May 3rd Edition
Student run newspaper committed to the St. George’s community
Student leader Hafiz Dhanani strives to become a promising young entrepreneur By Eldon Chan ow often does a 17 year old have an opportunity to start his or her own company, hire workers, and market a product? Almost never, but for self-taught entrepreneur Hafiz Dhanani, business-driven thoughts preoccupied his mind as early as the age of ten. Intrigued not by the technicalities of programming but rather the social impact of a global community, Dhanani was inspired to begin his own business venture. “I started out by creating a blog and seeing if I could make some money from visitors clicking on the ads on the page when I was around 12 or 13.” Somewhat discouraged by the prospect of meager earnings, the popular grade-representative comments, “It wasn’t as easy as it was advertised to be, and making pennies per click wasn’t the way I wanted to spend my spare time, so I gave up on the whole internet thing for at least a year and focused on learning about other cultures, world issues, global peace, that sort of thing.” For a time, it seemed as though Dhanani’s passion had cooled, as his attention was invested elsewhere. But like businessmen, Dhanani’s true-calling was soon reinvigorated by his Grade nine business education class. Tasked with the creation of a business model, Dhanani and his partners Christian Gravel and Robert de Luca decided on the concept of an energy drink, appropriately named “Fizz.” Although the project did not reach fruition until Dhanani’s junior year, the effect was substantial. “This re-cultivated my passion for entrepreneurship and I delved into the realm of online business once again, this time promising myself I would take things more seriously.” And indeed, Dhanani’s resolve was evident. Later in the year, he and Kevin Lin founded the online, electronic resale website DealUltra. “We sold iPhone cases and a variety of other accessories and that actually did moderately well for a Grade nine kid experimenting.” Ultimately however, Dhanani and his partner Lin admitted, “We didn’t like the idea of our target market being our friends and on the whole we didn’t feel our business model was scalable. We made the decision to shut DealUltra down.” Having experienced the unpredictablity of the marketing world and learned the basic principles of accounting, Dhanani soon stumbled upon performance marketing. To this day, generating revenue by promoting products on
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Top: The Heavyweight 8 win the prestigious St. Catherine trophy for the first time Left: True to his word, Fizz is now officially manufactured - though not for sale popular services such as Netflix Agency approved) although I might raised through angel investments and Groupon remain an integral make a few adjustments. “Fizz” and venture capitalists it would part of Dhanani’s goals. In fact, energy drink will be produced in the simply take too much time to Dhanani reveals, “We do have coming months.” manage in school as well.” a small group of workers in the Seemingly in control of the entire In addition to his successful Philippines overseas on a contract process, the ambitious entrepreneur business ventures, Dhanani is also basis. I also work with designers and also comments, “I’m by no means a straight A student and a nationalprogrammers on specific projects.” an expert on energy drinks. In level athlete. Coxing the rowing Although preoccupied with his fact I don’t know that much about heavyweight team to capture St. advertisement company, Dhanani the market as a whole, but from George’s first-ever St. Catherine is determined to produce Fizz. “In what I’ve read I can tell you that trophy, Dhanani hopes for a repeat Grade nine I said would produce the the energy drink market has been this year, stating, “Incidentally, we drink, so this year I am following growing extremely rapidly in the have a great rowing team.” through on the promise,” he states. past five years. That being said, In spite of all of his success, For those interested in the flavours I’m not really producing the drink Dhanani reveals that his priorities and/or ingredients, Dhanani seriously. It costs about 70-80k to still revolve around school. “My discloses, “It’s going to use a pre- start a real energy drink company ambitions for the business are large, existing formula (Federal Drug and even though that money can be but it’s important to realize that I am
a student first and the opportunity to do well in high school only comes once, but running a company will be something that I have time to do later in life as well.” Nonetheless, the young coxswain predicts, “As long as the internet is around I know that I can run a successful business online if I don’t go in another direction.” For a student, school work may seem burdensome enough, but for Dhanani, homework is but a fraction of his responsibilities. Forced to micromanage, Dhanani shares, “I know that more time would help me immensely in growing my businesses, but on the other hand it provides an incentive to get my homework assignments finished as early in the day as possible!” He also elaborates, “Sometimes I’ll go outside for a portion of lunch if I need to call another business, because typical hours are 9-5 so calling in the evening is ineffective.” To aspiring students, Dhanani has a few tips and pointers to share. “The most important thing I have learned is to pick one idea and follow it through all the way to completion. While it can be very tempting to try and manage a myriad of projects at the same time, I’ve