CHARITY WORK DAY

Once a year, a wonderful opportunity arises for the Brentwood students — a chance to give back to the community, a chance for many naturally generous and kind souls to make a difference just for a day, a chance to spice up the normal Saturday routine by exposing sheltered students to the great outdoors. And all rooted in a few hours of manual labour.

Picture this: four hundred exhausted students trudging back to school covered in dirt, grime, and wood chips, with nothing but a white envelope and a satisfied smile. Migrating to the staff room control point, they hand over their earnings with an exhausted smile. Many exchange stories of their physically-trying jobs and grimace at their aching backs. Through all the whinges and groans, pride shines through to reveal the clinging benefits of good ol’ fashioned hard work.

Betty & Ken Newcomb with
Elizabeth Spooner and James Haberman

With over 180 different jobs, all the elbow grease and donations add up to make a big difference, all from only a few hours of our time. All proceeds from the day (over $15,000 at the latest count) will be divided and donated to charities in the Cowichan valley.

Story by: Jennalee Desjardins (Grade 12)

Photo credits for the 4 pictures above: Gerry Pennells

BROADWAY MEETS MILLBAY


The bustle of beatniks and socialites alike; bouquets of roses in dressing rooms; the curtain ready to part. Perhaps an everyday occurrence along Broadway, but such a commotion in Mill Bay could be one of two things: the celebrated musical, or the senior acting class productions. With Guys and Dolls having danced its way into retirement, it is now time for Mr. Keith Digby’s actors to take the stage. But while the glamour and glitz of a polished patronage and production is all many people will see this week when attending either Norm Foster’s two-act play The Melville Boys or War of the Worlds followed by John Murrell’s Waiting for the Parade, there has been a year’s worth of effort in mounting these productions on stage. So the real question is, how does six months of work translate into a two-hour, one-hour, and even half-hour long production?

Many stufdents think that they sign up for Acting 12/11 and that is that; you are automatically cast in a play. Not quite. Unlike the musical, the Acting 12 productions are not chosen until the end of the first term. The first term is dedicated to skits, from which Mr. Digby assesses his actors’ strengths and

George Upton, Matt Franklin,
Molly Barker and Jennalee Desjardins;
the cast of the Melville Boys during some serious rehearsing

weaknesses, keeping them in mind while he searches valiantly for the perfect plays. Only then are the plays, after much painstaking deliberation, chosen and cast. The thespians are handed their scripts and sent off to memorise, memorise, memorise. One of the simpler, but most vital aspects of getting those plays from words on paper to characters living on stage is to remember what each character says. But there is much more than that. The actors must remember where they walk, how they stand, how they talk. The actors have to cope with new voices, brought to them by accent or age, a new vernacular or colloquialisms of the varying eras. They cannot simply be Brentwood College students — they are accountants, nurses, victims of war, and even (ironically) struggling actors. There is no bounce in the walk of the old woman, and women never crossed their legs in the 20’s.

Aside from memorising lines, actors must memorise their character. Not memorise, but create. The reason productions run more than once is because each character is made different by each actor. In each performance, the pressures of school assignments, university letters, boyfriends and girlfriends, must be ignored. The cast must relocate into the world of their scripts, they must “become their character”, a theatre cliché but a true one none the less.

Then there’s the minutiae. Working with a smaller budget than the musical, Cynthia Pronick (Director of Waiting for the Parade), searched and shaped costumes for all three productions from Salvation Army sources, old musical costumes, and even attempted to pass off a few dresses of her own (unfortunately for Cynthia, retro is not making that kind of a comeback!). Sets and lights and props have all slowly drifted in, and the technical crew has painstakingly scribbled, erased and re-scribbled notes, as, even days before opening night, changes are made.

All this effort results in 3 shows, running from this Tuesday until Saturday night. We encourage all students, staff, parents, friends of the school, and all drama enthusiasts to see the fruits of our actors’ labour. For details of the production schedule, see the T. G. Bunch calendar at the end of this page.

Story and Pictures by: Sydney Black(Grade 12)

BEARING LOTS OF LOVE

Images of Zambian hospitals and children undergoing much needed operations for cataracts and other diseases earlier this year inspired Ms. Jane Jackson and the Mackenzie House Grade 10 students to do something extra for the children involved. During the ealier presentation about the wells in Zambia
(see This Week 17), students were shown how increasing demands for clean, modern medical facilities are trying to be met, and how more and more children are being treated and taken care of every day. After an operation or visit, the hospital staff tries to provide each child with a stuffed bear or toy. Many of the children treasure these stuffed friends for years to come.

