Author Archives: Mentor College / TEAM School

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About Mentor College / TEAM School

Tutorial and Educational Assistance in Mississauga, or TEAM School, was established in 1981 to strengthen the learning skills of students. Located in the heart of Mississauga, TEAM School is a non-denominational private school recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Education. Founded in 1982, Mentor College educates children from junior kindergarten through to the university entrance level. Children at Mentor College are grouped by age and experience in three levels of study: Untitled-1primary, intermediate, and high school. These groupings follow the curriculum set out by the Ontario Ministry of Education for all schools in the province.

Know What Do To When It Snows!

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As you know, this weekend marks our Mid-Autumn Holiday (no school Friday or Monday) and just like the first sighting of a robin is a sign of spring, this weekend (for our schools) is the first sign of winter. The second sign of winter here at Mentor/TEAM is the appearance of the “Snow Day” link on our websites (go check it out right now if you like).

We have three different types of “Snow Days” at our school. The first type (or “full” Snow Day, if you like) occurs when the weather conditions are such that we need to close the schools for the day. The second type (or “partial” Snow Day) occurs when our school buses are cancelled for the day due to inclement weather but our schools are open for those who are willing and able to come.

The third type is not an actual Snow Day but is what I like to call an “It Is Snowing Day”. This usually starts the afternoon before with a zealous Weather Network host who mentions the phrase “storm of the century” and by the time classes end, everybody is planning on how they are going to spend the day off only to wake up the next morning to a “light dusting” of snow.

Snow Days are rare but they do happen so here is a handy guide on how to get this information:

1) the Snow Day link on the websites is the very first place to be updated (you can’t imagine the number of times that this page gets refreshed on a snowy morning!)

2) the second time we publish the information is via a special weather bulletin in the email newsletter…if you are reading this message, you will be informed.

We will also send out messages on our Facebook and Twitter feeds but these messages will simply point you to the Snow Day link. We do NOT contact any radio or TV stations nor do we inform any internet news sites about Snow Days.

Have a relaxing long weekend and “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Not That I’m Old Or Anything

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WEBSITE1I didn’t realize how old I am getting until I went to a seminar on “marketing in a world of social media” this week. Upon arrival, I guessed that the average age in the room was about 10 years below mine and prior to the presentation, I had proudly identified two people in my immediate vicinity who were definitely older than I.

About 10 minutes into the first presentation, I bumped down the average age another 5 years because, while I had turned off my phone and was listening intently, at least half of the audience was typing, texting, tweeting, emailing and checking their various social media outlets. The real kicker for me was the two persons I knew were older than I. Person #1’s cell phone began ringing and I could hear the “kids” in the room saying to themselves “do you want me to show you how you can use ‘silent’ as a ringtone?”. Showing an even more Jurassic look on life was Person #2 who was taking notes with (I am not making this up) a pencil and paper.

I found that I was in the minority in understanding most of the acronyms being used (SEO, ROI, LTV, etc.) by the presenters, but my face definitely started to glaze over once the discussions moved into things like Twitter, Pinterest, vines and blogs. I am still trying to understand why people find all this interesting and how they find the time looking for “infotainment” but we now have a very active Facebook page, a growing Twitter following and (very soon) a blog so I guess I just need to embrace it and go with wherever the future takes us with social media.

I realize now that I was once one of those 20-somethings who was pushing the old guys at the school to “get into the 21st century”. The same look I give when someone suggests we have a Twitter account is the look Mr. Philbrook gave me when I boldly declared that Mentor needed a website about 20 years ago. When I get excited about the fact that we can send video/photo and news information instantaneously to our parents today via Facebook and Twitter, I remember how Mr. Philbrook was just as giddy when I showed him what I had designed for the home page of our first website (pictured…and you do NOT need the current version of Flash to view it!). It makes me feel like a dinosaur but even they had a great run for millions of years.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Chris Hadfield Brings Something For Everyone

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It was definitely the most excited crowd the Main Campus gym has ever seen yesterday as Chris Hadfield spoke to over 1200 students, staff and parents in the 2014 edition of the Speaker Series.

