Past & Present Fall 2009

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Crescent School

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Fall 2009


COYOTE KICKOFF &

Sept 26 9–6

alumni homecoming

r! s e s c i m soc t ’ f n f Do sta s. v s nt e r pa

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Enjoy a fabulous day of fun and School spirit for Crescent friends of all ages— ƐŽĐĐĞƌ͕ ĐĂƌŶŝǀĂů͕ ǀŽůůĞLJďĂůů͕ Y͕ ϭϵн ŚŽƐƉŝƚĂůŝƚLJ ůŽƵŶŐĞ͕ ĚƵŶŬ ƚĂŶŬ͕ ĐŚĞƐƐ͕ ĨĂĐĞ ƉĂŝŶƟŶŐ ĂŶĚ ŵŽƌĞ͊ Schedule of Events

Soccer/Volleyball Schedule

ͻ ƌĞĂŬĨĂƐƚ ŽƉĞŶƐ Ăƚ ϵ Ă͘ŵ͘ ͻ For a complete schedule of team games go to the Green Room ͻ Y ůƵŶĐŚ ŽƉĞŶƐ Ăƚ ϭϭ͗ϯϬ Ă͘ŵ͘ ͻϭϵн ,ŽƐƉŝƚĂůŝƚLJ >ŽƵŶŐĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ >ŝďƌĂƌLJ ͻ^ƌ ŝǀ ϭ ƐŽĐĐĞƌ ǀƐ͘ ^ƚ͘ DŝŬĞ͛Ɛ ϭ͗ϯϬ Ɖ͘ŵ͘ ϭϮ – ϱ Ɖ͘ŵ͘ ͻ^ƌ ŝǀ ϯ ƐŽĐĐĞƌ ǀƐ͘ ůƵŵŶŝ ϯ͗ϭϱ Ɖ͘ŵ͘ ͻ ůƵŵŶŝ ZĞƵŶŝŽŶ ϲ – ϵ Ɖ͘ŵ͘ and... ůƵŵŶŝ ĐŚĂŵƉŝŽŶƐŚŝƉ ƐŽĐĐĞƌ ƚĞĂŵ ĐĞůĞďƌĂƚŝŽŶ ǁŝƚŚ ŝĐŬ ,ŽǁĂƌĚ


FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

What Makes Crescent Unique? In the marketing arena the million-dollar question is always some variance on the theme: what makes your product unique, why should people invest in what you are selling rather than what the competitor is offering, and what is your hook? Great questions. And the answer in reference to Crescent School? Well, we are a school, so excellence in academics has to be there. A fit mind needs a fit body, so we must offer a superior athletics programme. Don’t forget the arts to feed the imagination and develop the creative psyche. Throw in leadership, service and outreach, and a safe environment– you’ll have a darn good school. But will it be the best?

on the cover Photo by Paul Parsons (P ’07 ) Blake Parsons ‘07 was named to the 2009 Canadian Under 23 National Rowing Team. In July, Blake travelled to Racice, Czech Republic to compete for Canada at the World Rowing Championships. Story on page 31.

EDITOR: Sue Gillan (P ‘02), Director of Communications and Marketing COPY EDITOR: Laura Pink CONTRIBUTORS: Angela Barbieri Neil Campbell (P ‘94) Stephanie Lang Laura Pink PHOTOGRAPHERS: Betty Ann Armstrong Angela Barbieri Sue Gillan (P ‘02) D’Arcy Glionna Stephanie Lang Lindsay Watt Harriet Wynne-Jones Sean Zaffino Many members of our Crescent Family DESIGN : Chris Simeon, September Creative Communications and Harmony Printing Ltd.

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Cert no. SW-COC-002063

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

Take a look at the marketing material from other independent schools across Canada – their advertisements, their websites, their viewbooks. There’s probably not one that doesn’t guarantee all of the above. So how can Crescent stand out? It won’t be by offering something unique – if it’s worth doing in a good school, someone will have thought of it already. As Colin Lowndes, Deputy Head and Head of Upper School, once glibly pointed out, if we had the absolute best Knitting Club in the universe at Crescent School, it likely wouldn’t cause a line-up at the door. We can – and indeed we do – strive to be the best at everything we do. But we do a lot. If we wanted to be the best academic school, we could choose our students based solely on brain power; if we wanted to be the best school for athletes, we could admit some hockey or soccer superstars. But take a look at our mission: Men of Character from Boys of Promise. It’s all about character, first and foremost. That’s what we promise, and living up to that promise should be what we do best. Everything we do at Crescent is in support of fulfilling the mission and living by our core values: respect, responsibility, honesty and compassion. Are we successful? Our alumni will tell – over time; the journey doesn’t end with graduation from Crescent. Our critics tell us we are well on the way.

From a parent in our recent survey: “. . . all the parents we have met really buy-in and support the Mission and Values. That the Mission and Values are real and that the school and its parents cohesively try to meet the high standards that we have set for ourselves in these areas makes the difference. Other schools might say it and some are getting “good press” for trying to copy it, but by what we hear on the parent grapevine, no other school community has come close to doing it to the degree that Crescent has.”

From the Canadian Educational Standards Institute (CESI) in their 2009 accreditation report: “. . . we were struck by the school’s genuine commitment to its Mission of developing “Men of Character from Boys of Promise,” as well as to its Core Values of Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Compassion . . . . The Visiting Committee’s commendations focus on . . . Crescent School’s clarity of Mission, resulting in a nurturing, “boy friendly” environment.” Our Mission is aspirational and unique. Its success may not be easily measured in the longterm, but if we are fully committed to living this honourable mission in our programmes, our interactions with students, parents, staff and the community, in everything that we do and for which we stand, we may well have found that unique and wonderful why-factor that differentiates Crescent School from all others.

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A Place in the World HEADMASTER’S MESSAGE HERE one goes to school is no trifling matter. The amount of time “doing” school is nothing short of staggering. Take Crescent: at the bare minimum, boys arrive at 8:30 and leave at 3:30 – seven hours. There are, on average, 172 days per school year. A quick calculation gives us 1,204 academic hours from September to June, not counting the time doing homework, enjoying co-curricular activities, and participating on the numerous field trips – occasionally in some far-flung corner of the globe.

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Because Crescent has a great record of retaining its students, most of those bright lads who enter tremulously in grade 3 find themselves on the stage on Graduation evening wondering how it all went by so quickly. That’s 10 years of Crescent-intensive schooling, and that translates into 12,040 hours of doing school before heading off to universities around the world. Now hold that thought, and consider some of the research that Malcolm Gladwell has done on successful individuals that he writes about in Outliers. He posits that to become an expert at anything, one needs to put in 10,000 hours at that task, and he dubs it the 10-year rule. (The only exception he and his team of researchers could find was the chess grand master, Bobby Fischer. He managed the task in nine years, which is still quite a few hours spent considering the available algorithms on an eight-by-eight chess board). So parents, alumni and students might well ask, “After all those hours at school, in what is a Crescent boy an expert?” It can’t be in Mathematics or English or French, for example; those and all the other subjects take up only a select portion of each day.

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Totting up all the hours familiarizing oneself with the vagaries of irregular verbs over the course of a Crescent life, for example, might make a student passably fluent, but hardly francophonic. Even the most diehard robotics participants or soccer players can’t rack up enough hours to become, for Gladwell, an expert. Does this mean that the 12-thousand -plus hours spent at Crescent creates a cadre of academic dilettantes? Let’s examine the issue from another angle. Our mission at Crescent is clear and resonant, and is embraced by our community: Men of Character from Boys of Promise. Our values are prominently displayed everywhere you look, and are evident in the extraordinary number of interactions that unfold – planned or unplanned – each day at 2365 Bayview Avenue. I reference our mission because it is the one thing I know that is a constant throughout every class and every practice and every game. Our mission transcends the day-to-day curricular minutiae that variously inspires and challenges our students. In essence, we have at least two curricula: the stated, rigorous and prescribed academic programme, and the unstated, amorphous and unprescribed one – the meta-curriculum.

Our boys are experts in the meta-curriculum. By the end of their careers at Crescent, I am convinced that they are clear as to what it means to be a man of character. In fact, they are experts in it. They have, over the span of more than twelve thousand hours, wrestled with the concepts of respect, responsibility, honesty and compassion a thousand times over. They have worked and re-worked on the emotional, social and psychological algorithms of what it is to be a man of character in this world. Out of the maelstrom that characterizes childhood and adolescence, they have found their calm centre, and have learned what it is to be an ethical, self-reliant, empathetic and courageous male adult. That’s what 12,040 Crescent hours provide our students – along with a strong foundation in all the subjects in the curriculum, a circle of steadfast friends that they can rely on for a lifetime, an opportunity to attend an excellent university, and unforgettable memories of lessons learned, games fiercely and fairly played, and joys shared. Our boys become experts in themselves – and I can’t think of a better achievement. GEOFF ROBERTS


Board Report 2008 – 2009 NY institution which strives for greatness needs to be designed and equipped to succeed, in times of stress as well in times of ease. It must be able to withstand both economic and emotional stress without losing sight of its core principles and ultimate objectives. As I write this report in early August, most economists agree the worst of this economic recession is now behind us. Events of the past year have caused significant and long lasting damage to a wide array of institutions in both the public and private sector. I am pleased to report that throughout this period, one of particular stress to the Crescent Community, our School continued to excel and move forward with increasing momentum and clarity of purpose.

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This past year saw the completion and adoption of the Centennial Strategic Plan. Evolutionary in nature, this plan will set the direction of the School for the critical years leading up to its Centennial in 2013 and beyond. Also of note, CESI (Canadian Educational Standards Institute) performed an educational audit on the School this past fall. The Board together with the Leadership Team spent considerable time preparing and performing the required materials and interviews. The resulting CESI report was particularly positive sighting improved facilities, positive environment, programmatic excellence and importantly, a clear commitment to the School’s mission across all constituents. The opening of Innes Field ushered in a new era of sports at Crescent and will enable all students to participate in an enhanced athletics programme going forward. Throughout this past year your Board has been very focused on the admissions process generally and the quality of new students entering Crescent specifically. The deteriorating economic

environment made this focus more acute. Attendance at the Schools’ seven open houses this year meaningfully exceeded that of last year. Importantly, applications for the major entry years remained constant with prior years, which may not be the case at other independent Schools in our area. Finally, the overall percentage of applicants accepting offers from Crescent increased from the prior year. Our attrition rate remains extraordinarily low and is the envy of North American independent Schools. These data points demonstrate the School’s ability to attract quality students in what remains a competitive market. Additionally, these figures are also confirmation of the high value new and existing parents place on a Crescent School education. The Board is committed to ensuring Crescent School remains the School of choice for those parents truly interested in a superior character-based education for their sons. It comes as no surprise that over this past year Crescent School has been well served by the very core principles it strives to instill in its students; respect, responsibility, compassion and honesty. Crescent completes this turbulent year remarkably strong in all

key areas and is well positioned to move forward with clear vision and purpose. On behalf of the Board of Governors, I want to thank Geoff Roberts and his entire team for their ongoing dedication and hard work. To my fellow Governors, thanks again for your ongoing support and commitment to our School. RON S. LLOYD ’79 CHAIR

Board of Governors 2009–2010 Ron Lloyd ’79................................................................................................ Chair Bill Fielding ...........................................................................................Vice-Chair Pavi Binning George Buckles.............................................................................. Facilities Chair Richard Carl .....................................................................................Development Andrew Flynn ....................................................................................... ’88 Alumni Bryan Kerdman................................................................................ Finance Chair Kate Lisus .................................................................................... Crescent Family Bruce Macdonald Nancy MacKellar......................................................................... Foundation Chair Martin McConnell ....................................................Communications & Marketing Alison Metrick................................................................................................Guild Greg Rudka........................................................................................Development Joyce Sy .............................................................................................Development Paul Tompkins ......................................................................... Development Chair Martha Tory................................................................................ Governance Chair Amanda Walton ............................................. Communications & Marketing Chair Andrew Williams '83................................................Communications & Marketing

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New Board Members

Pavi Binning

Andrew Flynn ’88

Kate Lisus

PAVI Binning and his wife Sarbjit moved to Canada from the U.K. just over a year ago. They have three children, Pavan (grade 12), Jas who recently completed her master’s degree in the U.K. and Raj who is studying philosophy at the University of Toronto.

ANDREW Flynn joins the Board of Governors as the President of the Crescent School Old Boys’ Association (CSOBA).

KATE joins the Board as Chair of the Crescent Family Committee (CFC). She has served on the CFC Executive for the past two years, as the Grade Parent Coordinator.

Pavi is the chief financial officer and chief restructuring officer of Nortel Networks and is an independent director of Loblaw Companies Limited. Previously, he was the chief financial officer and a board member of a number of major public companies in the U.K. Pavi enjoys sports, music, travelling and spending time with his family and friends. Q

After graduating from Crescent School in 1988, Andrew attended The University of Western Ontario, where he graduated with a BA in sociology. Upon graduation, Andrew joined Tann Selective Communications, a family-run marketing firm. In 14 years, Andrew worked his way up to being a partner in the firm. In 2006, Andrew completed his executive MBA at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. It was during this time that Andrew decided to switch careers and join BMO Nesbitt Burns as an investment advisor, where he specializes in family wealth management. Andrew joined CSOBA in 2006 and has held the position of Chair of the Activities Committee since 2007. Andrew’s work with CSOBA has helped invigorate the alumni programme. His commitment to mentoring and networking initiatives has resulted in new events geared towards professional development and career mentoring, while always seeking ways to improve upon our existing 30+ annual events – social, athletic, mentoring, and networking events among them. As the father of three young children (Andrew and his wife, Stephanie, have two sons and a daughter) Andrew carves out time to get involved with his children’s soccer teams and participate in triathlons, including Ironman. Andrew is currently training for a half marathon in the fall. Q

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Kate received her MBA from Schulich School of Business in 1990. She joined Procter & Gamble in 1990 where she worked in brand management and competitive analysis. She resigned from P&G in 1997 and founded Lisus Marketing Inc. providing marketing and promotional services to Heinz Canada, Minute Maid and Microsoft. In 2005, in the middle of a trip to Africa, Kate decided to focus on volunteer work. Her prior board experience includes The Leo Baeck Day School in Toronto and Yorktown Family Service Board. Kate and her husband Jonathan have three children; Madeline (grade 10 at Havergal), and two boys at Crescent, Daniel (grade 8) and Asher (grade 6). As a family, they enjoy skiing and exploring the Georgian Trail in Thornbury. Q


Alison Metrick

Joyce Sy

Andrew Williams ’83

ALISON Metrick joins the Board as President of the Crescent School Guild. She has served on the Guild Executive for the past three years and has been involved in many school activities.

JOYCE has been an active member of the Crescent community for the past 10 years. She served for many years on the Guild, as convener for the Birthday Book Programme and involved in Staff Appreciation Day, Holiday Sale and the Garage Sale. Joyce was also participated in the ’08 Gala.

ANDREW’S association with Crescent School began 38 years ago when he arrived as a grade 2 student in 1971. Along with his two brothers, David and Michael, he attended Crescent until graduation in 1983, and today is a Crescent parent of Caleb Williams, grade 9.