always had the most success when I limited the number of new ventures. Once, you’ve picked these ideas to focus on the next most important thing is to stick with them. There are exceptions, for example, if your testing has revealed that an idea is terrible, but I’ve seen so many people try out an idea for two weeks and after seeing that it’s not as easy as they thought it would be to just give up and try something else. Jumping around from idea to idea will be your downfall and that’s actually why it took me a bit to see success.” He also adds, “One of my other main tips is not to underestimate the power of networking and the connections you can make. A lot of profitable relationships are formed simply by contacting people and asking questions.” Inspired by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Dhanani has his sights set high. Specifically, he anticipates, “I’m looking to focus my company on local lead generation for offline businesses. Basically that means getting more customers to everything from local spas to restaurants. I have some very interesting plans involving local businesses and text message marketing, which are in development at the moment.” At just the age of 17, the Grade 11 Grade Rep Hafiz Dhanani is sure to make a name for himself in the future.
Sports News
Saints star on his way to the NHL
By Samir Javer ust about two months before the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft is held in Minnesota, Zach Yuen has made a significant jump on his way to the big leagues. On April 11, NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings of draft-eligible prospects in 2011, and the Grade 12 student placed 69th amongst North American skaters, a list featuring future stars such as Ryan-Nugent Hopkins of Burnaby, Gabriel Landeskog, Sean Couturier, and many more. The NHL’s mid-season rankings saw Yuen ranked 87th on this same very list, and his stellar play in the stretch drive all the way to the playoffs with the Tri-City Americans resulted in him jumping a whopping 18 spots in the rankings, which will surely help jumpstart his professional hockey career. The 2009-10 season saw Yuen record a meager four points in 42 games, yet the 2010-11 season resulted in an absolutely stellar season for the big-bodied defensemen. He not only recorded 32 points in 72 games, but also ranked among the Western Hockey League (WHL)’s elite with a +41 rating, meaning he had been on the ice for 41 more even-strength goals scored by his Tri-City Americans than even-strength goals allowed. Many experts predict Yuen will be selected in the third round of the NHL Entry Draft, which consists of a total of seven rounds. However, some draft previews
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have the six-foot defenseman being taken in the second round. When asked what he thought was the biggest reason for his sudden ascent in the junior hockey spotlight, he replied, “I think that playing for such an isolated team, it was just a matter of exposure to scouts.” As a result of his impressive play this season, the Internet is abuzz with talk about the defenseman, who has only just completed his second year in the WHL. “I mean, we got guys…”, an unofficial TriCity Americans blog, recently gave Yuen an “A-” grade for the overall season, a highly impressive rating, especially considering how far the Saints student has come since his WHL debut back in 2009. In addition, there is even a thread dedicated to the 17-year-old defenseman on HFBoards, a largely popular hockey discussion forum. Some of the accolades included: “I have him slated in my top-15 WHL skaters for the upcoming draft,” as well as, “He was the best player I’ve ever played that’s my age, he’s gonna be real good down the road,” and “He’s been one of the most consistent blueliners on the team since he got here as a 16 year old... he sticks up for teammates and isn’t afraid to go.” Playing on the Americans’ top defense pairing as a 17 year old was understandably quite a challenge for the Grade 12 student, yet he handled his duties professionally and exceeded expectations by a large margin. The matured blue-chip prospect made a smooth transition from school
hockey into the junior leagues, yet there were some hardships along the way, as expected. Yuen told The Echo, “It was definitely a big step... the hardest part about playing in this league is the long road trips, which can last up to two weeks.” Like many other young hockey players, the defenseman has a role model he looks up to for motivation, and it is none other than the legendary captain of the Detroit Red Wings. He told The Echo, “My biggest role model is Nicklas Lidstrom because I love to watch him play and he is a great example of a leader in the way he carries himself on and off the ice.” While Lidstrom is currently enjoying a playoff run of his own, Yuen just competed in the WHL playoffs for the second straight year, and the
ants’ seemingly never-ending run of playoff success had them penciled in as the favourites to win; however, Yuen and the Americans took matters into their own hands and actually swept the best-ofseven series, four games to none. His team was just recently knocked out of the Western Conference semi-finals by the Spokane Chiefs, who were down by three goals heading into the third period of Game 6, then rallied to tie the game up late and eventually won a shocker in overtime. Yuen and the Americans were understandably dejected by the stunning loss, but he is keeping his head up. The Grade 12 student recorded three points in 10 playoff games with Tri-City throughout the two series.
