News Archive

An outstanding cast and crew, and support from some excellent staff members, helped make a dream come true for Mr. Sal Interlandi with the staging of this year’s School musical: Chicago (Teen Edition) with a three-night and one-afternoon run at Victoria’s McPherson Playhouse.

 

“It’s such a great show,” said Mr. Interlandi, theatre teacher and director of the musical. “When I interviewed for the job here and they asked me what shows I wanted to do, I said it was one of my favourite shows. It’s always been a show I wanted to do.”

 

Written in 1975, Chicago was based on a stage play from 1926. It has become a staple on Broadway and is the longest running current show there. It also became a movie in 2002 that won Best Picture at the 2003 Academy Awards.

 

Shawnigan’s 52nd Ski Week was the biggest ever, and featured the return of one of the most exciting traditions – after a year’s absence – in the annual excursion.

 

The 515 students who made the trip to Manning Park were 35 more than the previous record, Student Life Coordinator Ms. Katrina Cholack noted. Some students who may have opted out in the past – like Grade 12s with academic or university application responsibilities, or injured students who wouldn’t be able to fully participate – still chose to join the festivities this year.

 

“Everyone wanted to come,” she said. “When you have buy-in from everyone, the feeling is different.”

 

It didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect; skies were blue all week, and although it was cold, no one suffered from it.

 

Saturday, February 8, 2025

 

Dear Chicago cast and crew,

 

It was such an absolute joy to be in the McPherson Playhouse on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

 

There was so much energy, imagination and creativity bubbling through the musical: the choreography of performers, the personality brought to each main character, the live orchestra (with Desi S. conducting some songs), the superbly conceived set and stagecraft, the artwork and banners in the foyer, and much more.

 

It was a wonderful performance.

 

So many audience members caught me at intermission or afterwards to say how proud I must be – as Head of Shawnigan – of the dramatics arts at Shawnigan, and of our musical cast, crew and staff.

 

I most certainly am.

 

From Shawnigan Lake to Vancouver, Ottawa and Portland, Shawnigan’s athletes have been storming across the continent in recent months, with great results to report, while also preparing for some big upcoming championships.

 

For a long time this season, Shawnigan’s U18 Prep girls’ ice hockey team was hanging around the middle of the CSSHL standings. For the most part, though, that was because the team had played significantly fewer games than most of their rivals. After a busy January, Shawnigan has caught up to the rest of the league, and now sits third in the standings with a strong record of 16 wins and nine losses.

 

In early January, Shawnigan attended the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees Showcase Tournament, where they faced off against top U22 teams from across Canada. The team went 3-0 in pool play before bowing out in the playoffs.

 

Mitchell Hall was transformed into a courtroom last week as Ms. Jennifer Manuel’s AP Literature 12 class held a landmark mock trial for one of literature’s most famous and controversial figures: Dr. Victor Frankenstein. But justice was not satisfied with just one case – his infamous Creature also stood trial in what became a riveting legal showdown filled with moral debate, philosophical wrestling, and dramatic oratory worthy of any real-world court.

 

The Frankenstein Trial was the culmination of weeks of preparation. Over the Christmas holidays, students read Frankenstein knowing in advance which legal team they would join – either prosecution or defence – for one of two trials:

 

Shawnigan observed International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a Chapel service last Saturday, centred around a moving message from the daughter of two members of the Dutch Resistance during the Second World War.

 

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked each year on January 27, the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where more than 1.1 million people were murdered by the Nazis, including approximately 960,000 Jews. Around 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, along with several million other victims. This year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day marked 80 years since Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945.

 

“The Holocaust was a time when millions of Jews, and other groups, were murdered just because of who they were,” Shawnigan Chaplain Rev. Ruth Dantzer told the students. “The Nazis tried to eliminate those they deemed as ‘inferior.’

The age-old question – DC or Marvel? – has been answered, and there’s a surprise winner.

 

Introducing Shawmics, Shawnigan’s entry into the culture of comic books, and the brainchild of JEDI Prefect Ivana W. Ivana was trying to come up with ways to make the graphics the School uses for cultural and education purposes more creative and relevant to the Shawnigan experience.

 

“We wanted to make something funny and educational that also promotes issues and diversity while showcasing student artists,” Ivana explained.

 

Two teams from Shawnigan’s robotics program have qualified for the provincial championships this March with a chance to earn berths at the 2025 world championships in May.

