Transformation lies at the heart of the Shawnigan Experience. Change is not for the faint of heart, and transformation demands much of the people who take up the challenge.
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n some ways, the Shawnigan of the 1970s had been on the defensive, reacting to successive administrative changes and failing repeatedly to gather momentum. By the 1980s, the School was ready for proactive change.
One key person still needed convincing, however. Then–Board Chair Dr. Peter Banks was the product of an English boys’ boarding school, and was the last significant holdout against this potentially revolutionary change. Once Campbell convinced Peter Banks, it was full steam ahead.
The difficulties of the 1970s had made the logistics of a move to co-education formidable, though Derek Hyde-Lay, among others, had broached the idea with the Board of Governors. Darrell Farrant, Headmaster from 1978 to 1983, said that “Girls should have the opportunity to receive a top-class Shawnigan education, in facilities unrivalled anywhere.”
Dr. Banks swiftly initiated a Board vote on co-education — which came back a unanimous “yes.” Soon afterwards, alumni returned a 97 percent endorsement of the decision.
It fell to his successor to make this change happen. In 1983, on behalf of the Board, Chair John Kaye ’54 appointed Doug Campbell as Headmaster. Campbell believed that, while Shawnigan was a good school, co-education could make it a great one. He methodically canvassed teachers, Board Chairs and Heads of independent schools across Canada for their views on coeducation. The collective force of the responses led Doug and the Board to weigh tradition against modern social relevance.
Leslie (Reid) Carr, the first Director of School House, helped the girls manage their new environment with equal measures of grace and firmness. The first thirty-five girls arrived on campus September 6, 1988. As Carmen Zens ’90 described it, “In that first year, we all felt that we were part of something special — that we were pioneers.” They had been preceded two years earlier by Renate Grass ’89 when she had been allowed to attend due to the tragic loss of her mother. These young women form a unique group of alumnae in our history who paved the way for future generations.