ing held on June 24, the Saints student made it clear he was excited to make the next big step in his hockey career. “I am definitely very excited for the draft as I will be another step closer to achieving my goal of playing in the NHL.” He told The Echo that he has been contacted by several NHL teams, and among the most interested are the Buffalo Sabres, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Nashville Predators, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs could be one of the teams possibly interested in the Saints student, having recently traded away long-time star defenseman Tomas Kaberle to the Boston Bruins, and with a young, up-and-coming defense core, general manager Brian Burke and his scouting team could
extra post-season games are sure to give him some invaluable experience. Recently, Yuen was granted a dream first-round matchup against the Vancouver Giants for the WHL playoffs as the number four seed in the Western Conference. The Gi-
Yuen said being drafted into the WHL was “a big stepping-stone in the pursuit of [his] hockey career,” and with the final step just a few short months away, the possibilities are endless for the persistent defenseman. With the draft in Minnesota be-
most definitely have gotten in touch with the Americans’ star blue-liner. What is certain is that one of the NHL’s 30 clubs will be calling Yuen’s name to the podium on draft day in June; it is simply just a matter of who and when.
in the series, fans are always searching for Canucks related videos and stumble upon Javer’s channel. Javer began producing his videos back in Grade nine. “In Grade 9 one of my friends told me he had made a Canuck’s video, and I looked at him and was like, ‘Are you crazy? What are you talking about?’ And then I looked at his [video] and was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty cool!’ He showed me the basics of iMovie and then from there on I just kind of progressed and went through it all.” According to Electronic Arts’ simulations made earlier this year, the Canucks are favoured to win this year’s Stanley Cup. When asked if
he would make any more videos to aid Canucks on their road to victory, Javer replied that he “might make maybe one little short pump-up one if we get to the cup final.” School ultimately cuts into his editing time. However, even with the limited number of videos he is able to put out, they are of the utmost quality and have been featured on sites such as Sport Illustrated, Puck Daddy (Yahoo Sports’ NHL blog), and even on the Canucks’ own official page! Javer’s most recent video, the 2011 playoff preview “Till I Collapse,” has just passed the 70,000 hit mark, a gargantuan increase from his first video’s 576 hits.
Grade 11 student becomes YouTube sensation over Canucks Videos W By Dustin Patara ith the Canucks on fire in the 2011 playoffs, Grade 11 student Samir Javer has had his YouTube channel rise in popularity with the renewed interest in our hometown team. With over a million views on all of his videos in total, Javer’s YouTube channel is one of the largest fanmade channels in Canada, at one point having 45,000 hits in a single day, ranking him at the top for YouTube sports channels. His predominately Canucks-centered channel is viewed largely by Canadians, but even Czechs bring in a percent here and there. With the Canucks leading
Samir Javer poses with some shiny NHL hardware.
