Category Archives: Mentor/TEAM Events

All Divisions of Mentor/TEAM To Perform In Historical Performance Tonight

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From 1987 to 1993, all of our divisions were at the Main Campus and only with the benefit of hindsight, I suppose we could have called it “Only Campus”. We were bursting at the seams by 1993 but I kinda miss those days when the senior boys’ rugby player would pop in to eat lunch with his Grade 1 teacher and her class and when a family of 5 siblings could all be under the same school roof. With our growth in enrolment in the 1990s, expanding to the TEAM (1993) and Primary (1996) campuses was necessary but it was inevitable that many of the school’s special events (Meet the Teacher Night, Speech Night, etc.) had to be split up.

Tonight’s 7:00 concert at the Main Campus, though, promises to be a true “Throwback Thursday”. For the first time in few years, we are pleased to showcase the musical talents of students from each of the divisions (TEAM, Primary, Intermediate and High School) AND for one very special number, we will have students from Grades 1 to 12 performing together. All four of our school choirs will join forces to sing “Eternity” and school director Mr. Macdonald (who started his career as a music teacher and choir director) says it will be the most moving choral piece ever performed in the history of the Festival of the Arts. No pressure!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

PS: If you find yourself near the Main Campus anytime before 9:00pm, it will be your last opportunity to view the senior art show “Ataraxia”. And even though the idea of TSS was not a possibility in 1993, this show is another example of combining our campuses’ talents as works from graduating TSS and Mentor students are featured.

They Must Really Love Their School!

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I know that I have said this in the past but I do not think that there is a school anywhere that is as busy as ours.

There may be schools who can claim to be busy as we are in a typical 8:45 to 3:15 school day but I don’t know if they could match our commitment in non-school hours. Examples from this week alone include:

– HS Fashion Show practice on the holiday Monday
– 7:00am practices for HS archery, cricket, tabata and next week, the TEAM track and field athletes start morning practices
– After-school practices for TEAM/Mentor floor hockey and HS badminton
– 6 after-school HS cricket, soccer and rugby games
– HS Outreach Club out late on Wednesday evening and HS Theatregoers out late Friday night
– 5:30am meeting at the school for 4 of our HS wrestlers to catch their flight to Fredericton for the national championships
– Grade 7/8 Peel Science Fair on Saturday and Sunday

Despite a week like this, I know that some of the same teachers and students involved in the events listed above will be energetic and enthusiastic ambassadors of our school at this Saturday’s Mentor and TEAM Open Houses. And to top that off, there will be 80 staff and HS students coming Saturday afternoon to put the final touches on Vissi D’Arte, this year’s charity fashion show. Those same staff and students (along with dozens of students from the TEAM, Primary and Intermediate divisions) will be back again next Saturday night for the show itself and then, just to top things off, the HS students and staff will be back again on Sunday morning for the cleanup. That’s 13 out of 14 days at school for this group of teenagers and teachers! No wonder so many new families are referred to us from current students and parents…they must really love their school to spend so much time here!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

Focussed On The Next Few Months

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I think the only way you can describe this week as “spring weather” is if you call it “weather that occurred after the first day of spring”. I was glad that someone talked me out of taking the snow tires off of the school vans over the March Break as it doesn’t look like we are out of winter’s grip yet!

The last 12 weeks of school are a succession of exciting events with behind-the-scenes hard work. Our elementary students do not get the applause and laughter at the musicals and drama productions without practicing lines and songs at home and at the many rehearsals. Grade 8 students are continuing to work hard at their studies and anxiously looking ahead at their first opportunity to “choose” the courses they take next year in high school. Our Grade 12 students are even more focussed on their studies in the next few months as they see the value in obtaining good results in order to get the letter of acceptance (or do they just email now?) from their favourite post-secondary institution.

And when you add a whole bunch of assemblies, field trips, banquets, games and tournaments to the regular school day, it makes TEAM School and Mentor College an even more exciting place to be in the final few months of the school year. You are going to be part of the experience next year again so if you haven’t returned your registration package for the 2015-2016 school year yet, please do so immediately as our second major entrance assessment cycle begins next week!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

Speech Night, Study Skills Pay Off

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This is Speech Night season for the elementary students at our schools and for pure pent-up energy and excitement, you cannot match a homeroom of our students in those anxious moments just before the start of the presentations.

For those of you who joined the school later in your child’s schooling, you might not know that Speech Night begins in kindergarten when the students work as a group to sing songs and recite poems for their parents in the gym. When the students start their “all-by-themselves” speeches in Grade 1, the process of researching, writing, memorizing and presenting a speech is consistent for the rest of their days with us. Variables include the length of the speech (increases as the student progresses), the topic (might be theme-related such as The Medieval Era or a topic of the student’s choice) and the quantity and type of research materials used. They get so good at it by the time they are in Grade 12, they actually start to pretend to not even like Speech Night anymore!

Like all of the skills our students gain, however, it is at the post-secondary level when the Mentor experience really pays off. I know that I say this all the time but it is true AND we get messages like this from Mentor and TSS students all the time. So if you do not believe me, please consider this message that was sent this week to Executive Director Mr. Philbrook from one of his HS cricket team players who is now at Queen’s University in Kingston:

I hope everything is going well at Mentor! It feels so weird to be an alumni now! But on a side note, I wanted to tell you that being at Mentor these past 5 years has really made a positive impact on my university career thus far. I don’t think any of us really realize it until we get here, but Mentor played a huge role in helping us do well. I handle the workload much better than a lot of my peers, largely because the enormous amount of work we have here isn’t as drastic a difference from what we had at Mentor, compared to other schools. And it felt so good to walk into my midterms in December, and see all those desks lined up in rows in the gym, and NOT freak out (it’s old hat at this point!), while so many other kids weren’t used to it. So I just wanted to let you know. Mentor played a huge role in my ability to handle university, and even though I never tucked my shirt in or cleaned my paint-smeared tie and kilt, I absolutely appreciate the education I received there. So thanks a bunch sir!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

Fashion Show: It Takes A Village

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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