International Public Speaking Competition
The Life Cycle of a Dorm
Sibling Rivalry?
Mid-term Break
New Faces on Campus
Halloween Costumes
Faces and Places
Volleyball Report

T. Gil Bunch Theatre Future Productions

REPARTEE AT RIDLEY

A strange assembly of people recently returned to Brentwood from St. Catharines, Ontario. A cheerleader, an out of work actress, a politically correct storyteller, a slave of the 1700s, and an expert on the dangers of appliances made up this motley group, with several other less prominent characters accompanied them. Unfortunately, there were no psychologists, though since these multiple- personalities returned in only three people, the need was certainly there.

Nonsense? Poor counting skills? Lots of both: the debate team was returning!

Hosted by Ridley College, the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition was attended by schools from such places as Bermuda, Scotland, Cyprus, England, and America, as well as from most of the provinces of Canada. The event is hotly contested, with more than sixty schools competing. Of these, the Brentwood team finished twenty-ninth, defeating several of its West Coast rivals, including Shawnigan Lake School. Brentwood’s team was made up of Cirisse Stephen, Laura McLean, and Nicholas Chesterley, who each acquitted themselves well in the tournament, competing against the top speakers from other countries.

At the entrance to Ridley

Sightseeing around Niagra Falls before returning to the stress of speaking

THE LIFE CYCLE OF A DORM

The purpose of this expose is to demonstrate the most mesmerizing of all transformations: the evolution and decay of the average student dorm on Saturdays. Within a matter of hours, rooms can morph from nauseating and repulsive to clean and pristine. The contrast will boggle your brain.

It all starts early in the morning. One can feel the tension in the air as students skitter down the hall, entering their dwellings manned only with strength and determination. The typical room is in utter disarray with laundry piled up everywhere and jammed into into crevasses. Paper hides the desks and the dresser is littered with odds and ends. A whiff of sour socks circulates through the stale air.

The subsequent transformation is time-consuming and labour intensive; one must find the time for even the most tedious of cleaning activities — folding of undergarments, dusting of the shelves and organising the desk drawers. And as if that weren’t enough, the rooms are also tastefully decorated, each trying to outdo the others. Like a butterfly clawing out of the cocoon, the metamorphosis of the rooms is astonishing. What once was an area fit for a pig sty, is now fit for the bedroom of King Louis XIV.

Of course, like all of nature’s cycles, it begins again. Just hours after reaching that state of absolute beauty, chaos reigns. One must wonder what possessed the students to slaughter the comeliness, shatter all the hard, early morning work. To this they reply, “It’s natural!”

Story and pictures by: Jennalee Desjardins (Grade 11)

SIBLING RIVALRY?

There has been an alarming trend of late, noticed by faculty and students alike. It would seem that when Brentwood parents enrol one of their offspring, they feel overwhelmingly compelled to enrol the rest of their children as well! This phenomenon’s increasing frequency needed to be explored.

How does it feel to have a younger sibling arrive at “your” school? Most students come to Brentwood in the hopes of finding some sort of independence from their family, so is it frustrating to have your younger counterparts following in the footsteps you have already painstakingly pounded? Not according to Sarah Rosen, whose younger sister, Abby, arrived this year. “Having two years on my own was great, but having family here is special in its own way,” she says. “We actually don’t see each other that much, surprisingly.”

Kira Gersten, Missing her brother

How about younger siblings arriving at a school? The tendency of the returning student body is to simply refer to you as ________’s brother/sister. When being asked “Oh you’re Sydney’s little brother, right?” Cameron Black would just acerbically reply, “I’m Cam, actually”. But what does he actually think? “Either experience, having a sibling or not, are really different, but apart from always being referred to as Sydney’s little brother, I like the fact that I have an older sister who came to Brentwood before me.”

What about those who bridge this gap? There are a plethora of middle children enrolled, following in footsteps while branching off and leaving their own for their siblings to pad along after them. Marlee Hahn loved having her older sister here to “show [her] the ropes,” saying that Amanda “really helped [her] feel more comfortable, especially at the beginning”. Amanda has long graduated and last year Marlee’s younger sister Aubrey came: how was that?

“It was nice to have some family company after one year all by my lonesome!”. There are even cases where a younger sibling attends Brentwood and then the older sibling

sees how glorious it is and comes later. This was the case with Kira Gersten, whose brother Otie came and graduated last year, while Kira is going on her 3rd year.

It seems most students really appreciate having had, or now having, a sibling around, even if sometimes most of their conversations consist of “Mom told me to tell you…”

Story and Pictures by: Sydney Black (Grade 12)

BY BOAT, PLANE, CAR AND BUS, HOME WE GO

Mid-term break: highly anticipated and Brentwood’s last break until the Christmas holidays. Bags are being packed, flights and ferries booked, and friends, family and free time eagerly awaited.

Brentwood’s travel coordinator Diane Southern has been incredibly busy of late organising flights, buses and boats for the 400-plus students who will all be leaving the school for their break destinations sometime between Tuesday night and Thursday evening, depending on their individual arrangements. With students jetting off to the far reaches of the earth, places like India and Argentina, some can expect long layovers and time for a lot of reading and relaxing en route. Students who live too far away to easily get home, are often invited to the houses of newly acquired friends, or to stay with family they may have in the area.