School life
Saints campus stars in new Disney film By Paul Haun
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ver the spring break, the Disney Channel transformed St. George‘s School into a fictional American high school for its newest movie, Geek Charming, airing this summer. Two thirds of the film takes place with Saint‘s hallowed halls. Geek Charming, directed by Jeffrey Hornaday, will be starring Sarah Hyland from Modern Family and her real-life boyfriend Matt Prokop from High School Musical 3. The storyline of the movie is
based on the novel Geek Charming by Robin Palmer, which explores the dynamics of modern highschool life and its social hierarchy. Neil Piller, who was one of the liaisons between the movie and St. Georges, says that although St. Georges gets approached quite often by movie scouts for permission to shoot at the school, it was Geek Charming that asked at the right time. In addition, we will only agree if the project fits within our available schedule, will have
minimal impact on students, is a reputable production company and is financially worthwhile. Geek Charming met all our criteria so we gave the go-ahead,” said Piller. The shooting for the movie took 15 days, and although Piller does not know the exact value, he says that the financial benefit of the movie was substantial. Piller also mentioned that the money the school received from the movie will go towards supporting student programs and keeping tuition down. “If we
didn’t rent our facilities, either we would have to reduce programming or increase tuition,” explained Piller. Piller also firmly believes that the movie was a welcomed opportunity for students interested in film to learn from the film crew. Students such as Harrison Xu were cast as extras and could take part in the filming of the movie. One lucky student was even able to shadow the director for his time at St. Georges and get a thorough back-stage perspective of the filming process.
In addition, Piller said that he is extremely happy with the entire shooting process and the lengths to which the production company went in looking after the schoolís facilities and minimizing impact on students. Finally, Piller reminds the students of Saints that the movie will premiere on the Disney Channel this summer, and that he thinks it will be entertaining to see the school on screen. However, students should not be surprised if the movie airs under a different name.
Group of Saints students shine at science fair Strong showing at Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair earns St. George’s a total of four medals and strong praise from Headmaster, Tom Matthews
by Peter Ding inning one gold, two silver and one bronze, St. George’s science fair projects outperformed 90 percent of the projects at the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair April 7 to April 9. Over 50 schools from the Lower Mainland gathered at UBC. Over 200 projects competed for only 14 qualifications for Canada Wide Science Fair. Only 20 gold, 19 silver, and 21 bronze standards were awarded to exceptional participants. In total, five St. George’s projects competed at the event. Raymond Wang and Ty Zhang submitted the one junior project entitled Weather Harvester. This project qualified for the Canada Wide Science Fair in May. Three intermediate-level projects included Dimming the Way to a Brighter Future, by Carlos Xu and Bill Lou, Trapping sound, by Felix Huang and Joshua Tsang, and More from Less, by Marcus Tan and Lucas Tai-MacArthur. The only senior project this year was Maximize the Efficiency of Your Water Heater by Peter Ding and Fred Kavosian. None of the projects from the senior school qualified for CWSF, but three of the projects achieved either silver or bronze standing. Last year, only three students, including Andy Lee from the Senior School, Bennett Stothers and Duncan Stothers from Grade 7, participated in the fair. Although the participation was not high, all of them won gold medals at the fair. Bennett Stothers and Duncan Stothers from the Junior School qualified for CWSF. For the first year in history, St. George’s has a science fair club. Last year, a similar initiative could not work effectively because of poor attendance. According to Wally MacKay, a Senior School biology teacher and sponsor of the science fair club, the school spends the first six weeks of the year helping students
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A trio of St. George’s students display their medals at the recent science fair. choose topics, finishing their regis- of the fair. January and February ation with UBC. MacKay considers trations, and setting up a Wiki that are busy months for students to pre- the geographic advantage very conhas important information about pare for the fair before the registra- ducive for motivated students. For various topics. About seven teach- tion deadline at the end of March.” example, Andy Lee, a current Grade ers from the science department, MacKay told The Echo that the 12, worked with a UBC professor including Dr. Mercer, head of the school’s lab is always available for on his science project last year. The science department, evaluate the science fair participants. Staff are school expects at least one projprojects by reading proposals and also willing to offer help to stu- ect to be selected for the CWSF. MacKay thinks that the school pays determining the viability of each dents on both developing theories enough attention to the GVRSF. St. George’s sees science fairs as a very valuable experience for students. Dr. Tom Mathews, the headmaster, was drawn to visit and talk to students about their projects at the fair. He said that he was impressed by his students’ innovative ideas. “Due to the demise of provincial experiment. “We are after scientific to build models and attaining equip- exams, universities want to get to ideas that are creative and new and ments. However, MacKay said that know more creative students rathhave potential use,” MacKay said. students are also encouraged to er than good exam writers. Good MacKay suggests that “students go outside the school. BCIT labs achievement at extra-curricular should spend their time looking at last are accessible for students from events, such as science fairs, makes year’s projects, do new stuff, think Sir Winston Churchill Secondary, an individual look driven, creative, of new ideas and avoid doing simple who usually show outstanding per- and talented. Students who work things. They should make choices formance at the fair. Similarly, St. beyond the regular curriculum to very early, which is the hardest part George’s school has a closer affili- be scientists are preferable to those
“Good acheivement at extracurricular events, such as science fairs, makes an individual look driven, creative, and talented.”