Alison attended York University and went on to pursue a career in the fashion industry as a buyer and consultant for major Canadian retailers and manufacturers. She had a busy, travel-filled career that she put on hold for an even busier and travel-filled life with her husband Laurence and three children – Ellie, a student at McGill University, Sam, a Crescent graduate in his first year at UBC, and Ben, in grade 10 at Crescent. Alison has been an active volunteer at all the schools her children attended, and was president of the Montcrest Parent Association for two years. Involved in many charities and fundraising initiatives, including the Canadian Cancer Society, CNIB and Heart and Stroke Foundation, Alison is passionate about cooking, reading, skiing, rug hooking, and traveling. In spite of all these activities, Alison makes ample time for her family and friends. Q

In addition to her involvement at Crescent, Joyce has volunteered with various organizations, most notably the Kidney Foundation of Canada. Joyce graduated cum laude from Yale University with a BA and earned a doctoral degree in law from Georgetown University. Joyce and her husband, Benson, have two children, Adrian ’09 and Calvin in grade 11. In her spare time, Joyce enjoys painting, golfing with her family and travelling. Q

Andrew has worked in the field of sales and marketing/communications for over 25 years, and is currently serving as a marketing director at KPMG LLP. He is an active participant in social initiatives, and serves on the board of the Yonge Street Mission and as chair of its governance committee. Each summer, Andrew leads a team on a volunteer trip to aid orphaned street children in Kenya. Andrew avidly enjoys sports including rugby, basketball and golf and the occasional triathlon. His wife,Yetti, also works in the field of marketing/ communications. In addition to Caleb, they have a daughter Tamara, who recently graduated from teacher’s college. Q

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From the Foundation The annual distribution from the local Outreach endowment fund helps to offset expenses for transporting students between schools, summer camp counsellors, and special shared experiences at some of Toronto’s leading cultural institutions that would normally be outside the budget for our partner school students and their parents.

Student Financial Aid

HE Crescent School Foundation Board, comprised of Crescent School alumni, parents and parents of alumni, has as its primary responsibility the ongoing stewardship of donations to the Crescent School Endowment Fund. These donations are invested in perpetuity and are managed by external fund managers whose performance is monitored regularly against industry benchmarks.

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Although the Crescent School Endowment, currently at just over $3 million, is modest in comparison to the endowments of many of our peer schools, the annual distribution from the endowment (approximately four per cent annually in order to protect against inflation) does have a tremendous impact upon many aspects of the School. Following are a few examples of some Endowed Funds that have been established at Crescent, and their impact upon the School.

Local Outreach One supportive Crescent family has donated significant funds to ensure the ongoing support of initiatives that Crescent has established with some of our Toronto public school partners, including Willow Park and Firgrove Schools. Through year-long tutoring programmes and a recently established summer camp programme, Crescent School is sharing its resources with organizations that need and value this mutually beneficial partnership. There is something magical in student-tostudent support programmes. These initiatives plant wonderful seeds for the future, as the learning and respect for others forms the cornerstones of character development.

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The Dentonia Scholarship Programme provides needs-based student financial aid to students whose families could not otherwise afford a Crescent School education. This initiative has been supported by The Guild Centennial Scholarship Fund, as well as two funds that have been established by graduating classes of the School in honour of two retired faculty – Doug Smith and Pat Mills. Many Crescent alumni allocate their donations in support of student financial aid as they wish to provide funding for others to have a similar educational experience. Toronto has a large contingent of top quality students to draw upon, and the variety of talents they possess enhances the learning experience for the entire Crescent community. In some instances students are provided with full funding to attend Crescent, while in other circumstances just a portion of tuition is necessary to augment what the family is able to provide. A thirdparty organization determines the amount of funding that each student is allocated. Currently, just three percent of Crescent students receive needs-based student financial aid. With more endowment, Crescent could increase the breadth and depth of talented students at the School.

Research and Development in Boys’ Education/Crescent Student Services Crescent is a boys’ school by intention, not by accident. We know that boys and girls learn and develop differently and we embrace and engage in research nationally and internationally to ensure that we are implementing the best programmes to ensure that our boys receive a first-rate and

appropriately tailored education. Through partnerships with SickKids Hospital, OISE/UT, and UPenn in the U.S., and other organizations, Crescent is actively involved and is leading the way for Canadian independent boys’ schools in implementing leading research findings into our classrooms and co-curricular activities. Many of the families whose boys have been positively impacted by the efforts of Dr. Michael Leatch, Director of Crescent Student Services (CSS), have donated endowed funds to ensure that we can continue to access and participate in educational research and professional development for our teachers. Students who may require extra support, as well as those seeking additional challenges, are all welcomed by Dr. Leatch and his professional staff in CSS. The professional development that is supported by donations and is facilitated through hands-on research by our faculty ensures that our boys are being taught the best curriculum, through the best teaching methods, by some of Canada’s most committed educators. Our donors take pride in their contributions, as we keep them informed of the latest developments at Crescent, all made possible due to their generosity and their belief in Crescent School. These are just a few examples of how endowed donations that are directed to The Crescent School Foundation can positively impact the School. Should you wish to learn more about supporting or establishing a named endowed fund, please contact John Lynch, Chief Advancement Officer, at jlynch@crescentschool.org, or 416-449-2556 ext. 242. NANCY MACKELLAR P ’07 CHAIR, THE CRESCENT SCHOOL FOUNDATION

Foundation Board 2009-2010 Peter Corolis ’75, P ’11, ’13 Michael Donnelly ’88, P ’18 Bob Livingston, P ’02, ’05, ’07 Jason Melbourne ’90 W. Ian Palm ’85 Jonathan Pollack ’89, Past Chair Tim Wiggan ’90, P ’19


Crescent Family Committee (CFC) Report 2008-2009 N June, the CFC completed another busy and fulfilling year supporting School and Guild initiatives, reinforcing Crescent’s unique sense of community and facilitating the communication link between home and school. Thank you to the many parents who served as Grade Parents, Parent Ambassadors, Past Parent Reps, Crescent Family Committee executive and event volunteers. Your contribution to the Crescent community is greatly appreciated.

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The CFC also thanks Sue Gillan for her invaluable help as staff advisor and communications expert. Her support and guidance helped ensure communication was accurate and consistently reflected the culture at Crescent School. A special thank you to Barb Black, Chair of the CFC for the past two years, for her strong and inclusive leadership. Under Barb’s guidance, the CFC significantly strengthened two programmes, the Grade Parent Programme and the Parent Ambassador Programme, and initiated a third, the Past Parent Programme. Barb ensured that the CFC provided ongoing, meaningful communication to Crescent administration on behalf of the parent body. A key element of the CFC’s mission is to encourage parents to form an ongoing

and lasting tie to Crescent School. In 2008-2009, the Past Parent Programme facilitated communications between past parents and the school and between parents in the grade. Two Past Parent Reps are introduced at Graduation and we now have 15 Reps involved in the programme going back to 2002. To address the unique needs of prospective and new families, Parent Ambassadors assist at our Open Houses welcoming guests and answering Lea Anne Watt (P ’14) and Kate Lisus (P ’14, ’16) questions. After the events, year, Grade Parents provided opportunities the Ambassadors phoned to bring parents together and facilitated each prospective family to provide a communications between home and School. ‘Crescent parent’ perspective in their school selection. I look forward to working with the talented group that joins me to form the 2009-2010 Grade Parents continue to form the largest CFC Executive. Our dedicated committee group of volunteers under the CFC – with of volunteers will continue to work in two per class in the Lower and Middle partnership with the Guild, the Heads of Schools and two per grade in the Upper Schools and Director of Communications, School. The re-introduction of the US to support and guide parents to an ongoing Grade Parents was a great success and is and lasting tie to Crescent School. now an ongoing part of the Grade Parent Programme. During the 2008-2009 school

KATE LISUS CFC PRESIDENT 2009-2010

Crescent Family Committee 2009-2010 Kate Lisus ................................................................................................................... Chair Sally-Ann Main ....................................................................................................... Secretary Anne Marie Mayne ...................................................... Grade Parent Programme Coordinator Megan Hill ............................................................................................ Lower School Liaison Jane Freund .........................................................................................Middle School Liaison Anne Murray .........................................................................................Upper School Liaison Lalie Harcourt-Park ..............................................................................Upper School Liaison Pam Lewis .......................................................................... Parent Ambassador Coordinator Wartha Kwong ........................................................................................ Parent Ambassador Meme Seto.............................................................................................. Parent Ambassador Karen Daly .............................................................................................. Past Parent Liaison Julia Thomson....................................................................................... Guild Representative Management Sue Gillan.................................................................................. Director of Communications

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Guild Report 2008-2009 volunteerism, fundraising, social events, outreach initiatives and by serving as ambassadors to our community.

HE Crescent School Guild is an important ingredient in what makes our School such a special place. As the parent association of the School, it is the heart and soul of our community, the Crescent family.

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Over thirty years ago seven volunteers founded the “Ladies Guild” and set upon a mission to bring together the Crescent community and enhance the overall welfare of the School. These dedicated parents raised $500 to purchase library books, and what began as something relatively simple turned into a commitment and a tradition that has grown bigger and better each year. The “importance of school, home and community influences upon the total upbringing of boys” was part of their passion, and while much has changed since, the commitment and goals remain the same. The Guild of today is dedicated to enhancing the overall welfare of the School by fostering a sense of community through

How do we do this? With you, our volunteers! Your support and commitment to our activities is not only important to the success of these events, but also sends a definitive message to our boys that we care. Time and time again we are reminded that our boys of promise are in the very best place to become men of character. Your participation is vital in helping the Guild help Crescent, and I know you will agree that our boys benefit in strides– gaining and growing from our support and participation. Anyone can volunteer. In fact, you will find is difficult not to – a testament to everyone’s commitment to the Crescent family!

Alison Metrick presents the Jerry Friedman Scholarship to top student in grade 9, Leonard Chiu

It was a grand year. Kicking off with Coffee in the Courtyard, Guild activities were set in motion. The

Crescent School Guild Executive 2009-2010 President .........................................................................................................Alison Metrick Past-President.....................................................................................Catherine Demeroutis Honorary President .............................................................................................Lori Roberts Vice President................................................................................................. Julia Thomson Treasurer .......................................................................................................... Carole Leung Secretary ............................................................................................................Judy Ranieri Communications............................................................................................... Ann Williams Coyote’s Den Convenor....................................................................................... Barb Warren Coyote’s Den Treasurer.................................................................................. Nancy Fullerton Garage Sale Convenor .........................................................................................Debbie Bell Assistant Garage Sale Convenor............................................................. Charlotte Youngson Holiday Sale Convenor ...................................................................................Wendy Southall Assistant Holiday Sale Convenor....................................................................... Andrea Wolff Fundraising Sales Convenor ......................................................................... Sharon Fielding Birthday Book Convenor.................................................................................. Carolina Melis Social Events Convenor ...................................................................... Carolyn Christodoulou Assistant Social Events Convenor............................................................... Michelle Halbert School & Community Convenor .................................................................Shannon Rancourt Assistant School & Community Convenor........................................................Amrita Pandey Crescent School Staff Advisor.............................................................................. Sue Gillan

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Coat and Boot Drive, was followed by the Lower School Halloween Party and Middle School Madness. All were fantastic events. Volunteers assisted the School with tutoring programmes at Firgrove and Willow Park Public Schools, school supplies were collected and sent off with our international

who helped. Monies from these initiatives will fund Prize Day awards, Outreach programmes, School events and the Guild Centennial Scholarship. The Guild was able to present the School with a cheque for over $150,000. Thanks to everyone for their dedication and behind the scenes hard work.

Congratulations to Barb Silverberg, Sue Riedlinger and Josie Chan. You each took volunteerism to new heights. This upcoming year we’re looking for an equally exciting and rewarding schedule of activities, maybe even setting new records!

As the parent association of the School, the Guild is the heart and soul of our community, the Crescent family. Outreach trips, the Holiday Sale Cocktail Party, Holiday Sale and fundraising events were rounded out by the collection of holiday hampers that were distributed to a family in need through the Heart to Hand Programme. The cold and snow did not keep anyone away from the Lower School Bingo night or the Annual Parent Luncheon held in February. Our Birthday Book Programme broke all records this year and the Garage Sale held in April was the biggest and best yet. The Coyote’s Den continued to bring our boys and families everything needed for the busy days at Crescent School. New initiatives included the Cottage Sale and the Blue Blazer Sale. I might add that every event was promoted through the Green Room website – even the registrations. All paperless! The Guild is one of the largest financial contributors to the School. Our revenues are raised through the profitable, but fair value Coyote’s Den, the Birthday Book Programme, the Holiday Sale and the Garage Sale. These events this year were record breaking, both in funds raised and the number of volunteers

Josy Chan (P’ 07, ’09), Barb Silverberg (P’ 09), Sue Riedlinger (P’ 09)

Our 2008-2009 Guild President, Catherine Demeroutis, completed here mandate of bringing together the Crescent community. There was no doubt that her commitment to “community” and “connectedness” went over and above. She not only led our hardworking executive through a remarkable year of busy events, she herself was the most active and enthusiastic volunteer, spending countless hours planning, guiding and organizing as well as rolling up her sleeves and putting in the required elbow grease! Her commitment and dedication to providing every opportunity for Crescent parents to connect was evident – with everyone wanting to be involved. We all thank you, Catherine. You were amazing!

Crescent School is ready to take on its next phase with planning the upcoming Centennial Celebration and the onset of the New Strategic Plan. It is an exciting time in our School’s history. I am honored to be working with our 2009-2010 Guild Executive, a passionate and ready-to-go team, that has already shown a commitment and dedication beyond description. We have an action packed year ahead! I welcome you to get involved, have fun and participate, as you become part of our fantastic and rewarding Crescent family. ALISON METRICK GUILD PRESIDENT 2009-2010

Each year the Guild Volunteer Awards are given to dedicated, graduating parents. The 2008-2009 recipients were honored at our Annul Parent Luncheon in February.

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Crescent’s Research Alliances Yield National Recognition and the Best in Classroom Practices boys have volunteered to date and the project will be extended to Middle School boys in the 2010 school year. Driving to the lab the Upper School boys on this day were asked why they volunteered for the study. The usual teenaged answers that focused upon missing school, satisfying the mandatory provincial requirement for community service hours, and the “coolness” of seeing your brain in detail were followed by a thoughtful pause. After a few moments one boy said that it was “also the right thing to do.” When asked to

Everything we do at Crescent is based in current research on the most effective ways to engage and educate boys. T’S a cold winter day and three boys from the Upper School are making their way down to the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) to take part in a research project that will be educational, give the boys an experience that few in the country will have and allow them to give back to the greater community. As we travel through Toronto rush hour traffic the journey down to the lab by taxi takes about 50 minutes – ample time to engage the boys in conversation regarding their thoughts about participating in the study. Prior to volunteering the boys were briefed about the project, specifically that the investigation is concerned with documenting, through functional magnetic imaging (fMRI), normal adolescent male development. Parents and boys were informed that subjects would be asked to complete various cognitive activities both in and out of the fMRI machine, that participation was voluntary and that they could withdraw from the project at any time. Approximately two dozen

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elaborate the boy recounted his visit to Sick Kids when as a child he came down with a fever of unknown origin and spent a week in the hospital. Another boy spoke up and said that he had been treated a number of times as a child for fractures and sprains following a penchant for snowboarding and stunt BMX riding. The third boy joined the conversation telling us he had also been to Sick Kids for various ailments as a youngster. I told the boys of my own few visits many decades ago to Sick Kids that were similar to their experiences. The conversation turned to giving back, and that participating in the project that day was one small token of appreciation that these students could return for their gratitude. One student in the taxi summed up, “If I can help someone in the future by spending a few hours today, then that is a day well spent.” There was agreement all around in the taxi that day.

