Past & Present 2012

Crescent School

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Spring 2012

on the cover Middle School Students enjoying space in Lau Family Wing Photo by Christinne Muschi

EDITOR: Sue Gillan (P’02), Director of Communications and Marketing COPY EDITOR: Laura Pink CONTRIBUTORS: Neil Campbell (P’94) Sue Gillan (P’02) Anne-Marie Newton Laura Pink Henson Tam ’11

Paul Craig Sue Iwan Jill Palmer Kathryn Rutherford

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Betty Ann Armstrong Lizz Armstrong Angela Barbieri Sue Gillan (P’02) Sue Iwan Anne-Marie Newton John Nicolucci Michael Yan ’05 Many members of our Crescent Family DESIGN : Chris Simeon, September Creative Communications and Harmony Printing Ltd.

Table of Contents Headmaster’s Message ............................ 2-3

Past and Present is published twice a year for the entire Crescent Family and friends by The Communications and Marketing Department Crescent School 2365 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON M2L 1A2 Phone: 416-449-2556 Fax: 416-449-7950 Email: sgillan@crescentschool.org Website: www.crescentschool.org

Redefining Middle School for the Next Century: Embracing Challenge ......... 4-5 Two Crescent Students Make a Difference.................................... 6-7

Message from the President of the Crescent Alumni Executive .............. 20 Introducing the Alumni Internship Programme .............................. 21

CPA Annual Parent Luncheon .................. 8-9

The Crescent Coyotes and the School Mascot ........................ 22-25

Tooting Our Horn ................................. 10-11

Alumni Events ...................................... 26-29

Athletic Awards Fall and Winter Terms .... 12-13

Alumni Profiles .................................... 30-32

Athletic Achievements ............................... 14

Alumni University/Branch Visits................. 33

The Margaret Donnelly Library .................. 15

From the Archives................................ 34-35

From the Advancement Office .............. 16-17

Life after Crescent ................................ 36-39

Alumni and Sons ................................. 18-19

Upcoming Events ...................................... 41

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on the cover Middle School Students enjoying space in Lau Family Wing Photo by Christinne Muschi

EDITOR: Sue Gillan (P’02), Director of Communications and Marketing COPY EDITOR: Laura Pink CONTRIBUTORS: Neil Campbell (P’94) Sue Gillan (P’02) Anne-Marie Newton Laura Pink Henson Tam ’11

Paul Craig Sue Iwan Jill Palmer Kathryn Rutherford

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Betty Ann Armstrong Lizz Armstrong Angela Barbieri Sue Gillan (P’02) Sue Iwan Anne-Marie Newton John Nicolucci Michael Yan ’05 Many members of our Crescent Family DESIGN : Chris Simeon, September Creative Communications and Harmony Printing Ltd.

Table of Contents Headmaster’s Message ............................ 2-3

Past and Present is published twice a year for the entire Crescent Family and friends by The Communications and Marketing Department Crescent School 2365 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON M2L 1A2 Phone: 416-449-2556 Fax: 416-449-7950 Email: sgillan@crescentschool.org Website: www.crescentschool.org

Redefining Middle School for the Next Century: Embracing Challenge ......... 4-5 Two Crescent Students Make a Difference.................................... 6-7

Message from the President of the Crescent Alumni Executive .............. 20 Introducing the Alumni Internship Programme .............................. 21

CPA Annual Parent Luncheon .................. 8-9

The Crescent Coyotes and the School Mascot ........................ 22-25

Tooting Our Horn ................................. 10-11

Alumni Events ...................................... 26-29

Athletic Awards Fall and Winter Terms .... 12-13

Alumni Profiles .................................... 30-32

Athletic Achievements ............................... 14

Alumni University/Branch Visits................. 33

The Margaret Donnelly Library .................. 15

From the Archives................................ 34-35

From the Advancement Office .............. 16-17

Life after Crescent ................................ 36-39

Alumni and Sons ................................. 18-19

Upcoming Events ...................................... 41

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Fathers and Sons HEADMASTER’S MESSAGE Geoff Roberts coaching the Junior Division 1 soccer team

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OHN BADALAMENT, international speaker and Harvard-trained educator – and an Australian researcher in boys’ education – spoke at a conference I attended a few years ago and told a story that has remained with me. While it had an elegant Aussie sensibility, I think it is quite relevant for us on this side of the world as well.

He recounted that when he was young he lived in a typical rural environment. He was taught that if you were ever in trouble or felt uncomfortable or didn’t know how to do something and needed help, all you had to do is look around for a man, and he’d be certain to guide and support you. He emphasized that to us in the audience. He said that in his lifetime, approaching a lone man in a field was seen not only as safe, but absolutely the right thing to do, and he

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wondered aloud what happened to displace that near archetypal image of safe, strong male by the shadowy threat of the adult male as sinister, predatory and menacing.

their own fathers, the very first person to which most boys default for security and reference as they strive to construct and defend their own personal male identities.

I’m sure that the shift in perspective is due to many factors. Mr. Badalament, however, has a theory that he likes to share with anyone who asks. He believes that the decline in the social perception of adult males as strong and reliable can be largely attributed to the general absence of fathers in their sons’ lives. Badalament would contend that there aren’t enough positive role models in boys’ lives as they grow in order to reinforce a positive image of adult males. Instead, boys can be inundated in the news and their online lives by real and imaginary male monsters – the effect of which is especially acute in the absence of

This situation is, of course, not new. The greatest poets and playwrights in the world have utilized the tension that exists between fathers and sons, and fathers and duty.

But modern male roles may have evolved, recently, to be less like Odysseus* and more akin to Abraham, the biblical father who was prepared to kill his son, Isaac, to prove his commitment to the God he worshipped**.

We are fortunate at Crescent to have a great many terrific adult male role models – strong males who can be trusted to guide young men through their lives. We have huge bench-

strength in our male teachers, but I would contend that the older boys, the ones in grades 11 and 12, play an even more powerful role in the formation of our Lower School boys’ sense of awareness and confidence as to what it means to be male in today’s world. I might argue that it may be one of the major, unstated reasons why parents choose Crescent School for their sons.

There is nothing quite as complex and important in a boys’ life as a father, and I see wonderful examples of fathers supporting their sons at Crescent, most

often at sporting activities, but also in the Robotics lab or on the stage or in musical ensembles. It’s a healthy sight.

I am also very encouraged by the increasing number of alumni who have chosen to enroll their sons at Crescent. This trend is a mark of a maturing school. (This may also be an indication of a maturing Headmaster.

I’ve taught most of these fathers sometime in the past!) In fact, we have more alumni sons enrolled at Crescent than ever before in our history. It’s a great sign of strength and continuity.

Wordsworth eloquently wrote, that “The child is father to the man,” then it’s critically important that we show our young men what it means to be a good father, a good man, and a good person.

Our boys have a propensity to grow up to be just like us – with a few creative and genetic nuances – and I’d like to think of that as more of a magnificent, formative opportunity for us as a society than a dire forecast. Strong, present fathers might be one of the most important investments any family could make in their sons’ futures.

GEOFF ROBERTS

*He loved his son, Telemachus, so much that he feigned insanity rather than honour his commitment to Menelaus to retrieve Helen. While he ended up going to Troy, he dramatically proved his loyalty and love to his son and his peers. **Abraham ended up sacrificing a ram that magically appeared, but the son, Isaac, faced death at the hands of his father. Duty symbolically prevailed over family.

I would contend that the older boys, the ones in grades 11 and 12, play an even more powerful role in the formation of our Lower School boys’ sense of awareness and confidence...

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Redefining Middle School for the Next Century: Embracing Challenge towards manhood is the key to affording each individual boy the chance to become his own man of character.

Crescent School has declared that the Middle Years are important – vital even – and has committed significant resources to supporting this philosophy as witnessed by the opening of the Lau Family Wing last fall.

This redefining of Middle School provides Crescent with a chance to lead in an area of education most often managed rather than thoughtfully and deliberately planned.

There is a long way to go, but entry into the Lau Family Wing has brought with it a fresh vision to understand and meet the needs of a Middle School aged boy and allow him to access a love of learning that will be retained as he moves into the business end of his educational journey.

Understanding how best to do this has all come back to the relationship between opportunity and challenges, and how a Middle School boy might best navigate past one to reach the other.

Opportunity – the good news first!

Middle School students using new space in Lau Family Wing

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HE most exciting and life altering opportunities in life are almost certainly found behind a series of challenges – it is almost like some cosmic equation.

Navigating through these challenges allows us to access the opportunities. It is rare to find any real substance in these opportunities without engaging with the challenges that lie en route.

Perhaps the complexity of this relationship between challenge and opportunity is seen at its most acute during early adolescence or what we, at Crescent, call Middle School.

Early adolescence is a time of paradox and complex tensions. It is a time of unrivalled, life-defining learning opportunities.

However, those opportunities can lie behind some genuinely intimidating challenges.

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My most common reaction when I ask parents about their early adolescent years is a shudder and some form of comment expressing relief that they are over. This general view of the Middle School years is pervasive. It continues to be seen as a period of time to endure or survive rather than a period of fantastic opportunity. As a result, few schools have given the Middle Years the focus needed to be seen as a necessary springboard from childhood to adulthood.

It’s no longer enough to have a Middle School; one needs to understand Middle School. It is increasingly apparent that these complex moments of a boy’s life are pivotal, and that the kind of scaffolding a school erects against which a boy can grow

Opportunity comes when it comes, not when you want it to come. My father trots this little gem out every time I ask him for advice. Ironically it has resonated most clearly with me during my time teaching in the Middle School. Middle School is literally a once-in-a-life-time moment of opportunity for learning.

I will bet that if you take the time and think of some really nuanced things that you are good at – some very obvious and particular skills that you possess– you will be able to trace them back to things you either learned or practiced when you were in your early adolescence.

There are certain windows when the brain grows and takes shape affording an accelerated opportunity for learning. The two most significant times occur from birth to about six years of age and then again during puberty; a time when the brain is constantly developing and solidifying new pathways. Neurons that fire together-wire together and during our early adolescent

years the possibilities for learning and establishing these pathways are virtually endless. It really is a case of “use it or lose it.” As connections are made and solidified through repetitive practice, they stick and become denser whilst the connections we don’t use wither away. As a school, we have a huge opportunity to capture this moment.

To provide a wide variety of learning styles and opportunities whilst ensuring a climate where skills can be practiced and solidified is a tricky tightrope to walk, and can only be done with focused intentionality.

The Challenges – it’s about how to navigate, not avoid!

For hundreds of years almost every culture initiated its boys into manhood during early adolescence. We as a society have abandoned these rites of passage and the accompanying acknowledgment of status and responsibility, but our boys continue to have the biologically driven desire to achieve significance at this age. This desire to be independent and significant, to be an individual, doesn’t happen in a vacuum. At Crescent, it happens alongside 160 other boys straining towards the same need to understand who they are and how they fit in. It makes for a bumpy, elbows-out journey.

The challenges of Middle School can feel big, are very real and can be real inhibitors to accessing the opportunities that are available. Insecurity, peer pressure, social cruelty and a desperate desire to become a man, and to be treated as such, are just some of the challenges a boy will feel when he is in Middle School and they can be all consuming. It is also vital to understand that these challenges will be a part of all Middle School landscapes – it is inevitable.

Believing this will move a school’s focus from trying to create the unachievable bubble, devoid of any such difficulties, to a place where it is understood and acknowledged that our job is to support

and equip our boys to navigate through these challenges.

Don’t forget the variable – our boys!

I’m no mathematician but I know that a variable … well… it can vary. And as it varies, the outcome changes each time.

So when the variable is a boy it means that we need to pay particular attention to the uniqueness of each; to work hard to understand the individual boy so that our outcome is not predetermined but flexible enough to fit the passions and interests of each boy.

And it is this need that Crescent’s Middle School has come to see as the key to allowing each boy the best chance to get the most out of Middle School.

Research, in which Crescent was privileged to be involved, showed overwhelmingly that boys learn teachers, not subjects. When a trusted, respectful relationship exists, boys are capable of amazing things. This has quickly become the key to allowing boys the best foundation from which to successfully navigate the challenges of Middle School, and to arrive at the tremendous opportunities that this time in their lives affords them.

This concept, however, does turn schooling on its head, as the starting point is no longer programmes of study but relationships. To address this, Crescent Middle School has developed Mentor Groups that meet each day and provide each boy with a mentor whose job is to advocate, celebrate and support his individuality.

The mentor talks to subject teachers when things aren’t going well, and is a contact for parents whose input is vital. The mentor is an adult who each boy knows has their back – a trusted person who

can encourage and challenge and motivate in a way that others just can’t manage during these sensitive years. It is around this core mission of celebrating each boy as an individual that we wrap our academic programmes and our co-curriculars.

So what’s the outcome?

Middle School is not straightforward.

Acknowledging the individuality of our boys at this pivotal and sensitive time by definition means there is not one perfect outcome. Some boys will be further ahead academically, some will have understood character in their lives at different levels, some will be more comfortable with the young men they are becoming. It is not a journey with set milestones.

However having a focus on each individual boy means that we can strive for an outcome of having our boys love to learn and know the way in which they learn best having been exposed to innovative and varied programmes. We can, by mentoring each individual through the challenges of early adolescence, have each boy understand that he is valued and has significance which is an experience and perspective very different from the Middle Schools of the past.

Redefining Middle School is perhaps one of the most exciting things to happen at Crescent in a long time – it is a real opportunity.

DAVID YOUNG HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL

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Two Crescent Students Make a Difference

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HEN Crescent students graduate they will have had an array of opportunities that span every aspect of involvement – from sports to robotics to arts to music. Besides a core academic base of excellence, a vast number of programmes and activities are available that develop the qualities in a young man that allow him to be confident and successful, and most importantly, proud of his accomplishments and eager to do more.

But the real achievement occurs when there is engagement, and the spirit is activated.

Research in boy’s education has shown us that when boys find significance in the things that they do, when they are passionate and hopeful, they are capable of amazing things. This is exactly what has happened during one of our local outreach programmes this year. The two Crescent students who have led the new Willow Park art programme are so proud of what they have accomplished, that they have extended themselves as a result of being involved in such meaningful work.

When grade 12 student, and celebrated graffiti and tattoo artist, Grant Mercer was approached about leading the programme, he didn’t hesitate. Ms. Shim, Upper School Art teacher and the Director of Outreach, Mr. Pestonji, knew that Grant was passionate about art, and he had already been involved in Firgrove tutoring for many years. Together they all decided that the 24 Willow Park students would be taught

Charles on an Outreach trip to China in 2008

weekly about something art-related, create artwork through a guided exercise, and they would try and relate the art instruction to lessons they were learning in school.

Charles Kim, another grade 12 student, was also approached about leading the programme with Grant, but he never intended on making a full-year commitment.

Charles was interested in being involved, but had intended to spend the Wednesday afternoons of his graduating year in the robotics lab. Since grade 9, Charles has been totally committed to the robotics programme, and had agreed to be a part of the Willow Park art programme for only one term in order to help out and get the

Charles and Grant with Willow Park students

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programme off the ground. But once he saw how the students embraced the programme, how they started to engage, come out of their shells, and to communicate enthusiasm and appreciation, he was hooked. Charles wasn’t going anywhere.

While these two students have had an opportunity to learn leadership skills from this experience (as is the intention), it is what they are giving back, and sharing in, that makes this endeavour so worthwhile to them. Their affection for the children is heart-felt, and they want these students to succeed and prosper, to feel useful, to gain confidence and to be proud of what they do, and to know and understand that they are important people who matter. Sound familiar? The boys are modelling what they have experienced and learned at Crescent – they want these grade 4 students to feel the same way they do: proud and confident.

With the help of Ms. Shim, Grant and Charles (as co-leaders) create lesson plans, and discuss possible learning outcomes, before starting in each Wednesday. All of the Willow Park students were provided with their own art notebooks, and are only there, in the studio, for a little more than an hour. Grant and Charles have to work quickly, making the most of their time, as well as maintaining the students' attention and interest. The first lesson, drawing a flower, was only received with a lukewarm response. But then the boys rallied quickly

and impressed all the students by linking the image of a flower with that of something you would see appear in, or part of, a tattoo design. All of a sudden the students were quite intrigued with this thought, and without further delay, put pencil to paper.

The Willow Park grade 4 teacher and coordinator of the programme, Ms. Keep, says the children have an enormous amount of respect for the programme and the two boys especially. Coming to Crescent is the highlight of their week. Her students are proud of what they have accomplished, and it is because of the encouragement and support of Charles and Grant especially, that they feel this way. She is sure that the interaction of the two boys with all of the students has turned a weakness (in whatever form that may be) into a strength.

And only because of the interest Grant and Charles show in the students and their artwork, and more importantly as a result of how the boys interact personally with the students, and offer them praise.

But Charles says that he and Grant can’t flatter the students too much, because they question the sincerity. Charles has already had one student accuse him of telling everyone that their work was good in order to make them feel better. Comments like that from an eight-year-old can stop you in your tracks. But the conundrum is that there is no difference in artistic skills, as Charles sees it, because the aesthetic value in anything is perceived differently by everyone, so the only factor in the equation is confidence. Lack of self-confidence is the problem. All of the Willow Park students have artistic abilities, and Charles is sure they will discover their potential through the process Grant, Ms. Shim and he have developed. But only when they sit down and concentrate, and are focused on their work.

Charles is anxious for all of the students to develop their potential, and if a lesson is not communicated effectively through the language Grant and Charles are using, the children instinctively pick up on the visual cues, and move forward with their art.

Charles’ commitment to helping others is profound. In the last couple of years, he has travelled to China, with a Crescent Outreach trip, to the Philippines to rebuild after the

tsunami, to Jamaica to deliver donated supplies to an orphanage, and to Bolivia to help in building projects in isolated, mountainous areas.

Charles was so dedicated to his humanitarian work that his marks started to suffer in grade 11; he was away from school too often, and had to step back and return to his studies. Since he was young, Charles has always volunteered. On top of the Willow Park programme, he also helps new Canadians improve their English skills, and offers assistance to Grant with one of his Willow Park artists women and children, in the form of tutoring, through a Korean volunteer association Grant thinks the right and left brain are not called GYL (Global Youth Leaders). Charles so different and are more similar, working does this after school, and on weekends. together if both sides are developed through various exercises – those being creative as Grant’s insights into the Willow Park well as spatial. He feels that drawing and students are a result of different experiences creative exercises can garner positive results than Charles’. When he was a child, Grant for the students with ongoing emotional saw a lot of kids make poor decisions needs and learning disabilities. A few that led them in the wrong direction. students would not participate when the Because of a lack of support, and a lack programme first started; one fellow was of structure at home, Grant lost a lot of quarrelsome and refused to engage, and friends to the plights of neighbourhoods the other was desperately dependent and like Willow Park when he was growing would not leave the side of his teacher. Both up. Grant’s goal is to have the children feel boys would not pick up a pencil. But after appreciated, to build confidence and to a couple of weeks, independent of each take something away from the experience. other, they started to draw; and kept drawing He says it is a crucial age and a lot hangs and drawing and drawing each week. As it in the balance. He believes this programme turns out, they are both excellent artists who is more important than school, in a sense, are now participating wholeheartedly, and because he and Charles are perceived as have found something that they enjoy, and friends, mentors and adults to whom they can embrace. These are the kinds of results can talk, and in whom they can confide Grant and Charles had envisioned.

– more so than their teachers. Grant and Charles have developed a relationship with The commitment and care these two the students whereby the children feel students have demonstrated and expressed secure in sharing their feelings, especially if is enormous. Grant’s insight and ability to inspire, Charles’ kindness and capacity something is wrong in their world. And for for tenderness are what the Willow Park these students, that can involve traumatic children need to feel secure, valued and experiences such as having a sibling important. There could not be a better pair arrested, taken away by the police, and not to take on such a mission. n be there when they get home.

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CPA Annual Parent luncheon february 7, 2012 at the Granite Club

Janet Yau (P’20), Anne Conlin (P’15,’20), Laurie Robinson (P’17,’20), Cee Cee Robertson (P’20), Sarah Ng (P’20), Kelly Haskins (P’20,’20), Elizabeth-Anne Hersen (P’20), Danna Heiter (P’20), Tina Wiebe-Carl (P’20)

Alison Metrick (P’09,’12), Sharon Miller (P’07,’12)

Amrita Pandey (P’14,’17), Donna Sauntry (P’17), Karen Kornovski (P’17), Charlotte Youngson (P’14,’17,’18)

Joy Verde (P’15), Wendy Daniels (P’15), Nicole Swadron (P’15), Caroline Murphy (P’11,’15), Christine Higgs (P’15)

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Carolyn Kerdman (P'14),Val Salvati (P'14), Carolina Melis (P'14), Maryann Gaskin (P'14), Audrey Newman (P'12,'14), Robin Seligman (P'14,'16)

Lyne Guillon (P’14,’17), Diana Moffatt (P’17), Helen Klassen (P’17), Andrea Stephen (P’17), Cathy Meyer (P’17), Tracey Raftus (P'17,'18)

Florence Chapman (P’13,’15), Daryl Erdman (P’13,’17,’20), Sally-Ann Main (P’11,’13), Toba Hamersfeld (P’13), Carrie Stinson (P’13), Julia Thomson (P’08,’11,’13), Patricia Cairns (P’13,’16), Maria Davidson (P’13)

Reena Ghai (P’21), Cassandra Camp (P’21), Marcos Gobrial (P’21), Christine Xian Xu (P’21,’21)

Ying Ma (P’17), Ivy Chan (P’17), Catherine Code (P’17), Andrea Levinson (P’17), Ann Stewart (P’17), Lisa Quan (P’17), Cherry Lee (P’17,’21), Keith Thomas (P’17), Elizabeth Kennedy (P’17)

Dyann Bird (P’11), Nancy Wright (P’10,’12), Barb Warren (P’11,’12)

Kara Spence (P’16), Theresa Burke (P’16), Domenica Ganguli (P’16), Susan Shepherd (P’16)

Beth Foley (P’21), Mary Dean (P’21)

Willa Griffin (P’19), Kimbrough Reucassel (P’19)

Anne Marie Tompkins (P’10,’12,’13), Michelle Hayward (P’13), Amanda Walton (P’13), Leslie Myers (P’11,’13), Carolyn Christodoulu (P’12,’13), Allyson Landry (P’13,’15), Elaine Chan-Ko (P’13), Sharon Fielding (P’09,’13), Christine Corolis (P’11,’13)

Barb Black (P’08,’10,’14), Susan Saunders (P’14)

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Tooting Our Horn Crescent’s Role in Research into Boys’ Ed Acknowledged

The Math Department Continues to Excel Congratulations to grade 12 students, Brendan Chun, Tudor Dactu, Joshua Lee and Andrew Leung, and Kevin Chien, grade 11, for enabling Crescent to win the 2011 Zone Champion in the Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest in November.

