Seven matches were played between 12:30 and 5:30, culminating in a traditional battle between the 1st fifteens of Shawnigan and St. George’s. The matches involved Oak Bay vs. Carson Graham, Shawnigan 2nds vs. Saints 2nds, Earl Marriot vs. GP Vanier, Shawnigan 10s vs. Saints 10s, SMUS vs. Argyle, Shawnigan Alum vs. Saints Alum (Georgians) – TBC, and, lastly, Shawnigan vs. Saints.

Bud Patel, coach of the senior rugby team, watched all seven games. According to Patel, about a thousand people came to watch the games although the weather was cloudy. They cheered a lot, and athletes worked really diligently. Patel considered Carson Graham the best team of the day.

Patel decided the last game of the day, Shawnigan vs. St.George’s, was the most exciting of the tournament. The final score was 13 to 13. “We scored the last play of the game,” he said. Patel showed

By Alan Osiovich

Vancouver Police Department’s Odd Squad

program allows students to encounter the City’s Downtown Eastside firsthand. The non-profit society, most known for its educational video productions, now offers ride-alongs (night time) or walk-abouts (day time) within the DTES to anyone interested.

Mark Steinkampf, a VPD

sergeant and member of the Odd Squad team, explained the importance of teenagers participating in the walking tours. “We provide youth with an opportunity to see where unhealthy choices can lead first hand; I think that if youth can see the potential of unhealthy choices, they will make the right choice, and that is the choice not to use illicit drugs.”

The Odd Squad team consists of about 12 VPD officers who use their days off or take time away from regular duties to participate in the educational initiative. Odd Squad, which isn’t officially part of the VPD, maintains that its goal is to “educate and inform ‘at-risk’ groups throughout the province on the dangers of

Odd Squad Tours Offer an Up Close Encounter with the DTES

Jamieson leaves to travel the Far Eastschool year.

Jamieson’s love for traveling started in high school, where he did a year’s exchange to Belgium. Since then, he has travelled to every continent except Antarctica. Before he finally settled in Vancouver over a decade ago, Jamieson had never lived in one city for more than 5 years. While at St. Georges, Jamieson has continued to travel, participating in a teacher exchange to New Zealand in 2004, and traveling through Southern Africa, India, and Nepal in 2008. While he was there, he became friends with a fellow teacher from Australia who had completed an 18-month stay in the Himalayas. “She had profited from it greatly on a personal level, and convinced me to do something similar, and I thought it was a great idea,” he explained.

Jamieson also feels that seeing the world is an integral part of being a social studies teacher. “To me, one of the most

important things about being a teacher is to never stop being a student,” he commented. He also believes that it will help his students to know that

the Echo a video clip of the last two minutes of the last game. St. George’s was behind by 5 points two minutes before the end. “If the team had dropped the ball we would have lost completely,” Patel insisted. On the video, Saints’ athletes endeavoured to get through their overwhelming rivals and rose and fell at least five times, yet the ball was never dropped. Finally, spurred on by the audience’s applause, Saints scored the final goal.

Patel also appreciated the efforts of the Grade 10s. Saints Grade 10s won by a land-slide 22 to 0 against Shawnigan 10s.

“The whole event was a success,” said Patel. “It was important in honour of Mr. Toy.”

On April 23, 140 people from the eight schools, including the headmasters, attended a dinner to honour Headmaster Toy.

Toy praised the excellent reception and the efforts of Patel’s office. “The dinner was moving, and I was deeply honoured,” he said. “Our second team lost but still played well.” He also considered the last game of the day the main game, saying that it was “the most outstanding high school rugby game he had ever seen.” He commended, “St. George’s students’ courage and determination was simply extraordinary.” He believed that this event represented a memorable conclusion to his career at St. George’s.

he has been to the places he is teaching about. “When a student asks you, ‘How do you know that?’, there’s often a big difference when you say, ‘I’ve been there!’ as opposed to ‘I read it in a book’!”

While Jamieson agrees that textbooks can help a student to learn, he has learned that it doesn’t compare to firsthand experience. “There’s no substitute for getting out there, getting your hands dirty, and actually seeing the world.”

When asked what he would miss about the school, Jamieson had a simple answer: “I’m going to miss the people. I’m going to miss sitting in the staff room laughing with my co-workers, having a laugh with my students in class and teaching rugby.” Jamieson also says he will really miss not seeing the current grade 11 students graduate.

If traveling has shown Jamieson one thing, it is how lucky Canadians are. “It’s very easy for us to complain about

our politics and healthcare, but the truth is that we have such an incredibly blessed life in this country. Sometimes we lose sight of how great we have it compared to other parts of the world.” Having been to places stricken by poverty, Jamieson has seen people living with very little. “When you go to a place like the Himalayas, you see how happy people are with so few possessions,” he commented. He also believes that Canadians need to open their eyes and realize just how fortunate they are, having enough to eat and a place to live, when many others do not. “There should be a sense of social responsibility that comes along with being so fortunate. As Canadians, we should be helping people around the world, and doing more for communities within Canada, as well as those outside the country.”

Jamieson currently teaches grades eight and nine social studies classes.

Peter Jamieson at Victoria Falls, Zambia

substance abuse and other anti-social and criminal behavior.”

During walk-abouts, groups of four to five people are accompanied by two off-duty VPD officers through the streets and back lanes of the East Hastings and Main area. During some walk-abouts participants may also tour the notorious hotels along East Hastings.

Julie McBride, a Grade 12 student at WPGA, recently

participated in a walk-about. She said, “I found it a very eye opening experience and felt it was an effective way to describe the effects of drugs on people. We were only out on the streets for a short period of time and we saw so much.”

McBride also explained that the group was able to get some advice from the Eastside residents. “Some were so

friendly and wanted to tell us their experiences; they were concerned about others because they do not want anyone else to become like them.”

As he said, “Not one of those people woke up one morning thinking that they were going to be an addict. They all started for one reason and ended up in places like the Downtown Eastside. Because of their poor decisions, people who could be

flourishing with their potential are instead street entrenched and drug addled going from one fix of a needle or inhalation of smoke to another.”

McBride felt that the Odd Squad members did an excellent job during the session. “The police officers were very knowledgeable and gave us the facts about drugs. I found it interesting that the police men

are trying to stop youth from getting involved in drugs at the root of the problem.”

S t e i n k a m p f mentioned that while the Odd Squad mainly focuses on increasing local awareness, the program often gets requests from across the country to come and talk about the DTES.

Saints rugby festival a success once again

1st XV and 2nd XV teams played in a week-end of rugby in honour of Mr. Nigel Toy