The Sick Kids investigation is only one of many projects that we are involved with at Crescent that centre upon various educational and social-emotional topics important to raising boys in a modern world. In fact, there is no other prepatory school in Canada that is leading the way in promoting and supporting research on issues important to boys more than Crescent. In this area we are not a leader but the leader. An important question is why do we feel the need to be so heavily committed to research into boys’ education? Can we not simply leave that to the universities, picking and gleaning what we need? The simple answer to this query is no; however a more in-depth examination is complicated and involves the recognition of the global context of gender education that is both historical and political. Historically the education of girls, traced back thousands of years, has focused upon non-academic pursuits. Boys were generally seen as the gender that should receive the opportunities for advanced education. This has only changed in North America during the past 40 or so years. However, even today on a global scale the educational and social oppression of girls and women continue at an unprecedented rate. In many parts of the world the education of girls is viewed as counterproductive to the goals of some societies. In many impoverished nations the male child will be given the opportunity of education while the girls of the family remain at home. These are not isolated incidents but are in fact the norm throughout much of the world. One might ask, though, how does this specifically impact the boys at Crescent School and how does the Crescent research commitment fit in? It is crucial to understand that the global educational context explicitly impacts what kinds of projects are sponsored through governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as UNESCO, and universities. The grant money that supports large scale research projects unfortunately is often unfavourable, within the global context of


education, with regards to projects that involve the education of boys. In relation to other disciplines scholars who concentrate upon the educational advancement of issues related to boys are very much in the minority across university campuses worldwide. Further even in Canada the idea of single gender male education is very much a minority prospect. The Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), of which Crescent is a member, consists of 79 schools across the country. It will be surprising for some to realize that only seven schools or eight per cent of membership consist of boys’ schools. Perception is also complicated by the fact that five of those schools are in Toronto with only two others across the entire nation. Those of us committed to single gender male education are very much in the minority in Canada.

faculty, developing individual projects, and working to support doctoral level candidates on dissertation projects that are boy focused. Dr. Wayne Martino from Western is the one of the pre-eminent scholars on issues of educating boys and is currently working with Crescent faculty and students. He writes of the Crescent commitment to research: “We were particularly impressed by the leadership and commitment to research and professional development at Crescent – support for an impressive research programme and partnerships with universities. This level of commitment is rare amongst schools in our experience as researchers. The teachers are highly committed professionals who are supported

gain a greater understanding of how the things you see everyday at Crescent, and possibly take for granted, are actually based on research. The best teaching strategies are subtle – things that educators do which students don’t consciously perceive. Research is similar. In the best application of research, ideas seamlessly flow and become part of the day-to-day functioning of an effective school. It is a complicated topic and one in which we are not only consumers but also now producers of research. In a very short time Crescent staff have become recognized across the country for their expertise and are regular presenters at conferences,

From within such global, national and local contexts the Board of Governors and Headmaster recognized the need for Crescent to take on a leadership role and develop a programme that would promote and support research into boys’ education. In two short years, under Deputy

Chris Leung '09 taking part in the fMRI study at SickKids last year

Headmaster Colin Lownde’s guidance and Dr. Michael Leatch’s direction, Crescent has become known nationally and internationally as a school committed to research into educational issues which impact boys – a concept embraced by the academic community. We have developed partnerships with universities and other research institutions to support and promote research and development into boys’ education. Current partnerships include the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Toronto, York University, The University of Western Ontario, the University of British Columbia and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Crescent faculty are actively involved with research pursuits; collaborating with world-class research

in providing a rigorous, progressive and intellectually demanding curriculum through effective leadership. We look forward to an on-going relationship.” Everything we do at Crescent is based in current research on the most effective ways to engage and educate boys. From the new Innes Field that benefits all, to classroom organization in the Lower School, to planning “rites of passage” opportunities in the Middle School, to altering the Upper School timetable in recognition of the biological sleep/wake patterns of teens, research on the lives of boys’ forms the basis for effective intentional programming at Crescent. We invite you to visit the Green Room where you can read about all of our research partnerships in-depth and

consult to other schools and boards of education on educating boys, lead professional development at universities, are regularly sought as experts by media outlets and are in demand as keynote speakers. The research programme serves boys and faculty by ensuring that current educational thought is considered, adapted and implemented into the specifically Crescent environment, by allowing students and faculty to become exposed to a variety of topics and experiences, and it has provided Crescent with an opportunity to become known locally, nationally and internationally as the independent school leader in boys’ education in Canada. DR. MICHAEL LEATCH, DIRECTOR, CRESCENT STUDENT SERVICES

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Soccer’s Dick Howard and Crescent School Go Way Back FURTHER BACK THAN YOU MAY THINK, WITH PLANS TO GO FURTHER AHEAD THAN YOU MAY HAVE IMAGINED! ICK’S professional soccer career began in North America in 1966. While playing in the second/third division in England, Dick heard of a soccer league starting in North America and upon finishing his diploma, immediately took a trip across the pond. With the hope of establishing himself in North America before entering the league and turning professional, Dick looked for a job to see him through this time of transition. He applied to Crescent School and was hired as a phys. ed. teacher at the Dentonia Park campus and quickly befriended Bill Burridge. Bill, and his wife Faith became surrogate parents to the “new kid in town”, who, in turn, became a big fan of Mrs. B’s apple pies. A year later, Dick signed a professional contract to play in the fledgling North American league he had sought out, and joined the Detroit Cougars sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. One of the perks was the choice of any Ford vehicle and in true playboy fashion, he picked a Mustang. “I wish I still had it

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he had been granted Canadian citizenship and had the honour of playing for Canada in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup. Though the Canadian team did not qualify until 1986, Dick was able to become involved in Canada’s national soccer scene. At the same time he was able to return to Crescent School as the league allowed players to have jobs while being professional. From 1972-1986 Dick once again taught at Crescent School.”It was tremendous because I had some excellent headmasters,” he says. “They valued sports as being very important in the education of youngsters. Chris Gordon and John Tansey were very supportive of the programme during the time I was director of athletics and head of the phys. ed. department.” One of Crescent School’s most beloved retired teachers, Terry Bidiak, was hired by Dick who had known him when they were both playing soccer in Detroit.

“My father said to me, ‘Don’t do anything until you get an education. Get your education first and then turn professional’,” says Dick Howard. “I followed his advice, went to college and got a diploma in physical education (phys. ed.) in the U.K. and then a bachelor of science in Canada.”

today,” says Dick. “I am sure it would be worth a lot of money.” After one season, the Cougars’ franchise wasn’t viable and he was traded to the Rochester Lancers. The team won the championships in 1970; Dick was traded to Toronto. The Toronto Metros soccer team was established in 1971 and Dick stayed with the team until the mid-70s. By that time,

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In 1986 Dick had received several offers to join the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and decided to accept the position of technical director of soccer for the CSA and relocated to Ottawa. He was there for six years and in 1992 made the decision to start his own company, end the commuting, and focus on a career that included media work and FIFA-related contracts including course presentations.


Today Dick still works for FIFA in the capacity of technical advisor (one of 25 worldwide), project consultant and in addition, holds a place on their technical and development committee. His coaching qualifications include a top tier A qualification, and Dick has a significant media profile after covering every World Cup since 1990 in television broadcasts. He is a familiar face to many Canadian soccer fans having been on “the telly.” Always keeping in touch with Crescent School along the way, Dick continued to participate in alumni events. A couple of years ago Geoff Roberts asked him to be a part of the group to coordinate the project to refurbish the soccer fields. From day one until the opening of Innes Field, Dick was committed to the turf field project. And now, with a world class facility at our doorstep, Dick has accepted the title of Director of Soccer at Crescent School with the intention of regaining the School’s successful rank held in the 70s and 80s, when Crescent produced seven championship teams, and the name Crescent School was synonymous with soccer dominance in the independent school system.

Working with the Director of Athletics, Fraser Bertram, and some soccer-friendly old boys and parents, a pre-season soccer camp has been re-established to kick start the year and get the boys ready for the fall season. Dick has also been involved with the Advancement Department of the School to provide bleacher seating around Innes Field funded by the alumni from championship teams in the 70s and 80s. The benches inauguration takes place at Coyote Kickoff and Alumni Reunion in September. Making Crescent School a centre for soccer education will involve many initiatives including courses and seminars for Crescent School students, parents and staff and marketing our two fantastic facilities (Innes Field and the Field House) to Toronto’s larger community. “It is an exciting time,” says Dick. “But it also makes me feel a hundred years old

when you realize I started here in 1966... quite a few years ago.” All the better for Crescent School, however, as one of Canada’s most significant contributors to soccer and one of its biggest fans sets up shop here hoping to reclaim the School’s glory days of soccer superiority with the help of the next generation of Crescent School soccer stars. Q

In 1972 a club team from Brazil called Santos Futebol Clube came to Toronto to play an exhibition game against the Toronto Metros at Varsity Stadium before a crowd of 20,000. In a game that Toronto lost 4-2, Santos was awarded a penalty kick. In an attempt to psych out his opponent taking the penalty kick, Dick approached the player, extended his arm to shake hands and wished him good luck on his kick. From that day forward the world’s greatest soccer player ever, Pele, and Dick have been friends and Dick will infamously be known to Pele as “that crazy Canadian” for never has a goal keeper approached him and wished him good luck on a kick. By the way, Pele beat the goal keeper.

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Farewell to Allan Moore

In June, Crescent honoured Allan Moore who retired after 18 years as a teacher, coach, technical director and so much more. Congratulations, Allan, and enjoy your free time!

Allan Moore in his element

Excerpts from an address delivered at Upper School Prize Day PRIL 22, 2004: opening night of Kiss Me Kate, a great show all about show biz, and the first show in the CCL. A very special night for the whole Crescent Family, but especially perhaps, for the man whose time, research, design concepts, and passion had contributed so much to it being the magnificent and busy centre-for-the-arts that it is… Mr. Allan Moore.

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Good afternoon parents and friends of Crescent; staff and faculty; students. It is my privilege today to express on behalf of all of us, our thanks, Allan, for what you have given to us in your roles as teacher, coach, set designer and theatre manager.

Act One, Scene One: Allan says of himself that he can be rather impulsive. Al started his post-secondary academic career at the University of Toronto in math in 1971, then kinda slid into geography because, he

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now confesses, it was a bit more fun… found himself, driving a friend to Western in frosh week of fourth year and sorta thought: “This is fun too! I’ll just stay here.” He began an MA after fourth year, but thought that a teaching degree would be a good backup; didn’t complete his master’s thesis quite as planned, but got work, post B. Ed., at GM in Oshawa in the traffic department, then heard about a job in Toronto at A.E. LePage in commercial development, then a few months later, he got wind of a teaching position at Havergal in math and geography, where he was hired in 1978. And where he settled....for a little while.

Act One, Scene Two: One day in the staff room. Allan foolishly affirms that, yes, he knows what a hammer and nail are, and is instantly declared ’very handy’ and therefore, the most logical candidate to rescue their show, Benjamin Britton’s Noah’s Flood, from certain

disaster! Figuring out how to get two of every kind on board was the least of their worries: something had to be done to keep the set from falling over, which it apparently had the nasty habit of doing and so, naively, he made a few suggestions and the rest is history…and a star is inadvertently born! What you must appreciate is that Allan is not a trained set designer, or lighting designer, or sound designer. Apart from a proclivity to spontaneity, there rages within the man a terrible curiosity to understand how things work.

Act Two: Where Allan realizes it is not like him to stay too long in one place. Hired in 1991 by John Tansey and then Head of Math, James Wright, Allan joined the Crescent team as a grade 8 form teacher, alongside Doug Smith and Ross MacDonald. He was a crossover teacher for a number of years, moving between the schools, and


then most recently, an Upper School math teacher. A note about his teaching: if creative people can sometimes be unorthodox, then it is no surprise that Allan– hired, in part, to take on the challenge of grade 8s caught in the middle of curriculum shifts – needed resources which did not exist. So, he created what James Wright calls a virtual text, on his beloved Apple: hundreds of math lessons of his own making, both enriching and entertaining, as these exercises would inevitably begin with a question such as “why was the barnyard noisy?”– the answer revealing itself only upon successful completion of the problems set before you. Allan was as committed to his coaching as he was to his teaching. Highlights of his coaching career include the CISAA U14 soccer championship in his first year at the School, and then, alongside former Head of Athletics, Ken Coffin, taking the ski team to its first-ever OFSAA championship in 1993. Along the way were numerous CISAA alpine ski championships. For 14 years, Allan, a technically sound skier himself, skilfully coached our boys on the ski hill, and that’s a lot of early Wednesday mornings! When you add in having worked on every Crescent play and every Portfolio for the past 18 years, and all music concerts since the CCL’s opening, that’s a lot of late evenings and weekends too.

Act Three: A Day in the Life: Seems as if his expertise may have earned him a bit of a reputation as the go-to man! We know Allan’s already figuring out the sound, video, stage set up, set design and construction for shows and teaching a (happily!) reduced Math timetable. But he is apparently also facilitating tech support for assemblies; maintaining a video archive for the School; working with rentals; maintaining and storing theatre equipment; controlling inventory; working with our Events department and parents for those great CCL lobby parties; and training staff who don’t have the time to read manuals!

With 30 as opposed to 130 lights. No wing space, no backstage, no fly space above! But what magic you performed: turntable stages for The Wizard of Oz and Once in a Lifetime, an ingenious pulley system which allowed for the raising and lowering of massive paintings in Auntie Mame to denote the passing of time, and breathtaking interiors for The Man Who Came To Dinner and Arsenic and Old Lace.

Aldonna Stremecki with Allan at Prize Day

One of Al’s favourite theatre stories – and he tells lots and lots of them– is when former student Chris Zabaneh’01, playing the Cary Grant character with great panache, hears what he determines is a phone ringing, runs over to what he thinks might be a phone, then looks at the dial helplessly and asks, “how do you use it?” Al will also never forget that moment when the curtains opened upon the second act of The Madwoman of Chaillot, where a simple set of pillars had been transformed into a complex series of massive, gorgeous archways– there was an audible gasp from the audience.

Act Five: Where we have moved into the CCL. Moving into the new theatre brought with it a new kind of challenge. State of the art can raise people’s expectations, and I don’t

So let’s jump right into Act Four: Where we reminisce. Al, we’ve come a long way from the Hyland Hall days, but I know that we both agree the Hall holds a very special place in our hearts. Imagine having worked on a stage that is maybe one third of the CCL’s surface.