This contest was a new initiative from the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing at the University of Waterloo. Crescent’s math students continue to shine! n

A First for our FIRST Robotics Team Crescent School has been involved in Robotics in general, and FIRST Robotics specifically since 2000. On March 25, for the first time in 10 years, Team 610 won a FIRST regional competition. The win, in the Arizona Regional follows a good showing at the Toronto Regionals earlier in the month.

In addition to winning the competition, with an 11-0-0 record, the team was awarded the prestigious Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors.

The team is guaranteed a spot in the FIRST Robotics Championships in St. Louis later this spring. n

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In a few short years Crescent has established itself as a leading center for research into boys’ education with a global reputation that extends beyond Canada and North America.

This information has been translated into classroom practice along with guiding programme and facility design, and external organizations having taken note of our lead. As such, Crescent has been afforded the opportunity to contribute a voice to boys’ educational issues through numerous organizations, such as the International School Psychology Association, which offers guidance to world governing bodies like UNESCO. Closer to home Crescent continues to work with the Toronto District School Board to improve educational offerings for all students in our community through consultation on boys’ issues.

This fall the TDSB is scheduled to open a small leadership academy for boys and Crescent has been instrumental in its development and will continue to provide leadership as this pilot project moves forward. Activities such as these are consistent with our values at Crescent in that they serve to broaden our outreach mission; a programme that is fundamentally

concerned with instilling positive change for all. Recently the Crescent programme has been acknowledged at the highest levels of provincial government as Dr. Mike Leatch was approached to serve on the advisory panel for KNAER. The Knowledge Network for Applied Educational Research is an initiate of the Ministry of Education that seeks to provide best-practice guidance to schools and boards of education across the province. While the first priority of our research programme will always be concerned with improving the educational experience for Crescent students, there is no doubt that boys’ issues have become a priority for all and we’re excited to be leaders on this journey. n

Don Morrison Recognized as an Exceptional FIRST Mentor On March 9, Mr. Don Morrison was awarded a Woodie Flowers Finalist Award (WFFA) at the Toronto Regional FIRST Robotics competition. The award is given to one student-nominated mentor at each of the FIRST Regional Competitions. The WFFA winners are then eligible for the Woodie Flowers Award at the FIRST Championships to be held in April in St. Louis.

The Woodie Flowers Award celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design, and recognizes mentors who lead, inspire and empower using excellent communication skills.

In nominating Mr. Morrison, Jethro Kwong, grade 12, collaborated with recent alumnus David Murray ’11. Their submission, in part, reads: What defines an exceptional mentor?

Respect on a personal and professional level, responsibility to lead a team to its fullest potential, and above all, the compassion to reach out to all of its members, both junior and senior. These are the core values of our mentor, Don Morrison. In every aspect of his work as a team mentor, he is unparalleled in showing these core values. We expect nothing less of Mr. Morrison; he cares about his students, and he indoctrinates Team 610 on the value of teamwork through communication. …An inspiration to the entire team at Crescent Robotics, Mr. Morrison embodies

teamwork, and the dogma to include everyone, despite skill level, interest, or background. Every year, during our first week of build season, Mr. Morrison assembles our team of roughly 40 students, and instructs us in a series of brainstorming exercises. His seemingly pragmatic and simple exercises blossom into a steady flow of innovation, causing ideas to fly around the room like popcorn in a microwave.

However, when things get out of control, Mr. Morrison brings everything back into context with another exercise. This shows Mr. Morrison’s incomparable understanding of what it means to be a mentor of our team.

Though he is the seed of our brainstorming discussions, when students have grasped an idea, he steps back and lets us creatively define what our robot will become.

Mr. Morrison’s work with FIRST only touches upon the generosity and kindness that he exemplifies everyday with Team 610.

His ability to inspire students, to promote team communication during the six week marathon of the FRC build-season, and his unrequited work with FLL, FTC, and FRC, which he has now implemented into the Crescent curriculum, prove him to be the most valid candidate for the Woodie Flowers Award. One of his favourite quotes to stay on topic is, “You’ve gotta get down to the meat and potatoes of the matter.” Well, Mr. Morrison, you really are the meat and potatoes of Crescent Robotics. n

Michael Yan ('05), Jonathan Norris ('07), James Spencer ('09), Duncan Macdonald ('09), Oleg Baranov ('11) with Don Morrison as he received his award. The Crescent alumni were all involved with the regional tournament in some capacity!

Paul Craig (l) and Greg Michalski (r) practice for their ride.

Crescent Faculty Biking for a Cause Crescent teachers Paul Craig and Greg Michalski will be cycling in The Wellspring Peloton Challenge relay bicycle ride from Toronto, Ontario to Austin, Texas, taking place in October 2012. Five Pelotons of six to seven riders will travel more than 3,000 km in eight days. Each peloton team will ride for six hours and have 24 hours to drive ahead to their next relay point. Teams will generally ride an average of 120 km in each six hour shift. At the end of their journey, cyclists will participate in the Lance Armstrong LIVESTRONGTM weekend. The LIVESTRONGTM event series is recognized as the largest charity bike ride of this kind, and will include an additional ride of 160 km through the hills of Austin.

The ride is in aid of the Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation. All funds raised will be used to support the more than 50 cancer support and coping skills programmes that Wellspring provides, free of charge, to individuals and families living with cancer. Greg and Paul have pledged to raise $10,000 each in support of the ride and this important cause. If you are interested in helping please contact Paul or Greg at Crescent School (416 449-2556) or by email (pcraig@crescentschool.org or gmichalski@crescentschool.org) where they can direct you to their personal donation web sites. n

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Athletic Awards Fall and Winter Terms Fall Term SPORT

TEAM

MVP

OTHER DISTINCTIONS

Soccer

Senior D1 Senior D2

Nicholas Chiu Matthew Kowal

Junior D3 Junior D1

Jake Fisher Zachary Wong Trevor Noskiewicz Andy Binns

MIP: Henry Mackie Outstanding Effort Award: Daryl Yu Leadership Award: Jeffrey Miller MIP: Alex MacNicol MIP: Alex Mayne David Beckham Award: Spencer Grimes Determined Defenceman: Charles Chettleburgh Mr. Second Effort Award: Sean Malone

U14 D3 U14 D1

U11 U10 White U10 Green

Michael Palma Asher Lisus Andrew Youngson William Coburn Ryan Cheng Alex Malone Taylor Eccleston Jack Duboc Adam Berry Rhys Holman

Volleyball

Senior Junior U14 D2 U14 D1

Chris Pitfield Alex Karayannopoulos Will Meyer Christopher Yoannou

X-Country

Senior Junior Midget U14 U12 U10

Samuel Dobbin Matthew Allion Ryley Mehta Mathieu Schneider Matthew Bisset

U13 U12B U12A

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Coach’s Choice Award: Michael Monteith MIP: Samuel Eplett Coach’s Choice Award: Brett Chalmers MIP: Will Webster Intensity & Determination Award: Matthew Lampard MIP: Liam Engel Perseverance, Dedication & Excellence: Adam Winterton Spirit & Enthusiasm Award: Liam Kenny Coach’s Choice Award: Christopher Overvelde MIP: Zachary Freedman Coach’s Choice Award: Andrew Cook Coach’s Choice Award: Taylor Keating, Matthew Corolis MIP: David Cai MIP: Nathaniel Diakun MIP: Jack Zechner

Winter Term SPORT

TEAM

MVP

OTHER DISTINCTIONS

Hockey

Senior Junior

Troy Crema Spencer Grimes

U14

Jack Garrett

U12

Max Montgomery

MIP: Charlie Benson MIP: Mike Schumacher Leadership Award: Peter Milazzo Leadership Award: Emanuel Vella Up & Down Award: Andrew Bayer MIP: Liam Lynch

Basketball

Senior D1

Squash

Senior Junior

Ben Pitfield

U14

Owen Cranston

Senior Leadership Award: Graham Orr Coach’s Commitment Award: Graham Rotenberg, Alex Mahoney Senior D3 Adam Winterton Leading by Example: Nick Holland Junior Connor Guy MIP: Henry Gaskin U14 D1 Michael Palma Heart Award: Jordan Abramsky U14 D3 Charlie Chettleburgh Defensive Wizard: Wilbert Guo U13 Rees Ferguson William Coburn 6th Player Award: Frank Kelly U12 A Matthew Donnelly Coach’s Choice Award: Peter Youngson, Ryan Dembroski U12 B Coach’s Choice Award: Matthew Berton MIP: Adam Zufferli U11 Logan Centner MIP: Liam Livingstone U10 White Matthew Lampard MIP: Ethan Krakower U10 Green Carter Morrison Coach’s Choice Award: Liam Engel

Alpine Skiing Level 1 Level 2 U14 Swimming

MS LS

Toms Black Duff Isberg Devan Hunter

MIP: Josh Lee MIP: Cole Halbert Most Inspirational Player: Ross Hilliard Coach’s Choice Award: Brian Hudson MIP: Daniel Fridman Coach’s Choice Award: Christopher Morritt Coach’s Choice Award: Austin Stein MIP: Spencer Blackwell Coach’s Choice Award: Matt White Superior Swimming Role Model: Nathan Li Gold Medal Sensation: Justin Chan

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Athletic Achievements FALL TERM The CISAA championship teams were:

The CISAA bronze medalist teams were:

U12 D1 Soccer

U11 Soccer U13 Soccer

The CISAA silver medalist teams were: U10 Green Soccer Junior D1 Soccer Senior Cross-Country (Jack Hayward 4th, Toms Black 5th, Taylor Keeting 14th, Matthew Corolis 18th, Nick Mehta 20th)

The CISAA Semi-Finalists were: U14 D2 Volleyball Junior Volleyball Senior Volleyball

Other Noteworthy Accomplishments: Ryley Mehta placed 6th at CISAA Cross-Country Sam Dobbin placed 10th at CISAA Cross-Country

WINTER TERM The CISAA championship teams were: U10 Green Basketball U14 Squash U14 Level A Alpine Ski Team (Devan Hunter 1st, Andrew Witham 2nd, Tom Graham 3rd, Cam Lomax 4th) U14 Level B Alpine Ski Team (Duncan Henry 1st, Stephane LeBlanc-Smith 2nd, Spencer Blackwell 3rd, Matthew White 5th)

The CISAA silver medalist teams were: Snr D3 Basketball Snr Basketball (CISAA East) U12 Hockey Snr D2 Hockey Snr Level 2 A Alpine Ski Team (Duff Isberg 1st, Cole Rosenberg 8th, Jack Hogarth 10th)

The CISAA bronze medalist teams were: U10 White Basketball Snr Level 2 B Alpine Ski Team (Matt Hudson 7th, Cam Macdonald 8th)

The CISAA Semi-Finalists were: U13 Basketball U14 D1 Basketball

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Other Noteworthy Accomplishments: Grade 3 Basketball teams were U9 Tournament Champions U13 Basketball placed 3rd at the CAIS National Tournament U14 D1 Basketball won a bronze medal at Ashbury Tournament OFSAA 2nd place Slalom (Colin Williams 7th, Jack Hogarth 8th, Cole Rosenberg 12th, Sean Webster 24th) OFSAA 2nd place Giant Slalom (Duff Isberg 3rd, Cole Rosenberg 14th, Sean Webster 16th, Jack Hogarth 19th)

Overall Level 2 Boys OFSAA Champions U12 Swimming at CISAA results include: Medley relay 1st, 50m Breaststroke Justin Chan 1st, 100m Freestyle Justin Chan 3rd, 100m IM Justin Chan 1st U14 Swimming at CISAA results include: 50m Breaststroke Ethan Kuo Lee 2nd, 100m IM Ethan Kuo Lee 2nd

The Margaret Donnelly Library

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N March 6, parents, staff, alumni, past parents and past staff gathered to dedicate the Lower School Resource Centre to the memory of Crescent’s longstanding librarian, Margaret Donnelly (P’88). The space is now known as the Margaret Donnelly Library.

Candace Innes (P’05,’07)

John Nicolucci (S), Ross MacDonald (PS), Jamie Lougheed ’87 (PS)

Jocelyn Macdonald (P’09,’11), Shannon Wiggan (P’19,’21)

John Lynch (S,P’16,’18), Angie Beck (PS,P’87,’89)

Steve Davies (S), Bill Pedoe (PS,P’98), David Weiss (PS)

Fraser McKee ’38, James Wright (S)

Mike Fellin (S), James Mason (S)

Lori Fisher (P’14,’18), Charlotte Youngson (P’14,’17,’18), Kitty Donnelly (P’18)

Adam Chodos ’97, Pat Mills (PS,P’99), Arthur Yeung ’97

Family of Margaret Donnelly: granddaughter Emily, husband Richard, grandson Matthew, grade 6, daughter-in-law Kitty and son Michael ’88.

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From the Advancement Office PLANS FOR THE NEW LIBRARY AND COMMONS TAKE SHAPE

At the heart of the Crescent Centennial Strategic Plan is an even deeper commitment to academic excellence and programmes that develop character.

Architect’s rendering of Library exterior

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impressive, and Crescent boys are reaping the benefits.

Aid programme render the Crescent student experience better than ever before.

At the heart of the plan is an even deeper commitment to academic excellence and programmes that develop character. Across the School, there is strong evidence of the improvements that have ensued from that deeper commitment. The results are

From the addition of Innes Field, to smaller class sizes, additional support in numeracy and literacy, and the addition of the Margaret Donnelly Library, a larger Robotics lab, Lower School art area, and the magnificent Lau Family Wing, the School has never been better housed or equipped.

Enhanced programmes in International Outreach, Robotics and Technology, Crescent Student Services/R&D in Boys’ Education, and a stronger Student Financial

The fuel that is firing the strategic plan’s engine is charitable giving, provided through the Great Boys campaign. While tuition fees fund the School’s operations, donations from the Crescent community over the years have provided such improvements as the Centre for Creative Learning, the Field House, the traffic light at the end of our driveway, new buildings and enriched programmes. With the Lau Family Wing now complete and fully funded, next on the Great Boys campaign

OMETIMES, strategic plans do little more than gather dust on a shelf, unrealized after all the careful work that goes into their making. Not so at Crescent.

The School is actively living out its Centennial Strategic Plan, true to its word and its mission, right on course.

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agenda is a new Library, with more space to house a larger collection of books, periodicals and reference materials, and the capacity to accommodate quiet, individual study, small group work and full class lessons – all at once.

A critical element of university preparation for our students, the new Library will resemble those of the great post-secondary institutions that all our graduates have the opportunity to attend, integrating leading edge technology and traditional print materials.

Once the new Library is complete, taking the place of what is now Hyland Hall, construction will begin on the Commons, a gathering place at the front of the School that will consolidate two essential services – University Counselling and Crescent Student Services – providing much-needed space and accessibility to both students and parents.

The Great Boys campaign goal is an ambitious $30 million, and thanks to the generous response of the Crescent community, more than $19.5 million has been raised to date.

The Library and the Commons is estimated at $13.5 million; meeting that target will take heavy lifting, and we know that with continued and active participation from parents, alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents,

Architect’s rendering of Library interior

faculty and staff, and even students, the lifting will be manageable.

Through Annual Giving, with an emphasis on current parents doubling or even tripling their annual gift for each son, this year and for the life of the campaign, along with major gift support from those with the capacity to make a larger commitment, we will surely reach our goal.

Just as we witnessed the Lau Family Wing rise from the ground and open in record time, so too can the new Library and Commons take shape, with the generous support and can-do spirit of all families. We thank each member of the Crescent family for putting a shoulder to the wheel, guiding us towards the $30 million finish line. Your sons, and many other Crescent boys, will benefit for generations to come. n

Architect’s rendering of Commons interior

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Alumni and Sons

from left to right: Bob Macdonald ’85 (P’13), Jacob Macdonald ’13, Tim Wiggan ’90 (P’19, ’21), Coulson Wiggan ’19, Sean Wiggan ’21, Jackson Regan ’17, Wyatt Regan ’18, Sean Regan ’83 (P’17, ’18), Jack Watt ’14 and Rob Watt ’85 (P’14)

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S Crescent nears its centennial year, we begin to celebrate the history of the School and the people who have graced its various campuses. Crescent is a school built on tradition, core values and a strong mission. Boasting these credentials, it is easy to understand why second generations of families have continued their legacies here.

Crescent alumni have been sending their own sons to Crescent throughout the past century. In total, 58 alumni have also been Crescent parents, sending a total of 75 second generation Coyotes to Crescent. Today, 31 alumni have their sons enrolled at Crescent, amounting to a total of 36 students.

We wanted to get a sense from our alumni what it was about Crescent School that encouraged them to send their sons to their alma mater. We reached out to a group of current alumni parents and this is what they told us.

Describe your experience at Crescent School, including highlights and/ or your favourite memory.

Bob MacDonald ’85: I attended Crescent School for four years and graduated in

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1985. I had an incredible experience and had a lot of great teachers. Crescent was the start of a lot of lifelong friendships.

Sean Regan ’83: The first my parents knew of Crescent School was in 1981when they got the tuition invoice for grade 11. I was determined on escaping a country boarding school in favour of the city – Crescent was the softest landing I could think of for my parents, and was the best decision I had ever made myself.

proved to be well-designed, as I found that I was very well prepared for the rigours of university. Having an academic advantage proved to be very useful, given the social and other non-academic distractions that first year residence life presented.

Tim Wiggan ’90: I have many fond memories of Crescent including the teachers who helped me to feel welcome as a new boy in grade 8, and friendships that I still enjoy to this day. Highlights would include our U17 rugby team in ’89 that lost one game out of 11 or 12 after only winning two games the year prior. In addition, the tutoring that Mr. Smith and Mr. MacDonald gave me on their own time when I first started at the School is a fond memory of mine.

My favourite memories of school were playing King Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons, as well as playing rugby with friends who remain friends to this day.

I can best describe my adolescence as stressful, and the School, with its faculty, treated me with great integrity and respect.

Although I was unaware of the core values of the School at that time, there must have been some institutional memory motivating me to send my two sons there.

What would your son say about his Crescent experience?

Rob Watt ’85: I had an incredible experience at Crescent. Starting in grade 5 and continuing until graduation, I made friends that I continue to count as my closest friends today. The School provided and supported an evenly balanced experience that seemed to recognize each boy’s individual talents. The curriculum

Bob MacDonald: Jacob’13 has been at Crescent since grade 5. He has made some great friends and has loved his work in the CCL, and his participation on the cross country and track teams. He also had a phenomenal experience, thanks to the International Outreach Programme, in Kenya last March, and in Tanzania this year.

Sean Regan: One son would describe his Crescent experiences through his friendships and maybe even a passion for a certain English teacher connecting over Julius Caesar or The Lord of the Rings; the other son’s experiences would also hinge on friendships, but he might also describe that he just “likes being there,” since the School feels safe and is a place where he feels respected.

Tim Wiggan: My boys have enjoyed their time in the Lower School at Crescent. They often mention their teachers and the many clubs and teams that are available to them.

How does your experience compare to that of your sons?

Bob MacDonald: I think the curriculum and co-curricular offerings at Crescent have expanded exponentially in the last 26 years. While I had a terrific overall experience when I was a student, the opportunities afforded to the boys today are extraordinary.

Sean Regan: The first most obvious difference is the amenities and size of the School – no Field House, no Innes Field and no squash courts in my day. I witness the core values at work, not only with my interactions with faculty, but also as presented by my boys at the end of the day. From my experiences with other organizations, it is not often that I witness large institutions reflect their values in dayto-day operations.

Rob Watt: The philosophy and culture seem to be unchanged, but the physical plant and facilities are markedly different. I think my son’s overall academic experience is similar to mine, although I do think there is more care and opportunity today compared to my years at the School.

Tim Wiggan: In my opinion, the basic principles of the School remain the same; however, the facilities whether academic, athletic, or artistic, are vastly improved.

The School continues to develop and improve to this day.

Would you say that your relationship with your son has been enhanced because of your mutual Crescent experience?

Bob MacDonald: I have a terrific relationship with all my children. My relationship with Jake is certainly enhanced by our shared experiences at Crescent.

In addition, some of my closest friends, who I met while at Crescent, have been instrumental in reinforcing the fond memories and experiences we’ve all had and continue to have.

Sean Regan: When my boys started at Crescent, one of the concepts presented to us was the partnership between boy, parent and school. I believe it does take a community to raise young people, and my wife and I enjoy the openness that exists between the School and parents, especially as we navigate our way through adolescence.

Rob Watt: There is definitely common ground because I attended Crescent. It’s great to be able to compare and comment on the highs and lows of sports, academics and student life. So many things in life do not change with the passage of time.

Tim Wiggan: My sons are proud to be at Crescent and enjoy hearing about the recent past through my experiences at the School.

Do any of the teachers you had currently teach your sons? If so, how has this shared experience been?

Bob MacDonald: We still laugh about the fact that on the very first day, Geoff Roberts, Dave Budden and Ross MacDonald all joked that they would do a much better job on Jake than they did on me!

Sean Regan: My children are with hip, young teachers. The crew that taught me are seasoned and relegated to managing the joint.

Rob Watt: James Wright and Geoff Roberts were both teachers of mine. When Jack started Crescent in grade 4, Ross MacDonald was the Head of Lower School and ultimately became Jack’s basketball coach. Ross was my grade 8 Geography teacher and basketball coach in 1980, and when Jack played for Ross in grade 6, the continuity of coaching from one generation to the next was pretty special.