Ms. Jackson started thinking about how many stuffed animals her own two daughters had from their younger

years that they no longer played with or considered special and she gathered them together with the idea that they could be sent overseas. Hoping to provide the hospitals with more of these, the grade 10 students put up posters around Mackenzie house asking students to bring back old stuffed toys which could go in Ms. Jackson's shipment.

The result was a large collection of fluffy friends, and the teddy bears picnic will be sent to Zambia with the next shipment from the Colin B. Glassco foundation (which also coordinated the building of the wells).

The girls' initiative and Ms. Jackson's idea will provide many more children with a new friend and a reason to smile.

Story and picture by: Ellen Kutscher (Grade 12)

SPRING BREAK WITH A TWIST

Once again Brentonian globetrotters made their way overseas this March on a quest for the perfect spring break. Mexico, the Bahamas, Hawaii – the conventional spring break vacation spots – were amid the list of student and staff destinations; but there were many who made their way even further across the world to places like Australia, India, Cuba and Europe. While many sought sand, surf, and sunshine, there were those who sought adventure, exploration and culture.

India was a popular vacation spot for some, including Chelsea Theriault, Austin Cheley and Elise Findlay. Chelsea and Austin journeyed together to Chelsea’s family home in Chennai in the South of India where they spent two weeks. They also traveled to neighbouring Goa and Auroville, which Chelsea describes as a sort

of commune. The pair definitely stretched the limits of their comfort zones, as the heat was so extreme it was almost unbearable to be outside in the sun for longer than 20 minutes. Another exciting period of their trip was traveling to the outskirts of Chennai where the efforts of World Vision’s Tsunami Relief team could be seen. “People are living in tents right now as their villages are being rebuilt,” said Chelsea, who was recently very actively involved in raising funds for tsunami relief through the school.

Elise Findlay, who was another pilgrim to India this spring, traveled in the northern regions of the country with her mother, Elizabeth Hall-Findlay, who came to the school this year to give a seminar on plastic surgery at the annual Careers Day.

The two explored such cities as New Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Agra and Ranthambor, where Elise rode an elephant. A jungle safari was also on her list of things to accomplish in India, and on one she caught a glimpse of a tiger! They ventured into many temples during their stay, and spent Easter Sunday in a mosque. They also made a trip to the renowned Taj Mahal; “We saw the Taj Mahal at dawn and at dusk, which was amazing,” Elise recollected.

Elise’s fellow Gwynneth Grade 12, Rania Nafissah, not only traveled to her family home in Kuwait, but also to London, England, Wales and briefly to Frankfurt in Germany. In England, she visited two universities into which she was accepted – Bristol University and the University College of London. After touring both, she decided that next year she will head to Bristol to read chemistry. In London, she also went to the theater to see The Lady In White which she says is an extremely popular play at the moment. After taking in some of the culture of the UK in both England and Wales, Rania relaxed in the sun at her home in Kuwait and celebrated her 18th birthday there before returning to Brentwood.

Story and Pictures by: Amy Weinberg (Grade 12)

Elise Findlay and Rania Nafissah

VISITORS ON CAMPUS

Mr. Kevin Spensley is the Director of Program Development for the
American Councils for International Education. American Councils is a non-governmental, educational, consulting and training organisation, working exclusively with the countries of Eurasia, Eastern Europe, and Afghanistan. Its performance-based capabilities in technical assistance and advisory services include training for teachers and other education professionals, testing and assessment, monitoring and evaluation, curriculum development, distance learning, education management, institution building, advanced research, study tours, text development, and exchanges.

Since 1974, American Councils has completed projects in education and professional development in partnership with private organisations and public institutions. Having established its first permanent representation

in Moscow in 1976, it now operates over 35 programmatic and administrative offices in 18 countries with full time permanent staff numbering over 400.

American Councils takes a country-focused, outcomes-based, client-centered, and interdisciplinary approach to development work, building relationships with individuals and local organisations to carry out educational, consulting, and training activities. They have long-standing relationships at all levels of the U.S. and international educational sectors.