who have not made a decision of being the scientist,” said MacKay. One project won bronze and was awarded by UBC Engineering Physics department. The project More from Less takes a look at the possible profit that can be gained from placing water turbines inside existing water infrastructure as a secondary energy source. The idea is to gain hydro electricity from the transportation of water from reservoirs to the taps in people’s homes by placing such turbines in water pipes, gaining energy from a transportation process that is already in place. To test this, the group took PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) pipes of two different diameters that were already used in Vancouver’s water system and placed a water turbines inside each of the two lengths of pipe. The turbine inside each pipe was placed under the appropriate PSI (Pounds per square inch) to simulate real life conditions and a multimeter connected to the turbine measured the amount of energy produced. The amount of energy produced was then measured against the cost of building and installing the turbines and generators needed to convert the mechanical energy into electricity to determine whether such an undertaking would be profitable. The group hypothesized that such a placement of water turbines would prove to be profitable on a long-term basis. This project won silver and was also awarded by UBC Engineering Physics department. Besides winning a silver medal, the project also won the Canadian Institute of Energy Award in the senior group. MacKay is satisfied by the students’ efforts. He foresees a potential to expand the program, depending on student capabilities. On a need-by-need basis, the school will join other science competitions, starting regionally.
Staff news
Russell dominates inaugural St. George’s Open
By Joseph Lu o the St. George’s golfing community, it was no surprise that Grade 12 student, Nicholas Russell won the inaugural St. George’s Open. The senior fired a commanding 69 in the opening round and followed that up with an equally impressive 71 in the closing round, en route to a dominating 16-stroke victory. Russell finished the tournament three under overall besting runnersup Julian Ergas and Robert Murphy,
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who both ended up 12 over par. It was clear from the beginning that Russell meant business by playing aggressively and taking risks. “My goal was to never lay up and never leave a putt short and I was close to achieving this,” he said. Once he got in a groove, Russell continued his aggressive play to separate himself from the field. Instead of focusing on his competitors, Russell viewed the golf course as his opponent and used this strategy to eventually secure the victory.
“Nick played consistently well and always seemed to keep a calm, collected composure on the golf course. He was inspiring to play with,” fellow competitor Colin Wang said. The first ever round of the St. George’s Open was played at McCleery Golf Course on Friday, April 8. For the final round the following day, the tournament shifted to the renowned Fraserview Golf Course. Known for its majestic tree-lined fairways, Fraserview was voted one of Canada’s “Best Public Courses” and served as a fitting place to crown the inaugural Saints Open champion. “Both courses were in spectacular condition for this time of year with amazingly fast greens,” the champion said. Despite a masterful performance, the 18 year old remained humble about the victory. Russell told The Echo, “It is an honor to be the first ever winner of the Saints Open as it is a tournament that will only continue to grow in the future.” Aside from the prestige that comes along with winning the tournament, Russell was also supposed to win
an Apple iPad. Due to problems in purchasing the iPad, the victor was instead rewarded with a hefty, $600 Future Shop gift card. “I plan to use it to buy a camera to film my swing,” Russell explained. To reach his exceptional skill level, Russell has been learning the intricacies of golf for seven years. Currently, he practices six days a week at the Marine Drive Golf Club where he is a member. Ultimately, the Grade 12 student has aspirations of playing golf for the University of British Columbia. He will look to build on his performance in preparation for his next big tournament, the CN Future Links Pacific Championship in May. The tournament was open to all St. George’s students. Despite the wide range of golfing skill in the field, many competitors including Russell thought the tournament maintained a high level of competition. “The event was incredibly well organized and I enjoyed the competitive atmosphere,” Russell said. According to Proznick, the tournament will be run again next year with greater student participation.
