Monthly Archives: May 2014

This Is Ground Control To Major Chris

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We are very excited to announce that the 2014 Speaker Series will feature the most famous astronaut on any planet…Chris Hadfield. Hadfield kept the world captivated with his photos, videos and commentary from space as the commander of the International Space Station last year.

Because of the interesting bits of information he sent back from space, he is now described as a social media rock star. His “Space Oddity” music video had over 20 million views and he has over one million Twitter followers and counting.

He will present his talk to next year’s Grade 8 to 12 students and faculty, alumni, parents and friends of the Mentor/TEAM community. Mark Wednesday, October 22 at 10:00am at the Main Campus in your calendar now as this promises to be a great school event.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Athletes Exceptional Both On & Off Field

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Last night was the high school athletic banquet and every year, it allows me to reminisce. I take a look around the room to see how the Grade 12s have matured as students, athletes and human beings since I coached them in Grade 9. At the same time, I look at the Grade 9s and wonder who will be the leaders of our sports programme when they are in their graduating year. For the Grade 10s, I try to decide who will be a difference-maker in their first year of senior sports and I think in my head which Grade 11 student-athletes will be the backbone of next year’s teams.

This year, athletic director Mr. Miller invited two alumni back for the event to present two of the awards. Lynda Vu and Jesse Kokorudz just finished their 3rd year of university as student-athletes (Lynda at McMaster as a wrestler and Jesse at Wilfrid Laurier as a rugby player) and when I asked them at the last minute if they wanted to say a few words to the crowd, they eagerly accepted (must be all that Speech Night training!). Lynda encouraged the Grade 12s to ignore all the little excuses to not be involved in collegiate sports and that she would have not been nearly as successful in her studies if not for her wrestling endeavours. Jesse took the opportunity to thank both his rugby coaches and his teachers for both his athletic and academic success at TSS/Mentor and that he continues to apply the foundational tools he learned here in the classroom and on the field.

What impressed me most about these two though, was what they did after their 5 minutes on stage. Not only were they at the event before it started, they stayed afterwards….but not, as you might think, to stand around and chat with their coaches. It was like they were back in high school again; Lynda helped the Athletic Association team cleaning up tables and Jesse rolled up his sleeves and helped with the final job of the night…rolling up the tarps.

Congratulations to all of the student-athletes who participated in Marauder Athletics this year and to the graduating students, Jesse and Lynda are great examples of how the lessons you learn in school and in sports will continue with you when you start the next chapter of your education…if you give yourself the opportunity.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Advanced Placement Can Equal Advanced Opportunities

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As the last of the Advanced Placement (AP) students write their examinations this week, I thought it would be helpful to help those who are not familiar with the AP programme to get some insight.

An AP course is for selected students who show the academic potential and a subject-specific interest that would allow them to learn at a higher level than secondary school. Students study the course material with a Mentor faculty member throughout the year and in May, a worldwide, common examination is administered by the US College Board (the same people who run the SATs). Students who earn a 4.0 or 5.0 on the test can use the results to earn a first-year university credit in that subject. Our students take advantage of this in two ways; they can move on to some second year courses in their major right away once they get to university OR they use their preview of the first year course material to gain an advantage over the rest of their first-year university classmates…especially if they are competing for a spot in a very competitive programme like medicine or engineering.

A very high percentage of our students get that 4.0 or 5.0 (we are awaiting the results of the 2014 tests) but it is interesting to follow the university paths of those students. In just the 2012 AP classes alone, we have the story of Michael, who is spending his summer in the department of neuroscience at the University of Toronto doing research with a lead professor. From that same year is Jennifer, who received an NSERC USRA (which is the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Student Research Award) based on grade point average and subject interest. She has a 16-week grant to work with a McMaster University professor of physics and astronomy looking at membrane and protein dynamics through x-ray diffraction. Not to be outdone, Andrew is “living the dream” as far as the stereotypical university male goes. He is spending his summer in Sweden studying the influence of hop addition techniques on flavour compounds in beer. And he is getting paid, too!

We sometimes think as parents that our kids’ academic life events are a long way off (moving to the Main Campus, Grade 8 graduation, a high school prom) and in this case, we have 2nd-year students working on research projects that we believe are usually reserved for master’s and doctoral students. Because of the head start our students gain here, the future is not as far off as parents of our graduates think!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Celebrating The Arts

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The past two weeks has seen a focus on the arts at our schools. Mentor’s Grade 5 to 10 visual arts’ students have displayed their work all around the Main Campus, senior art students from TSS/Mentor held their show “Meraki” last Wednesday and Thursday and Mentor students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 showcased their vocal and instrumental talents at two concerts.

Tonight, our high school students will celebrate the arts with the 3rd Annual “Sunnies” Awards. The categories are wide-ranging and cover visual arts, video, fashion show, drama, music and technical support over this past Mentor/TSS school year. Over 100 students are nominated (and we all know from awards show speeches that it is an honour just to be nominated!) and perhaps more impressive is the fact that over half of our student body is somehow involved in the arts.

Some students pursue careers in the arts (like alumnus Joseph Rumi of Rumi Galleries that many of you drive past on Queen Street every day) but as Mentor music teacher Mr. Hoare often says, the ultimate goal of our arts’ programme is to create a lifelong interest/passion in the arts. In other words, even if you never pick up a paintbrush or play a trumpet ever again, we will consider your time with the arts beneficial as long as you visit galleries and museums, buy something musically-inspired on iTunes or purchase a subscription to the local community theatre. If you don’t perform the arts, at the very least continue to “consume” them.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

A Creative, Caring, & Challenging Learning Environment

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In the past week, there has been quite a buzz about a report from an education advocacy group called People for Education. The group surveyed over 1300 Ontario schools after receiving numerous complaints from parents that they had been asked to keep their child home from school because there was not enough staff support for students with a wide variety of special needs. The report claims that ALL students end up being short-changed as teachers need to focus on student safety over delivering the instruction required for the curriculum.

The report is not news to us. We have families (past, present and no doubt future) who come to us because they have been promised educational support (for everything from dyslexia strategies to gifted programmes) only to find out in September that the funding or staffing was no longer available. Students from all grade levels come to us with a learning profile that requires some variety and creativity in the way the material is presented and are finally given the opportunity to learn in a manner that works best for them. Our small class sizes allow our teachers (especially in our TEAM programme) to focus on specific, individual learning strengths and to gear their teaching techniques in order to achieve success. Parents are overwhelmed with the difference that their new school makes!

The news items with the People for Education report highlight both of the groups of students affected and at our schools, we hear the stories from both groups as well. Whether it is the family with a child requiring (and not receiving) extra support or the family with a child not requiring additional staff time (but getting overlooked for those who do), they can come to us frustrated with their situation. We empathize with the families who do not have the means to change schools but we are proud of the fact that in our schools, we have the ability to provide a creative, caring and challenging learning environment for the families who come to us.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School