Brentwood College was invited to join the American Councils consortium of schools who, in the coming years, will promote our North American educational experience to students in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Kevin came to Brentwood to gain first hand knowledge of our community, the culture, and the tri-partite programme in action, all while observing the faculty, staff and students interact with each other during a "normal" day.

Kevin was extremely impressed with many unique elements of our programme and left with a wonderful feeling about our
school and its potential within the consortium. Kevin left feeling he is well prepared to go back to Washington DC and share all his findings with his colleagues who will speak on our behalf with new students and their families in the months to come. As we continue to strive for our goal to become one of the world's great boarding schools, this leadership role in the consortium will provide us with a wonderful opportunity to continue spreading the news about Brentwood and will open
the door to students who will further enrich the cultural mosaic of our community.

Andy Rodford (Director of Admissions)

UNIVERSITY ACCEPTANCES

Unlike Hogwarts, Brentwood does not have a flock (covey? hoot?) of owls to deliver mail to students, but numerous very welcome letters drop in to the school at this time of the year, all with a University or college return address. The acceptance letters may be unconditional, or conditional on final standings in the departmental June examinations. Nevertheless, those students lucky enough to receive them realise that they have achieved one more step on the ladder to success. Recent good news letters are summarised below.

ISLAND PARADISE

Once more unto the beach my friends, once more. These words, once apt during the siege of Harfleur, could have become a slogan for the weary rowers, training on St. Mary’s Lake, Saltspring Island. For the second week of spring break, senior crews (both men and women) met to practice their craft: the art of carrying boats through mud.

To those who confuse the word island with thoughts of Hawaii, Bahamas, or other exotic destinations, reconsider: the mud baths of Iceland may bear the closest similarity to Saltspring. For those who are still optimistic, despite the deceptive name, there were actually no hot springs to warm the mud, as occurs in Iceland. Within the space of an hour, the weather could rain, hail, and shine, and indeed performed this act of indecisiveness as often as

What will the weather do next? Elliot Wiechula,
Adam Erikson, and Noah McColl consider the outlook

possible. Saltspring does its best for its inhabitants: rain to make the plant life grow so it can be harvested, sun to dry the tie-dye T-shirts, and hail just for kicks.The omens were certainly ominous from the start: upon arrival, it was apparent the dock the rowers were to use to launch their crafts had two slight flaws. It did float, albeit reluctantly: the tires strapped to the sides prevented a complete marine adventure, though when a person moved from one side to the other, that side would sink excitingly to allow water to rise over the feet. Stable it was not, but nor was it a Titanic. There was, however, a more serious design flaw which threatened to wreak havoc: the dock began, not on shore as most conservative individuals might suppose, but rather ten feet from it, as could only be conceived on free-thinking Saltspring Island. This concept, a bit too liberal to the stodgy rowers, accustomed to docks that did not require hip deep wading to reach, shocked many. Fortunately, a solution was found due to the help of Saint Claire McColl, who contributed a ladder to serve as a foundation for a makeshift plywood extension.

Despite the challenges, most felt they improved as rowers and enjoyed themselves. Rowers had three practices a day, working to improve technically and physically, which left time to rest and relax with friends. The coaches, with the help of some of the rowers, also ran a training camp for Saltspring students who wished to learn to row. Beyond training themselves, the rowing club also donated the proceeds from this Learn to Row experience to Charity Work Day, the total reaching more than $1000. Special thanks must be given to each of the billets who agreed to host students, giving them a place to rest between pieces. These families from the community (who took in as many as thirteen students in one case ) cared for the Brentwood crews as they worked throughout the week. The other key contributors were the coaches, notably Mr. Brian Carr, who gave up their holiday to plan and run the event. The experience of training and working with fellow rowers for a week is one that the entire rowing club values, and greatly helps to build their strength as crews. We can only anticipate the victories that will stem from the rowers’ dedication to their training.

Nick Chesterley (Grade 12)

T. GIL BUNCH CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Future presentations:

Acting 11 / 12.

Waiting for the Parade by John Murrell. Humourous and touching, this is the major work of an important Canadian playwright.

The War of the Worlds. Lights, sound effects, film-clips and scenes fill the stage as we create our version of the original radio broadcast.

Pacific Institute of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts Concert

www.celticperformingarts.com, 250-758-0208, 1-866-301-2358

Back to Top