Tim Wiggan: Mr. Steele, Mr. O’Meara, and Mr. Roberts were all teachers while I was at Crescent. The continuity they provide is good for the boys and says a great deal about the School.

Did you always know that you wanted to send your son to Crescent? If so, why?

Bob MacDonald: First and foremost, I wanted to do what was right for Jake. Both other family members and I had very fond memories of Crescent, and providing it was the right place for him, I most definitely wanted to send him here.

Sean Regan: Yes. The respect and compassion that the School afforded me during my three year reign was a compelling reason to send my sons. I couldn’t be happier with the decision to send them to Crescent, as they benefit from a great education, but also character development. Additionally, they benefit as the School continues to expand its offerings, such as the Lau Family Wing, Crescent Student Services, etc.

Rob Watt: Yes. I had a great experience at Crescent, and I wanted my son to have a chance to enjoy the same advantages that my parents provided me.

Tim Wiggan: My wife and I only applied to Crescent School for our boys and did not even consider any other schools. We are continually reminded that this is, absolutely, the best school for our sons. n *Interviews have been condensed and reworded for clarity sake

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Message from the President of the Crescent Alumni Executive A N D R E W F LY N N ’ 8 8

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OR the Crescent Alumni Executive (CAE), the summer months prove to be of the utmost importance when it comes to strategic planning for the upcoming year.

I work closely during this time with the Executive to determine our mandate, and key initiatives for the year ahead.

This year, the CAE identified four key objectives that we believe set the vision for the Executive, ensuring we are in the best position to serve our alumni. Our goal is to build a programme that benefits our alumni, and provides opportunities for involvement, networking, socializing and mentoring between Crescent alumni.

Our first objective is to increase alumni engagement through Crescent events. We have come to realize that one of the key components of hosting a successful event is the location. The Activities Committee, chaired by Chris Candy ’02, has made a concerted effort to host our marquee events in venues that are unique and, more importantly, convenient for our alumni. The amazing success of our annual Downtown Alumni Networking Reception on December 1, 2011 at Jump further solidified this belief.

This theory has remained true through the development of the Speaker Series, initiated

by Andrew Day ’80 in September 2011. To date, we have had the opportunity to host three speakers in downtown board rooms from 7:30 – 9 a.m., on topics including the state of our current economy, asset management and entrepreneurship. Each one of these exclusive monthly events has been close to sold-out. Continuing to build on this trend, we look forward to hosting more events in the spring and summer that have equal value for our alumni.

Secondly, we seek to strengthen the relationships among Crescent alumni via various outlets, particularly networking and mentoring opportunities. One of the newest ways we are working to engage our alumni is through the Alumni Internship Programme (AIP). The AIP, chaired by Jay Mansoor ’92, is a unique programme for the alumni community and works to engage them on two separate levels. First and foremost, it encourages alumni who are in the position to provide summer internships the opportunity to host a young alumnus

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at their business. And secondly, it provides our young alumni with an outstanding opportunity for professional and personal development. We are excited to announce that we have increased the number of internships from two to 11 this summer!

Our Mentoring Programme, chaired by Jason Steel ’93, continues to be a key programme for personal and professional development for our alumni. Formally developed in January 2010, there are 150 mentors in our database whose grad years span from 1963-2006. I strongly encourage all alumni to take advantage of this opportunity. Having personally benefitted from being a mentor and a mentee myself, I cannot express how valuable this tool is, and how readily available it is for all of us to use.

Our third strategic objective is to strengthen the relationship between the Crescent alumni and Crescent School. We have been doing this very well by various means, some of which are described above. Our Governance and Nomination Committee, chaired by D.J. Lynde ’03, is striving to increase the strength and accountability of the Alumni Executive so that we remain in a strong position to serve our stakeholders.

By solidifying the Executive, we have been able to create opportunities for all alumni to re-engage and reconnect with their School.

Our Dentonia representative, Selwyn Owen ’60, also strives to achieve this by keeping those who attended the Dentonia Park campus involved with the current happenings of the School.

Crescent School is on the cusp of celebrating its 100th year. We look forward to drawing on the opportunities of the centennial to bring alumni back to the School. We are extremely fortunate to be part of an institution with such an incredibly rich history, filled with traditions, beliefs and values that still exist to this day. There truly is not a better time than now to come back to campus and see how the School has transformed since you left! If you have not been back to see the newest addition, the Lau Family Wing, I encourage you to take the time, wander through the halls and if you are lucky, get a private tour!

Our final objective is to strategically introduce fundraising as a key component

of alumni participation. The Fundraising Committee chaired by Rob Watt ’85, has been developing a programme to increase the alumni fundraising participation rate from eight per cent to at least 10 per cent

by September 2012. Embedded into the Great Boys campaign goal of $30 million, the alumni have a goal of $1,000,000 for endowment priorities, primarily student financial aid. We strongly encourage you to give back. To be able to say that you are a part of this great campaign is extraordinary.

Not only do you have the chance to build a better school for the current students, but you also have the opportunity to elevate the level of assistance we can offer deserving boys who would not otherwise be able to attend Crescent. There are also endowments that support athletics and specific academic and co-curricular programmes, so there truly is something to which everyone can contribute.

I am proud to say that we have 100 per cent giving participation on the Alumni Executive, and I hope that we can encourage you to join us in giving to Crescent.

I want to take this time to thank every member of the Crescent Alumni Executive.

These gentlemen, Andrew Day ’80, Steve Dubrick (S), Chris Candy ’02, D.J. Lynde ’03, Jay Mansoor ’92, Selwyn Owen ’60, Jason Steel ’93, Mark Suckling (S), and Rob Watt ’85, work tirelessly to ensure that the experience of being a Crescent alumnus is the best possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any point, should you have any questions regarding the alumni. I always look forward to hearing from you.

Looking forward to celebrating 100 years of Crescent School with you!

ANDREW FLYNN ’88

Introducing the Alumni Internship Programme

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HE Crescent Alumni Executive was conducting a routine meeting in the back room of The Spoke Club in November of 2010, immediately before our Alumni Downtown Networking event, and I was struggling to articulate a thought I had.

Andrew Flynn ’88, President of the Alumni Executive, had challenged us to come up with new ideas. I began to think that Crescent should host a programme that would match older alumni with younger alumni seeking summer employment. As I attempted to articulate the idea, Steve Dubrick, Director of Character and Leadership, looked at me and said, “You mean internships.” And that was it; that was the structure we needed.

As the summer of 2011 approached, we decided to give it a go. We would proceed with a silent launch with the hope of placing two young alumni on summer internships. We formed an “ask” committee that included, among others, Rob Watt ’85 and me. Together, we pooled the names of alumni who we knew were in a position to hire young employees.

Rob Watt works closely with the engineering consulting industry and through this connection he was aware of the industry’s history of hiring engineering students. Rob approached Genivar, a chemical engineering firm, and obtained

a summer internship. I was able to secure an internship from Dave Thom ’92, Vice President, Development, of The Lefrak Organization, cited as one of the leading building firms in the world.

With two summer internships secured, all we needed were the young alumni to fill them. The Alumni Relations Office at Crescent helped identify two recent graduates suitable for the positions. Nithin Kadayil ’06 successfully filled the position at The Lefrak Organization. After his summer was completed, Nithin said, “This internship opportunity has been extremely valuable in my pursuit of a master’s degree in architecture. I was able to learn a lot about project design and development, in a fast-paced environment that thoroughly challenged and developed my skills.”

David Lye ’09 filled the internship at Genivar, and was one of only three, among 110 students in his year, to receive an internship. He indicated that he thoroughly benefitted from the programme. He said, “The amount of knowledge I took away from working as an engineering consultant intern was incomparable, as were the connections I made.”

Overall, the internship experience for both Nithin and David was exceptional for their career development and personal growth.

What further demonstrates the strength of the programme is the value the companies received from the experience. Both The LeFrak Organization and Genivar were thoroughly impressed with the character of Nithin and David and the quality of their work – so much so that both have agreed to participate in the programme again this year.

Due to the enormous success of the pilot programme, the Crescent Alumni Executive decided to formalize the Alumni Internship Programme (AIP). Our focus is on the creation of a permanent programme, facilitated by and for the Crescent School alumni. This year, we are working to obtain 10 summer internships that profile an array of industries, locally and internationally. I’m pleased to say we are well on our way to meeting that goal.

If you are an alumnus interested in registering for a summer internship placement, please visit the Crescent School alumni website (alumni.crescentschool.org).

If you are part of the Crescent community – an alumnus or perhaps a Crescent parent – and would like to participate in facilitating an internship, please contact the Alumni Relations Officer, Kathryn Rutherford, via e-mail at krutherford@crescentschool.org or by phone 416-449-2556 x 260.

JAY MANSOOR ’92

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The Crescent Coyotes and the School Mascot

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HE Crescent Coyotes began life in the early 1970s as the U14 Hockey team mascot, as recalled by former teacher and hockey coach Brian Iggulden. A product of the imagination of Brian Ash ’78, a member of the team, and appropriately dressed in Crescent colours by Brian and his mother, the spindly-legged little guy was ceremoniously placed at centre ice before each game.

By 1975, it was felt that the School itself should have a mascot. A number of fierce and furry friends were proposed, and in the end the choice came down to either a cougar or a coyote. The staff preferred the former, but in a student vote the coyote (described by one wildlife expert as “the smartest animal in Ontario”) carried the day, and established his den on the Crescent campus.

It is interesting – and appropriate – to note that, in the years since, four legged coyotes have returned to the Don River valley after some years absence. The first reported sighting on campus occurred in May of 1996 when, late one afternoon, a tennis coach observed one nonchalantly loping across the slope which then ran from the pillars at the east of the Formal Garden down to the tennis courts (now the location of the Field House). Since then, they have been spotted on several occasions in the woods behind the School.

But since the 1970s, it is the two legged version which has become a familiar sight within Crescent itself. What the School believes is the original mascot now lives on in dignified retirement on display in the Crescent Archives, but his much larger and far more vocal successors played a highly visible role at such events as assemblies, Sports Days, and team games during the ’90s and into the early years of the new millennium.

The Coyote appears to have taken a bit of a hiatus lately – showing up at his signature event Coyote Kickoff and then only sporadically at a few key sporting events throughout the year. It is hoped that the 100th anniversary will provide an opportunity for the revival of our mascot and that the donning of the mascot costume will once again become an enviable leadership position amongst the grad class.

The ‘original’ coyote of Brian Ash ’78

Past and Present contacted some of the student leaders who “played” the Coyote during his heyday. B.J. Reinblatt ’92, George Reinblatt ’95, Dan Goldenberg ’98 and Chris Candy ’02 share their memories on what it meant to be the Crescent Coyote.

What did you consider your role as the Coyote to be?

B.J. ’92: That is an interesting question because I never had thought of the Coyote as a role to play. It was my way to do announcements – I had been waiting five years to be part of the leadership of the School so I took that privilege and thought I would do something fun with it. Simple as that. Guys used to say, “Hey I’m trying to promote my club – can the Coyote do a skit with us?” I used to go to hockey games as the Coyote and skate with the team and wave the flag because it was fun to do – I never thought of it as my

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role, it was just a lot of fun and the School and teachers supported me and enjoyed it so that only encouraged me to do it more.

Dan ’98: The role was clear – to motivate, entertain and raise spirit. We accomplished this with appearances at assemblies accompanied by the requisite amount of hype – music, special lighting etc. The role was not just about being funny or getting students to cheer, the goal was for the Coyote to become a rallying point – a shared icon that the students could find

common ground in. Entertainment was certainly a large part of this, but the Coyote was the embodiment of the ultimate Crescent fan, and was meant to inspire similar passion in the students.

Chris ’02: My role was to keep the “Green” spirit alive, and grow it. Promote Crescent and be the “face” of Crescent. Pump up crowds and student body before events and during them (especially sporting events), entertain the School and crowds and make people laugh.

Did your Coyote have a personality?

B.J.: Yes, it was based mainly on a very popular Q107 radio personality called The Champ who did a 2-3 minute recorded syndicated segment every day. The Champ was a retired boxer that often got confused and would “loose it” at any given moment.

I used to wake up every morning at 6:04 a.m. to hear the latest Champ on Q107 take notes turn around and go right back to sleep. I ripped off everything from the deep voice, the Eye of the Tiger opening song, to the punchlines. I simply changed “Hi everybody it’s me, The Champ” to “Hi everybody it’s me, The Coyote.”

It originally started as a funny idea to incorporate into morning announcements.

Getting into the mascot costume only happened later when we started doing assemblies. I remember fondly that the goal of assemblies was to stretch them long enough to miss the first period of class – if we went too short we would have

Dan Goldenberg

Chris Candy ’02 with Andrew Flynn ’88 at an alumni event

enough time for half a class and therefore homework so we always needed something to fill assemblies and the Coyote was a perfect placement. It was a big hit from the start and the Coyote became a fixture on Wednesday (my day to do announcements as a Prefect) and assemblies.

George ’95: I took the talking Coyote to a different place. I was more like a wrestling good guy. And in the assemblies we’d do these sketches, which were a lot like what you would see in the WWE. Dan: Macho – in the nature of the classic Coyote of my earlier years at Crescent as performed by B.J.. The Coyote’s role had diminished in the couple of years prior and 1998 was his renaissance.

Chris: He was very, very tough and mean – anti everything UCC. There was a “Crescent ruled the world” mentality, and a spinoff of The Champ on Q107.

Did you appear solo as the Coyote or did you have a sidekick?

B.J.: Going from the Q107 script I would always try to include teachers, students and rival schools to make it more relevant to Crescent. However there was one regular foil/villain to the Coyote and that was Jesse “The Wolfman” Wolfson ’92 who would regularly appear at assemblies in a Québec Nordiques jersey being booed as Clap for the Wolfman by the Guess Who blared over the speakers. Jesse was a natural heel – he just had the presence of a guy that annoyed you – he was perfect. Jesse told me a story of walking through the Lower School and being booed by the grade 5 and 6 students – I think the younger kids were just as important in making the Coyote such a big deal because they were so into it. Teachers used to tell me that their class would be unruly in the morning and as soon as that trademark Eye of the Tiger music would play, the classroom would settle down so they could listen to the latest installment of “The Coyote.”

George: I was never solo. I had a regular cast of characters with me, and even a lot of guest spots. The regulars were my arch enemy “The Ego Man” (played by Noah Godfrey ’95 who wore a mask) and Mike Kostoff ’95. Yes, we had two people in full costumes playing full-on cartoon characters. Kostoff was such a character on his own, he literally played himself. Every time the Coyote would speak at an assembly, he would award the “Student of

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The Crescent Coyotes and the School Mascot CONTINUED... the Month,” and every month, Kostoff would win it. He won it four months in a row. Then in the second semester, the Coyote announced the “Student of the Month,” and gave it to Jeremy Millard ’95 because he got into Yale.

Well, this was enough to turn Kostoff against me, and he joined forces with the Ego Man. Of course Kostoff being a bad guy just meant that he wore his school uniform but with a black shirt and sunglasses; it really was ridiculous… and I’m surprised they let us miss class to perform this garbage in assemblies.

But there were other guest characters. One time, when we couldn’t figure out how to end a sketch, we had Mr. Roberts come on stage and yell at Kostoff for taking off his school tie, then he angrily cancelled the assembly and told everyone to go back to class. The whole school thought we were in real trouble, but, in reality, the assembly was over anyway, we

just couldn’t write a good ending. Luckily Mr. Roberts played along. We even once had a guy playing a Judge Ito character (remember how big the O.J. trial was in 1995.)

Dan: I had a sort of “counterpunch” – The Chicken Man – who was basically me in a chicken costume. On rare occasions, the Coyote and Chicken would appear at the same time, but for the most part they were yin to each other’s yang.

Chris: Solo all the time, with the exception of one recurring skit. I would come out and deliver a monologue at assemblies of an interaction between me and someone from UCC, which always resulted in me trouncing the UCC kid (à la The Champ).

This always got the assembly fired up and drove school spirit.

Current athletic uniform logo for Crescent Coyotes

What is your fondest memory of being the Coyote?

B.J.: Watching my little brother take what I had started and put a new spin on it with a Coyote in a new costume that was totally original from the ’91/’92 version. That new costume was very special to me (even though I never wore it) because it was made by my mother, and I feel that in a way I started the whole thing. It really was a family affair because my sense of humour and my public speaking comes from my father who will take any opportunity to crack up a crowd.

Looking back at it 20 years now, my grad year at Crescent was a really special time in my life and being the Coyote was a big part of that.

George: I remember one time, the Crescent hockey team got to play at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was a huge deal as this was back when the Leafs were still playing there. I went to the game in my full Coyote suit, and decided to lead the team on the ice. You should know that I hadn’t skated since I was a little kid, so adding the fact that I couldn’t really see out of the costume and skating for the first time in a decade, I should have known this would be a disaster. I went out first, followed by our goalie. And I went straight along the boards to wave at the fans.

Unfortunately, the goalie and the rest of the team went the other way, so by the time they circled back around – I almost smashed right

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into our goalie – almost ruining our biggest game ever. Before I even knew what hit me, the coach grabbed me, told me to get off the ice, and never go back. I was better in the stands anyway.

Another bizarre story is when there was an actual coyote who got hit by a car, and for some reason it made major news that he was in the animal hospital. And even more bizarrely, someone thought it would be a good idea for me to visit this sick coyote… in my full Coyote costume. Why an injured coyote would want to be more confused is beyond me. But I went, and somehow it got in the papers and was even on CTV News.

It must have been a slow news day!

Dan: For me, it was being part of the mythology. The youngest students in many ways believed that the Coyote was real and connecting with those students was extremely gratifying.

Chris: Giving the assembly monologues and writing the material for them, especially writing with Mr. Jansen. That guy has a dry, witty and incredible sense of humour. I’ll always look back on those times as some of my fondest at Crescent; I had a great time coming up with new skits with him and it still makes me laugh when I think back on them.

George ’95, Gary and B.J. ’92 Reinblatt at the Crescent ’08 Gala which was emceed by George and B.J.

B.J. Reinblatt offered some suggestions on how we might encourage the spirit of the Coyote in future grad classes: “I think finding an individual to take the role of the Coyote has to be an organic thing – the class of ’92 was filled with a bunch of characters that had an incredible class spirit. Being an over the top mascot for this bunch was very easy as they always had new ideas on how to make a fool out of me – all in fun and in the spirit of stretching the assembly to the

end of first period.

It is not really an individual that becomes the Coyote – my character was a manifestation of the great spirit that the class of ’92 had. I had all the confidence in the world to try new things because I was supported by my class, the teachers and the entire school.

The point I am trying to make is that it is tough to manufacture “school spirit” which for whatever reason was in abundance in ’92 and that is why the Coyote was such a success. Give students a chance to express their spirit in a free and open way and someone will bubble to the top to be the Coyote.”

His brother, George, concluded his interview with the following: “The Coyote to my family was a big deal, because we were all involved.

When I took over the Coyote in ’95, the suit was ruined, and we needed a new one, so

my mom made one. She was a whiz on the sewing machine, and it looked like it was professionally done. Years later, long after I had left Crescent, they needed a new suit yet again, and they approached my mom. She was so nice, she didn’t hesitate, or even question that Crescent would ask a favour so many years after we left. She worked so long and hard to make sure it was ready for the new school year, and I believe the suit used now is still the one she made. Unfortunately, my mom passed away a few years ago, but she would have done anything to help Crescent.”

But the Reinblatt spirit of generosity, and commitment to Crescent’s mascot continues.

Shortly after responding to our Coyote questions, B.J. and George were having Sunday dinner with their dad, Gary. The topic of this article came up and the Reinblatts, after reminiscing about their family connection to the Coyote over the past 20 years, called the School and offered to finance a new Coyote mascot suit in honour of Crescent’s 100th birthday. This spring we will be looking for just the right grade 11 student to take the Coyote into our second hundred years with the same commitment and verve exhibited by B.J., George, Dan and Chris and in a brand new state-of-the-art costume.

Thanks, Gary, Sandra, B.J. and George Reinblatt for supporting the Crescent Coyote!

What Are They Doing Now? Since graduating from Crescent, here is what our Coyotes have been up to: B.J. Reinblatt: B.J. has been working in various roles in the Sports and Entertainment field for the last 10 years.

He has been a self-employed entrepreneur for the last seven years founding and investing in numerous businesses. His latest project is a start-up production company called Elevation Productions where he is the Managing Director. Elevation Productions designs and builds travelling museum exhibitions for venues across North America. He will be opening their first exhibition called the Science of Rock and Roll in October at Kansas City Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.

George Reinblatt: George is still “putting on shows” just as he did as the Coyote! He has become a comedy writer and playwright.

He wrote Evil Dead The Musical – which has played all over the world (over 100 productions). As a comedy writer, he has written for Steve Martin, John Cleese, Tina Fey, and Cheech & Chong.

in Philosophy and Music Technology.

He then went on to Osgoode Hall where he received his law degree in 2006. After that he worked in Toronto for a year at Heenan Blaikie LLP, and in the U.K. in the London office of Clifford Chance LLP. He is now back in Toronto where he practices entertainment law for Hall Webber LLP.

And lately he has also been writing for the Roasts on Comedy Central. “I was in LA working on the Charlie Sheen Roast a few months back. It broke a bunch of records for viewership, especially up here in Canada, where it was the highest rated non-sports broadcast in cable history.”