Hadfield’s talk had a little bit for everyone. Those who love machines enjoyed hearing about rockets and horsepower. The physics-minded marveled at the thought of getting into orbit and being slung-shot through and above the atmosphere. He engaged the arts minds with the idea of music and science being complementary and not (as popular belief would have it) opposites. The teachers liked the part about how he was so sad the day he heard a high school student say “I can’t wait to be finished high school so I can stop learning”. The dreamers in the crowd liked the fact that indeed, “the sky is NOT the limit” and those who revel in details were encouraged to hear that you need to think of EVERYTHING in order to be successful. He encouraged everyone, no matter what stage in their life they find themselves, to make short-term and long-term goals. Not only that, Hadfield insisted that the most important thing to do was, once the goal has been set, to start it right away…not to wait a week or two but immediately.

In many ways, Hadfield has a similar world view to our Mentor/TEAM families. Get the best education you can get, when you get it don’t squander that amazing opportunity, find something you love to do and immerse yourself in it, set goals, reach your goals, set new goals and have lots of fun doing it.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Almost Time To Put Your Helmets On

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We have been blessed with the presence of some wonderful speakers and famous people during our Speaker Series. For parents, Peter Mansbridge, Stephen Lewis and David Suzuki were household names for our generation (and our kids’) and Craig Kielburger is certainly the Canadian face of youth activism as the co-founder of Free the Children and the Me to We movement.

I think it is safe to say that we have not had a speaker who brings together both generations like former astronaut Chris Hadfield, though. Not only did he have a really cool job but through his use of social media and his engagement with the youth of Canada and the world, he was elevated to “rock star” status (and it helped that he used a classic rock song by David Bowie to keep the old folks like me interested!). He is just as current today as he was when he was on the International Space Station as he is in the middle of a book tour (#3 book in North America) and is a consultant for an upcoming ABC comedy based on that book as well.

If you are not a Grade 8 to 12 student and have not yet picked up your guest ticket for the lecture next Wednesday, you need to do so. There are fewer than 50 tickets remaining and we cannot guarantee seating if you arrive next Wednesday without a ticket! If you have a ticket, you are reminded that a freewill donation will be accepted for Mr. Hadfield’s charity of choice, the Canadian Red Cross. Please join this down-to-earth guy who believes that the sky is not the limit.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Focusing On The First Four Years After High School

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Starting next Tuesday, the Class of 2015 and 2016 will start on their journey of post-secondary education as they attend our very own University Fair in the gym. 25 schools will be onsite to distribute information and to answer questions from our Mentor students and parents from 6:00 to 7:00 and to then host three breakout sessions in classrooms from 7:00 to 9:00. Later in the month, our Grade 11 and 12 TSS students will attend the Ontario College Information Fair to start the process of finding that perfect educational “fit” for college (that same “fit” they found for their secondary school years).

Tonight, however, we will be welcoming back the high school Class of 2014 for their Commencement ceremony. This year’s graduates have spread themselves out over Ontario (at 20 different schools), Canada (in half the provinces of the country) and the globe (in the US, China and England just to name a few countries).

There are 172 members of the Class of 2014 – the largest graduating class in the history of our school. This may not seem like a huge number, but consider this: when you look at the portraits outside of the school office, you need to get to the 7th year of our high school’s existence to find the 172nd graduate!

The interests of the Class of 2014 vary from Arts to Architecture, Biology to Business and Commerce to Computer Science. They are studying unique programmes like Technoculture and Urban Planning. They are our future doctors, lawyers, engineers, police officers, teachers and politicians and even though they may have stopped listening to their parents about 5 minutes into Frosh Week, we had all better be nice to them. They are the ones who will be deciding what happens to our pension plans!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School