Saint’s lightweight rower gains world renown Matthew Segal competes in the C.R.A.S.H. - B. Sprints, ranks seventh internationally By Nathan Hawkins or the first time ever the St. George’s rowers competed on the international stage and finished 7th, 9th, and 14th in the world. Select rowers attended the C.R.A.S.H. – B. Sprints competition on February 20 in Boston, Massachusetts. C.R.A.S.H. – B. is the annual world indoor rowing championship, which is hosted just before the end of the winter training period. The C.R.A.S.H – B Sprints draw over 2000 competitors annually. Most notably, Grade 11 Matthew Segal came 7th in the junior lightweight division. This is a remarkable feat as the event features the best rowers from around the world. The event gives rowers a chance to display the progress they have made over their winter training on the ergometer, an indoor rowing simulation machine. The races are a standard distance of two kilometres and several heats are used to determine a competitor’s ranking in his or her racing category. “The front row was overflowing with excitement. With only 30 seconds before the start of my race, Simon Maas, former St. George’s Head Boy, raced through the crowd of spectators and hopped over the barrier. He had left his board meeting early to watch me; and, perched on a chair behind me, was ready to be my coxswain. Although his voice was overpowered by the dozens of other coaches who stood
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yelling behind their athletes, I don’t think I would have made it without his support,” gushed Segal. Evidently the competition had a very strong psychological effect on Segal, as well as all the Sain’ts rowers who attended. They were competing in the same room as the strongest rowers in the world, and everyone had an opportunity to shine. Segal was not entirely sure what to expect. It was his first time attending the C. R.A.S.H. – B Sprints and also the first time he was competing at the international level. “I didn’t know what to expect. Although my previous results ranked me highly against the others, I knew that I could be in for many surprises. Several unknown newcomers from overseas were present. The stadium setup itself was overwhelming – imagine Rogers Arena filled with
100 rowing machines all going at one time, with a new group racing every six or seven minutes! For an entire day! Fortunately, there was a training area where we could warm up and get used to being in such a large crowd.” Of course, Segal didn’t simply start at such a high level of competition. With humble beginnings in Grade Eight, Segal started rowing with Coach Randy Huber. It took four years practicing six or more times per week for Segal to make it to the international stage. But rowing at a high school and competing against the best rowers in the world is a big jump. Segal spent countless hours over four years of rowing in preparation for his debut to the international rowing community. Segal recounted, “I was confident going in but didn’t know exactly
what I would be facing. As the day progressed, the heats were getting faster and my nerves were overwhelming me. I was expecting half of the athletes to fall behind after experiencing the thrill of leading for a few strokes, but sadly that wasn’t the case. About 400 metres into the race, when almost no athletes had slowed down, I realized how tough my competition was.” Once he had finished his two kilometres, the only thing left was the results. Segal mentioned that he would have been pacing anxiously, but he was too exhausted. Instead he did a cool down exercise, drank a sports beverage, and congratulated his teammates as they finished racing. “Participating in C. R.A.S.H. – B was the highlight of my rowing career. To be racing in the front line with some of the best in the world was, at once, inspiring and daunting. I went in to C. R.A.S.H. – B as the Canadian U19 lightweight national champion and placed seventh as a 16 year old in the junior lightweight category with my personal best two kilometre time; it reminded me of how far I have come from rowing in Grade Eight! Back then, I was one of the lightest and smallest on the team (although nothing has really changed) and I remember how tough it was keeping up with the other guys,” Segal declared.