Allan with Candace Innes (P ’05, ’07) touring the under-construction CCL in 2004

just mean the audience’s! We directors have, apparently, become pretty demanding and ask for the impossible. For every show, you can expect Allan to pop by your desk a million times a day to announce, “We’ve got a problem.” Of course, we don’t take him too seriously because you see, we know that he can make three children and a Peter Pan fly to Neverland; he can hide fairies in gigantic, two-storey trees – which when made transparent by twinkle light, reveal their magical Midsummer Night’s inhabitants; can place Twelve Angry Men right in the middle of delighted audience jurors; and can create heaven on earth as he did this past Fall.

End Of Show: I see here that we have come to the end of my script but I won’t do what I do in the booth and call blackout– that would be too sad. It always is. But instead, I will take you through curtain call. It is much more uplifting and goes something like this: Speaking to my technicians, I warn curtain call, lights and music. I call backstage to ask the stage manager, if Allan Moore is in place. He says, yes, and I say ”Go music, go lights, go curtain, go Allan.” Go! Go home, already! I know you are anxious to get home to your inspirational, ever-patient and supportive wife Zuzanna. Back to your marathons and triathlons, and to your charity bike rides. Dave Barrett says he actually misses your non-stop game commentaries and looks forward to more regular rounds of golf. Back to your award-winning photography, and to the bedside of your mom of 91, about whom you care so deeply. So come on up, Al, and take a final bow! Thank you for finally settling here. ALDONNA STREMECKI HEAD OF DRAMA

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School Leaders 2009-2010 Prefects

House Prefects

Jeremy Berke

Environment

Cartier House

Taylor Rowe

Bryce Blakely

Assembly

Hudson House

Michael Alford

Liam Brown

Communications

Mackenzie House

Milton Chan

Charlie Dixon

Lower School Liasion

Massey House

Alex Mirkalami

Ian Grant

Assembly

Simcoe House

Peter Little

Steven Huang

Arts

Wolfe House

Darren Chu

Warren Kong

Grad

Tarun Koshy

Middle School Liasion

House Captains

Taylor MacPhail

Sports

Cartier House

Jeffrey McFarland

Head Boy

Harry Ainley and Rishi Jairath

Pat Rancourt

Social

Hudson House

Alex Rasmussen

Outreach

Wayne Fu and Mackenzie Kim

Mackenzie House

Mitchell Bird and Elliot Thring

Massey House

Andrew Fullerton and Oleg Baranov

Simcoe House

Connor Stein and David Williams

Wolfe House

Dustin Ashley and Michael Webb

Form Mentors Lower School

Middle School

Jonathan Bailey

Justin Pak

Richard Amelard

Kenneth Ng

Aneesh Desai

Matt Park

Matthew Bloom

A.J. Stanoulis

Erik Evans

Kevin Schreiber

Kelvin Chiu

Chris Solowiej Singh

Geoff Hewat

Crew Sisley

Geoffrey Davidson

Matthew Tompkins

Matthew Lam

Gaby Weitz

James Dent

Nicholas Yim

Stephen Lee-Cheong

Jonathan West

David Im

Peter Zhang

Jeremy Leung

Hugo Young

David Lay

Lincoln Mak

Jamie Zechner

Sean McKerroll

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Recipients 2009 GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

Robbie Dowler

Dustin Ashley

Oleg Baranov

Johnathan Li

Terence Fu

Darren Chu

Dominic Chu

Duncan Macdonald

David Monus

Zachary Kula

James Dent

Justin Pak

Andrew Murray

Jeremy Leung

Jack Federer

Henson Tam

Philip Lloyd

Henry Federer

Daniel Turk

Michael McConnell

Wayne Fu

Jeremy Wong

Jonathan Tam

Andrew Fullerton

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Prize Day 2008-2009 LOWER SCHOOL AWARDS +

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Sheila Barber Citizenship Awards Grade 3 Rohan Jain Grade 4 Alexander Logan Grade 5 Brett Balcom Grade 6 Matthew Cheung Lower School Spirit Awards Grade 3 Matthew Borg Grade 4 Timmy Seto Grade 5 Galen Frostad Grade 6 William Chapman

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House Captain Award Andrew Situ

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Guild Effort Prizes Grade 3 Charlie Fisher Grade 4 Ryan Kennedy Grade 5 Thomas Lieou Grade 6 Andrew Pham

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French Prizes Grade 3 Taylor Eccleston Grade 4 Carter Brown Grade 5 Colsen Centner Grade 6 Aleksei Wan

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Language Arts Prize Grade 3 James Engel Grade 4 Erik Rimer Grade 5 Ryan Harrs Grade 6 Luca Kong

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Art Prizes Grade 3 Peter Youngson Grade 4 Greyden Buchholz Grade 5 Sam Rose Grade 6 Tyler Rose

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Drama Awards Grade 3 Liam Lynch

Grade 4 Cam Lomax Grade 5 Blake Shyba Grade 6 Daniel Witts +

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Music Awards Grade 3 Henry James Grade 4 Stephane LeBlanc-Smith Grade 5 Stewart Kirkconnell Grade 6 choral Mark Richardson Grade 6 instrumental Winston Xing Mathematics Prizes Grade 3 Nicholas Swerhone Grade 4 Auston Xing Grade 5 Ronald Chow Grade 6 Andrew Kung Science Prizes Grade 3 Christian Gnam Grade 4 William Kim Grade 5 Aidan Mayne Grade 6 Daniel Shane Social Studies Prizes Grade 3 William Young Grade 4 Matt White Grade 5 Emanuel Vella Grade 6 Michael West

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Physical Education Awards Grade 3 Matthew Donnelly Grade 4 William Coburn Grade 5 Asher Lisus Grade 6 Hunter Crenian

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Board of Governors Boys of Promise Awards Grade 3 Daniel Goldman Grade 4 Navin Pandey Grade 5 Nicholas Wellner Grade 6 Joseph Kachura

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Valedictorian Ian Lo

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Proficiency Prizes Grade 3 Andy Mavroudis, Aaron Tang Grade 4 Benjamin Tse, Robert Wong Grade 5 Matthew Wong, Jeremy Rhee Grade 6 Alexander Solomos, Ian Lo

David Heaney Character Education Award Mark Bastow

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John S. Buckley Awards Grade 3 Harry Raftus Grade 4 Adam Pinnington Grade 5 Conor Lynch Grade 6 Cameron Pinnington

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J. W. James Award Samuel Goh

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Math Contest Prizes – Canadian Math League Grade 4 Benjamin Tse, Charles Lit Grade 5 Brad Ashby, Ronald Chow Grade 6 Hugh McCauley, Adam Murai

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Public Speaking Prizes Grade 3 Daniel Goldman Grade 4 Cam Lomax Grade 5 Alastair Lewis Grade 6 Andrew Pham

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Coyote Award Henry James

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Philip Ambrose Award Andrew Youngson

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William Burridge Scholarship Neal Ganguli

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Guild Scholarship Hugh McCauley

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Colonel J.B. Rogers Trophy Mackenzie House

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House Captain Cup Wolfe House

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Dean Voutsas House Cup Wolfe House

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Prize Day 2008-2009 MIDDLE SCHOOL AWARDS +

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Guild Effort Prizes Grade 7A Kevin Clifford Grade 7F Taran Ravindran Grade 7M Michael Venier Grade 8D Johnathan Lee Grade 8M Alex Huthcheon Grade 8S Alex Nordin

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Sheila Barber Citizenship Awards Grade7A Alex MacNicol Grade 7F Alex Mayne Grade 7M Henry Gaskin Grade 8B Mitchell Golosky Grade 8D Spencer Belyea Grade 8S Jacob Macdonald Spirit Awards Grade 7A Asher Weiss Grade 7F Tim Melis Grade 7M Eugene Shestakov Grade 8B Chris Grant Grade 8D Giorge Voutsas Grade 8S Stefan Losberg

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Anniversary Ties Art Ryan Reeson, James Gibbard-McCall, Jeffrey Carlin Music Nicholas Lao, Matt Buckles, Nicholas Mehta Drama William Christodoulou, Robert Cheung, Scott So Recipients of 300 House Points Tyler Kerdman Jonathan Bell Cameron Borland Matt Buckles Kevin Chien Matthew Corolis Tally Ferraro James Gibbard-McCall Alex Hutcheon Nicholas Latifi Johnathan Lee Kelvin Li Stefan Losberg Quinton Yau

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John Tansey Award Kevin Chien

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Art Prizes Grade 7 Sean Chung Grade 8 Toms Black

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Drama Prizes Grade 7 Cole Halbert Grade 8 Jonathan Yu

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Public Speaking Prizes Grade 7 Tyler Kerdman Grade 8 Robert Cheung

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Science Prizes Grade 7 Alex MacNicol Grade 8 Timothy Law

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English Prizes Grade 7 Jonathan Allion Grade 8 Kevin Chien

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Ronald Memorial Scholarship Tally Ferraro

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French Prizes Grade 7 Cole Rosenberg Grade 8 Matt Berger Geography Prizes Grade 7 Ryan Tam Grade 8 James Gibbard-McCall

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Director of Admissions Award Jake Fisher

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Denise Manikas Crescent Spirit Commemorative Award Adam Scott

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History Prizes Grade 7 Hytham Farah Grade 8 Chester Davidson

Middle School Liaison Award Mark Cameron Proficiency Prizes Grade 7 Alex MacNicol, Cole Halbert Grade 8 Taylor Keating, Matt Buckles

Mathematics Prizes Grade 7 Kenneth Chan Grade 8 Taylor Keating

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C.B. Gordon Scholarship Tyler Kerdman

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Pat McDonnell Scholarship Kevin Chien

Health and Physical Education Prizes Grade 7 James Osborne Grade 8 Matthew Corolis

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Bronze Medal of Knowledge Kevin Chien

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Board of Governors’ Boy of Promise Award Grade 7 Alex MacNicol Grade 8 Nicholas Lao

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John S. Buckley Award Grade 7 Ben Pitfield Grade 8 Justin Smith

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House Captains Cup Wolfe House

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Colonel J.B. Rogers Trophy Mackenzie House

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Dean Voutsas House Cup Wolfe House

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William L. Scandrett Award Kevin Chien

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Public Speaking Prizes Grade 7 Tyler Kerdman Grade 8 Robert Cheung

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The Music Award Ryan Tam

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Middle School Valedictorian Award Stefan Losberg


Prize Day 2008-2009 UPPER SCHOOL AWARDS

ACADEMIC AWARDS +

Business Studies Prize Dmitri Bourchtein

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Symons Canadian Studies Scholarship Dustin Ashley

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Civilizations in History Prize Alexander Harmantas

University of Toronto Book Prize Alistair Man

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Colgate University Book Award Jeffrey McFarland

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John Grenfell Wright MC Prize in History Nikhil Mukherjee

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Computer Studies Award Duncan Macdonald

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James Ballard Memorial Award/French Sword Eric Cheng

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Spanish Prize Simon Marsello

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Geography Prize Will Heisey

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Mathematics Prize Tim Kim

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Man Family Mathematics Prize Kevin Hu, Brandon Suen

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Health and Physical Education Award Taylor MacPhail

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Science Prize Matthew Baron

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Guild Effort Prizes Grade 9 Ryan Krajicek, Patrick White, Bjorn Kwok Grade 10 Henson Tam, Rishi Jairath, Oleg Baranov Grade 11 Warren Kong, Tarun Koshy, Jeremy Berke

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER AWARDS Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award Michael Zhang Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award in Humanities and Social Sciences Alex Rasmussen George Eastman Young Leaders Award and Scholarship Darren Chu Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology Rafi Husain

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Vladan Milic/Ontario Association of Architects Scholarship Michael Shim

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George S. Blodgett Memorial Prize Patrick Alton

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Jerry Friedman Scholarship Leonard Chiu

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Burgess Scholarship Connor Stein

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Grade 11 Academic Award Michael Zhang

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Silver Medal of Knowledge Leonard Chiu

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Governor General’s Medal Robbie Mitchnick

ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY AWARDS + Anniversary Ties Grade 9 Drama Patrick White Grade 9 Music Patrick Hui, Joshua Lee, Andrew Leung, Daniel Oh, Chris Pitfield, Mathieu Wong Grade 9 Visual Art Charlie Benson, Huzaifah Haq, Charlie Kim, Graham Pitfield Grade 9 Robotics Chris Hatsios Grade 10 Drama Erik Martin, David Merrithew Grade 10 Music Andrew DeFalco, Kevin Hu, Michael Webb Grade 10 Media Arts James Lewis Grade 10 Business Events Eric Anderson Grade 11 Music Jonathan Bailey, Peter Zhang Grade 11 Robotics Rafi Husain Grade 11 Media Arts Geoff Hewatt Grade 11 Entrepreneurship Max Calla Grade 12 Music Corey Austin, Matt Baron Grade 12 Portfolio Kris Medhurst, Marc Fielding +

Art Prize Michael Shim

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Drama Award Ian Grant, Matthew Tompkins

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Technical Merit Award James Spencer

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Dentonia Scholarships Stefan Whittaker-Lee

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Music Prize James Sproul

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Ronald Memorial Upper School Music Prize Stefan Ho

Ron Bertram/Quill and Quire Award Terence Fu

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Headmaster’s Medal Graham Rotenberg

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Guild Founders Scholarship Michael Alford

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Graduating Class Trophy Alex To

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G. H. Corolis Crescent Spirit Commemorative Philip Lloyd

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W.R.E. Williams Award Terence Fu, Michael Bolton

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Osler Trophy Eric Cheng, Mark Cameron

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Thom Family Award Robbie Mitchnick

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Susan Denton Massey Award Brett Cameron

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Old Boys Watch Robbie Mitchnick

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Board of Governors’ Medal Robbie Mitchnick

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Head Boy Pin Jeffrey McFarland

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Norris Family Robotics and Technology Award Duncan Macdonald, Toye Ojo

HOUSE AWARDS + House Captains Cup Wolfe House +

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Colonel J.B. Rogers Trophy Mackenzie House Dean Voutsas House Cup Wolfe House

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS + Ian Roberts Community Service Award Philip Lloyd +

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Lieutenant Governor’s Community Volunteer Award Terence Fu Bruce M. Hicks Public Service Award Michael Poy

CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP AWARDS + Board of Governors Awards Grade 9 Marko Popovic, Tanvir Deol Grade 10 Dustin Ashley, Oleg Baranov Grade 11 Nicholas Yim, Matti Keskikyla Grade 12 Terence Fu, Daniel Turk

GRADUATION NIGHT AWARDS + Crestissimus Crescentium Peter Hyrniak, Joshua Rotstein +

Evan Reiter Award Christopher Galt

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Effort Prize Derek Cheung

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Valedictorian Philip Lloyd

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Athletic Awards 2008-2009 PRESENTED AT THE ATHLETIC AWARDS EVENING, JUNE 11

Fall Term SPORT

TEAM

MVP

Soccer

Senior DI

U11 U10 A U10 B U10 C

Patrick Alton, Taylor MacPhail Charles Byrnes, Nathan Chan Mackenzie Kim Daniel Varga-Papp Giorge Voutsas, Jeffrey Carlin Ryan Reeson Sebbie Foster Mark Bastow, Dean Perlman Matthew Gibbard-McCall Andrew Youngson Rupert French Sam Charlton

