Category Archives: In The Community

Thank You For A Busy Saturday!

Leave a reply

When we renovated the field at the Mentor campuses last summer and installed the Dome in November, we knew that our current families would be able to appreciate the difference. At our Open House last Saturday, I was inside the Dome to answer questions and three of the families who came in were actually current families! They had a son/daughter writing the entrance assessment but they were excited to see the Dome themselves because as one Mom put it “Our son talks about it every day but we haven’t had the chance to come inside it yet!”

Our current families notice the improvement but we were not expecting the “buzz” from people outside the Mentor/TEAM community. One family told us that their middle son wanted to come because in his words, “they have an awesome soccer field and a Dome” and “Mentor always has the best sports teams”. Even the casual observer has noticed; my mortgage broker (to whom I speak every 5 years) complimented me on how we have improved the community and that “it really looks sharp from the GO Train!”. Local training facility SWAT knows about our facilities and this afternoon brought CFL star Chad Owens to the Dome for a video shoot.

Our policy of re-investing in the school’s facilities, staff and instructional materials paid off with a very busy Saturday at every division of TEAM and Mentor but we continue to value the personal recommendations that you make to your circle of friends. Thanks again and we accept the challenge of affirming that trust.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Partnership With Craig Kielburger Still Strong 10 Years On

Leave a reply

I started working at TEAM/Mentor as a phys. ed. teacher (it was several “blood moons” ago!) so while I got the chance to pass along my sporting knowledge, I didn’t really get the opportunity to use my History B.A. I have now spent over half of my life working at the school and as a result, I notice that I have become one of the unofficial school “historians”. My short-term memory is lacking (if you believe Mrs. Starkey) but I am blessed/cursed with being able to remember details from long ago.

As I was helping to chauffeur our more than 60 students and staff members (from three divisions of our school) to We Day yesterday morning, I remembered the very first encounter our school had with that organization. It was the 2005-2006 school year and Craig Kielburger was the presenter at our annual Speaker Series. Me to We and We Day did not exist at that point; Craig and his brother Marc were the co-founders of Free the Children and were just starting to make headlines.

Kielburger had a huge impact on the audience of teenagers and teachers and soon afterwards, the Take Action Group was formed. This team of high school students and staff held a very successful charity golf tournament the following spring and similar groups sprouted up in the TEAM and Intermediate divisions as well. In the past decade, the growth of the Kielburgers’ organization has mirrored that of the clubs that Craig’s speech here at our school spawned. Free the Children, Me to We and the hottest-ticket-in-town “We Day” have grown exponentially over the years.

Craig’s message at the Air Canada Centre today will no doubt be similar to the one he passed along to us 10 years ago: if he (as a 12-year-old boy) could affect change on the other side of the world in the sweatshop garment industry, what was stopping Mentor/TEAM students from doing the same? Our student groups have been inspired to do everything from a “guess the number of jelly beans” contest to support a local animal shelter to a major fundraiser for a school-building project in Sierra Leone to student trips in India, Ecuador and Kenya. And to bring things full circle, we have a former student who works full-time for Free the Children and there are at least four alumni volunteering their time at We Day today! It has been a wonderful 10-year partnership and we cannot wait to see what the next decade will bring.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

A Great Weekend With A Great Bunch Of Students

Leave a reply

Over the weekend, I had the privilege to take the Grade 9 girls’ volleyball team (and HS attendance secretary Ms. Showler) back to my hometown of Goderich for a tournament. This group of girls is a really fun bunch and by fun, I mean that they did anything but blend in as we stopped to take photos in front of the high schools of their two heroes (Justin Bieber, Stratford Northwestern Secondary School and Ms. Fuhr, Mitchell District High School). They couldn’t believe that students were driving home from school on a snowmobile and they even pretended to enjoy my guided tour of the town of Goderich! Their mathematics teachers will be proud to hear that they did not believe it was geometrically possible to drive in circles around an octagon that is called “The Square”. The weekend was about having some fun together and not about winning games (but they did anyway!). Everywhere we went, the girls were energetic (and perhaps a wee bit loud at times but that is par for the course with 14-year-old girls) and I was proud of the way they represented the school from the moment we left until we returned.

I was disappointed in myself for one incident, though. We were at a McDonalds and the girls were tired after playing 8 games and probably as quiet and lifeless as they were all weekend. They had all ordered and were waiting in line at the side while I got ready to place my order. Before I got to the till, two folks got into line behind me and said “Oh, great…there’s a bunch of stupid kids here”.