Chris Candy: Chris went to The University of Western Ontario where he attended the Richard Ivey School of Business, HBA programme. After graduation, he moved to Verbier, Switzerland to postpone corporate life and to ski and bartend in the Alps. On his return to Toronto, he started work in Management Consulting for banks, and in 2010 launched SevenMedia, a full service mobile marketing agency. n

Dan Goldenberg: After Crescent Dan went to McGill, graduating in 2002 with a BA

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Alumni events Alumni Reunion – September 24, 2011

Dick Howard (S) and Rob Leak ’81

Mark Pooley, Patrick Osler, Michael Warner, all class of ’96

David Macnee ’01, Tim Watson ’01, Rob Cranston (S), MacGregor Spinks ’01, Chip Rowan ’01

Fraser Gooderham ’06 and Mark Suckling (S)

Scott Matthews, Jeff Barton, Claudio Cocoracchia-Montalto, all class of ’91

Tim Stanley, Timothy DeGroot, Philip Casey, Christopher Crane, all class of ’86

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Paul Bryant ’96 and Tighe Crombie ’96

David Resnick’ 96 and Cameron Weir ’96

Jason Britton, Peter Berry, Richard Farr, all class of ’86

Geoff Roberts (Headmaster), Simon Fitzpatrick ’86, Willy Boake ’86

Doug Smith (PS) and Alex Doak ’06

Speaker Series – Fall 2011

Tim Watson ’01 and Sam Duboc P’19

David Wilder ’87 and Andrew Flynn ’88

Andrew Day ’80 and Allan Day ’75

American Thanksgiving Luncheon – November 26, 2011

Dustin Ashley ’11, Matt Nesvadba ’11, Jack Pitfield ’08, Jake Graham ’09

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Alumni events Continued...

Downtown Networking Reception – December 1, 2011

Rob Watt ’85 (P’14) and Kathryn Rutherford (S)

Matthew Williams ’97 and David Goluboff ’94

D.J. Lynde, David Pierce, Andrew Riley and Amaan Ismail, all class of ’03

Tim Usher-Jones ’01, Jeff Larcinia ’03, Will Chyr ’05

Jamie Barrett ’05, John Cooper ’00, Gabe Diamond ’05

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D’Arcy Walsh ’93 and Zach Curry ’93

Chris Van de Water ’99 and Charlie Mills ’99

Cameron Smith ’79, Tim Currie ’82, Fred Gaby ’75

Cam Heaps ’92, Chris Candy ’02, Jay Mansoor ’92

Zachery Spencer ’07 and Eden Orbach ’01

Zaki Husein ’02, Andrew Gallo ’02, Daniel Tiberini ’03

Alumni Holiday Reception – December 20, 2011

Ryan MacKellar ’07 and Matt Cullingham ’07

Chris Candy ’02 and Mark Suckling (S)

Jason Steel ’93, Rob Watt ’85, Dave Budden (PS)

Will Angus ’03, David Calverly (S), John Porter ’54, Amaan Ismail ’03

Warren Kong ’10, Toye Ojo ’09, Rafi Husain ’10

Jamie Hunter, David Wright and Ian MacDonald, all class of ’05

Michael Mitchnik ’07 and Tommy Sorbara ’08

Matthew Wilson ’06, Will Chyr ’05, Jonathan Prinsell ’06

Jake Graham, Chris Leung and Mike McConnell, all class of ’09

George Gleeson, Jake Simon, Blake Macdonald, all class of ’08

Havilland Day ’06, Aleem Janmohamed ’96, Cory Shankman ’06

Dave Budden (PS) and Tim Usher-Jones ’01

Sam Hall, David Croitoru, Tim Mackay, all class of ’07

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Alex Rasmussen ’10 Alex with classmates Alex Mirkalami, Matt Tompkins and Gaby Weitz

Alumni

Profile

K

NOWING yourself means understanding your values, beliefs, priorities, strengths and weaknesses, passions and fears. It means knowing your purpose in life. This is a powerful mantra, and one that certainly applies to Alex Rasmussen, class of 2010.

At the young age of 19, Alex has already demonstrated a clear understanding of his place in the world, and he approaches the pursuit of his purpose fearlessly yet thoughtfully, displaying a wisdom well beyond his years.

Know the road to follow to achieve your dreams.

In 2010, Alex applied to and was accepted at Western, with a goal of studying at the Ivey School of Business. While he has taken internships with both UBS Wealth Management (as a rotational intern, and on the trading desk) and with Davis Ray Limited Investment Council (working directly with

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“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

– Aristotle Doug Davis doing basic equity research), he began to wonder whether he had done due diligence before entering university on an Ivey track. “I started studying arts at UWO, and was captivated by the mythology and languages of the classical world,“ said Alex.

“I began to wonder if studying business would be too narrow for me, and I realized I had not taken advantage of the wisdom Mr. Mitz and Mr. Haag had to offer.”

In the end, after much soul-searching, he has applied to Ivey. “I realized that I had to take a leap of faith, and pursue this as part of my passion,” he says. “And, I went for it.”

Follow your chief good and your natural purpose.

At the age of 12, arriving at Crescent School in grade 7, Alex knew he had a passion for business and believed he had a dream: to start a corporation. And then, in grade 8, he was shown an investment sheet from

Berkshire Hathaway that demonstrated what $1,000 invested would then be worth today.

He was hooked. In that moment, Alex realized that his passion was not business, but value investing, and he has been pursuing this passion ever since. As a student at The University of Western Ontario, his day starts with a check of the stock markets and a review of his portfolio as he listens to BNN before heading off to class. After class, he attends meetings with the Western Investment Club (where he is now a member of the executive, managing portfolios), or with Investors of Tomorrow, a student-run charity that organizes and operates investment simulations within schools. Through its stock pitch competition, Investors of Tomorrow teaches kids to invest properly, “the Buffet way,” as Alex would say. Alex is an active advocate and volunteer with Investors of Tomorrow, vested in its mission, and committed to securing corporate sponsorship to drive the organization’s success.

Be active and responsible in your community.

If knowing yourself is Alex’s mantra, then “get involved” is his battle cry. Brotherhood and a strong sense of community are the first things Alex thinks of when asked about Crescent School. He still remembers standing in the grade 12 grad lounge on Right to Play day with “about 60 other guys,” huddled around the TV watching Black Hawk Down.

“The title came up, and the room went silent,” Alex reminisces. “Then, we all said at once, ‘we have a Black Hawk down.’

Sixty guys with a single thought. It was an incredibly profound moment.”

Alex didn’t really become involved in Crescent life until grade 10, something he still regrets. “I missed so many great programmes and opportunities while I was going through

all the angst of being 13 and 14,” he says.

As with everything, when he did become involved, he was fully committed. He acted in five plays, and played in eight bands. He was active in the Outreach programme, traveling to Honduras, South Africa, and Tanzania, and became the Outreach Prefect in grade 12. Today, along with his volunteer work, academics, and investing, he still finds time for music, teaching his roommate to play the bass, and playing the drums.

Understand your place in the world.

One of the great gifts a Crescent education has given Alex is a grounding in who he is. “Crescent taught me how to analyze an organization, and helped me to understand the role each individual plays in that organization,” he remembers. “Learning these two things has given me confidence

in myself, and it has prevented me from feeling lost.” He singles out Ms. Efimov and Mr. Comeau for showing him the big ideas of the world, learning much about himself, and opening many doors and pathways - and again he remembers Outreach. “Outreach gave me confidence, a chance to stand out, and it taught me about personal and global responsibility. It showed me that the world was much bigger than school and North York.”

Real success is finding your lifework in the work you love. For Alex, this has meant always looking for new ways to engage in investment and finance, while maintaining balance by keeping one foot planted firmly in the arts. In knowing himself, he has learned to be patient; it would be fair to say that he lives his life the way his hero Warren Buffet does, not by trading, but by knowing himself, investing his talents in the right ways, and then giving these investments the time to flourish. n

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Remi Ojo ’08 Remi (right) with Jason Merrithew ’07

R

EMI Ojo could best be described as a man almost perpetually in motion, and a true entrepreneur. Since leaving Crescent School in 2008, he has been busy applying his robotics skills to his academic and volunteer life, as a fourth year student in Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University, and with the FIRST programme at the Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute.

When he’s not traveling across North America to robotics competitions, Remi volunteers with the ALS Club at Queen’s University raising funds and awareness.

Since 2010, he has served as Vice President and Webmaster for the University’s Applied Science graduating class of 2012. He works as a promotional manager for Touch Entertainment, a company that organizes events and trips for corporations and nonprofit organizations. He is actively involved in competitive sports, playing for two years on the Queen’s varsity soccer team, before moving to Ultimate Frisbee. Remi plays on both the Queen’s team, where he played an integral role in their second-place finish at the University finals this past year, and for a Toronto club that made it to the finals in Ottawa earlier this year.

Remi is a man filled with passion and energy, a person who notices opportunities

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Alumni

Profile

and knows how to mobilize resources to make a difference. He is a true entrepreneur, with an enormous appetite for life and the many rich and varied experiences it offers.

His many activities and commitments as a student at Queen’s are a continuation of his life at Crescent, a school Remi would tell you gave him the opportunity to try his hand at a multitude of different things.

“Crescent,” Remi adds, “was definitely one of the best things to happen to me. It helped me discover who I am.”

Remi came to Crescent in grade 9, and from the beginning demonstrated an openness to experience, a drive and energy, and the personable, approachable nature that friends say still characterizes him today. He immersed himself in life at the School, playing on the soccer, track and field, basketball, Ultimate Frisbee and rugby teams, mostly at a varsity level.

He worked on the audio/visual crew for three years, was a member of the FIRST robotics team (an experience that he credits with pushing him to study engineering), and was a Mackenzie House Captain in grade 11, and Communications Prefect in his final year.

Remi credits Crescent with laying the foundation for his current successes.

“Robotics taught me effectual reasoning and creative problem-solving,” Remi says.

“But I find that, since leaving Crescent, I have become less science-oriented, and more interested in business, networking, and creating meaningful relationships.”

With his new-found interest in business, dynamism, and an innate ability to connect the dots, Remi and two of his colleagues at Queen’s launched Loopnotes.com in November 2011. There was a need, an opportunity to make extra money, and the thrill of taking a great idea and building a business. As Remi adds, “Having my own company is pretty big for me!”

Loopnotes.com recognizes high achieving students and allows them to upload their class notes for other students to purchase.

To ensure the quality of the notes, students purchasing the notes are asked to rate them. It’s a great idea, and the hard work and thought that Remi and his colleagues put into the platform, usability, and concept paid off almost immediately. By early January of this year, Loopnotes had expanded to include more than 400 users at Queen’s University, with a goal of being available in 12 universities by the end of 2012. “We are passionate about making everyone’s post-secondary school experience more enjoyable,” says Remi.

“By facilitating collaboration among students, we’re making academic life a little easier for everyone.”

While he sometimes wishes he had pursued more business courses at Crescent, Remi credits the School for the integral role it has played in developing the man he has become today. “Growing up at Crescent definitely changed me for the better. I learned how to interact positively with people. The teachers really instilled a sense of trust and responsibility in the students, and this gave us confidence, a sense of independence, and helped us grow into ourselves.” His advice to all students and alumni is simple: “Get involved, and stay involved. Listen and learn as much as you can. Have fun, get inspired, and never quit.”

It’s Remi’s way of paraphrasing Steve Jobs, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” n

Alumni University/Branch Visits The University of Western Ontario – October 14, 2011

Brook Parsons ’08 and Evan Reiter ’08

Rishi Jairath ’11, Doug Smith (PS) and Henson Tam ’11

Ross MacDonald (PS) and Alex Candy ’07

New York Branch Reunion – February 8, 2012

Mike Donnelly ’88 (P’18) and Mike Smith ’87

Geoff Roberts (Headmaster) and Kevin Abrams ’89

David Thom ’92 and Sandro Zorzi ’92

Waterloo Branch Reunion – March 2, 2012

Doug Smith (PS), Brendan Lippa ’09, Paul Comeau (S), Mark Suckling (S), and Jay Shah ’06

Stephen Daniels ’08, Duncan Bull ’08, A.J. Del Zotto ’08, Chris Singh ’10, Michael Poy ’10, Erik Evans ’10

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From the Archives results, and much was rescued from less than satisfactory archival conditions. It was an interesting process of search and discovery, of such items as the original land survey for Crescent’s current campus.

Tales from the archives

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RANTED, it doesn’t have quite the same ring as the EC Comics and HBO television series Tales from the Crypt (although there may be some dusty similarities), but as I look back over a decade of poking around through the School’s history and prepare to take my leave (again!) for the purported charms of the Elysium Fields of retirement, possibly there have been a few situations and circumstances that are worth recounting.

To begin, it should be noted that while Crescent did not have a proper archives when I was asked at the end of 2002 if I would be interested in establishing one, a number of people over the years had previously taken an interest in either preserving or organizing aspects of the School’s history: the founding Headmaster’s widow, Elizabeth James, Susan Wilder (P’87,’88) and other Crescent mothers; faculty such as Bill Burridge (PS, P’69) and Bill Pedoe (PS, P’98) – and no doubt others. Some work had been done, work I appreciated, but only in a sporadic, hit and miss fashion as time and opportunity permitted. What I was presented with at the beginning was a dozen or so randomly filled old cardboard boxes and some plastic bins,

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stored very awkwardly behind a couch and under a low roof, accessible only on one’s hands and knees.

It was a start, and it all had to be sorted, culled, organized and catalogued. Over many months that process took place primarily in my basement at home – the only space available that was sufficiently large and where materials could be left out in their various piles for a day or more.

Surprisingly, given the limited collection, and despite always erring on the side of keeping anything even remotely of interest, much was culled, as either being of no value or of unnecessary duplication. The garbage man and my wife, were pleased when that process came to an end!

The next step was to search every nook and cranny I could think of in the School, whether it was the walk-in vault, or storerooms, or storerooms behind other storerooms in the basement of The Manor, or mechanical rooms and closets around the School, or even under the floorboards of a gymnasium office, all in hopes of coming across more archival materials: school publications and other documents, artifacts and audio-visual materials, uniform items, etc. This was time consuming and often dusty and dirty work, but it yielded good

The search then led to earlier campuses, at least twice to each of the four previous locations of the School, and in particular to Dentonia Park, by car and bicycle and foot, in an attempt to visualize Crescent in an earlier age. Times change: one campus (76 Collier Street) is now the site of the first condominium ever built in the city of Toronto, another (Dentonia Park) is now known as “Little Bangladesh” with a mosque and classes in Bengali. The search continued to local historians, books, magazines and newspaper articles which shed light on the Masseys and Dentonia Park, and on the Woods and their Bayview estate. And even to cemeteries, as the burial sites of the School’s first two Headmasters, Jimmy James and Walter Williams, were located after some searching (in Mount Pleasant Cemetery and that of St. George’s Anglican Church at Sibbald Point overlooking Lake Simcoe, respectively).

Along the way, there have been many visits with alumni and chairs of the Board of Governors, seeking out their recollections of life at Crescent in earlier years while time still permitted. From the then oldest known alumni, residing in the Veterans’ Wing at Sunnybrook Hospital, to other early Old Boys remembering life in the 1930s, and on through the School’s history, it was a privilege to share their memories of earlier Headmasters and faculty, of campus life and schoolboy pranks, and of course of Crescent lunches.

The search for information on various topics led as well to Permanent Reserve collections of public libraries, to the private library of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, and to the museum of the 48th Highlanders Regiment of Canada.

As the Archives became more established, and was able to contribute to several projects around the School displaying and promoting Crescent’s history and heritage, it became better known within the Crescent community, and this in turn led to further donations: a prize book from the 1920s

found at a garage sale, a Sports Day medal from the 1930s, report cards from the 1940s, a school belt and house ties from the 1950s, Bill Burridge’s hand built demerit box from the 1960s, and so on.

All this clearly showed that more space – and a proper space – was needed, and a room was constructed for the Archives, a combined office and display room in a high profile location (surprisingly, given the traditional location of archives in out of the way, gloomy bottom reaches of buildings), and even with a corner window and the best view of the playing fields of any office in the School! And with storage next door to boot! Arriving on mornings after an unusually cold winter’s night to find the temperature in the archives hovering at 10 degrees or less was an easy trade-off.

Perhaps the greatest benefit from having a dedicated archival space was that classes could now visit, and there could be sessions on Crescent’s history and traditions,

especially as, as of this past year, the archives has moved to a larger room which can display more and handle more students.

It is quite eye opening for them to see what soccer shirts and hockey sweaters from 70 years ago look like, to learn that cricket was Crescent’s only spring team sport for the first 60 years but that for decades there was also a quite professionally run boxing tournament for almost all boys each May, to imagine a Rembrandt oil painting – the only one in Toronto – hanging in what is now the Admissions Offices, to learn that the Main House at Dentonia Park had 100 rooms, and to be surprised to find out that Mr. Roberts does not own the School.

I will miss those classes and the opportunity to talk about the past Crescent century – a century of interesting people, of challenge and change, of growth and progress. But it’s time… and time waits for no man.

NEIL CAMPBELL (P’94) ARCHIVIST

k n a h T

u o Y

Crescent School would like to offer

a public thank-you to Neil Campbell for his dedication to preserving our history. His perseverance and

immense knowledge of the characters and events of the last hundred years will be greatly missed.

Life After Crescent

life after Crescent

Duncan Osborne ’90 was recently appointed to the position of Senior Vice President, Investments, at the Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited. He and his wife, Cassandra, are proud parents of Ben ’21.

Last year, Paul Derderer ’79 opened Quinn’s of Tweed, an art gallery in Tweed, Ontario. Paul’s mission is to present Canada’s finest artists and artisans, and to showcase a wide selection of fine historical art, in a relaxed and inviting setting.

Roger Springfield ’81 graduated from Queen’s University with an honours degree in history in 1985. He was awarded a Canadian Cambridge Scholarship and attended Downing College, Cambridge, graduating in 1987. Roger enjoyed his two years at Cambridge, particularly the practice of attending University-wide lectures supplemented by College tutorials with distinguished Fellows. In 1989, Roger graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Subsequently, he articled, and was called to the Bar. As jobs were scarce in both Toronto and London (Roger was also an accredited lawyer in England and Wales), he moved to Paris to learn French in order to work within the Common Market. After being accepted to the Bar in France, Roger took a position with a major international constructor of oil refineries, working for five years on construction contract related matters before moving to Total, one of the largest oil companies in Europe. Roger met his wife, a French teacher, when he was studying French during his early days in France.

They have two sons, 13 and 10, and live on the outskirts of Argenteuil, a town on the Seine, downriver from Paris.

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Rob Labatt ’84 is working at McKinsey and Company in their Silicon Valley office. Rob and his wife, Nina, have two wonderful children: Sofia (6) who is into skiing, math and Mandarin; and Rex (2), who loves horses and thinks he loves skiing (he has not tried it yet, but Rob has been “training” Rex with Warren Miller movies all summer). They live just south of San Francisco and would love to hear from any local or visiting Crescent friends.

Rob Watt ’85 lives in Toronto with his wife, Lea Anne, and two children: Jack ’14, and Caroline, a grade 7 student at Havergal. Rob is a founding partner at the DMS Group, a real estate services company providing property and land management services across Ontario. He is also quite involved at Crescent, both as a parent and with the Alumni Board, where he is the chair of the Alumni Fundraising Committee, and a member of the Alumni Campaign Cabinet and the Alumni Internship Committee.

Brian Lang ’87 and the Lang gang have landed in Dubai, where Brian has started a new role with MasterCard as Senior Vice President, Market Development for the Middle East and Africa.

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▲

Greg Sacks ’91 and his wife welcomed their first child, Josephine Parker Sacks, on September 2, 2011. Josephine is already becoming a world traveler, and visited Antigua with Greg and her mom on a Trufflepig trip in October.

Patrick Lundy ’92 is living in Houston, Texas, with his wife of six years, Christine, and their newest addition, 14-month old daughter Erin. Patrick works for Zurich Financial Services, and has recently taken a new role as Head of Zurich’s Healthcare Business Division for North American insurance operations.

Jay Mansoor ’92 is the proud dad of three rambunctious children: Raquel (5), Julia (3) and Ben (1). Jay currently works with his family at Britannia Property Management Inc., and is enjoying his time actively serving the Crescent community as a member of the Alumni Executive.

Martin Ritchie ’92 lives in Toronto with his wife, Natalia, and young daughter Scarlett. He is the co-founder of JCM Capital, which exclusively finances utilitysized solar photovoltaic generating facilities in Ontario (both commercial rooftop and ground-based). Martin is a firm believer that this type of distributed energy will pervade over the next few decades across every corner of the globe, and is wellpoised to assist with this large-scale deployment. He is active on the squash and tennis courts (although slightly less nimble than when he was at Crescent).

Dave Thom ’92 is living in Upper Manhattan with his wife, Melissa, and their two boys: Aden (3) and Christopher (1). When not chasing toddlers, Dave likes to catch a Rangers-Leafs game with Sandro Zorzi ’92. Dave continues to work on residential and commercial projects in the New York area for the LeFrak Organization, a large real estate developer, and this summer will be sponsoring his second intern in the Crescent Alumni Internship Programme. Anyone visiting New York is welcome to call on Dave in Inwood to say hello!

Tim Webster ’92 and his wife Ginny are proud parents of Harrison (3), and Lara (16 months). Tim has been busy over the last number of years with a number of Tim Horton’s franchises in the Greater Toronto Area. Tim and his family are excited about making a big move out to BC this summer, where he will be transitioning into some opportunities with Krispy Kreme in Vancouver.

Christopher Williams ’92 has settled down in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife, Hanna, and three year old son, Leo. He is currently working as Team Leader Business Intelligence for East Capital, a finance firm specializing in business intelligence.

This March, Fraser Chapman ’93 and his wife Christie welcomed a new sibling for sister Sadie (4) and Tyler (3). Fraser and Christie try to do more of what is working and less of what is not. When not working at their vocations, they maintain a very active lifestyle with a healthy dose of cycling, skiing (snow and water), crossfit, and all sorts of activities. Fraser is training hard and will compete in the L’Etape du Tour this year.

Jason Steel ’93 and his wife Sarah are the proud parents to daughter Clarke Monica Steel, born April 19, 2010. They find they are still adapting to Clarke’s language skills, which they believe to be a mix of Mandarin and German. When not using Rosetta Stone Infant, Jason is busy running the family business, Steel Fire Equipment. Jason is active with Crescent’s Alumni Executive, and stays connected with many alumni, including Bernie Wai ’93, and Michael Colapinto ’93.

If anyone wants to reconnect with Jason, he can be reached at jsteel@steelfire.com.

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Last summer, David Notarfonzo-Sebald ’97 married Leah Fuller in a backyard ceremony in Thornhill. The wedding party included James Blake ’97, Chris Wong ’97, Tyler Skillen ’97, Burton Gustajtis, David Singer ’97, and David (sitting on the bench).