Volleyball

Senior Junior U14 DI U14 DII

Johnathan Li Mitchell Bird Kelvin Li Aidan Leyland

Alex Rasmussen Chris Pitfield Mitchell Golosky Geoffrey Sculthorpe

X country

Senior Junior Midget U14

Jake Graham Conor Denison Dylan Amsen Jack Hayward, Toms Black Milan Miladinovic Matt Wolff

Brett Cameron Wayne Fu Graham Rotenberg Nicholas Mehta

Senior DIII Junior DI Junior D2 U14 DI U14 DII U13 U12

U12 U10

COACH’S CHOICE

Marc Fielding Rishi Jairath Charlie Benson Michael Musalem Tom Cartotto Mike Schumacher Owen Cranston Robert Wong Charlie Fisher Bryce Gilchrist

Jamie Kilburn James Engel

Winter Term SPORT

TEAM

MVP

COACH’S CHOICE

Hockey

Senior

Daniel Cameron

Junior U14 U12

Erik Martin Jeffrey Carlin Mark Bastow

Patrick Alton, Stephen Boeckh, Mark Cameron Tanner Shaw Tally Ferraro Brett Balcom

Basketball

Senior Junior DI Junior DII U14 T1 U14 T3 U13 U12 U11 U10 A U10 B U10 C (white) U10 C (green)

Brendan Lippa James MacVicar Scott Macdonald Adam Brooks Caleb Williams Thomas Chapman Nicolas Corbett Colson Centner William Coburn Jerry Zhu Ryan Dembroski Walter Raftus

Justin Pak Mitchell Bird Alex Mahoney Jack Hayward Spencer Belyea Andrew Allen Andrew Kung Aidan Mayne Jake Erdman Davis Maxwell Maxie Liang Andrew Situ

Squash

Senior Junior

Charlie Gunn Jonathan van Groll

U14

Kelvin Li

Johnathan Li Kevin Hu, Evan Garfinkel Alex Hutcheon

Level II Level I U14 A U14 B

Taylor MacPhail Peter Little Colin Williams Jake Fisher

Joshua Chan Andrew DeFalco Toms Black Ryan Fredrickson

Sean Chisholm

Jamie Pennock

Adrian Sy

Alistair Man

Ross Philips Yousef Elmor

Conor Denison

Alpine Skiing

Snowboarding Table Tennis Swimming

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Senior MS LS

Adam Murai, Neal Ganguli, Adam Pinnington


Spring Term SPORT

TEAM

MVP

COACH’S CHOICE

Badminton

Senior Junior U14

Terence Fu Wayne Fu Samuel Goh

Jason Lao Gavin Leung Michael Kwok

Golf

Senior Junior

Alex Turner

Alex Boyman Ben Foster, Robert Murphy

Rugby

Senior

Joshua Rotstein

Junior U14

Brent Parsons

U13

Michael Venier

Clark West, Taylor MacPhail, Patrick Alton, Daniel Cameron, Stephen Boeckh Matthew Geisler, Giorge Voutsas, Dylan Shiffman David Salvati

U14 DI U14 DII

Jack Hayward Spencer Belyea, Henry Gaskin, Alex Solomos

Michael Musalem

Matt Erdman Andrew Parker, Dominic Chu Andrew Allen

Mike Mida

Softball

U12 Tennis

Senior Junior U14

Tyler Kerdman

Junior Midget U14

Mark Cameron, Jake Graham Chris Pitfield Ross Phillips Toms Blacks

U13 U12 U11 U10

Ryan Fredrickson Joseph Kachura Sam Rose Charlie Cheng

Matthew Corolis, William Christodoulou Cole Halbert Adam Murai Asher Lisus Frank Kelly

Ultimate Frisbee

Joshua Chan

Chase Heinemann Maze

Baseball

Johnny Caputo

Evan Wall

Track & Field

Senior

Nicolas Corbett

Tarun Koshy Matt Murai

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Athletic Achievements 2008-2009

Fall Term

Winter Term

Spring Term

The CISAA championship teams were:

The CISAA championship teams were:

The CISAA silver medalist teams were:

U10 A soccer Junior DI soccer U14 cross country Senior cross country

The CISAA silver medalist teams were: Junior cross country U11 soccer Senior DIII soccer

Teams at OFSAA

Senior Level II A alpine skiing

The CISAA finalist teams were: Junior squash Senior squash U14 squash Snowboard U14 basketball U14 alpine ski team Senior level I alpine skiing

U14 DI softball Junior tennis Senior tennis U14 tennis Senior badminton Senior golf Senior track and field

Teams at OFSAA Track and field

Senior and Junior cross country

Other Noteworthy Accomplishments

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First year of play on Innes Field U13 soccer hosted the national CAIS tournament with 20 teams from across Canada The soccer programme continued to grow with the addition of a second U14 team and a second Junior team The squash programme grew with the addition of the U14 team who finished second this year Senior soccer toured in Bermuda in the fall Senior hockey won the Canadian Ice Sports – York Canadian Classic

Peter Little represented the School in OFSAA alpine skiing Conor Denison and Ross Philips swam at the OFSAA finals Adrian Sy won the TDCAA table tennis championship Jake Graham won CISAA Senior cross country, 1500m, 3000m, Steeple, Metros Steeple and placed 10th at OFSAA in Steeple Ethan Murai and Chris Pitfield competed at OFSAA track and field finals Senior Rugby competed in Division I for the first time Crescent School competed in its first CISAA baseball season


From the Advancement Office HE Advancement Office would like to extend sincere gratitude and congratulations to the Class of 2009 for their outstanding support of the Class of 2009 Fund. This group of remarkable young men, lead by Grad Prefect, Jake Graham, and Head Boy, Robbie Mitchnick, came together to create a meaningful legacy for their class. The combined generosity from the grads and their parents has resulted in more than $25,000 towards the fund, which the grads determined will support the Crescent School Endowment. The Class of 2009 has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to philanthropy: between local and international Outreach initiatives, the incredible support for Camp Oochigeas generated through Portfolio, Team Crescent completing the Ride to Conquer Cancer

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(see Life after Crescent for details), and supporting a number of other worthy causes. The Class of 2009 demonstrated incredible leadership in supporting their community. The spirit of giving back has been recently demonstrated by another group of Crescent alumni: during the 1970s and 1980s, Crescent School experienced what some might call a "golden era" in soccer, winning seven CISAA Championships. The teams of 1974, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1985 and 1987 (coached by Dick Howard, Geoff Roberts and David Budden) have reunited as a group to raise funds for seven new soccer benches to support the soccer programme at Crescent School. The benches will also serve to commemorate their championship victories with plaques honouring their team. Special thanks to the

soccer bench campaign co-chairs: Doug Bowerman ’80, Rob Dreesch ’86, Simon Fitzpatrick ’86, Jonathan Geisler ’80 (P ’12), Jason Melbourne ’90, Geoff Newton ’82 (P ’16), and Martin Perantinos ’76. Despite much economic uncertainty, Crescent School’s Annual Giving Programme has continued to thrive, and for that the School wants to extend a sincere thank you to all of our donors – current parents, alumni, past parents, faculty/staff and friends of Crescent — who continue to make an investment in the future of the School and our boys. When the going gets tough, the Crescent community comes together to do what it does best: show its support, encouragement, and confidence in what Crescent School is all about. Q

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Tooting Our Horn Robotics team wins big at regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Competition

Crescent School’s Robotics Team gained a lot of traction this year thanks to a number of things: a new team of mentors and staff, great timing, and scheduling of practice opportunities combined with innovative engineering expertise. For the most significant competition of the year – FIRST’s Greater Toronto Regional challenge – Crescent School’s Coyobot 10 was specifically designed to drive with increased manoeuvrability around the competition floor with its trailer attached. Teams scored by shooting balls into their opponent’s trailer. An interesting feature was that balls could be shot by robots or by human players at various positions around the ring. To make the game even more challenging, the ring was covered with a very slippery surface, providing the robots with little traction, causing them to slide and bump into each other frequently.

But the Crescent School Coyobot 10’s excellent design was geared and designed for this challenge. That, combined with an excellent drive team, made for a very successful season this year, and certainly at the FIRST competition in Toronto. After intense semi-final and final matches (against the best teams in the league), Crescent’s Robotics Team 610 (teamed in an alliance of three as per the structure of this competition) came second, earning silver medals – a huge win that has earned the Crescent School Robotics Team a considerable amount of praise and standing within the very competitive and spirited Robotics community. Team leaders: Duncan Macdonald, Toye Ojo and James Spencer (all grade 12) Driver: Josh Su, grade 12 Members of the team at the competition: Oleg Baranov, grade 10; Derek Cheung, grade 12; Max Gordon, grade 10; Chris Hatsios, grade 9; Patrick Hui, grade 9; Rafi Husain, grade 11; Rishi Jairath, grade 11; Tim Kim, grade 11; Joshua Lee, grade 9; Scott Macdonald, grade 10; George Mavroidis, grade 9; Henson Tam, grade 10; Ryan Yoo, grade 11; Patrick White, grade 9; Charles Kim, grade 9; Johnathan Tam, grade 12 and Michael Zhang, grade 11 Q

Upper School students deliver at DECA DECA (Demonstrating Excellence and Celebrating Achievement) is an international high school, business case competition. Interest in DECA increased fourfold recently at Crescent School. Only 20 students were interested in participating two years ago. This year we sent approximately 80 students to compete against over 6,000 registrants from Ontario. After competing in the DECA regional finals in Waterloo, nearly all of our students were successful in qualifying for the DECA provincial finals where over 4,000 students competed.

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Crescent School succeeded with 21 medals in 10 of the 16 categories in which we participated with top five placements in three categories including a first, third and fourth place standing. In team competition, grade 11 students Mike Alford and Darren Chu placed first in their category, grade 12 students Randall Ho and Ryan Yau finished fourth overall, and grade 10 student Eric Anderson placed third in his individual category. All five young men qualified to compete at the DECA International Competition but were not able to travel to California due to previous School commitments. Q

Kudos to the Lower School Choir and its vocalists this year The Crescent School Boys’ Choir (made up of students from the Lower School) represented the Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto in the taped portion of the Provincial Music Festival and was then awarded a $250 scholarship from the Kiwanis Club of Toronto Foundation for “outstanding performance” at Kiwanis Festival. The monetary award will be used to further develop talent in the Lower School. This commitment to nurturing Crescent School’s young vocal talent led to a few Canadian Opera Company (COC) stage debuts in April and May. Grade 5 students Oliver Spencer, Ethan Kuo-Lee, Jamie Kilburn and grade 6 student Mark Richardson all had their professional first appearances in the COC’s production of La Boheme at the Four Seasons Centre with Mark Richardson performing a solo and his name appearing in the show’s official programme. Another grade 5 Crescent School student Stewart Kirkconnell made his debut in the COC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream also performed in the summer. Q


Middle School Public Speaking Competition

Independent Schools Junior Science Olympics

The ability to speak effectively to a group and hold attention and interest is difficult – and even more so when you are the age of a Middle School student. Yet orators in the making, grade 7 student Tyler Kerdman and grade 8 student Robert Cheung, delighted an assembled crowd with speeches at the 2009 Sterling Hall Public Speaking Competition in April.

CRESCENT School once again hosted the Junior Science Olympics – an institution here since 1993. And once again we were the winners. Our grade 4, 5 and 6 students achieved gold and first place standing in a fierce competition with their independent school cohorts from the Toronto area. Q

Robert Cheung won first place for his speech entitled Dream Job and Tyler Kerdman won third place for his speech entitled Family Argument. Q

Excellent results for Crescent School at the University of Toronto’s National Biology Competition Crescent School finished seventh* out of 357 schools participating in the University of Toronto, National Biology Competition in June, with eight students finishing in the top 250 of 5,400 contestants. Of our grade 12 students Brandon Suen finished 32nd (Crescent School’s top scorer), Daniel Lee was 46th, Derek Little 52nd, David Walter 77th, Toye Ojo 144th, Phil Williams 164th with James

Jaw and Simon Marsello tied for 233rd. Also finishing above the 90th percentile were Cory Austin, Matt Baron, Derek Cheung and Jonathan Tam. The top 50 receive National Biology Scholar with Distinction certificates. Brandon and Daniel will also receive cash prizes. Q *team score is based on top five scores from a school

New Crescent School student part of winning team at ISOMA after years of struggling in math ISOMA winners Katie Cass, grade 7 and Rachael Murai, grade 8 (sister of Crescent students Adam, Ethan and Matt) from St. Clement’s School had to join forces with a team of boys and handpicked Kevin and Yousef as entrance to the competition required a mixed squad.

Canadian Music Competition has a winner from Crescent School Nevin Kong, grade 7 was an entrant in the piano section of the Canadian Music Competition’s national contest in July. After qualifying through three rounds, including provincial and national finals, Nevin travelled to Montreal to perform. Playing the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Nevin finished with only one percentage point separating him from first place in the 12 year old category. Nevin left the competition with a monetary prize and a wealth of experience. Q

Crescent School has had the most success and consistent results of any independent school over the years – including this year’s winner the University of Toronto School (UTS) – at the Independent Schools of Ontario Mathematics Association (ISOMA) competitions. After qualifying at the last ISOMA contest held at Bishop Strachan School (BSS), young math whizs Kevin Chien, grade 8 and Yousef Elmor, grade 7 took part in the Ontario Math Olympics but... they weren’t alone.

