Old Boy NEWS
School of Life: Jon Kay on the virus
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n May 15, the Selwyn House Experiential Education Department invited Old Boys and guest speakers to give online workshops to SHS Middle & Senior students via Zoom. Called the School of Life, the program included workshops by Old Boys and friends of the school. As a journalist with an engineering degree, Jonathan Kay ’85 told students at the May 15 School of Life online event at Selwyn House that he was frustrated by the gap in practical information about how the novel coronavirus is spread in our society. Researching the topic for Quillette magazine, where he is Canadian editor, Jonathan made his own analysis of reports from the pandemic to try to make sense of the sometimes contradictory advice coming from government and medical sources. “I’ve tried to argue for a little more science in how we implement social distancing rules,” he said. Jonathan was intrigued by an event known to emidemiologists as a “superspreader,” where an unusually large number of people are infected at a single public event. Most of these take place in an inclosed space filled with people engaging in any loud activity that involves singing, shouting or other vigorous vocalizing.
Old Boys’ Assoc. news UPCOMING EVENTS 21st Annual Young Old Boys’ Barbecue - Aug 19, 2020 42nd Annual Montreal Old Boys’ Reunion - Sept 25, 2020 Founder’s Day - Nov 26, 2020
Virtual Golf raises $40,850
The First Annual Old Boys and Friends’ Virtual Golf Tournament, held on June 11-12, 2020, raised $40,850. Highest scorers were: Stephen Tsoukas 2006 - 7, Glenn Funamoto (Parent of Old Boy) - 7, Gail Gavan (Former Staff) - 6, Geoff Dowd (Former Staff) - 6, Scott McMillan 2002 - 5, Fiona Cooper (Former Staff) - 5, Jeffrey Lee 2010 - 5, Christopher Blake 2000 - 5, Holden Powell 2017 - 5. The top four golfers will have their names engraved on the Tim Shorter’s Downunder Trophy as our winning foursome for this year.
New OBA Board elected
The Montreal Old Boys’ Reunion on September 27, 2019, (see page 21) included the Annual General Meeting of the Old Boys’ Association. The following Old Boys were named to the executive: Joshua Wisenthal ’99 was elected as the new president for the 2019-2020 term, replacing outgoing president CharlesAlexandre Vennat 2014. The new vice-president is Kyam ShellSchnitzer 2008. Other board members are: Mohsen Aziz 2003, EJ Boffey 2012, Evren Boisjoli 2008, Aria Khiabani 2019, Thomas Konigsthal ’74, Sean McKinnon ’98, Benjamin Spencer 2000, and Jason Tsoukas ’99. Veritas, page 44
“Certain kinds of events are extremely likely to spread the disease, but a huge amount of behaviours remain fairly safe,” Jonathan told the students. He found the superspreader phenomenon occurred at religious gatherings, musical events, and curling bonspiels, but found no instances in movies, theatre events, or on air flights, where everyone is facing the same direction. “Do you think things will go back to normal soon?” one student asked. “No.” But, “Life will go on.” Other Old Boys taking part in the workshops were: J.J. Molson 2014, Benjamin Bedard 2013, Kyam Shell-Schnitzer 2001, Dr. Don Vinh ’92, Luke 2018 and Dylan 2017 Kalaydjian, Aria Khiabani 2018, Jake Star 2017 and Gabriel Dannenbaum 2016, Will McLernon and Israel Tamale (both 2017), Reid Hannaford 2012 and Evren Boisjoli 2008 and Thomas Dalton 2017.
Career Day returns
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his year, Selwyn House School brought back its annual Career Day for Senior School students. On Nov. 12, all students got the chance to select from sessions featuring 15 guest speakers from various professions. The speakers represented a talented and diverse group of Old Boys and Selwyn House parents with careers in art, business, law, medicine, technology and more. Old Boy Dr. Dino Zammit speakers were: John Kardos ’83, VP of Business Development, RMC; Evren Boisjoli 2008, Founder and Post Producer, Outpost MTL; Nic Cabana 2006, Senior Animator, Framestore; Michael Kronish ’86, President and Executive Producer, PHI Studios; Liam Paull ’99, Assistant Professor, Université de Montréal; Edward Garson ’89 Software Engineer and Technology Consultant; Adrian Schauer ’96, CEO, AlayaCare; Trevor Ham ’87, Brand and Strategy Consultant; Justin Vineberg ’88, Partner, Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg; Dylan Jones 2003, Criminal Attorney, Boro, Frigon, Gordon & Jones; and Dr. Dino Zammit 2006, Plastic Surgeon, McGill University Health Centre.