Andrew Lynde ’99 is teaching grade 6 at Town Centre Montessori School. He is also very much involved with their lower school athletics programme.

Nahid Harjee ’99 earned a BASc. in Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo before moving to Silicon Valley to work at NVIDIA, where he helped to design several processors (including the graphics chip in the original Xbox). Nahid recently completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, specializing in nanotechnology. He currently lives in San Francisco and will be joining a start-up company this year.

Eddie Lynde ’00 and his wife, Jennifer, welcomed a daughter, Emma Rose, on April 13, 2011. Eddie is completing his first year at McLaughlin & Associates, specializing in construction law.

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Life After Crescent

life after Crescent

Gordon Chun Kit Fu ’06 completed a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at Rosalind Franklin University in Chicago in the spring of 2011. He is currently enrolled in The Chicago Medical School, completing an MBA (class of 2012), and an MD (class of 2015).

Congratulations to Brett Bergman ’00, who will complete his MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, this April. In May of this year, he and his wife Beth will return to Toronto, where they will welcome their first child. Along with the responsibilities of parenthood, Brett has accepted a position in marketing with General Mills, the company he interned with in 2011.

Dave Macnee ’01 is working as the Communications Officer at Camp Oochigeas, which offers year-round programmes for children affected by cancer at their location in Muskoka, at The Hospital for Sick Children, and at their facility in downtown Toronto.

Jamie Lynde ’02 wrote the first of three CFA exams in December as he continues to improve and secure his accounting status at KPMG. He and his wife, Nadia, are also pleased to welcome a new addition to the family, a Labradoodle named Seamus.

D.J. Lynde ’03 has completed his articles in law and was called to the Ontario Bar this past June. He accepted a position as Associate in the Business Law group of McCarthy Tetrault. This past summer, D.J. took time to travel extensively through Brazil, Argentina, Peru and the Galapagos Islands.

Andrew Norris ’03 and Jonathan Norris ’07 have put their Robotics background (and their engineering degrees from Queen’s University) to work, founding SYRP Inc., an internet application development company.

Martin Leung ’04 is in his second year of medicine at The University of Western Ontario.

Alan Poon ’04 is in his final year of veterinary school at the University of Edinburgh. Alan plans to complete his board exams this spring, and begin work back in North America.

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Justin Kwong ’07 is in first year of medical school at McMaster University.

Congratulations to Blake Parsons ’07, silver medalist in the Men’s 4 rowing at the Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

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Stephen Wyprysky ’04 graduated with distinction from the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario in 2008, specializing in Finance. After summer internships at UBS Investment Bank and Blackmont Capital in Toronto, Stephen moved to New York to work as an analyst for Citigroup in its Investment Banking Division, Global Industrials Group. In 2010, he assumed the position of Associate, Principal Investments, with Tri-Artisan Capital Partners (a merchant bank), identifying and evaluating proprietary private equity transactions. In 2011, Stephen moved to Boston to join TA Associates (one of the largest, oldest and most experienced buyout and growth private equity firms in the world) as an Associate. At TA Associates, he manages $16B in committed capital with $7B in actively investing funds. Last August, Stephen completed the PanMassachusetts Challenge, a 170 mile, twoday bike ride from Boston to Provincetown, Cape Cod, in support of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He lives in Boston’s Back Bay, but visits Toronto often to see family and friends.

Sheldon Kwok ’08 was recently accepted to the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) MD programme. The programme is joint between Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As part of the programme, he would do his MD at Harvard Medical School, and have the option of doing a PhD in biomedical research at Harvard or MIT. Admission to the programme is very selective as only 30 students from around the world are admitted each year. Sheldon has also been accepted to the University of Toronto MD/PhD programme, and is currently in the process of deciding in which programme to enroll.

Sheldon is currently in his final year at Columbia University, where he was honoured as an early inductee into the Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Academic Honor society.

PBK is the oldest and most widely known Academic Honor society in the United States. He was among only 20 students out of Columbia’s graduating class of over 1,000 to be elected early to PBK, which is considered the highest scholastic distinction in his graduating class. The distinction was awarded based on faculty nominations and academic achievement. All Phi Beta Kappa members are elected for life and current members include many U.S. Presidents and Nobel Laureates.

Zachary Kula ’09 is in his third year at McGill University, as a Finance major/ Economics minor. As part of his degree, Zachary is spending this semester in an exchange programme, studying at the University of Sydney. Upon arrival home, he will be working on an internship in Toronto, and spending time off on Georgian Bay.

Toye is a winner of the Chemical Institute of Canada Hamilton Section Prize for achievement in Chemical Engineering.

The biotechnology project that he and classmates Andrew Murray, Cory Austin and Joshua Su completed in their final year at Crescent, has been published in the 2011 Canadian Young Scientist Journal. In addition to his stellar academic work, Toye has completed his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Medal requirements and continues to be active in Robotics as a mentor to the SMLS Robotics team.

Past Staff

All three novels get their “edge” from the horrors of two world wars though most of the action takes place in Ontario. Arson, murder, espionage, war and romance. And all the major characters are school teachers!

Bill and his wife, Penny, live in a village north of Barrie. As well as writing, Bill volunteers teaching adult literacy, rides his Trek bike, sketches, dabbles in watercolours and catches almost every movie that doesn’t involve vampires, wizards or werewolves.

Bill’s children live in Ontario, Ireland and England, his eight grandchildren in Ireland and England. He is thoroughly enjoying retirement.

In Memoriam

▲ Toye Ojo ’09 is in his third year at McMaster University studying Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. In June 2011, he began conducting research in his area of specialty, and will be travelling to China this summer to continue this project.

In the summer of 2011, Toye received an NSERC undergraduate student research award, which afforded him the opportunity to work with Dr. Shiping Zhu’s PolyMac Research group at McMaster University.

The goal of his project was to demonstrate the value-added conversion of canola oil into an effective emulsifying agent, and Toye had the opportunity to present these findings at the 61st Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference.

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Bill Pedoe (P’98) has written and published three novels: Flammable, Syzygy and Floating. They can be previewed and purchased at Lulu.com.

Jeffrey Brock’s (Class of 82) near three year battle with pancreatic cancer came to a peaceful end at his home in Orlando, Florida on November 14, 2011, surrounded by his wife, Margaret (Droumtsekas), and his children: Caley, Cooper and Megan. Jeff was educated in American Schools in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore as well as Crescent. He earned an Honours BA from Queen’s University, and an MBA at IMEDE University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Jeff and his family lived in Orlando where he launched and built a diversified real estate services business that became a leading player in the Central Florida market, and where he was active as a volunteer in his community.

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Alumni Reunion

Save the date!

2012 Crescent School Alumni Reunion Saturday, September 29, 2012 at Crescent School Celebrating the classes of ’77, ’82, ’87, ’92, ’97, ’02, ’07

The 2012 Dentonia Luncheon ˜ Friday, May 4, 2012 at 12 noon 40

Crescent School’s Upcoming Events 2012 MAY

Friday 4, Dentonia Luncheon Saturday 5, Junior Science Olympics Thursday 10, Alumni Speed Networking Event Thursday 10, Alumni Branch Reception: London, UK Monday 14, Grandparent’s Day Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17, Lower School production of King Arthur and the Magic Sword Tuesday 22, Volunteer Reception Tuesday 22-Saturday 26, CISAA Finals Tuesday 29-Friday, June 8, Middle School and Upper School exams Thursday 31, Lower School Arts Night

JUNE

Friday 8, Lower School House Day Monday 11, Welcome to Alumni BBQ Tuesday 12, Athletic BBQ and Awards Wednesday 13, Retirement Party Thursday 14, Prize Day Friday 15, Graduation Friday 22, Crescent School Golf Tournament

*Black events are of most interest to current families *Grey events are exclusive to alumni * Green events are of most interest to the entire Crescent Community

Erratum In the Fall issue of Past and Present, an article mistakenly mentioned that one of our retirees, Ross Turvey, came to Crescent in 1997.

Ross actually came here in 1990! We sincerely apologize for summarily wiping out seven years of Ross’s wonderful teaching career at our School. And, by the way, Ross is thoroughly enjoying his new life in Zurich and sends his best wishes to all Crescent staff, past staff, students, alumni, parents and past parents.

CRESCENT SCHOOL’S MISSION:

Men of Character from Boys of Promise CRESCENT’S CORE VALUES:

Respect, Responsibility, Honesty, Compassion 41

Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: CRESCENT SCHOOL Communications/Marketing 2365 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON, Canada M2L 1A2 www.crescentschool.org

40018682

Fathers and Sons HEADMASTER’S MESSAGE Geoff Roberts coaching the Junior Division 1 soccer team

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OHN BADALAMENT, international speaker and Harvard-trained educator – and an Australian researcher in boys’ education – spoke at a conference I attended a few years ago and told a story that has remained with me. While it had an elegant Aussie sensibility, I think it is quite relevant for us on this side of the world as well.

He recounted that when he was young he lived in a typical rural environment. He was taught that if you were ever in trouble or felt uncomfortable or didn’t know how to do something and needed help, all you had to do is look around for a man, and he’d be certain to guide and support you. He emphasized that to us in the audience. He said that in his lifetime, approaching a lone man in a field was seen not only as safe, but absolutely the right thing to do, and he

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wondered aloud what happened to displace that near archetypal image of safe, strong male by the shadowy threat of the adult male as sinister, predatory and menacing.

their own fathers, the very first person to which most boys default for security and reference as they strive to construct and defend their own personal male identities.

I’m sure that the shift in perspective is due to many factors. Mr. Badalament, however, has a theory that he likes to share with anyone who asks. He believes that the decline in the social perception of adult males as strong and reliable can be largely attributed to the general absence of fathers in their sons’ lives. Badalament would contend that there aren’t enough positive role models in boys’ lives as they grow in order to reinforce a positive image of adult males. Instead, boys can be inundated in the news and their online lives by real and imaginary male monsters – the effect of which is especially acute in the absence of

This situation is, of course, not new. The greatest poets and playwrights in the world have utilized the tension that exists between fathers and sons, and fathers and duty.

But modern male roles may have evolved, recently, to be less like Odysseus* and more akin to Abraham, the biblical father who was prepared to kill his son, Isaac, to prove his commitment to the God he worshipped**.

We are fortunate at Crescent to have a great many terrific adult male role models – strong males who can be trusted to guide young men through their lives. We have huge bench-

strength in our male teachers, but I would contend that the older boys, the ones in grades 11 and 12, play an even more powerful role in the formation of our Lower School boys’ sense of awareness and confidence as to what it means to be male in today’s world. I might argue that it may be one of the major, unstated reasons why parents choose Crescent School for their sons.

There is nothing quite as complex and important in a boys’ life as a father, and I see wonderful examples of fathers supporting their sons at Crescent, most

often at sporting activities, but also in the Robotics lab or on the stage or in musical ensembles. It’s a healthy sight.

I am also very encouraged by the increasing number of alumni who have chosen to enroll their sons at Crescent. This trend is a mark of a maturing school. (This may also be an indication of a maturing Headmaster.

I’ve taught most of these fathers sometime in the past!) In fact, we have more alumni sons enrolled at Crescent than ever before in our history. It’s a great sign of strength and continuity.

Wordsworth eloquently wrote, that “The child is father to the man,” then it’s critically important that we show our young men what it means to be a good father, a good man, and a good person.

Our boys have a propensity to grow up to be just like us – with a few creative and genetic nuances – and I’d like to think of that as more of a magnificent, formative opportunity for us as a society than a dire forecast. Strong, present fathers might be one of the most important investments any family could make in their sons’ futures.

GEOFF ROBERTS

*He loved his son, Telemachus, so much that he feigned insanity rather than honour his commitment to Menelaus to retrieve Helen. While he ended up going to Troy, he dramatically proved his loyalty and love to his son and his peers. **Abraham ended up sacrificing a ram that magically appeared, but the son, Isaac, faced death at the hands of his father. Duty symbolically prevailed over family.

I would contend that the older boys, the ones in grades 11 and 12, play an even more powerful role in the formation of our Lower School boys’ sense of awareness and confidence...

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Redefining Middle School for the Next Century: Embracing Challenge towards manhood is the key to affording each individual boy the chance to become his own man of character.

Crescent School has declared that the Middle Years are important – vital even – and has committed significant resources to supporting this philosophy as witnessed by the opening of the Lau Family Wing last fall.

This redefining of Middle School provides Crescent with a chance to lead in an area of education most often managed rather than thoughtfully and deliberately planned.

There is a long way to go, but entry into the Lau Family Wing has brought with it a fresh vision to understand and meet the needs of a Middle School aged boy and allow him to access a love of learning that will be retained as he moves into the business end of his educational journey.

Understanding how best to do this has all come back to the relationship between opportunity and challenges, and how a Middle School boy might best navigate past one to reach the other.

Opportunity – the good news first!

Middle School students using new space in Lau Family Wing

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HE most exciting and life altering opportunities in life are almost certainly found behind a series of challenges – it is almost like some cosmic equation.

Navigating through these challenges allows us to access the opportunities. It is rare to find any real substance in these opportunities without engaging with the challenges that lie en route.

Perhaps the complexity of this relationship between challenge and opportunity is seen at its most acute during early adolescence or what we, at Crescent, call Middle School.

Early adolescence is a time of paradox and complex tensions. It is a time of unrivalled, life-defining learning opportunities.

However, those opportunities can lie behind some genuinely intimidating challenges.

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My most common reaction when I ask parents about their early adolescent years is a shudder and some form of comment expressing relief that they are over. This general view of the Middle School years is pervasive. It continues to be seen as a period of time to endure or survive rather than a period of fantastic opportunity. As a result, few schools have given the Middle Years the focus needed to be seen as a necessary springboard from childhood to adulthood.

It’s no longer enough to have a Middle School; one needs to understand Middle School. It is increasingly apparent that these complex moments of a boy’s life are pivotal, and that the kind of scaffolding a school erects against which a boy can grow

Opportunity comes when it comes, not when you want it to come. My father trots this little gem out every time I ask him for advice. Ironically it has resonated most clearly with me during my time teaching in the Middle School. Middle School is literally a once-in-a-life-time moment of opportunity for learning.

I will bet that if you take the time and think of some really nuanced things that you are good at – some very obvious and particular skills that you possess– you will be able to trace them back to things you either learned or practiced when you were in your early adolescence.

There are certain windows when the brain grows and takes shape affording an accelerated opportunity for learning. The two most significant times occur from birth to about six years of age and then again during puberty; a time when the brain is constantly developing and solidifying new pathways. Neurons that fire together-wire together and during our early adolescent

years the possibilities for learning and establishing these pathways are virtually endless. It really is a case of “use it or lose it.” As connections are made and solidified through repetitive practice, they stick and become denser whilst the connections we don’t use wither away. As a school, we have a huge opportunity to capture this moment.

To provide a wide variety of learning styles and opportunities whilst ensuring a climate where skills can be practiced and solidified is a tricky tightrope to walk, and can only be done with focused intentionality.

The Challenges – it’s about how to navigate, not avoid!

For hundreds of years almost every culture initiated its boys into manhood during early adolescence. We as a society have abandoned these rites of passage and the accompanying acknowledgment of status and responsibility, but our boys continue to have the biologically driven desire to achieve significance at this age. This desire to be independent and significant, to be an individual, doesn’t happen in a vacuum. At Crescent, it happens alongside 160 other boys straining towards the same need to understand who they are and how they fit in. It makes for a bumpy, elbows-out journey.

The challenges of Middle School can feel big, are very real and can be real inhibitors to accessing the opportunities that are available. Insecurity, peer pressure, social cruelty and a desperate desire to become a man, and to be treated as such, are just some of the challenges a boy will feel when he is in Middle School and they can be all consuming. It is also vital to understand that these challenges will be a part of all Middle School landscapes – it is inevitable.

Believing this will move a school’s focus from trying to create the unachievable bubble, devoid of any such difficulties, to a place where it is understood and acknowledged that our job is to support

and equip our boys to navigate through these challenges.

Don’t forget the variable – our boys!

I’m no mathematician but I know that a variable … well… it can vary. And as it varies, the outcome changes each time.

So when the variable is a boy it means that we need to pay particular attention to the uniqueness of each; to work hard to understand the individual boy so that our outcome is not predetermined but flexible enough to fit the passions and interests of each boy.

And it is this need that Crescent’s Middle School has come to see as the key to allowing each boy the best chance to get the most out of Middle School.

Research, in which Crescent was privileged to be involved, showed overwhelmingly that boys learn teachers, not subjects. When a trusted, respectful relationship exists, boys are capable of amazing things. This has quickly become the key to allowing boys the best foundation from which to successfully navigate the challenges of Middle School, and to arrive at the tremendous opportunities that this time in their lives affords them.

This concept, however, does turn schooling on its head, as the starting point is no longer programmes of study but relationships. To address this, Crescent Middle School has developed Mentor Groups that meet each day and provide each boy with a mentor whose job is to advocate, celebrate and support his individuality.

The mentor talks to subject teachers when things aren’t going well, and is a contact for parents whose input is vital. The mentor is an adult who each boy knows has their back – a trusted person who

can encourage and challenge and motivate in a way that others just can’t manage during these sensitive years. It is around this core mission of celebrating each boy as an individual that we wrap our academic programmes and our co-curriculars.

So what’s the outcome?

Middle School is not straightforward.

Acknowledging the individuality of our boys at this pivotal and sensitive time by definition means there is not one perfect outcome. Some boys will be further ahead academically, some will have understood character in their lives at different levels, some will be more comfortable with the young men they are becoming. It is not a journey with set milestones.

However having a focus on each individual boy means that we can strive for an outcome of having our boys love to learn and know the way in which they learn best having been exposed to innovative and varied programmes. We can, by mentoring each individual through the challenges of early adolescence, have each boy understand that he is valued and has significance which is an experience and perspective very different from the Middle Schools of the past.

Redefining Middle School is perhaps one of the most exciting things to happen at Crescent in a long time – it is a real opportunity.

DAVID YOUNG HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL

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Two Crescent Students Make a Difference

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HEN Crescent students graduate they will have had an array of opportunities that span every aspect of involvement – from sports to robotics to arts to music. Besides a core academic base of excellence, a vast number of programmes and activities are available that develop the qualities in a young man that allow him to be confident and successful, and most importantly, proud of his accomplishments and eager to do more.

But the real achievement occurs when there is engagement, and the spirit is activated.

Research in boy’s education has shown us that when boys find significance in the things that they do, when they are passionate and hopeful, they are capable of amazing things. This is exactly what has happened during one of our local outreach programmes this year. The two Crescent students who have led the new Willow Park art programme are so proud of what they have accomplished, that they have extended themselves as a result of being involved in such meaningful work.

When grade 12 student, and celebrated graffiti and tattoo artist, Grant Mercer was approached about leading the programme, he didn’t hesitate. Ms. Shim, Upper School Art teacher and the Director of Outreach, Mr. Pestonji, knew that Grant was passionate about art, and he had already been involved in Firgrove tutoring for many years. Together they all decided that the 24 Willow Park students would be taught

Charles on an Outreach trip to China in 2008

weekly about something art-related, create artwork through a guided exercise, and they would try and relate the art instruction to lessons they were learning in school.

Charles Kim, another grade 12 student, was also approached about leading the programme with Grant, but he never intended on making a full-year commitment.

Charles was interested in being involved, but had intended to spend the Wednesday afternoons of his graduating year in the robotics lab. Since grade 9, Charles has been totally committed to the robotics programme, and had agreed to be a part of the Willow Park art programme for only one term in order to help out and get the

Charles and Grant with Willow Park students

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programme off the ground. But once he saw how the students embraced the programme, how they started to engage, come out of their shells, and to communicate enthusiasm and appreciation, he was hooked. Charles wasn’t going anywhere.

While these two students have had an opportunity to learn leadership skills from this experience (as is the intention), it is what they are giving back, and sharing in, that makes this endeavour so worthwhile to them. Their affection for the children is heart-felt, and they want these students to succeed and prosper, to feel useful, to gain confidence and to be proud of what they do, and to know and understand that they are important people who matter. Sound familiar? The boys are modelling what they have experienced and learned at Crescent – they want these grade 4 students to feel the same way they do: proud and confident.

With the help of Ms. Shim, Grant and Charles (as co-leaders) create lesson plans, and discuss possible learning outcomes, before starting in each Wednesday. All of the Willow Park students were provided with their own art notebooks, and are only there, in the studio, for a little more than an hour. Grant and Charles have to work quickly, making the most of their time, as well as maintaining the students' attention and interest. The first lesson, drawing a flower, was only received with a lukewarm response. But then the boys rallied quickly

and impressed all the students by linking the image of a flower with that of something you would see appear in, or part of, a tattoo design. All of a sudden the students were quite intrigued with this thought, and without further delay, put pencil to paper.

The Willow Park grade 4 teacher and coordinator of the programme, Ms. Keep, says the children have an enormous amount of respect for the programme and the two boys especially. Coming to Crescent is the highlight of their week. Her students are proud of what they have accomplished, and it is because of the encouragement and support of Charles and Grant especially, that they feel this way. She is sure that the interaction of the two boys with all of the students has turned a weakness (in whatever form that may be) into a strength.

And only because of the interest Grant and Charles show in the students and their artwork, and more importantly as a result of how the boys interact personally with the students, and offer them praise.

But Charles says that he and Grant can’t flatter the students too much, because they question the sincerity. Charles has already had one student accuse him of telling everyone that their work was good in order to make them feel better. Comments like that from an eight-year-old can stop you in your tracks. But the conundrum is that there is no difference in artistic skills, as Charles sees it, because the aesthetic value in anything is perceived differently by everyone, so the only factor in the equation is confidence. Lack of self-confidence is the problem. All of the Willow Park students have artistic abilities, and Charles is sure they will discover their potential through the process Grant, Ms. Shim and he have developed. But only when they sit down and concentrate, and are focused on their work.

Charles is anxious for all of the students to develop their potential, and if a lesson is not communicated effectively through the language Grant and Charles are using, the children instinctively pick up on the visual cues, and move forward with their art.