Competing in various events as individuals and as a team, including a SOKO challenge, a computer logic game and a SAY IT/TELL IT competition as teams tried to solve a puzzle with a “broken telephone” format, the team did very well at the competition (including a third place medal in the Performance Category) and in the end impressed each other and themselves, especially Yousef. “I wasn’t very good at math last year. In grade 5 I really struggled with math and last year in grade 6 I wasn’t much better,” says Yousef. “Being at Crescent School has made the difference. It’s all clicked into place.” The group has stayed in touch, celebrating their win, and have big plans for next year. Q

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Thanking our Donors and our Volunteers Crescent School would not be what it is today without the unwavering support of our very generous community. Parents, past parents, current and retired faculty and staff, alumni and the students themselves volunteer their time and offer financial support to our programmes and events. In recognition of their commitment to Crescent School, our supporters were thanked at the Donor Thank You Reception on April 21 and the Volunteer Reception on May 5. Q

Donor Thank You Reception

Cathy and Richard Carl (P’06,’08,’15), Alison Metrick (P’09,’12)

Bryan and Carolyn Kerdman (P’14) with son Tyler, grade 7

Karen and Benedict Leung (P’12)

Shannon Wiggan (P’19), Jing Zhu (P’19), Ed Kwan (P’19)

Calvin Cheng (P’11), Barbara Cheng (P’11)

Geoff Roberts (S), Jamie Coulter ‘87

Janey and Brian Chapman (P’12,’14), Paul Tompkins (P’10,’12,’13)

Howard Greenwood (P’03,’06), Richard Carl (P’06,’08,’15)

Peter Corolis ’75 (P’11,’13), Fred Conlin (P’15)

Barb McLean (P’07,’09), Heather and Edward Shaw (P’09)

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Peter Hryniak ’09, Bruce Burgess ‘57

Christine Corolis (P’11,’13), Jeanette Varga-Papp (P’11)

Michael Simonetta (P’13), Tim Wiggan ’90 (P’19)


Volunteer Reception Geoff Roberts (S), Elizabeth Galt (P ’09)

Sharon Miller (P ’07, ’12), Chris White (S, P ’18)

Carol Lloyd-Pinnington (P ’15, ’17), Sharon Fielding (P ’09, ’13)

Geoff Roberts (S), Pam Lloyd (P ’09)

Alison Metrick (P ’09, ’12), Catherine Demeroutis (P ’12, ’14)

Nancy Fullerton (P ’11), Cathy White (P ’12)

Barb McLean (P’ 07, ’09), Ross MacDonald (S)

Anne Murray (P ’07, ’09, ’11), Josy Chan (P ’07, ’09), Lalie Harcourt-Park (P ’10)

Nadine Gilchrist (P ’11,’11,’17), Cathy Carl (P ’06, ’08, ’15), Christine Corolis (P ’11, ’13)

Sally-Ann Main (P ’11, 13), Lynn Boeckh (P ’09), Ann Williams (P ’09, ’11 ’13

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Message from the CSOBA President CRESCENT SCHOOL OLD BOYS’ ASSOCIATION

S the newly elected President of the Crescent School Old Boys’ Association (CSOBA), I want to express my appreciation for the leadership of outgoing President, Paul Joliat ’94. Paul’s dedicated work and strategic vision were remarkable: Old Boys will benefit from Paul’s service to CSOBA for years to come. We all owe Paul our gratitude, so on behalf of our entire Old Boys’ Association, thank you. I have been fortunate enough to be a member of the CSOBA Board for the past two years, and I look forward to being involved as it continues to evolve. We are at an exciting time in our development, and ask that you join us as we take CSOBA to the next level.

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As the incoming President, it is important to review CSOBA’s progress, identify our future goals for the organization, and

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design implementation plans to ensure our success. Over the past two years, we as a Board, have undertaken the ambitious task of a new Strategic Plan for the Old Boys’ Association; the rebuilding of the Board Committees, Board Chairs, and by-laws. We have reached out to our constituents with an extensive survey to determine the needs, priorities and opinions among the alumni. CSOBA undertook a critical review of all alumni activities, events and offerings in order to ensure that we are continuing to serve our alumni with meaningful connections to the School and to each other. I believe we have established a solid foundation on which we will strive to advance the strategic vision of our organization and respond directly to our alumni.

Every now and then I am asked by my peers if Crescent is the same as it was 20 years ago when I was a student. The honest answer is both yes and no. The School has grown in size, structure and vision: it is better than ever. Crescent provides its students with exceptional opportunities to learn, grow, and challenge themselves in ways that were inconceivable when I was a student. However, the core of what makes Crescent School outstanding remains unchanged: the spirit of brotherhood, the commitment to excellence, and the close-knit community of students, faculty, parents, alumni, past parents, former faculty and friends of the School. We witnessed this at the 2009 Coyote Green Jacket Golf Tournament as members from every constituency group came


together for a fantastic day of golf, enjoyed reconnecting with friends, celebrated the Crescent spirit, and raised funds for the William L. Burridge Bursary Fund. The shared experience of a Crescent education connects us all; it is these connections that I will endeavor to strengthen during my tenure as CSOBA President. I will concentrate my focus on three areas: strengthening the connection between Crescent alumni and Crescent School; enhancing the connection between Crescent alumni and current students; further developing the alumni network to ensure it is capable of sustaining the lifelong relationship between a Crescent alumnus and his School. My vision is to make CSOBA a more inclusive organization — one that involves all of Crescent’s stakeholders. In order to achieve this goal, CSOBA will continue to host a broad roster of events in response to our alumni feedback and to appeal to the spectrum of interests encouraged through a Crescent education: athletic, mentoring, social and networking events; guest speaker series; professional development opportunities; branch reunions in North America, Europe and Asia. We will continue to ask for your feedback to ensure that CSOBA is meeting

the needs of our alumni. As the alumni network expands in both numbers and interests, CSOBA will expand accordingly. I ask that you take an active role in your alumni association, as we are only as strong as our membership. As a result of the alumni survey feedback, we have increased the number of mentoring events, introduced professional development seminars, and an online mentoring database is well underway. The online mentoring database will foster relationships between Crescent alumni across the world, supporting Old Boys through all stages of their post-Crescent lives. Communicating with our alumni is critically important. To this end, we are making improvements to the efficiency and functionality of our website. I look forward to sharing more good news as these initiatives advance. The CSOBA Board continues to evolve: in addition to the alumni Board members, we are thrilled to have recently included former faculty member, Doug Smith, and Assistant Head of Upper School, Dave Budden to the Board. The combined efforts, ideas and support from this group of enthusiastic and passionate individuals will undoubtedly continue to benefit CSOBA and all Crescent alumni.

Crescent School is fast approaching a momentous occasion as we celebrate the School’s centennial anniversary in 2013. The Crescent alumni will play an important role and will be directly involved in this landmark occasion. I look forward to sharing more exciting details around the centennial as we move closer to this milestone. CSOBA is embarking on an exciting time: we will continue to expand and evolve, but we will maintain the shared values and traditions of the Crescent School alumni. There is a great deal of work to be done and our vision is clear and strong — CSOBA could not be in a better position to accomplish our goals. It is an honour and a privilege to represent our alumni as President of the Crescent School Old Boys’ Association. I encourage you to enjoy the spirit, friendship, and meaningful relationships that are found within our organization: alumni, students, current and past parents and faculty are all included in what makes Crescent so special. CSOBA encourages all alumni to become involved and contribute to the success of Crescent School. ANDREW FLYNN ’88

2009-2010 CSOBA Board President:

Andrew Flynn ’88

Board Members:

Brett Bergmann ’00 (Mentoring Chair) Steve Curtis ’95 (Activities Chair) Rob Godfrey ’90 (Communications and Marketing Chair) Paul Gorrie ’94 (Governance Co-Chair) Paul Joliat ’94 (Past President & Governance Co-Chair) Michael Donnelly ’88 (P’ 18) Dave Budden, staff Jay Mansoor ’92 Doug Smith, past staff Stephanie Lang, Manager of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving (Secretary)

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2009 Coyote Green Jacket Golf Tournament HE Coyote Green Jacket Golf Tournament, presented by the Crescent School Old Boys’ Association (CSOBA), was held at Angus Glen Golf Club on June 26. The event was a huge success as alumni, students, parents, faculty, former faculty and friends of Crescent gathered under warm, sunny skies for a wonderful round of golf. The tournament brought the community together to celebrate the Crescent spirit and raised over $12,000 for the William L. Burridge Bursary Fund in support of student financial aid. Congratulations to the first place foursome: Andrew Lynde ’99, Eddie Lynde ’00, Bob Fraser ’99 and Ryan Treleaven ’99.

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Bronze Sponsors Simon Clements ’82 (Borden Ladner Gervais) Ryan McAskile ’97 (DTZ Barnicke) Barry Gordon ’87 (First Asset Funds) Armand Reale ’90 (Buena Vista Development) The success of our annual Golf Tournament could not be realized without the hard work and dedication of our organizing committee. Thank you to the members of the 2009 Golf Committee for their tireless efforts:

Don Haag ’86 (S), Andrew Flynn ’88, Steven Curtis ’95 (Chair), Ryan McAskile ’97, Jeff Larcina ’03, David Budden (S) and Doug Smith (PS). Crescent expects another fantastic tournament next year and hope you will join us once again! If you are interested in becoming involved with the 2010 event, please contact Lindsay Watt, Alumni Relations and Advancement Services Coordinator, at lwatt@crescentschool.org or 416-449-2556 ext. 289. Q

Golfers enjoyed a round of golf on the world class Angus Glen north course and had the opportunity to participate in a number of contests, including the longest drive, hit the green, and the putting contest. The hole-in-one contests prizes included $10,000 cash and a 2010 Honda Insight courtesy of Sisley for Honda. The luncheon that followed honoured the 2009 Alumnus of the Year Award recipients, recognizing Kevin Abrams ’89, Chris Luedecke ’94, and for his years of dedicated leadership of the Crescent School Old Boys’ Association, Paul Joliat ’94.

The winning foursome: Eddie Lynde ’00, Ryan Treleaven ’99, Bob Fraser ’99, Andrew Lynde ’99

Crescent School and CSOBA are deeply grateful for the support of all of our sponsors, silent auction donors, and supporters: Gold Sponsor Alistair Maxwell ’83 (P ’17) of Clarus Securities Golf Cart Sponsor Paul Tompkins P ’10, ’12, ’13 of Tompkins Insurance Services Ltd.

Class of 1983: Wark Meek, Mark Rankin, Andrew Williams (P’13)

Don Morrison (S), Rob Cranston (S), Don Cranston (P’11, ’16), John Tansey (PS)

Breakfast Sponsor Jonathan Pollack ’89 of Kaboose Inc. Putting Contest Sponsor Peter Aceto ’87 of ING DIRECT Silver Sponsors Rob Maxwell ’88 (Arrow Hedge Partners Inc.) Benson Sy P ’09 ’11 (Greenfield Golf) Roger Thorpe ’89 (Thorpe Benefits) Gluskin Sheff Chris Slightham ’89 (Royal LePage Signature Realty) Cam Heaps ’92 (Steam Whistle Brewing) Tim Wiggan ’90

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Class of 2003: James Kilpatrick, James Watts, Toni Toth, Luke Connell

Steven Curtis ’95, Matt Curry ’95, Shane Skillen ’95


From Rugby for Crescent to Rowing for Canada – via Princeton

HEN I arrived on the Princeton campus two years ago, I knew I wanted to be a part of a team. Athletics have always been very important to me, and many of my best friends are guys who I got to know through sports teams. I had loved playing rugby at Crescent and thought that was what I would play through my four years of university.

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However, during my first week on campus I was approached by some of the older members of the heavyweight crew team and encouraged to try out. Rowing, or crew, is one of the only sports at university that actively recruits walk-ons, people with zero experience rowing. Not everyone will be put in boats come race season, but if you are willing to do the work, you can train with the team, and truth-be-told almost everyone gets to race. So I tried rowing on a whim, and I started to like it. You see the results immediately on the ergometer (the rowing machine) and on the water, and if you put in the time and effort you will improve. I didn’t make it into the first freshman boat for the spring of my first year, but because we were a few guys short of a full Varsity squad, I got a seat in the third Varsity boat. We had a bit

of a shaky season, but it was a thrill to race, and to occasionally win. I was hooked. After my first season with Princeton, rowing in the grand finals at the Eastern Sprints (regional championships) and the IRAs (American university national championships), I set my new goal to row for Canada. It was a long shot, but I trained hard, submitted erg scores, talked to my coaches, and contacted the national team coaches. I was one of 19 heavyweight men to be invited to the U23 Canadian selection camp in Victoria BC this June. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to go out and train with the national team, to train and race side by side with the senior national team and members of last year’s Canadian Olympic gold medal winning men’s eight. I figured I would be at camp for a few weeks and then I would be sent home. But I worked hard, trained 16 times a week, and all the pain, fatigue and blisters were worth it. Six weeks later we were off to training camp in Tilburg, Holland, and then on to the Czech Republic for the World Championships. I don’t think any of this really sunk in until the first day of racing at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the Czech Republic as I finally put on my race uni, and headed down to the water. I had no idea what to expect from the level of international competition. Would we be blown away, or

would we be able to hold our own? I knew that this was a faster boat than I had ever raced in at Princeton, but had no idea how we would do against the Aussies, Britts, Russians and Estonians, it was anyone’s race. The start of the race was all a blur, but we hadn’t been dropped, in fact we were right in the hunt and starting to surge out in front. It was an incredibly tight race, but we found our rhythm and rowed together powerfully. Our coxen got us fired up and we slowly began to separate ourselves from the pack. I couldn’t believe it, we were ahead, moving strong and it felt good. We held it together, as the other crews tried to catch us, and crossed the line first: we were going to the grand final. Our result there was admittedly disappointing – we finished fifth – but all in all, I wouldn’t change a thing about my experience with the Canadian U23 team. With two years left of U23 eligibility and senior team after that, hopefully I have the opportunity to row for Canada again, but even if I don’t, I will always remember racing in the Czech Republic. I met an amazing group of young men and women from across the country, and was blessed to be able to put on the red and white to compete for Canada. It was an honour and a privilege to row for Canada. BLAKE PARSONS ‘07

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Crescent School Alumnus of the Year 2009 RECIPIENTS 2009 marks the inaugural Crescent School Alumnus of the Year Award. CSOBA identified the need to create an award that would highlight an outstanding alumnus (or alumni) in a given year, recognizing significant accomplishments including personal and professional achievement, volunteer service to the School, and contributions to society. This year, the award has been presented to three Crescent School alumni – Kevin Abrams ’89, Paul Joliat ’94 and Chris Luedecke ’94. These three men represent the talent, diversity and considerable level of accomplishment at large within the Crescent community. Congratulations to our Crescent School Alumnus of the Year Award recipients! To nominate a Crescent School alumnus for this award please contact Stephanie Lang, Manager of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at 416-449-2556 ext. 260 or slang@crescentschool.org. Kevin Abrams ’89, Assistant General Manager – New York Giants

Kevin Abrams ’89 Kevin Abrams was always actively involved in football as both an athlete and as a coach. His love of the sport, supported by his hard work and determination, would eventually see him accept the position of assistant general manager of Super Bowl XLII champions – the New York Giants. As Kevin pursued his post-secondary education and early career, he was unsure as to how his passion for the sport would translate into a successful career; however, while completing his master’s degree in sports administration at Ohio University, Kevin gained experience at a variety of internships, including those with the Ohio football programme, the Buffalo Bills, the London Monarchs in England, and the Washington Redskins. Kevin’s talents and work ethic set him apart from the rest: as he gained varied and valuable experience in the personnel, player evaluations, corporate/public relations departments, training camps, labour relations and collective bargaining departments, Kevin was primed for something even greater. It was at this time that Kevin began his career with the New York Giants, resulting in a Super Bowl victory, and making the Crescent School community very proud! Q

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Chris Luedecke ’94, 2009 Juno Award Winner

Paul Joliat ’94 Since graduating from Crescent in 1994, Paul Joliat has dedicated many years of service and leadership to the Crescent School Old Boys’ Association. Upon election as CSOBA President in the fall of 2006, Paul undertook the timely and necessary task of reviewing and creating a new vision for CSOBA. Under his leadership, Paul and his committees created a new strategic plan. Further to this, Paul reached out to all Crescent alumni in the form of an extensive survey. Armed with more than 500 survey responses and a new strategic vision, Paul set about moving CSOBA from an event-based group, to one of greater significance and value to Crescent Old Boys in all life stages. This meant increasing networking, mentoring and professional development offerings and populating the Board with energetic Old Boys who shared this new vision. Paul leaves behind a passionate, determined Board, on course to achieve the strategic vision Paul and his Board set forth. Q Paul Joliat ’94, Outgoing CSOBA President

Chris Luedecke ’94 Chris Luedecke’s outstanding musical and songwriting talents, coupled with his hard work and dedication, resulted in a 2009 Juno Award for best Roots and Traditional Album of the Year. After graduating from Crescent, Chris acquired a degree in English literature from McGill University. During this time, Chris developed a love of music, the banjo, and met his future wife. CrossCanada adventures ensued; however, it was on the east coast where Chris would plant roots and record three albums under the moniker Old Man Luedecke. This young man enjoyed incredible success sharing the stage and studio with such musical icons as Feist, The Be Good Tanyas, Corb Lund, Joel Plaskett, Kris Kristofferson, David Francey, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jill Barber, Buck 65 and David Baxter. TV, radio, and concert tours across Canada, the U.K., and Australia have helped share the beauty and timelessness of Chris’ music with fans everywhere. Q


Pierre Rolin ’82

Alumni

Profile Pierre remembers his Crescent education as "full, broad and complete, with an emphasis on self-development rather than an authoritarian focus."

