Category Archives: In The Community

Celebrating More Than Just Culture

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Next week, we will be holding our annual Celebration of Cultural Diversity. Every student from JK to Grade 12 will get the opportunity to travel around the world by travelling around the Main Campus gyms and viewing the various pavilions hosted by high school students. Many of the students have a direct connection to their pavilion (eg: it is their home country or that of their parents) but others just took it upon themselves to learn more about a part of the world that they have never visited.

While I wouldn’t trade my youth in small-town Ontario for anything, it was a pretty homogenous upbringing. In my high school of about 800 kids, there was one Chinese family and one Indian family. I don’t remember any in-class conversations where students talked about their belief in Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam. When I heard the word “culture”, I thought of yogurt (food first!) or people who listened to classical music.

This is why I am so grateful that I have my experience here at Mentor/TEAM and that my kids have also been raised with much more knowledge about the world around them than I was. The Celebration of Cultural Diversity will show how truly international our school is and in many ways, Mentor/TEAM is like Canada. Newcomers are attracted to us for a better (educational) life and the core value of respect allows everyone to be proud of their past while being part of our (present and) future.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

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I know there are mixed reactions when the first snow hits the ground each winter. The skiers love it and start the countdown to when then can hit the slopes. New Canadians are curiously excited about the prospect (and usually don’t mind the snow as much as the cold) and others just want it to be spring again. Having grown up in a snowbelt area, I prefer the snow to come in late November, to stay until mid-February and be all melted by March Break. I don’t like it when the snow comes, then melts, then comes back…I am not a fan of slush!

Here at our schools, our routine changes slightly. On snowy mornings, the parking lots and sidewalks get plowed, shovelled and salted. The teachers on yard duty pack some extra layers before they leave for work and we encourage everyone to leave earlier to account for the slower traffic. And as longtime Mentor/TEAM families will attest, we very rarely declare a “snow day” for the school.

I know the Weather Network and CP24 love snow days and they are even more eager than the students to hand out bus cancellation and school closure information. This eagerness means that they will report without checking the source and a few years back, an enterprising high school student called CP24 to tell them our buses were cancelled. The station reported it and it of course caused a lot of confusion at the school (sidenote: the student made the mistake of taking a photo of the TV screen and putting it on Facebook so most of the HS knew who it was!). Since then, we remind families several times a year that we only report bus cancellations and/or school closures through our own media. If you are receiving this email, you will be the first to hear bus cancellation or school closure information. The “Snow Day” page on our websites will have the information and we will also post this on our Facebook page. So as the holiday song says: “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Felt Just Like Home

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This past Tuesday evening, I was at the Mentor College and TEAM School table at the “Fashion With Flare” event.

Now when I say I was at the schools’ table, I should probably clarify because it seemed like every one of the 52 tables of 10 had some sort of connection to us. There were a few dozen current families in attendance and another dozen parents of alumni who came to let us know how their “kids” were doing. We saw alumni who are still in university and “kids” like Britta Funck, who was in my Grade 10 phys ed class in my first year of teaching in 1990! The MC for the evening was former student Matthew Maida and almost all of the teen volunteers for the evening were current students. Even the organizing committee was made up of TEAM and Mentor “Moms” and I am sure that they were putting their experience from MTPA Bingo Nights and the charity Fashion Shows to good use! What struck me most about the evening was how it mimicked many of our school events.

Did it start out “small” and grow into something bigger than the organizers ever expected?
Check. The event has grown exponentially in size and scope after just three years.

Were there lots of student volunteers gaining leadership experience?
Check. They even had their shirts tucked in!

Were the speakers poised and confident as they are on Speech Night?
Check. The only 3 speakers were a former student, the Mom of an alumnus and the Dad of a current student!

If money was collected, did it go to a charity?
Check. The event has made a three-year commitment of $250,000 to fund a child-friendly emergency room at the Credit Valley location of the Trillium Health Partners.

Did it start at 7:00 sharp?
Check.

While I was privileged to be one of the principals of the school that was sponsoring the event, full of pride for the confidence our high school students showed, happy to hear of the success of our alumni and pleased with the support of our parents in attendance support, I was especially proud of the group of Moms who put the event together. Just as our teachers give of their personal time to provide students with the best school experience they can, these Moms chose to give their spare time and energy towards making their community a better place. Over and over last night we heard you say how proud you were of the school for supporting the event; indeed, we are just as proud of YOU.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School