Charles’ commitment to helping others is profound. In the last couple of years, he has travelled to China, with a Crescent Outreach trip, to the Philippines to rebuild after the

tsunami, to Jamaica to deliver donated supplies to an orphanage, and to Bolivia to help in building projects in isolated, mountainous areas.

Charles was so dedicated to his humanitarian work that his marks started to suffer in grade 11; he was away from school too often, and had to step back and return to his studies. Since he was young, Charles has always volunteered. On top of the Willow Park programme, he also helps new Canadians improve their English skills, and offers assistance to Grant with one of his Willow Park artists women and children, in the form of tutoring, through a Korean volunteer association Grant thinks the right and left brain are not called GYL (Global Youth Leaders). Charles so different and are more similar, working does this after school, and on weekends. together if both sides are developed through various exercises – those being creative as Grant’s insights into the Willow Park well as spatial. He feels that drawing and students are a result of different experiences creative exercises can garner positive results than Charles’. When he was a child, Grant for the students with ongoing emotional saw a lot of kids make poor decisions needs and learning disabilities. A few that led them in the wrong direction. students would not participate when the Because of a lack of support, and a lack programme first started; one fellow was of structure at home, Grant lost a lot of quarrelsome and refused to engage, and friends to the plights of neighbourhoods the other was desperately dependent and like Willow Park when he was growing would not leave the side of his teacher. Both up. Grant’s goal is to have the children feel boys would not pick up a pencil. But after appreciated, to build confidence and to a couple of weeks, independent of each take something away from the experience. other, they started to draw; and kept drawing He says it is a crucial age and a lot hangs and drawing and drawing each week. As it in the balance. He believes this programme turns out, they are both excellent artists who is more important than school, in a sense, are now participating wholeheartedly, and because he and Charles are perceived as have found something that they enjoy, and friends, mentors and adults to whom they can embrace. These are the kinds of results can talk, and in whom they can confide Grant and Charles had envisioned.

– more so than their teachers. Grant and Charles have developed a relationship with The commitment and care these two the students whereby the children feel students have demonstrated and expressed secure in sharing their feelings, especially if is enormous. Grant’s insight and ability to inspire, Charles’ kindness and capacity something is wrong in their world. And for for tenderness are what the Willow Park these students, that can involve traumatic children need to feel secure, valued and experiences such as having a sibling important. There could not be a better pair arrested, taken away by the police, and not to take on such a mission. n be there when they get home.

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Tooting Our Horn Crescent’s Role in Research into Boys’ Ed Acknowledged

The Math Department Continues to Excel Congratulations to grade 12 students, Brendan Chun, Tudor Dactu, Joshua Lee and Andrew Leung, and Kevin Chien, grade 11, for enabling Crescent to win the 2011 Zone Champion in the Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest in November.

This contest was a new initiative from the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing at the University of Waterloo. Crescent’s math students continue to shine! n

A First for our FIRST Robotics Team Crescent School has been involved in Robotics in general, and FIRST Robotics specifically since 2000. On March 25, for the first time in 10 years, Team 610 won a FIRST regional competition. The win, in the Arizona Regional follows a good showing at the Toronto Regionals earlier in the month.

In addition to winning the competition, with an 11-0-0 record, the team was awarded the prestigious Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors.

The team is guaranteed a spot in the FIRST Robotics Championships in St. Louis later this spring. n

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In a few short years Crescent has established itself as a leading center for research into boys’ education with a global reputation that extends beyond Canada and North America.

This information has been translated into classroom practice along with guiding programme and facility design, and external organizations having taken note of our lead. As such, Crescent has been afforded the opportunity to contribute a voice to boys’ educational issues through numerous organizations, such as the International School Psychology Association, which offers guidance to world governing bodies like UNESCO. Closer to home Crescent continues to work with the Toronto District School Board to improve educational offerings for all students in our community through consultation on boys’ issues.

This fall the TDSB is scheduled to open a small leadership academy for boys and Crescent has been instrumental in its development and will continue to provide leadership as this pilot project moves forward. Activities such as these are consistent with our values at Crescent in that they serve to broaden our outreach mission; a programme that is fundamentally

concerned with instilling positive change for all. Recently the Crescent programme has been acknowledged at the highest levels of provincial government as Dr. Mike Leatch was approached to serve on the advisory panel for KNAER. The Knowledge Network for Applied Educational Research is an initiate of the Ministry of Education that seeks to provide best-practice guidance to schools and boards of education across the province. While the first priority of our research programme will always be concerned with improving the educational experience for Crescent students, there is no doubt that boys’ issues have become a priority for all and we’re excited to be leaders on this journey. n

Don Morrison Recognized as an Exceptional FIRST Mentor On March 9, Mr. Don Morrison was awarded a Woodie Flowers Finalist Award (WFFA) at the Toronto Regional FIRST Robotics competition. The award is given to one student-nominated mentor at each of the FIRST Regional Competitions. The WFFA winners are then eligible for the Woodie Flowers Award at the FIRST Championships to be held in April in St. Louis.

The Woodie Flowers Award celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design, and recognizes mentors who lead, inspire and empower using excellent communication skills.

In nominating Mr. Morrison, Jethro Kwong, grade 12, collaborated with recent alumnus David Murray ’11. Their submission, in part, reads: What defines an exceptional mentor?

Respect on a personal and professional level, responsibility to lead a team to its fullest potential, and above all, the compassion to reach out to all of its members, both junior and senior. These are the core values of our mentor, Don Morrison. In every aspect of his work as a team mentor, he is unparalleled in showing these core values. We expect nothing less of Mr. Morrison; he cares about his students, and he indoctrinates Team 610 on the value of teamwork through communication. …An inspiration to the entire team at Crescent Robotics, Mr. Morrison embodies

teamwork, and the dogma to include everyone, despite skill level, interest, or background. Every year, during our first week of build season, Mr. Morrison assembles our team of roughly 40 students, and instructs us in a series of brainstorming exercises. His seemingly pragmatic and simple exercises blossom into a steady flow of innovation, causing ideas to fly around the room like popcorn in a microwave.

However, when things get out of control, Mr. Morrison brings everything back into context with another exercise. This shows Mr. Morrison’s incomparable understanding of what it means to be a mentor of our team.

Though he is the seed of our brainstorming discussions, when students have grasped an idea, he steps back and lets us creatively define what our robot will become.

Mr. Morrison’s work with FIRST only touches upon the generosity and kindness that he exemplifies everyday with Team 610.

His ability to inspire students, to promote team communication during the six week marathon of the FRC build-season, and his unrequited work with FLL, FTC, and FRC, which he has now implemented into the Crescent curriculum, prove him to be the most valid candidate for the Woodie Flowers Award. One of his favourite quotes to stay on topic is, “You’ve gotta get down to the meat and potatoes of the matter.” Well, Mr. Morrison, you really are the meat and potatoes of Crescent Robotics. n

Michael Yan ('05), Jonathan Norris ('07), James Spencer ('09), Duncan Macdonald ('09), Oleg Baranov ('11) with Don Morrison as he received his award. The Crescent alumni were all involved with the regional tournament in some capacity!

Paul Craig (l) and Greg Michalski (r) practice for their ride.

Crescent Faculty Biking for a Cause Crescent teachers Paul Craig and Greg Michalski will be cycling in The Wellspring Peloton Challenge relay bicycle ride from Toronto, Ontario to Austin, Texas, taking place in October 2012. Five Pelotons of six to seven riders will travel more than 3,000 km in eight days. Each peloton team will ride for six hours and have 24 hours to drive ahead to their next relay point. Teams will generally ride an average of 120 km in each six hour shift. At the end of their journey, cyclists will participate in the Lance Armstrong LIVESTRONGTM weekend. The LIVESTRONGTM event series is recognized as the largest charity bike ride of this kind, and will include an additional ride of 160 km through the hills of Austin.

The ride is in aid of the Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation. All funds raised will be used to support the more than 50 cancer support and coping skills programmes that Wellspring provides, free of charge, to individuals and families living with cancer. Greg and Paul have pledged to raise $10,000 each in support of the ride and this important cause. If you are interested in helping please contact Paul or Greg at Crescent School (416 449-2556) or by email (pcraig@crescentschool.org or gmichalski@crescentschool.org) where they can direct you to their personal donation web sites. n

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Athletic Awards Fall and Winter Terms Fall Term SPORT

TEAM

MVP

OTHER DISTINCTIONS

Soccer

Senior D1 Senior D2

Nicholas Chiu Matthew Kowal

Junior D3 Junior D1

Jake Fisher Zachary Wong Trevor Noskiewicz Andy Binns

MIP: Henry Mackie Outstanding Effort Award: Daryl Yu Leadership Award: Jeffrey Miller MIP: Alex MacNicol MIP: Alex Mayne David Beckham Award: Spencer Grimes Determined Defenceman: Charles Chettleburgh Mr. Second Effort Award: Sean Malone

U14 D3 U14 D1

U11 U10 White U10 Green

Michael Palma Asher Lisus Andrew Youngson William Coburn Ryan Cheng Alex Malone Taylor Eccleston Jack Duboc Adam Berry Rhys Holman

Volleyball

Senior Junior U14 D2 U14 D1

Chris Pitfield Alex Karayannopoulos Will Meyer Christopher Yoannou

X-Country

Senior Junior Midget U14 U12 U10

Samuel Dobbin Matthew Allion Ryley Mehta Mathieu Schneider Matthew Bisset

U13 U12B U12A

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Coach’s Choice Award: Michael Monteith MIP: Samuel Eplett Coach’s Choice Award: Brett Chalmers MIP: Will Webster Intensity & Determination Award: Matthew Lampard MIP: Liam Engel Perseverance, Dedication & Excellence: Adam Winterton Spirit & Enthusiasm Award: Liam Kenny Coach’s Choice Award: Christopher Overvelde MIP: Zachary Freedman Coach’s Choice Award: Andrew Cook Coach’s Choice Award: Taylor Keating, Matthew Corolis MIP: David Cai MIP: Nathaniel Diakun MIP: Jack Zechner

Winter Term SPORT

TEAM

MVP

OTHER DISTINCTIONS

Hockey

Senior Junior

Troy Crema Spencer Grimes

U14

Jack Garrett

U12

Max Montgomery

MIP: Charlie Benson MIP: Mike Schumacher Leadership Award: Peter Milazzo Leadership Award: Emanuel Vella Up & Down Award: Andrew Bayer MIP: Liam Lynch

Basketball

Senior D1

Squash

Senior Junior

Ben Pitfield

U14

Owen Cranston

Senior Leadership Award: Graham Orr Coach’s Commitment Award: Graham Rotenberg, Alex Mahoney Senior D3 Adam Winterton Leading by Example: Nick Holland Junior Connor Guy MIP: Henry Gaskin U14 D1 Michael Palma Heart Award: Jordan Abramsky U14 D3 Charlie Chettleburgh Defensive Wizard: Wilbert Guo U13 Rees Ferguson William Coburn 6th Player Award: Frank Kelly U12 A Matthew Donnelly Coach’s Choice Award: Peter Youngson, Ryan Dembroski U12 B Coach’s Choice Award: Matthew Berton MIP: Adam Zufferli U11 Logan Centner MIP: Liam Livingstone U10 White Matthew Lampard MIP: Ethan Krakower U10 Green Carter Morrison Coach’s Choice Award: Liam Engel

Alpine Skiing Level 1 Level 2 U14 Swimming

MS LS

Toms Black Duff Isberg Devan Hunter

MIP: Josh Lee MIP: Cole Halbert Most Inspirational Player: Ross Hilliard Coach’s Choice Award: Brian Hudson MIP: Daniel Fridman Coach’s Choice Award: Christopher Morritt Coach’s Choice Award: Austin Stein MIP: Spencer Blackwell Coach’s Choice Award: Matt White Superior Swimming Role Model: Nathan Li Gold Medal Sensation: Justin Chan

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Athletic Achievements FALL TERM The CISAA championship teams were:

The CISAA bronze medalist teams were:

U12 D1 Soccer

U11 Soccer U13 Soccer

The CISAA silver medalist teams were: U10 Green Soccer Junior D1 Soccer Senior Cross-Country (Jack Hayward 4th, Toms Black 5th, Taylor Keeting 14th, Matthew Corolis 18th, Nick Mehta 20th)

The CISAA Semi-Finalists were: U14 D2 Volleyball Junior Volleyball Senior Volleyball

Other Noteworthy Accomplishments: Ryley Mehta placed 6th at CISAA Cross-Country Sam Dobbin placed 10th at CISAA Cross-Country

WINTER TERM The CISAA championship teams were: U10 Green Basketball U14 Squash U14 Level A Alpine Ski Team (Devan Hunter 1st, Andrew Witham 2nd, Tom Graham 3rd, Cam Lomax 4th) U14 Level B Alpine Ski Team (Duncan Henry 1st, Stephane LeBlanc-Smith 2nd, Spencer Blackwell 3rd, Matthew White 5th)

The CISAA silver medalist teams were: Snr D3 Basketball Snr Basketball (CISAA East) U12 Hockey Snr D2 Hockey Snr Level 2 A Alpine Ski Team (Duff Isberg 1st, Cole Rosenberg 8th, Jack Hogarth 10th)

The CISAA bronze medalist teams were: U10 White Basketball Snr Level 2 B Alpine Ski Team (Matt Hudson 7th, Cam Macdonald 8th)

The CISAA Semi-Finalists were: U13 Basketball U14 D1 Basketball

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Other Noteworthy Accomplishments: Grade 3 Basketball teams were U9 Tournament Champions U13 Basketball placed 3rd at the CAIS National Tournament U14 D1 Basketball won a bronze medal at Ashbury Tournament OFSAA 2nd place Slalom (Colin Williams 7th, Jack Hogarth 8th, Cole Rosenberg 12th, Sean Webster 24th) OFSAA 2nd place Giant Slalom (Duff Isberg 3rd, Cole Rosenberg 14th, Sean Webster 16th, Jack Hogarth 19th)

Overall Level 2 Boys OFSAA Champions U12 Swimming at CISAA results include: Medley relay 1st, 50m Breaststroke Justin Chan 1st, 100m Freestyle Justin Chan 3rd, 100m IM Justin Chan 1st U14 Swimming at CISAA results include: 50m Breaststroke Ethan Kuo Lee 2nd, 100m IM Ethan Kuo Lee 2nd

The Margaret Donnelly Library

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N March 6, parents, staff, alumni, past parents and past staff gathered to dedicate the Lower School Resource Centre to the memory of Crescent’s longstanding librarian, Margaret Donnelly (P’88). The space is now known as the Margaret Donnelly Library.

Candace Innes (P’05,’07)

John Nicolucci (S), Ross MacDonald (PS), Jamie Lougheed ’87 (PS)

Jocelyn Macdonald (P’09,’11), Shannon Wiggan (P’19,’21)

John Lynch (S,P’16,’18), Angie Beck (PS,P’87,’89)

Steve Davies (S), Bill Pedoe (PS,P’98), David Weiss (PS)

Fraser McKee ’38, James Wright (S)

Mike Fellin (S), James Mason (S)

Lori Fisher (P’14,’18), Charlotte Youngson (P’14,’17,’18), Kitty Donnelly (P’18)

Adam Chodos ’97, Pat Mills (PS,P’99), Arthur Yeung ’97

Family of Margaret Donnelly: granddaughter Emily, husband Richard, grandson Matthew, grade 6, daughter-in-law Kitty and son Michael ’88.

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From the Advancement Office PLANS FOR THE NEW LIBRARY AND COMMONS TAKE SHAPE

At the heart of the Crescent Centennial Strategic Plan is an even deeper commitment to academic excellence and programmes that develop character.

Architect’s rendering of Library exterior

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impressive, and Crescent boys are reaping the benefits.

Aid programme render the Crescent student experience better than ever before.

At the heart of the plan is an even deeper commitment to academic excellence and programmes that develop character. Across the School, there is strong evidence of the improvements that have ensued from that deeper commitment. The results are

From the addition of Innes Field, to smaller class sizes, additional support in numeracy and literacy, and the addition of the Margaret Donnelly Library, a larger Robotics lab, Lower School art area, and the magnificent Lau Family Wing, the School has never been better housed or equipped.

Enhanced programmes in International Outreach, Robotics and Technology, Crescent Student Services/R&D in Boys’ Education, and a stronger Student Financial

The fuel that is firing the strategic plan’s engine is charitable giving, provided through the Great Boys campaign. While tuition fees fund the School’s operations, donations from the Crescent community over the years have provided such improvements as the Centre for Creative Learning, the Field House, the traffic light at the end of our driveway, new buildings and enriched programmes. With the Lau Family Wing now complete and fully funded, next on the Great Boys campaign

OMETIMES, strategic plans do little more than gather dust on a shelf, unrealized after all the careful work that goes into their making. Not so at Crescent.

The School is actively living out its Centennial Strategic Plan, true to its word and its mission, right on course.

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agenda is a new Library, with more space to house a larger collection of books, periodicals and reference materials, and the capacity to accommodate quiet, individual study, small group work and full class lessons – all at once.

A critical element of university preparation for our students, the new Library will resemble those of the great post-secondary institutions that all our graduates have the opportunity to attend, integrating leading edge technology and traditional print materials.

Once the new Library is complete, taking the place of what is now Hyland Hall, construction will begin on the Commons, a gathering place at the front of the School that will consolidate two essential services – University Counselling and Crescent Student Services – providing much-needed space and accessibility to both students and parents.

The Great Boys campaign goal is an ambitious $30 million, and thanks to the generous response of the Crescent community, more than $19.5 million has been raised to date.

The Library and the Commons is estimated at $13.5 million; meeting that target will take heavy lifting, and we know that with continued and active participation from parents, alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents,

Architect’s rendering of Library interior

faculty and staff, and even students, the lifting will be manageable.

Through Annual Giving, with an emphasis on current parents doubling or even tripling their annual gift for each son, this year and for the life of the campaign, along with major gift support from those with the capacity to make a larger commitment, we will surely reach our goal.

Just as we witnessed the Lau Family Wing rise from the ground and open in record time, so too can the new Library and Commons take shape, with the generous support and can-do spirit of all families. We thank each member of the Crescent family for putting a shoulder to the wheel, guiding us towards the $30 million finish line. Your sons, and many other Crescent boys, will benefit for generations to come. n

Architect’s rendering of Commons interior

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Alumni and Sons

from left to right: Bob Macdonald ’85 (P’13), Jacob Macdonald ’13, Tim Wiggan ’90 (P’19, ’21), Coulson Wiggan ’19, Sean Wiggan ’21, Jackson Regan ’17, Wyatt Regan ’18, Sean Regan ’83 (P’17, ’18), Jack Watt ’14 and Rob Watt ’85 (P’14)

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S Crescent nears its centennial year, we begin to celebrate the history of the School and the people who have graced its various campuses. Crescent is a school built on tradition, core values and a strong mission. Boasting these credentials, it is easy to understand why second generations of families have continued their legacies here.

Crescent alumni have been sending their own sons to Crescent throughout the past century. In total, 58 alumni have also been Crescent parents, sending a total of 75 second generation Coyotes to Crescent. Today, 31 alumni have their sons enrolled at Crescent, amounting to a total of 36 students.

We wanted to get a sense from our alumni what it was about Crescent School that encouraged them to send their sons to their alma mater. We reached out to a group of current alumni parents and this is what they told us.

Describe your experience at Crescent School, including highlights and/ or your favourite memory.

Bob MacDonald ’85: I attended Crescent School for four years and graduated in

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1985. I had an incredible experience and had a lot of great teachers. Crescent was the start of a lot of lifelong friendships.

Sean Regan ’83: The first my parents knew of Crescent School was in 1981when they got the tuition invoice for grade 11. I was determined on escaping a country boarding school in favour of the city – Crescent was the softest landing I could think of for my parents, and was the best decision I had ever made myself.

proved to be well-designed, as I found that I was very well prepared for the rigours of university. Having an academic advantage proved to be very useful, given the social and other non-academic distractions that first year residence life presented.

Tim Wiggan ’90: I have many fond memories of Crescent including the teachers who helped me to feel welcome as a new boy in grade 8, and friendships that I still enjoy to this day. Highlights would include our U17 rugby team in ’89 that lost one game out of 11 or 12 after only winning two games the year prior. In addition, the tutoring that Mr. Smith and Mr. MacDonald gave me on their own time when I first started at the School is a fond memory of mine.

My favourite memories of school were playing King Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons, as well as playing rugby with friends who remain friends to this day.

I can best describe my adolescence as stressful, and the School, with its faculty, treated me with great integrity and respect.

Although I was unaware of the core values of the School at that time, there must have been some institutional memory motivating me to send my two sons there.

What would your son say about his Crescent experience?

Rob Watt ’85: I had an incredible experience at Crescent. Starting in grade 5 and continuing until graduation, I made friends that I continue to count as my closest friends today. The School provided and supported an evenly balanced experience that seemed to recognize each boy’s individual talents. The curriculum

Bob MacDonald: Jacob’13 has been at Crescent since grade 5. He has made some great friends and has loved his work in the CCL, and his participation on the cross country and track teams. He also had a phenomenal experience, thanks to the International Outreach Programme, in Kenya last March, and in Tanzania this year.

Sean Regan: One son would describe his Crescent experiences through his friendships and maybe even a passion for a certain English teacher connecting over Julius Caesar or The Lord of the Rings; the other son’s experiences would also hinge on friendships, but he might also describe that he just “likes being there,” since the School feels safe and is a place where he feels respected.

Tim Wiggan: My boys have enjoyed their time in the Lower School at Crescent. They often mention their teachers and the many clubs and teams that are available to them.

How does your experience compare to that of your sons?

Bob MacDonald: I think the curriculum and co-curricular offerings at Crescent have expanded exponentially in the last 26 years. While I had a terrific overall experience when I was a student, the opportunities afforded to the boys today are extraordinary.

Sean Regan: The first most obvious difference is the amenities and size of the School – no Field House, no Innes Field and no squash courts in my day. I witness the core values at work, not only with my interactions with faculty, but also as presented by my boys at the end of the day. From my experiences with other organizations, it is not often that I witness large institutions reflect their values in dayto-day operations.