IERRE Rolin, a member of the class of 1982, is one of Crescent School’s most dedicated international ambassadors. Pierre’s professional accomplishments, his commitment to philanthropy, and his support of Crescent School and the alumni network combine to make him an exemplary Crescent alumnus. As chairman, chief executive and founder of Strategic Real Estate Advisors Limited (a private client real estate investment advisory firm) Pierre is based in London, England but connected to the Middle East, Europe and North America in his professional and charitable endeavours.

importance of acquiring experiences overseas. "In an increasingly globalized world, the competition is at an international level. Work experience, international travel, educational opportunities, and exchange programmes – all of these different exposures will better equip one with the skills necessary to succeed abroad and make potential contacts. One thing often leads to another." Pierre also underscores the value and importance of gaining exposure to communities that are less fortunate than one’s own, both overseas and locally, and applauds the local and International Outreach Programmes at Crescent School.

How did a young man from Toronto end up working in international real estate investment abroad? As a result of the real estate crash of the early 1990s, Pierre, who was working in New York City at the time, lost his job, resulting in a chain of events that would lead to a career in Europe. Pierre’s first international destination was Berlin which was a hotbed of activity having just opened up. "The late 80s-early 90s witnessed a huge shift in human resources globally; it was not unusual for young employees to be transferred abroad as more and more international offices were established." After working in Berlin, Pierre moved to London where he started his own consulting firm at the age of 35. It was indeed an exciting time for this Crescent alumnus.

Although Pierre maintains a busy work schedule, the extensive charitable work through his foundation remains a priority. The StratREAL Foundation, founded in 2003, is an enduring and meaningful embodiment of Strategic Real Estate Advisors’ commitment to positive change through philanthropy (stratrealfoundation. org). The foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of young people around the world with a focus on education, health, and housing. To maximize the impact of the foundation’s initiatives, dynamic partnerships with leading institutions are developed to create educational programming and scholarships for children and youth. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and Prince Charles’ Foundation for Children & the Arts in the U.K. are among the partners. The Foundation continues to expand its reach having recently partnered with UNESCO to integrate entrepreneurial education programmes in

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The inroads that Pierre made while based in Toronto, and the cultural diversity of the city itself, helped him succeed in New York, and later in Europe. When asked what advice he would give his younger counterparts who are considering a career abroad, Pierre stresses the

Arab States. Strategic Real Estate Advisors prides itself on contributing 10 per cent of profits annually towards the foundation.

Closer to home, Pierre recognized the importance of giving back to his School in a meaningful way and established the Pierre N. Rolin Scholarship. This award is presented to a student based on financial need, academic achievement, active co-curricular participation, community involvement and strong leadership skills.

Pierre remembers his Crescent education as "full, broad and complete, with an emphasis on self-development rather than an authoritarian focus." The Class of 1982 remains close: Pierre remembers sharing many years with the same group of peers and acknowledges the value in growing up together and maturing as a group. The mutual respect and friendships between faculty and students, the diverse curriculum, and the many co-curricular opportunities are among Pierre’s Crescent School highlights. Perhaps these are some of the reasons why this alumnus, despite his busy schedule and many demands, remains closely connected to Crescent School and his fellow alumni. Pierre has been the generous host of the London Branch Alumni Reunion dinner for the last three years: "the younger alumni are eager to learn. London is a huge international city, so it’s a great occasion where everyone is equal and everyone is relaxed." Pierre remarks on the large-scale at which universities, particularly American universities, are able to serve their alumni, noting that despite vastly different resources, Crescent continues to "punch way above its weight." Crescent is fortunate to have Pierre represent the School abroad and support Crescent in meaningful ways. Pierre’s commitment to the alumni network strengthens the group on an international level; while, his commitment to his scholarship in support of needs-based student financial aid strengthens Crescent on a local level. Q

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Jamie Coulter ’87 and Jamie Lougheed ’87 and the Class of 1987 P AT M I L L S FA M I LY B U R S A RY F U N D HE class of 1987 is an extraordinary group of Crescent alumni who have come together to create a significant and meaningful legacy at Crescent School. Jamie Lougheed ’87 and Jamie Coulter ’87 established the Class of 1987/Pat Mills Family Bursary Fund in 2002 (along with the support of Alan Diner ’87 and a group of former classmates) in honour of their 15 year reunion. The Fund was established to endow a bursary that would support the Dentonia Scholarship Programme. The Dentonia Scholarship Programme is structured to provide financial aid to applicants who are mission appropriate, demonstrate academic excellence, and whose families qualify for financial support. Jamie Lougheed, director of admissions at Greenwood College School, and classmate, Jamie Coulter, general manager and senior managing director, equity capital markets – Raymond James Ltd., continue to spearhead this important initiative.

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With busy careers, young families, and many diverse interests between them, these two have rallied incredible support, both in funds and in Crescent spirit, among their classmates by creating the Class of 1987/Pat Mills Family Bursary Fund. The Fund – now standing at almost $200,000 – provides life changing educational experiences for Dentonia Scholars, but as Jamie Coulter says: "Our work isn’t done. While we are close to reaching our goal and ensuring long-term sustainability of the Fund, additional funds are required." Crescent School is incredibly grateful to the Class of 1987 and their ongoing leadership, generosity, and support.

What makes the Class of 1987 unique? Jamie Coulter: We were the double cohort year [ed. note: Crescent went to a four year high school programme in 1987]. Beginning in grade 10, we started to share classes with the original Class of ’87 and by the time we were done, the two classes were completely integrated. Jamie Lougheed: The fact that we came together as a double cohort the way we did, in seamless fashion, speaks volumes as to why we are still a very connected group. I can’t speak for all the other grades, but

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I know our year is very close socially. We have a unique year in that so many of us still get together on a weekly or bi-weekly basis with our now growing families.

What is the most unique aspect of a Crescent education? Jamie Lougheed: Without a doubt the most unique aspect for me was the relationships and lifelong friendships I made with my teachers. To this day, I keep in touch with many of them. In addition, Crescent gave us all so many opportunities to try and engage in activities that we may never thought possible, from singing in a School musical, to travelling with the senior hockey team to Europe to volunteering at the Hugh McMillan Centre. Jamie Coulter: There is certainly no one thing. Rather, it’s a combination of your classmates, your teachers, and the broader Crescent community.

What is your favourite memory of your years at Crescent? Jamie Lougheed: Without a doubt, the European hockey tour was the biggest highlight. The sports competition throughout and participating in many school musicals and one act play festivals were also high on the list. Most of all, the friendships made were incredible. The day I got married, I had five guys in my wedding party all of whom I went to Crescent with. That says a lot.

What inspired you to create this fund and name it in honour of Pat Mills? Jamie Coulter: The Fund was launched to coincide with our 15 year reunion. Several months later, Pat Mills announced his retirement. As a result, we had the opportunity to both create a bursary and recognize a teacher that embodied the Crescent spirit. Jamie Lougheed: It was actually the brain child of classmate, Alan Diner, who felt that we should try and get a fund started as a way of celebrating our 15 year reunion. I think as a group, we knew how important the School had been in our own growth as people, and it was the right time to start giving back. As for Pat Mills, his name quickly came to the forefront as someone

who had had a very positive impact on many of us. It seemed fitting that most of us had him as our form teacher in grade 7 when we started at Crescent. What a great way to honour Pat’s legacy as he bid farewell to the School after over 30 years of incredible service.

What motivates you to keep working on the Fund? Jamie Coulter: It is personally rewarding to know that the Fund is currently supporting students through the Dentonia Scholarship Programme. The combination of a target goal and tangible examples of the good work the Fund is doing keeps us going. Jamie Lougheed: It is my way personally of giving back to the School that gave me so much. It is also a great way to keep in touch with old classmates.

The Fund supports Dentonia Scholarships – why was it important for your class to support student financial aid? Jamie Coulter: Student financial aid was a cause we felt our whole class could rally around. It’s a great opportunity for our class to provide others with the financial ability to benefit from a Crescent education. In a way, it’s a chance to give back to the broader community. Jamie Lougheed: Who wouldn’t want to give someone less fortunate an opportunity to experience a Crescent School education?

What advice would you give to the Class of 2010 who will establish their Class Fund in September? Jamie Coulter: One piece of advice is to appoint co-chairs to the Fund. And then look for key events on which to focus your fundraising efforts. Jamie Lougheed: I think the key is to get the class into the spirit of giving from day one. Set the goals for the class and make sure you communicate them well.

Alumni

Profile


How did you initially encourage financial support among your classmates? Jamie Lougheed: Participation (versus size of gift) is key: it is motivating for a classmate to support the Fund when he hears that a percentage of the class have already contributed. We suggested a five year giving plan: $500 per year for five years. Some gave considerably more, while others gave what they could.

Jamie Coulter: We made sure our peers understood the different ways in which they could donate: lump-sum, one-time and multi-year gifts – all of which receive a charitable tax receipt.

What is the benefit of remaining connected to Crescent School and to the alumni network? Jamie Coulter: Staying connected to the School and supporting initiatives like

the Class of ’87/Pat Mills Fund is an opportunity for the alumni to create a legacy. We think that’s important. Jamie Lougheed: It is a great community of people and the School – though very different in many ways from the School we attended – continues to make a difference in the lives of many and if there is something as a class we can do to help that, why not?

Jamie Coulter, Pat Mills, Jamie Lougheed

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Jay Godfrey ’97

Alumni

Profile

FROM FINANCE TO FASHION a lifestyle brand. My parents showed unwavering support in this career change and never doubted my abilities, even when I doubted them myself!

Fashion design is highly competitive; what sets you apart of the rest?

HOSE who are familiar with fashion will immediately recognize the name Jay Godfrey. This Crescent alumnus from the class of 1997, and New York-based fashion designer, has rocketed to runway fame with his stunning and sophisticated designs. Jay’s distinctive style has become a favourite among Hollywood A-listers – Eva Longoria Parker, Katherine Heigl, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Mendes and Leighton Meester – among many others. With an eye for style, the gift of design and keen business acumen, Jay has combined his talents and passion with hard work resulting in a tremendously successful business.

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What inspired you to pursue fashion design as a career? I have always loved fashion. I have forever wanted something classic with a twist: when everyone at Crescent was getting Doc Marten shoes in grade 7, I got a pair but mine were suede! Everyone thought it was bizarre but I relished the opportunity to sartorially express myself. After getting a good grounding in finance, first at McGill and then on Wall Street, I decided to pursue my dream. I figured life was too short; the energy and style of New York City made this seemingly strange transition from finance to fashion pretty easy.

What gave you the courage to switch from a career on Wall Street to a career as a fashion designer? Wall Street wasn’t for me. I didn’t really fit the mould of a New York banker, and I found that it was not creatively stimulating. I wanted more and my dream was to create

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I honestly believe that my brand offers women something that is very "designer" in feeling but at much friendlier price points. I have had a lot of women approach me over the last couple of years telling me that they used to only wear Versace or Dolce & Gabbana and would spend thousands of dollars on a single dress. Now, they have been converted and are spending much less and feeling great, if not better!

How have you adjusted your business with the economic slowdown? We have made adjustments to our price points, but even more so, I have tried to create items with versatility that can take a woman from a morning meeting at the office, to cocktails after work, and to an evening event after that. Customers are still spending but the days of providing them with items that are inflexible are over. The Jay Godfrey girl wants flexibility in her wardrobe and even though her wallet may have shrunk, her desire to look chic and sexy remains unchanged.

don’t go above and beyond their mandate like Crescent does. I remember the hours of extra time teachers would spend to help me understand things and think analytically.

Did Crescent play a role in your career ambitions? Of course. Crescent encourages their students to dream big, prepare carefully, and execute with confidence. Without the Crescent experience, I would certainly not be where I am today.

What does being a Crescent Old Boy mean to you? It is a really special club to be a part of. I don’t get many opportunities to see many of my old pals, but when I do, I really enjoy sharing the memories and the incredible times we spent together. I had an amazing childhood and great teen years and my old friends were an enormous part of that. Crescent boys are dynamic, interesting, successful, and creative people.

Any words of advice for Crescent alumni looking to study/work in the States? Get a good immigration lawyer!

How has your style of design evolved over the years? I have listened carefully to my customers over the years. They love modern silhouettes with an edge, but never overthe-top wacky. My collection has evolved with cleaner, more minimal lines than we originally started with, coupled with a broader use of bold colour.

What made your Crescent education unique? Crescent really takes the time to nurture their students and prepare them for university. Most educational institutions

A look from Jay Godfrey’s Fall 2009 Collection


Alumni University Visits QUEEN’S, APRIL 3, 2009

Mo Gulamhusein ’08, Steve Dubrick (S)

Matt Wolfe ’08, Ethan Wolfe ’08, Don Haag ’86 (S)

Jason Merrithew ’07, Remi Ojo ‘08

Ryan Ballard ’05, John Coutts ‘05

Mark Suckling (S), Dan Moor ‘08

Matt Pierce ’06, Don Smith (PS)

Adrian Heller ’06, Paul Gartenburg ’06, Reid Irwin ‘06

Doug Reeves ’07, Justin Chan ’07, Scott Belton ‘07

Derek McFarland ‘08

Nick Studley ’08, Tom Grant ’08, George Gleeson ’08, Chris Dickinson ’08

Kevin Doe ’06, Michael Yan ’06

Blake Macdonald ’08

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Alumni Events Dentonia Luncheon

– May 8, 2009

Douglas Matthews ’37

Mark Baines ’70

Fraser McKee ’38

David Varley ’63

Edward Saunders ’37

Gordon Pritchard ’53

Leo Bradshaw ’61

John Cernik ’54

James Buchanan ’60

Sandy Stuart ’38

Bruce Burgess ’57

Fred May ’53

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Welcome to CSOBA Barbecue

– June 16, 2009

Don Haag ’86 (S), Steve Boeckh ’09, Jeff Myers ’09, Brandon Macpherson ’09, Phil Williams ’09, Mark Cameron ’09, Robbie Mitchnick ’09

Philip Lloyd ’09, Peter Hryniak ’09, Jake Graham ’09, Robbie Mitchnik ’09

Eric Mahovlich ’09, Doug Smith (PS)

Philip Lloyd ’09, Andrew Murray ’09, Simon Marsello ’09, Chris Galt ’09

Class of 2009

Eric Mahovlich ’09, Stefan Ho ’09, Sam Metrick ’09, Egin Kongoli ’09, Riley Shaw ’09, Sean Chisholm ‘09

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From the Archives IN THE BEGINNING… N the beginning… (the opening words of the Christian Bible and the Jewish Torah, of the First Book of Moses and the Book of Genesis, and one of the most widely recognized phrases in the world)… God created the heaven and the earth.” In the beginning, in 1913, in Rosedale (and on a vastly more humble scale), Jimmy James established Crescent School. For the next seventeen years it was very much the centre of his life, and that of his wife Elizabeth. But it wasn’t their entire lives. What had come before, what shaped his character and educational outlook, what other interests did the James’ have?