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Local Service Week Review
By Paul Hahn eather Morris, head of service and charity, has declared that a total of 219 volunteer hours were spent doing several charitable activities over spring break. The service was called Local Service Week and consisted of 45 students committing five days of their spring break to seven different charitable activities. Students helped with an ivy pull in Stanley Park. This was followed by sorting and washing donations (toys and clothes) at three of the local YWCAs. Some other students chose to help The Lookout Society, in which students prepared food, cleaned and interacted with “the needy people” they helped out. “In addition, students helped build homes for low-income families with The Habitat for Humanity Society,” said Morris. Other activities included helping out The First United Church Thrift Store and participating in environmental work in Camosun bog. Although Morris did not attend all of these events, she knows that the gratitude given to students by all of the people they helped usually makes it worthwhile for them. In addition, Morris would also like to highlight the fact that she has received an unbelievable number of thank-you emails and positive feedback from the organizers that describe how well St. George’s boys are able to work for charity. “Jobs for volunteers usually aren’t very glamorous. However, for this local service week we truly did what was needed, and not what we necessarily wanted to do,” said Morris. The Head of Service and Charity also believes that this kind of work is essential for society because no one else is there to do it. Thommy Thompson, a Grade 12 at St. George’s says that his favourite part of the local charity week involved doing work that no one else usually wants to do. “They are kind of rewarding jobs that give back to the community, and the reward for that is boundless in its own way,” says Thompson. Thompson definitely believes that St. George’s should have more charity weeks because “the feeling of giving back to the community is an extremely rewarding one, especially because a lot of the time you don’t get recognition for it. It’s almost like an unsung hero sort of thing.” Finally Thompson would really like to thank all of the teachers who devoted their time to the service week. “It really proves that teachers do want to know the students, both on and off school property,” says Thompson. Morris would really like to thank the students for devoting part of their spring break to charity and the community.
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School life
Contemporary Music Night Postponed
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By Nathan Hawkins ake Powrie’s first words in his interview with The Echo were, “It’s not cancelled, it is postponed until further notice!” The annual St. George’s Contemporary Music Night has been postponed until May 9. This came as a surprise, particularly after Powrie, co-organizer and performer, announced at assembly April 12 that the event would proceed on the scheduled date. The event was originally scheduled for April 14. The new announced date was the week of May 2 according to the event’s Facebook page, and was recently confirmed for May 9. Contemporary Music Night is traditionally set on the Thursday of Arts Week and acts as a closing display of student artistic talent. But this year, miscommunication between the event’s student organizers and the St. George’s administration led to the postponing of the event.
Powrie explained, “It was postponed because we didn’t have the equipment we needed. We made the assumption that we could use the school’s sound and light equipment but that wasn’t the case. So we had to rent, but we only found out very close to the performance day.” Ed Mortimer, the teacher in charge of the school’s light and sound equipment, had no comment on the matter. The student organizers were worried that a last minute change could ruin the night. A last minute rental would also mean a last minute set up, which is extremely risky for an event of this size. They would not have had time to do a proper sound and light check, which was Powrie’s biggest concern. A problem with either would bring the event to a “screeching halt” and ruin the atmosphere that is meticulously planned. “We simply
didn’t have time do a proper job of renting [equipment], so we postponed. We decided postponing and doing the event properly was better than following the schedule and putting on a shabby show,” stated Powrie. He also promised to make sure the new event date does not conflict with AP Exams. Several of the students performing at Contemporary Music Night are also taking AP courses, and so their final exams are also in the same week. As well, Powrie noted that people would be less likely to attend the night if they had AP exams the next day. While this year’s event has had more organizational problems than in previous years, Powrie has one last thing to say about the concert. “Contemporary Music Night is a time when all good things come together in an explosion of awesomeness. It may be a little later than previous years, but it will happen and it will be awesome.”
A new perspective on modern art Brian O’connor’s display features international modern art
O’Connor relaxes in his office after the stress of Arts Week.