 

The teams earned their provincials berths in different fashions last weekend at an event hosted by Claremont Secondary School in Victoria. The team of Tony Z., Justin T., Bella Z. and Aaron N. qualified by winning the skills championship, while the team of Kaho H., Zoe C., Eric H., John P. and Christian W. qualified by making the tournament final, although they ultimately lost and finished as runners-up.

 

In the skills championship, robots work alone for two separate two-minute slots: the first is autonomous and the second is driver-controlled. The team of Tony, Justin, Bella and Aaron had the highest combined score over their two slots. That team also won the “Amaze” award presented by the judges for their innovative design and engineering process. The team of Kaho, Zoe, Eric, John and Christian also had an impressive showing in skills, placing third overall.

 

The Beyond the Gates program is designed to take students out of the classroom and beyond campus to experience places they have never been before and activities they have never tried before. This past Monday, the Grade 9s in the program travelled north to Mount Washington to try biathlon – a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting – and for the vast majority of students, it fit the bill ideally.

 

According to Shawnigan intern Ms. Kelsey McGaw, who led the trip, some of the students didn’t even know biathlon existed and were thrilled to discover a new sport. Virtually everyone had cross-country skied previously – many at Ski Week when they were in Grade 8 – but few had tried the skate-skiing style they employed at Mount Washington, instead being more familiar with the classic style.

 

Although Maya B. had tried biathlon while growing up in the Yukon, she had never attempted skate skiing until Monday. “I really enjoyed the experience, and it was nice to talk to people I hadn’t gotten the chance to interact with before. I think it was very successful. Everyone had a lot of fun, and even though we weren’t the best at every aspect of it, everyone did their best.”

 

Campus tours are a highlight of the admissions process at Shawnigan; not just for the prospective students and families who take part, but for the current students who conduct the tours and cherish the opportunity to share their love of the School with visitors.

 

Hazel P. has been part of the tour guide program for three years, and calls it “one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences of my time here.”

 

“The campus tours program has given me the opportunity to connect with prospective students and their families, share my love for the School, and give them a glimpse into what makes Shawnigan such a special place to be,” she said.

 

Improvements over the last two years to the Hugh Wilkinson Theatre funded by C.A.S.E. (Communications, Arts, Sciences and Entrepreneurship) and the Bradley Family Foundation are helping Shawnigan take this year’s school musical – Chicago (Teen Edition) – to the McPherson Playhouse stage.

 

Two years ago, C.A.S.E. funded the purchase of 16 state-of-the-art wireless microphone sets, the same model used by the professionals at the McPherson Playhouse. The mics, which were also used during last year’s musical, Grease, allow the students to sing at the same levels they will be singing in the final production.

 

Last summer, C.A.S.E. provided funding for a renovation of the production booth at the back of the Wilkinson Theatre. Until last summer, all the equipment was in one end of the booth, and the students working there were virtually on top of one another. Now they can work in a more professional environment, similar to that of the McPherson Playhouse.

 

What happens when you combine the wild imaginations of kindergarten and Grade 1 students with the nascent sculpting skills of Grade 11 art students?

 

The answer: a bunch of little monsters.

 

In fall 2024, right around Halloween, Ms. Annilee Guy’s Grade 11 art students collaborated with the kindergarten/Grade 1 class at nearby École Cobble Hill Elementary – which includes Ms. Guy’s son, Callum – on a fun project. The elementary students all drew monsters, then passed their drawings on to the Shawnigan students, who re-created those monsters in clay and painted them, then gave the final products back to the kids who drew them.

 

The Bruce-Lockhart Fellowship for Academic Excellence was launched in 2021 with the intention of shedding light on aspects of academics that Shawnigan may not have previously explored, creating opportunities for students, teachers, and the rest of the Shawnigan community.

 

The current Bruce-Lockhart fellow, Mr. Mark Henry, is focusing his efforts on increasing awareness and incorporation of the Harkness learning method first in the social studies department and then in Shawnigan’s broader academic structure as a way to adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence.

 

Related to the Socratic method – which has stood the test of time for nearly 2,500 years – the Harkness method is discussion-based, and encourages critical thinking, empathy and collaboration. It has been adopted by many private schools, where its effectiveness is increased by smaller class sizes. In the age of AI, says Mr. Henry, it helps preserve a “truly human education, which aligns with the goals of the School and the social studies department.”