Rob Watt: The philosophy and culture seem to be unchanged, but the physical plant and facilities are markedly different. I think my son’s overall academic experience is similar to mine, although I do think there is more care and opportunity today compared to my years at the School.

Tim Wiggan: In my opinion, the basic principles of the School remain the same; however, the facilities whether academic, athletic, or artistic, are vastly improved.

The School continues to develop and improve to this day.

Would you say that your relationship with your son has been enhanced because of your mutual Crescent experience?

Bob MacDonald: I have a terrific relationship with all my children. My relationship with Jake is certainly enhanced by our shared experiences at Crescent.

In addition, some of my closest friends, who I met while at Crescent, have been instrumental in reinforcing the fond memories and experiences we’ve all had and continue to have.

Sean Regan: When my boys started at Crescent, one of the concepts presented to us was the partnership between boy, parent and school. I believe it does take a community to raise young people, and my wife and I enjoy the openness that exists between the School and parents, especially as we navigate our way through adolescence.

Rob Watt: There is definitely common ground because I attended Crescent. It’s great to be able to compare and comment on the highs and lows of sports, academics and student life. So many things in life do not change with the passage of time.

Tim Wiggan: My sons are proud to be at Crescent and enjoy hearing about the recent past through my experiences at the School.

Do any of the teachers you had currently teach your sons? If so, how has this shared experience been?

Bob MacDonald: We still laugh about the fact that on the very first day, Geoff Roberts, Dave Budden and Ross MacDonald all joked that they would do a much better job on Jake than they did on me!

Sean Regan: My children are with hip, young teachers. The crew that taught me are seasoned and relegated to managing the joint.

Rob Watt: James Wright and Geoff Roberts were both teachers of mine. When Jack started Crescent in grade 4, Ross MacDonald was the Head of Lower School and ultimately became Jack’s basketball coach. Ross was my grade 8 Geography teacher and basketball coach in 1980, and when Jack played for Ross in grade 6, the continuity of coaching from one generation to the next was pretty special.

Tim Wiggan: Mr. Steele, Mr. O’Meara, and Mr. Roberts were all teachers while I was at Crescent. The continuity they provide is good for the boys and says a great deal about the School.

Did you always know that you wanted to send your son to Crescent? If so, why?

Bob MacDonald: First and foremost, I wanted to do what was right for Jake. Both other family members and I had very fond memories of Crescent, and providing it was the right place for him, I most definitely wanted to send him here.

Sean Regan: Yes. The respect and compassion that the School afforded me during my three year reign was a compelling reason to send my sons. I couldn’t be happier with the decision to send them to Crescent, as they benefit from a great education, but also character development. Additionally, they benefit as the School continues to expand its offerings, such as the Lau Family Wing, Crescent Student Services, etc.

Rob Watt: Yes. I had a great experience at Crescent, and I wanted my son to have a chance to enjoy the same advantages that my parents provided me.

Tim Wiggan: My wife and I only applied to Crescent School for our boys and did not even consider any other schools. We are continually reminded that this is, absolutely, the best school for our sons. n *Interviews have been condensed and reworded for clarity sake

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Message from the President of the Crescent Alumni Executive A N D R E W F LY N N ’ 8 8

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OR the Crescent Alumni Executive (CAE), the summer months prove to be of the utmost importance when it comes to strategic planning for the upcoming year.

I work closely during this time with the Executive to determine our mandate, and key initiatives for the year ahead.

This year, the CAE identified four key objectives that we believe set the vision for the Executive, ensuring we are in the best position to serve our alumni. Our goal is to build a programme that benefits our alumni, and provides opportunities for involvement, networking, socializing and mentoring between Crescent alumni.

Our first objective is to increase alumni engagement through Crescent events. We have come to realize that one of the key components of hosting a successful event is the location. The Activities Committee, chaired by Chris Candy ’02, has made a concerted effort to host our marquee events in venues that are unique and, more importantly, convenient for our alumni. The amazing success of our annual Downtown Alumni Networking Reception on December 1, 2011 at Jump further solidified this belief.

This theory has remained true through the development of the Speaker Series, initiated

by Andrew Day ’80 in September 2011. To date, we have had the opportunity to host three speakers in downtown board rooms from 7:30 – 9 a.m., on topics including the state of our current economy, asset management and entrepreneurship. Each one of these exclusive monthly events has been close to sold-out. Continuing to build on this trend, we look forward to hosting more events in the spring and summer that have equal value for our alumni.

Secondly, we seek to strengthen the relationships among Crescent alumni via various outlets, particularly networking and mentoring opportunities. One of the newest ways we are working to engage our alumni is through the Alumni Internship Programme (AIP). The AIP, chaired by Jay Mansoor ’92, is a unique programme for the alumni community and works to engage them on two separate levels. First and foremost, it encourages alumni who are in the position to provide summer internships the opportunity to host a young alumnus

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at their business. And secondly, it provides our young alumni with an outstanding opportunity for professional and personal development. We are excited to announce that we have increased the number of internships from two to 11 this summer!

Our Mentoring Programme, chaired by Jason Steel ’93, continues to be a key programme for personal and professional development for our alumni. Formally developed in January 2010, there are 150 mentors in our database whose grad years span from 1963-2006. I strongly encourage all alumni to take advantage of this opportunity. Having personally benefitted from being a mentor and a mentee myself, I cannot express how valuable this tool is, and how readily available it is for all of us to use.

Our third strategic objective is to strengthen the relationship between the Crescent alumni and Crescent School. We have been doing this very well by various means, some of which are described above. Our Governance and Nomination Committee, chaired by D.J. Lynde ’03, is striving to increase the strength and accountability of the Alumni Executive so that we remain in a strong position to serve our stakeholders.

By solidifying the Executive, we have been able to create opportunities for all alumni to re-engage and reconnect with their School.

Our Dentonia representative, Selwyn Owen ’60, also strives to achieve this by keeping those who attended the Dentonia Park campus involved with the current happenings of the School.

Crescent School is on the cusp of celebrating its 100th year. We look forward to drawing on the opportunities of the centennial to bring alumni back to the School. We are extremely fortunate to be part of an institution with such an incredibly rich history, filled with traditions, beliefs and values that still exist to this day. There truly is not a better time than now to come back to campus and see how the School has transformed since you left! If you have not been back to see the newest addition, the Lau Family Wing, I encourage you to take the time, wander through the halls and if you are lucky, get a private tour!

Our final objective is to strategically introduce fundraising as a key component

of alumni participation. The Fundraising Committee chaired by Rob Watt ’85, has been developing a programme to increase the alumni fundraising participation rate from eight per cent to at least 10 per cent

by September 2012. Embedded into the Great Boys campaign goal of $30 million, the alumni have a goal of $1,000,000 for endowment priorities, primarily student financial aid. We strongly encourage you to give back. To be able to say that you are a part of this great campaign is extraordinary.

Not only do you have the chance to build a better school for the current students, but you also have the opportunity to elevate the level of assistance we can offer deserving boys who would not otherwise be able to attend Crescent. There are also endowments that support athletics and specific academic and co-curricular programmes, so there truly is something to which everyone can contribute.

I am proud to say that we have 100 per cent giving participation on the Alumni Executive, and I hope that we can encourage you to join us in giving to Crescent.

I want to take this time to thank every member of the Crescent Alumni Executive.

These gentlemen, Andrew Day ’80, Steve Dubrick (S), Chris Candy ’02, D.J. Lynde ’03, Jay Mansoor ’92, Selwyn Owen ’60, Jason Steel ’93, Mark Suckling (S), and Rob Watt ’85, work tirelessly to ensure that the experience of being a Crescent alumnus is the best possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any point, should you have any questions regarding the alumni. I always look forward to hearing from you.

Looking forward to celebrating 100 years of Crescent School with you!

ANDREW FLYNN ’88

Introducing the Alumni Internship Programme

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HE Crescent Alumni Executive was conducting a routine meeting in the back room of The Spoke Club in November of 2010, immediately before our Alumni Downtown Networking event, and I was struggling to articulate a thought I had.

Andrew Flynn ’88, President of the Alumni Executive, had challenged us to come up with new ideas. I began to think that Crescent should host a programme that would match older alumni with younger alumni seeking summer employment. As I attempted to articulate the idea, Steve Dubrick, Director of Character and Leadership, looked at me and said, “You mean internships.” And that was it; that was the structure we needed.

As the summer of 2011 approached, we decided to give it a go. We would proceed with a silent launch with the hope of placing two young alumni on summer internships. We formed an “ask” committee that included, among others, Rob Watt ’85 and me. Together, we pooled the names of alumni who we knew were in a position to hire young employees.

Rob Watt works closely with the engineering consulting industry and through this connection he was aware of the industry’s history of hiring engineering students. Rob approached Genivar, a chemical engineering firm, and obtained

a summer internship. I was able to secure an internship from Dave Thom ’92, Vice President, Development, of The Lefrak Organization, cited as one of the leading building firms in the world.

With two summer internships secured, all we needed were the young alumni to fill them. The Alumni Relations Office at Crescent helped identify two recent graduates suitable for the positions. Nithin Kadayil ’06 successfully filled the position at The Lefrak Organization. After his summer was completed, Nithin said, “This internship opportunity has been extremely valuable in my pursuit of a master’s degree in architecture. I was able to learn a lot about project design and development, in a fast-paced environment that thoroughly challenged and developed my skills.”

David Lye ’09 filled the internship at Genivar, and was one of only three, among 110 students in his year, to receive an internship. He indicated that he thoroughly benefitted from the programme. He said, “The amount of knowledge I took away from working as an engineering consultant intern was incomparable, as were the connections I made.”

Overall, the internship experience for both Nithin and David was exceptional for their career development and personal growth.

What further demonstrates the strength of the programme is the value the companies received from the experience. Both The LeFrak Organization and Genivar were thoroughly impressed with the character of Nithin and David and the quality of their work – so much so that both have agreed to participate in the programme again this year.

Due to the enormous success of the pilot programme, the Crescent Alumni Executive decided to formalize the Alumni Internship Programme (AIP). Our focus is on the creation of a permanent programme, facilitated by and for the Crescent School alumni. This year, we are working to obtain 10 summer internships that profile an array of industries, locally and internationally. I’m pleased to say we are well on our way to meeting that goal.

If you are an alumnus interested in registering for a summer internship placement, please visit the Crescent School alumni website (alumni.crescentschool.org).

If you are part of the Crescent community – an alumnus or perhaps a Crescent parent – and would like to participate in facilitating an internship, please contact the Alumni Relations Officer, Kathryn Rutherford, via e-mail at krutherford@crescentschool.org or by phone 416-449-2556 x 260.

JAY MANSOOR ’92

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The Crescent Coyotes and the School Mascot

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HE Crescent Coyotes began life in the early 1970s as the U14 Hockey team mascot, as recalled by former teacher and hockey coach Brian Iggulden. A product of the imagination of Brian Ash ’78, a member of the team, and appropriately dressed in Crescent colours by Brian and his mother, the spindly-legged little guy was ceremoniously placed at centre ice before each game.

By 1975, it was felt that the School itself should have a mascot. A number of fierce and furry friends were proposed, and in the end the choice came down to either a cougar or a coyote. The staff preferred the former, but in a student vote the coyote (described by one wildlife expert as “the smartest animal in Ontario”) carried the day, and established his den on the Crescent campus.

It is interesting – and appropriate – to note that, in the years since, four legged coyotes have returned to the Don River valley after some years absence. The first reported sighting on campus occurred in May of 1996 when, late one afternoon, a tennis coach observed one nonchalantly loping across the slope which then ran from the pillars at the east of the Formal Garden down to the tennis courts (now the location of the Field House). Since then, they have been spotted on several occasions in the woods behind the School.

But since the 1970s, it is the two legged version which has become a familiar sight within Crescent itself. What the School believes is the original mascot now lives on in dignified retirement on display in the Crescent Archives, but his much larger and far more vocal successors played a highly visible role at such events as assemblies, Sports Days, and team games during the ’90s and into the early years of the new millennium.

The Coyote appears to have taken a bit of a hiatus lately – showing up at his signature event Coyote Kickoff and then only sporadically at a few key sporting events throughout the year. It is hoped that the 100th anniversary will provide an opportunity for the revival of our mascot and that the donning of the mascot costume will once again become an enviable leadership position amongst the grad class.

The ‘original’ coyote of Brian Ash ’78

Past and Present contacted some of the student leaders who “played” the Coyote during his heyday. B.J. Reinblatt ’92, George Reinblatt ’95, Dan Goldenberg ’98 and Chris Candy ’02 share their memories on what it meant to be the Crescent Coyote.

What did you consider your role as the Coyote to be?

B.J. ’92: That is an interesting question because I never had thought of the Coyote as a role to play. It was my way to do announcements – I had been waiting five years to be part of the leadership of the School so I took that privilege and thought I would do something fun with it. Simple as that. Guys used to say, “Hey I’m trying to promote my club – can the Coyote do a skit with us?” I used to go to hockey games as the Coyote and skate with the team and wave the flag because it was fun to do – I never thought of it as my

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role, it was just a lot of fun and the School and teachers supported me and enjoyed it so that only encouraged me to do it more.

Dan ’98: The role was clear – to motivate, entertain and raise spirit. We accomplished this with appearances at assemblies accompanied by the requisite amount of hype – music, special lighting etc. The role was not just about being funny or getting students to cheer, the goal was for the Coyote to become a rallying point – a shared icon that the students could find

common ground in. Entertainment was certainly a large part of this, but the Coyote was the embodiment of the ultimate Crescent fan, and was meant to inspire similar passion in the students.

Chris ’02: My role was to keep the “Green” spirit alive, and grow it. Promote Crescent and be the “face” of Crescent. Pump up crowds and student body before events and during them (especially sporting events), entertain the School and crowds and make people laugh.

Did your Coyote have a personality?

B.J.: Yes, it was based mainly on a very popular Q107 radio personality called The Champ who did a 2-3 minute recorded syndicated segment every day. The Champ was a retired boxer that often got confused and would “loose it” at any given moment.

I used to wake up every morning at 6:04 a.m. to hear the latest Champ on Q107 take notes turn around and go right back to sleep. I ripped off everything from the deep voice, the Eye of the Tiger opening song, to the punchlines. I simply changed “Hi everybody it’s me, The Champ” to “Hi everybody it’s me, The Coyote.”

It originally started as a funny idea to incorporate into morning announcements.

Getting into the mascot costume only happened later when we started doing assemblies. I remember fondly that the goal of assemblies was to stretch them long enough to miss the first period of class – if we went too short we would have

Dan Goldenberg

Chris Candy ’02 with Andrew Flynn ’88 at an alumni event

enough time for half a class and therefore homework so we always needed something to fill assemblies and the Coyote was a perfect placement. It was a big hit from the start and the Coyote became a fixture on Wednesday (my day to do announcements as a Prefect) and assemblies.

George ’95: I took the talking Coyote to a different place. I was more like a wrestling good guy. And in the assemblies we’d do these sketches, which were a lot like what you would see in the WWE. Dan: Macho – in the nature of the classic Coyote of my earlier years at Crescent as performed by B.J.. The Coyote’s role had diminished in the couple of years prior and 1998 was his renaissance.

Chris: He was very, very tough and mean – anti everything UCC. There was a “Crescent ruled the world” mentality, and a spinoff of The Champ on Q107.

Did you appear solo as the Coyote or did you have a sidekick?

B.J.: Going from the Q107 script I would always try to include teachers, students and rival schools to make it more relevant to Crescent. However there was one regular foil/villain to the Coyote and that was Jesse “The Wolfman” Wolfson ’92 who would regularly appear at assemblies in a Québec Nordiques jersey being booed as Clap for the Wolfman by the Guess Who blared over the speakers. Jesse was a natural heel – he just had the presence of a guy that annoyed you – he was perfect. Jesse told me a story of walking through the Lower School and being booed by the grade 5 and 6 students – I think the younger kids were just as important in making the Coyote such a big deal because they were so into it. Teachers used to tell me that their class would be unruly in the morning and as soon as that trademark Eye of the Tiger music would play, the classroom would settle down so they could listen to the latest installment of “The Coyote.”

George: I was never solo. I had a regular cast of characters with me, and even a lot of guest spots. The regulars were my arch enemy “The Ego Man” (played by Noah Godfrey ’95 who wore a mask) and Mike Kostoff ’95. Yes, we had two people in full costumes playing full-on cartoon characters. Kostoff was such a character on his own, he literally played himself. Every time the Coyote would speak at an assembly, he would award the “Student of

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The Crescent Coyotes and the School Mascot CONTINUED... the Month,” and every month, Kostoff would win it. He won it four months in a row. Then in the second semester, the Coyote announced the “Student of the Month,” and gave it to Jeremy Millard ’95 because he got into Yale.

Well, this was enough to turn Kostoff against me, and he joined forces with the Ego Man. Of course Kostoff being a bad guy just meant that he wore his school uniform but with a black shirt and sunglasses; it really was ridiculous… and I’m surprised they let us miss class to perform this garbage in assemblies.

But there were other guest characters. One time, when we couldn’t figure out how to end a sketch, we had Mr. Roberts come on stage and yell at Kostoff for taking off his school tie, then he angrily cancelled the assembly and told everyone to go back to class. The whole school thought we were in real trouble, but, in reality, the assembly was over anyway, we

just couldn’t write a good ending. Luckily Mr. Roberts played along. We even once had a guy playing a Judge Ito character (remember how big the O.J. trial was in 1995.)

Dan: I had a sort of “counterpunch” – The Chicken Man – who was basically me in a chicken costume. On rare occasions, the Coyote and Chicken would appear at the same time, but for the most part they were yin to each other’s yang.

Chris: Solo all the time, with the exception of one recurring skit. I would come out and deliver a monologue at assemblies of an interaction between me and someone from UCC, which always resulted in me trouncing the UCC kid (à la The Champ).

This always got the assembly fired up and drove school spirit.

Current athletic uniform logo for Crescent Coyotes

What is your fondest memory of being the Coyote?

B.J.: Watching my little brother take what I had started and put a new spin on it with a Coyote in a new costume that was totally original from the ’91/’92 version. That new costume was very special to me (even though I never wore it) because it was made by my mother, and I feel that in a way I started the whole thing. It really was a family affair because my sense of humour and my public speaking comes from my father who will take any opportunity to crack up a crowd.

Looking back at it 20 years now, my grad year at Crescent was a really special time in my life and being the Coyote was a big part of that.

George: I remember one time, the Crescent hockey team got to play at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was a huge deal as this was back when the Leafs were still playing there. I went to the game in my full Coyote suit, and decided to lead the team on the ice. You should know that I hadn’t skated since I was a little kid, so adding the fact that I couldn’t really see out of the costume and skating for the first time in a decade, I should have known this would be a disaster. I went out first, followed by our goalie. And I went straight along the boards to wave at the fans.

Unfortunately, the goalie and the rest of the team went the other way, so by the time they circled back around – I almost smashed right

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into our goalie – almost ruining our biggest game ever. Before I even knew what hit me, the coach grabbed me, told me to get off the ice, and never go back. I was better in the stands anyway.

Another bizarre story is when there was an actual coyote who got hit by a car, and for some reason it made major news that he was in the animal hospital. And even more bizarrely, someone thought it would be a good idea for me to visit this sick coyote… in my full Coyote costume. Why an injured coyote would want to be more confused is beyond me. But I went, and somehow it got in the papers and was even on CTV News.

It must have been a slow news day!

Dan: For me, it was being part of the mythology. The youngest students in many ways believed that the Coyote was real and connecting with those students was extremely gratifying.

Chris: Giving the assembly monologues and writing the material for them, especially writing with Mr. Jansen. That guy has a dry, witty and incredible sense of humour. I’ll always look back on those times as some of my fondest at Crescent; I had a great time coming up with new skits with him and it still makes me laugh when I think back on them.

George ’95, Gary and B.J. ’92 Reinblatt at the Crescent ’08 Gala which was emceed by George and B.J.

B.J. Reinblatt offered some suggestions on how we might encourage the spirit of the Coyote in future grad classes: “I think finding an individual to take the role of the Coyote has to be an organic thing – the class of ’92 was filled with a bunch of characters that had an incredible class spirit. Being an over the top mascot for this bunch was very easy as they always had new ideas on how to make a fool out of me – all in fun and in the spirit of stretching the assembly to the

end of first period.

It is not really an individual that becomes the Coyote – my character was a manifestation of the great spirit that the class of ’92 had. I had all the confidence in the world to try new things because I was supported by my class, the teachers and the entire school.

The point I am trying to make is that it is tough to manufacture “school spirit” which for whatever reason was in abundance in ’92 and that is why the Coyote was such a success. Give students a chance to express their spirit in a free and open way and someone will bubble to the top to be the Coyote.”

His brother, George, concluded his interview with the following: “The Coyote to my family was a big deal, because we were all involved.

When I took over the Coyote in ’95, the suit was ruined, and we needed a new one, so

my mom made one. She was a whiz on the sewing machine, and it looked like it was professionally done. Years later, long after I had left Crescent, they needed a new suit yet again, and they approached my mom. She was so nice, she didn’t hesitate, or even question that Crescent would ask a favour so many years after we left. She worked so long and hard to make sure it was ready for the new school year, and I believe the suit used now is still the one she made. Unfortunately, my mom passed away a few years ago, but she would have done anything to help Crescent.”

But the Reinblatt spirit of generosity, and commitment to Crescent’s mascot continues.

Shortly after responding to our Coyote questions, B.J. and George were having Sunday dinner with their dad, Gary. The topic of this article came up and the Reinblatts, after reminiscing about their family connection to the Coyote over the past 20 years, called the School and offered to finance a new Coyote mascot suit in honour of Crescent’s 100th birthday. This spring we will be looking for just the right grade 11 student to take the Coyote into our second hundred years with the same commitment and verve exhibited by B.J., George, Dan and Chris and in a brand new state-of-the-art costume.

Thanks, Gary, Sandra, B.J. and George Reinblatt for supporting the Crescent Coyote!

What Are They Doing Now? Since graduating from Crescent, here is what our Coyotes have been up to: B.J. Reinblatt: B.J. has been working in various roles in the Sports and Entertainment field for the last 10 years.