By Nathan Hawkins rian O’Connor, senior art teacher, led an Arts Week initiative to make art relevant to the entire school body. Many students not involved with an arts program find very little opportunity to connect with art, so O’Connor displayed modern art in a context that everyone can appreciate. “School is hard work, much time is spent getting proficient at things we are not good at. But we can aspire, and the wall is simply examples of innovation and inspiration from the past year. It is not just art, but it is all creative and passionate,” O’Connor pronounced. Kristofer Norris, a grade 11 stagecraft student, supported this endeavour. “I never really understood art, especially modern art. That just looks like garbage to me.” Norris is not the only one who
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holds this sentiment. Modern art has received criticism from the humblest artists to the richest art collectors and everyone in between; it has also been controversial from its very creation. The school is a microcosm to reflect this. Norris said people often like to “look at a pretty picture” and are not interested in, or even disgusted by, modern art. After looking at O’Connor’s display, Norris was thinking differently. “This display makes me look at ‘modern art’ from a whole new perspective. It made me stop for a minute and redefine what I categorize as modern art,” mused Norris. The modern art display is O’Connor’s way of encouraging students to think innovatively and to find inspiration. It features environmental art, technological art, functional design, and many other sub-genres that aren’t of-
ten thought of as modern art. One of the highlight pieces was Touch Wood, a cellphone with a body that was made from salvaged cypress. It combined environmentalism, technology, and functional design into one device, which many people wouldn’t consider modern art. “The wall may creatively inspire a few individuals, or it may demonstrate for some that the world they are growing into is more adventurous and imaginative than ever before. The facility that the boys of St George’s need to cultivate is their imagination,” explained O’Connor. One of the newly named Rigg art scholars, Josiah Tsang, said, “I really support this project. I have always found art to be very personal. Since a viewer can never know the whole story behind a piece, the viewer makes up a story. This means the observer decides what an art piece is about, or even if it is art or not! Mr. O’Connor’s display can give students new insight into what they do and do not consider art.” O’Connor’s display received a very positive response. O’Connor isn’t really sure whether there is a “next step”. He feels that he planted the seeds, and hopes to sit back and watch them grow. “Hopefully this inspires people to go and look and find for themselves. And also to realize that the world is changing so fast,” he said. “There is just an unlimited number of possibilities for the future and the old fashioned way of thinking about a career no longer exists.”
A collage of student artists featured on this year’s Contemporary Music Night (photos by Shawn Lawrence)
Cont. “Indoor Rowing” page 4
After the race, he spent some time recalling his ascent in the rowing scene. Humble beginnings as a Junior C rowing a few times a week; graduating to the Junior B title the following year; new coaches and a new style of technical rowing in Grade 10; and more new coaches this year as a Junior A. He reminisced about all the regattas, the long winters training on the ergometer, and the Saturday morning devoted to the boathouse. Segal mentioned with a smile, “Let me say that the toughest part of rowing isn’t the racing. It’s the early morning practices; I’m serious! I’m really not an early morning person and I’m usually half asleep for the first few minutes of practice. The entire rowing team practices a minimum six times per week, either together, or on our own time. Returning from Boston with my result made me realize what all that work was for.”
Clearly the rowing coaches finally got the message across. The coaches differ greatly in coaching techniques, but in the end they all hold a similar belief that valuable titles are earned by an equivalent amount of hard work and determination. “Competing at the highest level [of competition] is the ultimate reward for training hard. If I hadn’t done as well at C.R.A.S.H. Đ B., I would have figured out what went wrong so I could do better next time. As it happened, I prepared a race plan and pretty much stuck to it. So, I can’t fault myself for not doing better. However, it opened my eyes to the rest of the world and showed me the possibilities which can be achieved at the pinnacle of athleticism. I do believe that there is lots left in me and I’m eager to explore that. As for more international competition, not only do I see myself continuing to enter events like C.R.A.S.H. Đ B but I do hope to attend a university which will allow me to pursue rowing on an international level along with my studies.”