Many Grade 12’s will be taking this opportunity to take a last look at post-secondary institutions (some even being flown out by their school of choice), before making their final decisions on applications. Other students will simply take time to relax and enjoy life away from Brentwood before the rigorous pre-exam Christmas period. One of the major highlights of this year’s mid-term break is that it falls directly in line with Halloween. For the first time in several years, students will be home to celebrate Halloween with friends and do a little trick-or-treating which they may not be entitled to while at the school.

As a native of the Seattle area, I myself have many hilarious memories of rides on The Victoria Clipper at this time of the year. Bad weather, huge waves, but with youthful constitution able to stomach the jolting; the telling of stories and keeping each other laughing on the two-and-a-half hour long trips to and from Seattle every break are only a few of the good times I can recall. Anticipation of home, or of coming back to Brentwood is on everyone’s mind on the journey.

Have a great break and safe travels, everyone!

Story and Pictures by: Ellen Kutscher (Grade 12)

NEW FACES ON CAMPUS: Ms. Kai Zhang

Ms. Kai Zhang, one of Brentwood College's newest faculty members
has joined the school this year to teach Mandarin, ESL, and Information
Technology 8. Ms. Zhang was born and grew up in China and immigrated to Canada in 1990 to pursure her dream of becoming a teacher and assisting others. She has received extensive education in both China and Canada and has led a very intriguing life thus far. Her story, however, begins with her fascinating ancestral history.

Ms. Zhang's grandmother was a teacher and was a very strong inspiration to her throughout her life. Her husband was a member of the Nationalist Army in China, and they had five children. Two of their sons, however, became members of the Liberation Army led by Mao Tse-Tung. When Mao came into power in 1949, Ms. Zhang's grandmother was forced to move to a poor village in the province of Henan where she was to be "re-educated." Her property and belongings were confiscated by the Red Guards and her husband was put in jail. Also, her remaining children (Ms. Zhang's

mother included) were unable to go to school. Ms. Zhang says that the strength and tranquility of her grandmother during this time were an inspiration to her in her own life.

Ms. Zhang was born in Zheng Zhou village in the province of Henan. She grew up in Taiyuan village in the province of Shanxi, south of inner Mongolia and north of the Yellow River. The village is located on a plateau called "yellow earth." It earned this name because of the excessive amounts of dust located there. Her parents were both chemical engineers, and she was first educated at an academy for the children of engineers. She knew she wanted to be a teacher from an early age, and went to a teacher's university in China to become an English teacher. She was a Red Guard for three days "until the system fell." She said with a laugh, "the first phrase I learned to speak in English was 'Long live Chairman Mao,' even before I learned the alphabet." After she graduated, she became a teacher at a University in China for two-and-a-half years. It was after Ms. Zhang's mother died that she decided she wanted to come to Canada. She left China in November of 1990, around the time of the Tiananmen Square incident, where students protested to the government against the corruption that was happening in the country. Immigrating to Canada proved to be hard work for the first 5 years. Ms. Zhang came to Victoria after being sponsored by a Canadian couple and worked as a live-in nanny. She came with $900 US in her pocket using $500 for rent and the remaining $400 towards her tuition. As well as being a nanny she did all sorts of odd jobs for money towards her education: painting houses, shingling, etc. First she went to the Career Development Institute in Victoria and earned a diploma in computerised office applications. Then she went to the University of Victoria into the Education Department to continue on her path to becoming a teacher. In 1995 she became a permanent resident in B.C. and two years later became a Canadian citizen, giving up her Chinese citizenship.

The adventures did not stop for Ms. Zhang when she got to Canada. In 1995 she assisted the migrants from Fuji and China, whose boats landed in Victoria, by serving as a translator during their hearings. These migrants were being sold to business men in New York by "snake heads" who dealt in human (slave) labour. Out of the five boats (600 migrants) one-fifth of the people gained refugee status and were allowed to stay. The remainder were put in jail for a period and then sent back to China. A year later, Ms. Zhang played the role of translator again for the arrival of Chinese Navy ships into Victoria. This meeting of the two would be the first official interaction ever between the Chinese and Canadian militaries. She also helped design a "first day cover," which was like a stamp, to comemorate the event, and received special acknowledgement for her excellence as a translator.

Ms. Zhang most likely has enough stories and experiences to fill a book. Students and staff are encouraged to talk to Ms. Zhang and hear some of her stories and insights first hand. It is truly an honour to have such a hard working individual join the school this year.

Story and picture by: Amy Weinberg (Grade 12)

HALLOWEEN

As mentioned above, this will be the first time for some years that the students will not be on campus for Halloween. Undeterred, the Laundry ladies in their own inimicable fashion, toured the campus in this year's fashion to die for.

FACES AND PLACES

Barclay Martin was roaming the halls of Alex House last week with a camera in hand.
Three of her pictures appear below

Closer to home, the Senor 'B' team took to the court against Lake Cowichan, Thursday afternoon. Setter Liezl Behm supported all players, leading the team to victory in all three games.

Last Saturday night, students dressed in orange, red, blue and green flocked to Brentwood's own gym for the second Interhouse event of the year: volleyball. Each and every point was hotly contested with accompanying screams of support and dismay. The first round ended with the Privett seniors mutilating the Rogers House defence and the Ellis juniors scraping together a win over Whittall.

Story by: Andrea Norlund (Grade 11)
Pictures by: Dave McCarthy

T. GIL BUNCH CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Future presentations:

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