He has been a self-employed entrepreneur for the last seven years founding and investing in numerous businesses. His latest project is a start-up production company called Elevation Productions where he is the Managing Director. Elevation Productions designs and builds travelling museum exhibitions for venues across North America. He will be opening their first exhibition called the Science of Rock and Roll in October at Kansas City Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.

George Reinblatt: George is still “putting on shows” just as he did as the Coyote! He has become a comedy writer and playwright.

He wrote Evil Dead The Musical – which has played all over the world (over 100 productions). As a comedy writer, he has written for Steve Martin, John Cleese, Tina Fey, and Cheech & Chong.

in Philosophy and Music Technology.

He then went on to Osgoode Hall where he received his law degree in 2006. After that he worked in Toronto for a year at Heenan Blaikie LLP, and in the U.K. in the London office of Clifford Chance LLP. He is now back in Toronto where he practices entertainment law for Hall Webber LLP.

And lately he has also been writing for the Roasts on Comedy Central. “I was in LA working on the Charlie Sheen Roast a few months back. It broke a bunch of records for viewership, especially up here in Canada, where it was the highest rated non-sports broadcast in cable history.”

Chris Candy: Chris went to The University of Western Ontario where he attended the Richard Ivey School of Business, HBA programme. After graduation, he moved to Verbier, Switzerland to postpone corporate life and to ski and bartend in the Alps. On his return to Toronto, he started work in Management Consulting for banks, and in 2010 launched SevenMedia, a full service mobile marketing agency. n

Dan Goldenberg: After Crescent Dan went to McGill, graduating in 2002 with a BA

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Alex Rasmussen ’10 Alex with classmates Alex Mirkalami, Matt Tompkins and Gaby Weitz

Alumni

Profile

K

NOWING yourself means understanding your values, beliefs, priorities, strengths and weaknesses, passions and fears. It means knowing your purpose in life. This is a powerful mantra, and one that certainly applies to Alex Rasmussen, class of 2010.

At the young age of 19, Alex has already demonstrated a clear understanding of his place in the world, and he approaches the pursuit of his purpose fearlessly yet thoughtfully, displaying a wisdom well beyond his years.

Know the road to follow to achieve your dreams.

In 2010, Alex applied to and was accepted at Western, with a goal of studying at the Ivey School of Business. While he has taken internships with both UBS Wealth Management (as a rotational intern, and on the trading desk) and with Davis Ray Limited Investment Council (working directly with

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“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

– Aristotle Doug Davis doing basic equity research), he began to wonder whether he had done due diligence before entering university on an Ivey track. “I started studying arts at UWO, and was captivated by the mythology and languages of the classical world,“ said Alex.

“I began to wonder if studying business would be too narrow for me, and I realized I had not taken advantage of the wisdom Mr. Mitz and Mr. Haag had to offer.”

In the end, after much soul-searching, he has applied to Ivey. “I realized that I had to take a leap of faith, and pursue this as part of my passion,” he says. “And, I went for it.”

Follow your chief good and your natural purpose.

At the age of 12, arriving at Crescent School in grade 7, Alex knew he had a passion for business and believed he had a dream: to start a corporation. And then, in grade 8, he was shown an investment sheet from

Berkshire Hathaway that demonstrated what $1,000 invested would then be worth today.

He was hooked. In that moment, Alex realized that his passion was not business, but value investing, and he has been pursuing this passion ever since. As a student at The University of Western Ontario, his day starts with a check of the stock markets and a review of his portfolio as he listens to BNN before heading off to class. After class, he attends meetings with the Western Investment Club (where he is now a member of the executive, managing portfolios), or with Investors of Tomorrow, a student-run charity that organizes and operates investment simulations within schools. Through its stock pitch competition, Investors of Tomorrow teaches kids to invest properly, “the Buffet way,” as Alex would say. Alex is an active advocate and volunteer with Investors of Tomorrow, vested in its mission, and committed to securing corporate sponsorship to drive the organization’s success.

Be active and responsible in your community.

If knowing yourself is Alex’s mantra, then “get involved” is his battle cry. Brotherhood and a strong sense of community are the first things Alex thinks of when asked about Crescent School. He still remembers standing in the grade 12 grad lounge on Right to Play day with “about 60 other guys,” huddled around the TV watching Black Hawk Down.

“The title came up, and the room went silent,” Alex reminisces. “Then, we all said at once, ‘we have a Black Hawk down.’

Sixty guys with a single thought. It was an incredibly profound moment.”

Alex didn’t really become involved in Crescent life until grade 10, something he still regrets. “I missed so many great programmes and opportunities while I was going through

all the angst of being 13 and 14,” he says.

As with everything, when he did become involved, he was fully committed. He acted in five plays, and played in eight bands. He was active in the Outreach programme, traveling to Honduras, South Africa, and Tanzania, and became the Outreach Prefect in grade 12. Today, along with his volunteer work, academics, and investing, he still finds time for music, teaching his roommate to play the bass, and playing the drums.

Understand your place in the world.

One of the great gifts a Crescent education has given Alex is a grounding in who he is. “Crescent taught me how to analyze an organization, and helped me to understand the role each individual plays in that organization,” he remembers. “Learning these two things has given me confidence

in myself, and it has prevented me from feeling lost.” He singles out Ms. Efimov and Mr. Comeau for showing him the big ideas of the world, learning much about himself, and opening many doors and pathways - and again he remembers Outreach. “Outreach gave me confidence, a chance to stand out, and it taught me about personal and global responsibility. It showed me that the world was much bigger than school and North York.”

Real success is finding your lifework in the work you love. For Alex, this has meant always looking for new ways to engage in investment and finance, while maintaining balance by keeping one foot planted firmly in the arts. In knowing himself, he has learned to be patient; it would be fair to say that he lives his life the way his hero Warren Buffet does, not by trading, but by knowing himself, investing his talents in the right ways, and then giving these investments the time to flourish. n

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Remi Ojo ’08 Remi (right) with Jason Merrithew ’07

R

EMI Ojo could best be described as a man almost perpetually in motion, and a true entrepreneur. Since leaving Crescent School in 2008, he has been busy applying his robotics skills to his academic and volunteer life, as a fourth year student in Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University, and with the FIRST programme at the Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute.

When he’s not traveling across North America to robotics competitions, Remi volunteers with the ALS Club at Queen’s University raising funds and awareness.

Since 2010, he has served as Vice President and Webmaster for the University’s Applied Science graduating class of 2012. He works as a promotional manager for Touch Entertainment, a company that organizes events and trips for corporations and nonprofit organizations. He is actively involved in competitive sports, playing for two years on the Queen’s varsity soccer team, before moving to Ultimate Frisbee. Remi plays on both the Queen’s team, where he played an integral role in their second-place finish at the University finals this past year, and for a Toronto club that made it to the finals in Ottawa earlier this year.

Remi is a man filled with passion and energy, a person who notices opportunities

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Alumni

Profile

and knows how to mobilize resources to make a difference. He is a true entrepreneur, with an enormous appetite for life and the many rich and varied experiences it offers.

His many activities and commitments as a student at Queen’s are a continuation of his life at Crescent, a school Remi would tell you gave him the opportunity to try his hand at a multitude of different things.

“Crescent,” Remi adds, “was definitely one of the best things to happen to me. It helped me discover who I am.”

Remi came to Crescent in grade 9, and from the beginning demonstrated an openness to experience, a drive and energy, and the personable, approachable nature that friends say still characterizes him today. He immersed himself in life at the School, playing on the soccer, track and field, basketball, Ultimate Frisbee and rugby teams, mostly at a varsity level.

He worked on the audio/visual crew for three years, was a member of the FIRST robotics team (an experience that he credits with pushing him to study engineering), and was a Mackenzie House Captain in grade 11, and Communications Prefect in his final year.

Remi credits Crescent with laying the foundation for his current successes.

“Robotics taught me effectual reasoning and creative problem-solving,” Remi says.

“But I find that, since leaving Crescent, I have become less science-oriented, and more interested in business, networking, and creating meaningful relationships.”

With his new-found interest in business, dynamism, and an innate ability to connect the dots, Remi and two of his colleagues at Queen’s launched Loopnotes.com in November 2011. There was a need, an opportunity to make extra money, and the thrill of taking a great idea and building a business. As Remi adds, “Having my own company is pretty big for me!”

Loopnotes.com recognizes high achieving students and allows them to upload their class notes for other students to purchase.

To ensure the quality of the notes, students purchasing the notes are asked to rate them. It’s a great idea, and the hard work and thought that Remi and his colleagues put into the platform, usability, and concept paid off almost immediately. By early January of this year, Loopnotes had expanded to include more than 400 users at Queen’s University, with a goal of being available in 12 universities by the end of 2012. “We are passionate about making everyone’s post-secondary school experience more enjoyable,” says Remi.

“By facilitating collaboration among students, we’re making academic life a little easier for everyone.”

While he sometimes wishes he had pursued more business courses at Crescent, Remi credits the School for the integral role it has played in developing the man he has become today. “Growing up at Crescent definitely changed me for the better. I learned how to interact positively with people. The teachers really instilled a sense of trust and responsibility in the students, and this gave us confidence, a sense of independence, and helped us grow into ourselves.” His advice to all students and alumni is simple: “Get involved, and stay involved. Listen and learn as much as you can. Have fun, get inspired, and never quit.”

It’s Remi’s way of paraphrasing Steve Jobs, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” n

From the Archives results, and much was rescued from less than satisfactory archival conditions. It was an interesting process of search and discovery, of such items as the original land survey for Crescent’s current campus.

Tales from the archives

G

RANTED, it doesn’t have quite the same ring as the EC Comics and HBO television series Tales from the Crypt (although there may be some dusty similarities), but as I look back over a decade of poking around through the School’s history and prepare to take my leave (again!) for the purported charms of the Elysium Fields of retirement, possibly there have been a few situations and circumstances that are worth recounting.

To begin, it should be noted that while Crescent did not have a proper archives when I was asked at the end of 2002 if I would be interested in establishing one, a number of people over the years had previously taken an interest in either preserving or organizing aspects of the School’s history: the founding Headmaster’s widow, Elizabeth James, Susan Wilder (P’87,’88) and other Crescent mothers; faculty such as Bill Burridge (PS, P’69) and Bill Pedoe (PS, P’98) – and no doubt others. Some work had been done, work I appreciated, but only in a sporadic, hit and miss fashion as time and opportunity permitted. What I was presented with at the beginning was a dozen or so randomly filled old cardboard boxes and some plastic bins,

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stored very awkwardly behind a couch and under a low roof, accessible only on one’s hands and knees.

It was a start, and it all had to be sorted, culled, organized and catalogued. Over many months that process took place primarily in my basement at home – the only space available that was sufficiently large and where materials could be left out in their various piles for a day or more.

Surprisingly, given the limited collection, and despite always erring on the side of keeping anything even remotely of interest, much was culled, as either being of no value or of unnecessary duplication. The garbage man and my wife, were pleased when that process came to an end!

The next step was to search every nook and cranny I could think of in the School, whether it was the walk-in vault, or storerooms, or storerooms behind other storerooms in the basement of The Manor, or mechanical rooms and closets around the School, or even under the floorboards of a gymnasium office, all in hopes of coming across more archival materials: school publications and other documents, artifacts and audio-visual materials, uniform items, etc. This was time consuming and often dusty and dirty work, but it yielded good

The search then led to earlier campuses, at least twice to each of the four previous locations of the School, and in particular to Dentonia Park, by car and bicycle and foot, in an attempt to visualize Crescent in an earlier age. Times change: one campus (76 Collier Street) is now the site of the first condominium ever built in the city of Toronto, another (Dentonia Park) is now known as “Little Bangladesh” with a mosque and classes in Bengali. The search continued to local historians, books, magazines and newspaper articles which shed light on the Masseys and Dentonia Park, and on the Woods and their Bayview estate. And even to cemeteries, as the burial sites of the School’s first two Headmasters, Jimmy James and Walter Williams, were located after some searching (in Mount Pleasant Cemetery and that of St. George’s Anglican Church at Sibbald Point overlooking Lake Simcoe, respectively).

Along the way, there have been many visits with alumni and chairs of the Board of Governors, seeking out their recollections of life at Crescent in earlier years while time still permitted. From the then oldest known alumni, residing in the Veterans’ Wing at Sunnybrook Hospital, to other early Old Boys remembering life in the 1930s, and on through the School’s history, it was a privilege to share their memories of earlier Headmasters and faculty, of campus life and schoolboy pranks, and of course of Crescent lunches.

The search for information on various topics led as well to Permanent Reserve collections of public libraries, to the private library of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, and to the museum of the 48th Highlanders Regiment of Canada.

As the Archives became more established, and was able to contribute to several projects around the School displaying and promoting Crescent’s history and heritage, it became better known within the Crescent community, and this in turn led to further donations: a prize book from the 1920s

found at a garage sale, a Sports Day medal from the 1930s, report cards from the 1940s, a school belt and house ties from the 1950s, Bill Burridge’s hand built demerit box from the 1960s, and so on.

All this clearly showed that more space – and a proper space – was needed, and a room was constructed for the Archives, a combined office and display room in a high profile location (surprisingly, given the traditional location of archives in out of the way, gloomy bottom reaches of buildings), and even with a corner window and the best view of the playing fields of any office in the School! And with storage next door to boot! Arriving on mornings after an unusually cold winter’s night to find the temperature in the archives hovering at 10 degrees or less was an easy trade-off.

Perhaps the greatest benefit from having a dedicated archival space was that classes could now visit, and there could be sessions on Crescent’s history and traditions,

especially as, as of this past year, the archives has moved to a larger room which can display more and handle more students.

It is quite eye opening for them to see what soccer shirts and hockey sweaters from 70 years ago look like, to learn that cricket was Crescent’s only spring team sport for the first 60 years but that for decades there was also a quite professionally run boxing tournament for almost all boys each May, to imagine a Rembrandt oil painting – the only one in Toronto – hanging in what is now the Admissions Offices, to learn that the Main House at Dentonia Park had 100 rooms, and to be surprised to find out that Mr. Roberts does not own the School.

I will miss those classes and the opportunity to talk about the past Crescent century – a century of interesting people, of challenge and change, of growth and progress. But it’s time… and time waits for no man.

NEIL CAMPBELL (P’94) ARCHIVIST

k n a h T

u o Y

Crescent School would like to offer

a public thank-you to Neil Campbell for his dedication to preserving our history. His perseverance and

immense knowledge of the characters and events of the last hundred years will be greatly missed.

Jay Mansoor ’92 is the proud dad of three rambunctious children: Raquel (5), Julia (3) and Ben (1). Jay currently works with his family at Britannia Property Management Inc., and is enjoying his time actively serving the Crescent community as a member of the Alumni Executive.

Martin Ritchie ’92 lives in Toronto with his wife, Natalia, and young daughter Scarlett. He is the co-founder of JCM Capital, which exclusively finances utilitysized solar photovoltaic generating facilities in Ontario (both commercial rooftop and ground-based). Martin is a firm believer that this type of distributed energy will pervade over the next few decades across every corner of the globe, and is wellpoised to assist with this large-scale deployment. He is active on the squash and tennis courts (although slightly less nimble than when he was at Crescent).

Dave Thom ’92 is living in Upper Manhattan with his wife, Melissa, and their two boys: Aden (3) and Christopher (1). When not chasing toddlers, Dave likes to catch a Rangers-Leafs game with Sandro Zorzi ’92. Dave continues to work on residential and commercial projects in the New York area for the LeFrak Organization, a large real estate developer, and this summer will be sponsoring his second intern in the Crescent Alumni Internship Programme. Anyone visiting New York is welcome to call on Dave in Inwood to say hello!

Tim Webster ’92 and his wife Ginny are proud parents of Harrison (3), and Lara (16 months). Tim has been busy over the last number of years with a number of Tim Horton’s franchises in the Greater Toronto Area. Tim and his family are excited about making a big move out to BC this summer, where he will be transitioning into some opportunities with Krispy Kreme in Vancouver.

Christopher Williams ’92 has settled down in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife, Hanna, and three year old son, Leo. He is currently working as Team Leader Business Intelligence for East Capital, a finance firm specializing in business intelligence.

This March, Fraser Chapman ’93 and his wife Christie welcomed a new sibling for sister Sadie (4) and Tyler (3). Fraser and Christie try to do more of what is working and less of what is not. When not working at their vocations, they maintain a very active lifestyle with a healthy dose of cycling, skiing (snow and water), crossfit, and all sorts of activities. Fraser is training hard and will compete in the L’Etape du Tour this year.

Jason Steel ’93 and his wife Sarah are the proud parents to daughter Clarke Monica Steel, born April 19, 2010. They find they are still adapting to Clarke’s language skills, which they believe to be a mix of Mandarin and German. When not using Rosetta Stone Infant, Jason is busy running the family business, Steel Fire Equipment. Jason is active with Crescent’s Alumni Executive, and stays connected with many alumni, including Bernie Wai ’93, and Michael Colapinto ’93.

If anyone wants to reconnect with Jason, he can be reached at jsteel@steelfire.com.

▲

Last summer, David Notarfonzo-Sebald ’97 married Leah Fuller in a backyard ceremony in Thornhill. The wedding party included James Blake ’97, Chris Wong ’97, Tyler Skillen ’97, Burton Gustajtis, David Singer ’97, and David (sitting on the bench).

Andrew Lynde ’99 is teaching grade 6 at Town Centre Montessori School. He is also very much involved with their lower school athletics programme.

Nahid Harjee ’99 earned a BASc. in Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo before moving to Silicon Valley to work at NVIDIA, where he helped to design several processors (including the graphics chip in the original Xbox). Nahid recently completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, specializing in nanotechnology. He currently lives in San Francisco and will be joining a start-up company this year.

Eddie Lynde ’00 and his wife, Jennifer, welcomed a daughter, Emma Rose, on April 13, 2011. Eddie is completing his first year at McLaughlin & Associates, specializing in construction law.

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Zachary Kula ’09 is in his third year at McGill University, as a Finance major/ Economics minor. As part of his degree, Zachary is spending this semester in an exchange programme, studying at the University of Sydney. Upon arrival home, he will be working on an internship in Toronto, and spending time off on Georgian Bay.

Toye is a winner of the Chemical Institute of Canada Hamilton Section Prize for achievement in Chemical Engineering.

The biotechnology project that he and classmates Andrew Murray, Cory Austin and Joshua Su completed in their final year at Crescent, has been published in the 2011 Canadian Young Scientist Journal. In addition to his stellar academic work, Toye has completed his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Medal requirements and continues to be active in Robotics as a mentor to the SMLS Robotics team.

Past Staff

All three novels get their “edge” from the horrors of two world wars though most of the action takes place in Ontario. Arson, murder, espionage, war and romance. And all the major characters are school teachers!

Bill and his wife, Penny, live in a village north of Barrie. As well as writing, Bill volunteers teaching adult literacy, rides his Trek bike, sketches, dabbles in watercolours and catches almost every movie that doesn’t involve vampires, wizards or werewolves.

Bill’s children live in Ontario, Ireland and England, his eight grandchildren in Ireland and England. He is thoroughly enjoying retirement.

In Memoriam

▲ Toye Ojo ’09 is in his third year at McMaster University studying Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. In June 2011, he began conducting research in his area of specialty, and will be travelling to China this summer to continue this project.

In the summer of 2011, Toye received an NSERC undergraduate student research award, which afforded him the opportunity to work with Dr. Shiping Zhu’s PolyMac Research group at McMaster University.

The goal of his project was to demonstrate the value-added conversion of canola oil into an effective emulsifying agent, and Toye had the opportunity to present these findings at the 61st Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference.

▲

Bill Pedoe (P’98) has written and published three novels: Flammable, Syzygy and Floating. They can be previewed and purchased at Lulu.com.

Jeffrey Brock’s (Class of 82) near three year battle with pancreatic cancer came to a peaceful end at his home in Orlando, Florida on November 14, 2011, surrounded by his wife, Margaret (Droumtsekas), and his children: Caley, Cooper and Megan. Jeff was educated in American Schools in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore as well as Crescent. He earned an Honours BA from Queen’s University, and an MBA at IMEDE University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Jeff and his family lived in Orlando where he launched and built a diversified real estate services business that became a leading player in the Central Florida market, and where he was active as a volunteer in his community.

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Alumni Reunion

Save the date!

2012 Crescent School Alumni Reunion Saturday, September 29, 2012 at Crescent School Celebrating the classes of ’77, ’82, ’87, ’92, ’97, ’02, ’07

The 2012 Dentonia Luncheon ˜ Friday, May 4, 2012 at 12 noon 40

Crescent School’s Upcoming Events 2012 MAY

Friday 4, Dentonia Luncheon Saturday 5, Junior Science Olympics Thursday 10, Alumni Speed Networking Event Thursday 10, Alumni Branch Reception: London, UK Monday 14, Grandparent’s Day Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17, Lower School production of King Arthur and the Magic Sword Tuesday 22, Volunteer Reception Tuesday 22-Saturday 26, CISAA Finals Tuesday 29-Friday, June 8, Middle School and Upper School exams Thursday 31, Lower School Arts Night

JUNE

Friday 8, Lower School House Day Monday 11, Welcome to Alumni BBQ Tuesday 12, Athletic BBQ and Awards Wednesday 13, Retirement Party Thursday 14, Prize Day Friday 15, Graduation Friday 22, Crescent School Golf Tournament

*Black events are of most interest to current families *Grey events are exclusive to alumni * Green events are of most interest to the entire Crescent Community

Erratum In the Fall issue of Past and Present, an article mistakenly mentioned that one of our retirees, Ross Turvey, came to Crescent in 1997.

Ross actually came here in 1990! We sincerely apologize for summarily wiping out seven years of Ross’s wonderful teaching career at our School. And, by the way, Ross is thoroughly enjoying his new life in Zurich and sends his best wishes to all Crescent staff, past staff, students, alumni, parents and past parents.

CRESCENT SCHOOL’S MISSION:

Men of Character from Boys of Promise CRESCENT’S CORE VALUES:

Respect, Responsibility, Honesty, Compassion 41

Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: CRESCENT SCHOOL Communications/Marketing 2365 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON, Canada M2L 1A2 www.crescentschool.org

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