My first impulse was to turn around and go on a Rick Mercer-esque rant and say “Actually, they are not a bunch of stupid kids. They are bunch of wonderful, intelligent young women. Some of them have known each other for years and others for only months but they truly enjoy each other’s company. They can laugh with each other and at themselves. They cheer for each other when times are good and console each other when things get rough. They have been taught by their school and by their parents to be respectful of adults, even when adults like you unfairly do not give them any respect. For example, they would never walk into a restaurant and say ‘Oh great, there’s a bunch of old people here’. Please forgive me if you think I am being defensive; I am just extremely proud of my students and my school wherever we go!”

In the end, I ended up doing nothing (and probably best-represented the school by doing so!) but it was a good reminder for me that we have a very special school. The people at the McDonald’s will never understand why anyone would want to spend the weekend in a small town with a bunch of “stupid kids” but I know that Ms. Showler and I would trade neither the weekend nor that “bunch” for another.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

Fashion Show: It Takes A Village

Leave a reply

sitelogo (1)The phrase “it takes a village” has become a popular one and it is no more applicable at our schools than for our charity Fashion Show. This event involves staff, students and parents from every grade and every division of the school but the goal of raising $60,000 in one wonderful night (Saturday, April 18) is only possible with a whole lot of generosity of time, talent and donations now.

This is where you, the “villager”, come in. You can be as involved as you want and we have many ways for you to participate.

Perhaps you have some spectacular big ticket item that you could contribute to our live auction? This could be something personal (eg: “a week at our hilltop cottage”) or have a connection to your business (eg: “a free product or service for your whole family”). We also have a very active silent auction where we love to have sports or concert tickets, gift baskets, appliances, gift certificates, furniture, any kind of services…if you’ve got it, we can use it! We also have room in our 350 swag bags for something from your business so if you would like some recognition in this way, let us know. Keep in mind that we also have 800 guests that night and are looking for food and drink donations. If you don’t think you have anything but want to help in obtaining donations, the parent committee would love to have you join them for their monthly meeting (next Thursday at 3:45).

Donations totalling $3000 or more will get recognition in the program, on the website and on the screen during the show. You can also purchase advertising for one or more of these media if you wish.

Tickets (another way to show your support) go on sale the first day after the March Break. The Fashion Show student executives are so inclusive that even if you haven’t seen anything yet that you can do, they will even accept a straight-up donation and as long as it is over $20, SickKids Foundation (one of the benefitting charities) has agreed to provide a tax receipt for you as well!

Please take the time to consider a way that you can help. There are 100 student models involved and at least that many student, staff and parent volunteers in our “village” who would love to have you take part. Send a message to fashionshow@mentorcollege.edu, visit www.mentorcollegefashionshow.com or simply hit “Leave a Reply” if you have any questions or if you have already decided on your contribution.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Memories To Music: Seniors Learning From Seniors

Leave a reply

10259769_707457759350017_6367664688648605383_nIt is a very high school-specific event but I really want to highlight the amazing job that Mentor’s senior music students did at last night’s “Memories to Music” concert.

For the uninitiated, this is a pilot project with the Alzheimer’s Society where students are matched up with a senior partner in the early stages of dementia, interview them over the course of a few weeks and then compose a song about their senior partner. The song is performed for the senior partner and their family at the concert but more importantly, it is recorded so the senior partner can have a copy of their own. Numerous studies show that even after other aspects of a person’s memory have faded, music seems to “stick” in our minds longer so having a song that chronicles your life story can help you remember those details.

As faculty advisor Mr. Hoare told the crowd, his favourite part of the process is that very first meeting. He and his counterpart at the Alzheimer’s Day Centre (just across the street from the Main Campus) watch as both the students and seniors are SO nervous to meet each other…both groups wondering “Am I going to get a cool person?” and “Will they like me?” and within 5 minutes, they are chatting back and forth like old friends. Mr. Hoare’s theory is that teenagers and seniors have that one special bond of “neither one of them care what middle-aged people think about them” and that is why the programme works so well.

As with most events like this, the tendency is to focus in on how much “we” are doing for “them” but in this case, I think the students might even get more out of the experience than their senior partners. Case in point? The final number of the concert was, unfortunately, dedicated posthumously to Joan Linklater by her student friends Mirabella Chan and Vanessa Kabu-Asante. Joan passed away in October but her husband Jim was gracious enough to allow Vanessa and Mia to sing the song in her memory. The song started with a poem Jim gave them:

When I come to the end of the road, and the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom filled room, why cry for a soul set free?

The tissues came out around the room and I told myself that if the girls started to cry, I knew I would be joining them. They did a gorgeous job of the song and were able to keep it together until they got off the stage and got a big hug from Jim and then their classmates and the audience joined me in a sad/happy cry. I am sure Vanessa and Mia will be recounting that story to generations of their own families…their own version of “Memories to Music”.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School