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John William James – Jimmy to his friends and, behind his back, to his students – was born in 1864 in Rugby, England, the son of a school master of the same name and his wife Caroline. By the time he was ready for school, his father was the Headmaster of Trinity College Choir School in Cambridge, where the son received his early education. But at the age of seven, when being given a standard childhood vaccination, he was mistakenly injected with an impure vaccine which crippled him. For two years he lay in bed, and the next two he spent on crutches. The skilful and somewhat experimental medical care he received was so noted as to be reported in the well known medical journal “The Lancet.” This treatment and rehabilitation, aided by his own determination, led to a complete recovery, and by the age of 11 he was once again fully engaged in all the activities of young boys. James was an all-round student. He was solid academically, did well at Trinity College Choir School, and then went up to Cambridge University from which he graduated in 1888 with a bachelor of arts degree. His extra-curricular interests were wide and varied. An excellent musician, he played both the piano and the organ, as well as being a solo chorister at his father’s school. He enjoyed, and became skilled at, such games as billiards and chess. And he displayed considerable athletic ability – perhaps remarkably considering those four years of crippling infirmity – in association football (soccer), cricket and tennis. Upon graduation from Cambridge, James specialized in private tutoring and coaching

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for several years, at a time in history when the sons of the wealthy in England were often privately taught. Two of his students were of some note. He was the coach and tutor to the Indian Prince Ranjitsinhji – the first cricketer to score over 3000 runs in one year. James helped the Prince considerably in his early cricketing days and they developed a friendship which endured for many years. Sometime later James tutored a young fellow named Willingdon. Years later, when a new Governor General arrived in Canada, one of his first guests at Rideau Hall in Ottawa was Jimmy James. The Governor General, Viscount Willingdon, clearly thought that he owed his old tutor an invitation. In the 1890s James decided to seek his future in the New World, and sailed for the British colony of Newfoundland. There, in St. John’s, he joined the faculty of Bishop Field College. In St. John’s he also met his future wife, Elizabeth Wood, the daughter of the canon of St. Thomas Anglican Church. After four years in Newfoundland, they moved to Philadelphia where he spent

several years engaged both in teaching and in business. Then, in 1904, he and Elizabeth came to Toronto, where he joined the faculty of St. Andrew’s College (SAC). As well as being the choir master, before long he was also in charge of the Lower School. Whatever the title – master-incharge of the Lower School, housemaster of the Lower School, headmaster of the Lower School (all have been used to describe his position) – for the next eight years he ran the Lower School at SAC. In 1913, displaying no little courage, he struck out on his own. At that point he was 49, a relatively short and somewhat stocky man with a full head of dark brown hair just starting to show touches of grey, and a thick moustache stained yellow at the edges by the smoke from his pipe. His students recalled that he had a very good face, with strong features but a kindly demeanour, and a twinkle in his eye behind thick glasses with wire rims. His habitual dress was a tweed jacket and grey flannel trousers, and his manner was firm but compassionate. While his school was clearly the centre of his life, James had a variety of other


interests as well. Cricket was an on-going love; he served as vice-president of the Toronto Cricket Club – meetings of which were regularly held at Crescent in the years prior to the club establishing its own pitch and clubhouse at Armour Heights, where it remains today as the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club. He remained a fine athlete well into his sixties, continuing to play both cricket and tennis with enthusiasm. In his later years he also took up lawn bowling and curling, and was skilful at both, as the records of the Victoria Club testify. He was also a prominent member of the Arts and Letters Club, and served on its committees for many years with some of the nation’s leading artists and writers. A devout Anglican, he and his wife were parishioners of the Anglican Church of St. Simon-theApostle, where he served in various lay capacities, including that of church warden, with ability and devotion.

C O M I N G

S O O N

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Late in 1929, Jimmy James, by now white haired and beginning to show his years, fell sick. It was the first serious illness he had suffered in his vigorous life since his childhood trauma. This time he did not bounce back and, on July 2, 1930 – in much pain, the founder of Crescent School died at the age of 66. Over all the years, Elizabeth James was at his side – a small, pretty woman, sweetnatured and with a wonderful smile as Crescent Old Boys recalled. She was regularly seen on her walks throughout the neighbourhood, frequently stopping to chat with others, and appearing to know every boy in Rosedale. In the years to follow, after the death of her husband, two people in particular would keep an eye out for Mrs. James. Old Boy Britt Osler ’16, by then a successful lawyer, would help her with such matters as her will, and the maintenance of

on-going payments by the new Headmaster, Walter Williams, for his purchase of the school in 1930. The grandmother of Edward Cayley’ 33, Catherine Howland, widow of a former rector of St. Simon’s, would also befriend Mrs. James, who was invited to dinner at the Howlands every Sunday for many years. Both Osler and in particular Howland may well have contributed to her upkeep, as her financial resources appear to have been quite limited; then, at Howland’s death in 1955, a $50 a month stipend was provided for Auntie Betsy, as the Cayley children referred to her. In the end, she lived a very long life, surviving her husband by four decades and, toward the end, and in a nice touch, residing on Crescent Road in Rosedale. NEIL CAMPBELL ARCHIVIST

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Our 100th Anniversary! 100 Years of Educating Boys 1913-2013

To commemorate this special event, we are writing a book to celebrate Crescent’s stories, its characters, and the historical locations that have all contributed to our unique place in the independent school landscape and the history of Toronto. Author, Neil Campbell, invites you to be part of this memoir by sharing your anecdotes, photos and memorabilia. Material that is not used in the book (perhaps due to space constraints, for example) will be valued nonetheless, and catalogued and held in the Crescent School Archives.

We need to record your memories!

Please contact Mr. Campbell at ncampbell@ crescentschool.org

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,IFE !FTER #RECENT

Life after Crescent James Brickman ’66 founder of Brick Brewery in Waterloo, Ontario has retired from the brewing industry. During his career, Jim established the first craft brewery in Ontario and the province’s largest Canadian-owned brewery. Mark DuBois ’67, Canada’s internationally acclaimed tenor, was honoured with the Pauline McGibbon Life Achievement in the Arts Award in August 2008 at Roy Thomson Hall. This award was presented by the Canadian Organization of Senior Artists and Performers, an organization established to recognize the talents and hard work of mature artists. Mark was recognized not only for his outstanding career on Canadian and international stages, but for the valuable contribution he has made to the musical community and to his students. Mark returned to Crescent School for Prize Day and shared his talents with the Crescent community. Mark Baines ’70 was nominated by his peers for the award of distinction in the Thames Valley District School Board. Ernest Chan ’84 recently published Quantitative Trading: How to Build Your Own Algorithmic Trading Business (Wiley, 2008). This is a practical guide for independent traders on how to implement algorithmic trading strategies and to challenge powerful industry professionals at their own game. Ernie is a hedge fund manager.

Karim Mawji ’87 & Dentonia Park Capital Management LLC Investment firm named in honour of Crescent Experinece After graduating from Crescent School in 1987, Karim Mawji attended The University of Western Ontario where he achieved his bachelor of arts degree, majoring in history. Subsequently, Karim earned his MBA at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. After qualifying as a chartered accountant with Deloitte & Touche, Karim then worked as a mergers and acquisitions/restructuring banker. A move to New York City followed in 1999 where Karim accepted a position as an analyst at Morgan Stanley before working as an analyst and portfolio manager with a series of hedge funds. In February 2009, Karim launched Dentonia Park Capital Management LLC (Dentonia Park), an investment advisor firm focusing on alternative investment strategies (dentoniapark.com). Although the firm is based in New York City, it will soon establish operations in Canada. Naming the firm after Crescent School’s former campus is an acknowledgement of an institution that was a meaningful part of Karim’s life: “Looking back on my years at Crescent, I had many character shaping experiences. Raising my own children brings back many memories of Crescent (my kids love the Terry Bidiak stories). Time and maturity have made me realize the worth of the values learned and I appreciate the teachers and friends that were such an important part of my life during and after my days at Crescent.” In addition to his work and family responsibilities, Karim managed a short book at Perennial Investors, an equity hedge fund, and previously managed a book on one of Morgan Stanley’s proprietary trading desks. Karim resides in Manhattan with his wife Betty, his daughter Ashira, and his son Daelum. He remains in touch with Crescent alumni, mainly those residing in New York, and would welcome reconnecting with other Crescent friends at kmawji@yahoo.com.

Andrew Blott ’89 and his wife Karen are delighted to announce the arrival of Harrison James Stanton Blott, born April 8, 2009. Harrison was born in New York City weighing 7lbs., 9oz. Big sisters, Amelia and Georgia, are thrilled to welcome their baby brother to the Blott family. Gregory Sacks ’91 has spent the last 15 years in the luxury travel business, with a three year stint touring the U.S. with Cirque du Soleil, where he ran the VIP tent on tour. In 2004, he and his business partners started a boutique trip planning company in Toronto called Trufflepig. Trufflepig — which is expanding quickly — designs custom itineraries for discerning travellers in a handful of destinations worldwide.

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V Robert Mackett ’91 and wife Irene Chan

welcomed their first child, a girl, Adrienne Elizabeth Chan Mackett, February 18, 2009. The family is looking forward to all the adventures their new bundle of joy will bring!

Cam Heaps ’92 co-founder of Steam Whistle Brewing and Crescent past parent Robert Deluce, President and CEO of Porter Airlines, have teamed up to provide Steam Whistle’s Premium Pilsner served as part of Porter’s complimentary onboard menu. Porter Airlines also employs Michael Deluce ’96 as their Executive Vice President and Jason Deluce ’92 as Manager of IT Development and Support.


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Jay Mansoor ’92 and wife Dana welcomed daughter Julia Danielle into their family; a sibling for two year old big sister, Raquel, to torment. Chris Luedecke ’94 won the 2009 Juno Awards for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year; Solo, for his third album, Proof of Love. He is described by the official Juno website as: “the pride of Chester, Nova Scotia, well loved for the stark joyous simplicity of his powerful banjo driven solo shows.” Chris was awarded Alumnus of the Year for 2009 (see article on page 32).

Steven Curtis ’95 and his wife Christina are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter, Samantha Taylor Curtis. A little sister for brother, Preston, Samantha was born on July 2, 2009 weighing 6lbs. 4oz.

The Thom Family – “We ‘love’ Crescent!”

Andrew Lynde ’99 graduated from Medaille College in Buffalo, New York, with a master of science education in May 2009. He proposed to his girlfriend Alison Wetmore and they are to be married in July 2010 with a reception at Angus Glen Golf Club.

Brad Pashby ’94 lives in Vancouver with his wife Leslie; daughter Lucy was born in 2008. Brad currently works for SunLife Financial. David Bruser ’95, a Toronto Star reporter, was nominated for National Newspaper Award for his profile into workplace safety and the role of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario (WISB). David was also awarded a citation of merit by the Governor General as one of six finalists for the Michener Award, Canada’s top prize for public service journalism. David’s investigative series exposing high levels of lead in toys (prompting one of the largest product recalls in Canada) earned him this distinction.

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Tom Dobson ’98 Congratulations to Tom & Jennifer Dobson on the birth of their daughter, Abigail Leigh Dobson who was born October 22nd, 2008. Mom, Jennifer (sister to John Kaye ’98), and Dad couldn’t be happier.

Matthew ’95 with his son William, Grandpa Hugh ’59, David ’92 with his son Aden.

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Matthew Thom ’95 and wife Laura are thrilled to announce the birth of their first child – William Campbell Thom – born February 23, 2009. Shawn Pulver ’97 and his wife Aliza welcomed their first child (and a niece for Steven Pulver ’03), a little girl named Sorelle in 2009.

Scott Moore ’99 and his wife Kate are excited to announce the birth of their daughter, Ava Louise Moore. Ava was born on June 22, 2009 at 6:19 p.m. on the day of her great-grandfather, Walt Murray’s birthday. She weighed in at 6lbs., 15 oz. Scott and Kate are thrilled to begin the journey of parenthood with their new daughter. Eddie Lynde ’00 graduated from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois, obtaining his master of laws in May 2009. He and his wife Jennifer have returned to Toronto. Eric Sadvari ’00, after completing his law degree at Queen’s University, Eric is now at the bar admission stage with plans to focus on family law. Ivan Chan ’01 after earning his degree from Queen’s University, moved to Vancouver where he worked in the pharmaceutical industry for three years. Ivan enrolled in the accounting programme at UBC, and has recently secured a position with Ernst and Young in Vancouver. This fall, Ivan will pursue his CA designation.

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,IFE !FTER #RECENT

Life after Crescent Ivan Tsang ’01 has completed his first year in the master of fine arts programme at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute of Film and TV – Screen and TV Writing. Ivan is currently interning for Apostle Pictures (Denis Leary’s production company) the makers of the television series Rescue Me where he is working in the film and TV development department. Kieran Quinn ’01 has been admitted to Queen’s University School of Medicine for September 2009.

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James Lynde ’02 graduated from McMaster University, obtaining his master of business administration in June 2009. On June 20, 2009, he married his longtime girlfriend Nadia Tanel. They honeymooned in Antigua. James continues towards his CA designation at KPMG LLP in Toronto. Andrew Boozary ’03. After earning his degree and playing varsity tennis at The University of Western Ontario, Andrew is now studying medicine at the University of Ottawa. Gregory Overholt ’03 recently appeared on Breakfast Television. The morning show did a piece on his exam cram service Canada: Student Offering Support, which included tips for students and their parents on how to prepare for university finals. The Globe and Mail and Maclean’s magazine online have also been interested in featuring Greg’s successful venture. D.J. Lynde ’03 is in his third year at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law. He returned to Toronto for the summer and worked at McCarthy Tétrault LLP. For his final year of law school, D.J. was elected by his peers to serve as president of the Law Students’ Association and he will be clerking at the Alberta provincial court in Edmonton.

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Derek Chu ’04 has completed a bachelor of health sciences at McMaster University, graduating summa cum laude. In September 2008, he enrolled in the seven year MD/ Ph.D. programme at McMaster and aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms driving sensitization to peanuts. Derek was recently named a Vanier Scholar (through the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship programme), the highest award possible in Canada for doctoral research students — the Canadian equivalent to the U.K. Rhodes Scholar or U.S. Fulbright Scholar programmes.

Michael Wallace ’04 graduated from Queen’s University with a bachelor of commerce (Honours) in 2008. Since then he has been working at Bain & Company, a business consultant firm, in the Toronto office. Will Chyr ’05 is a recent graduate of the University of Chicago. Will is also a balloon artist who performs at a variety of Chicagoarea functions in which he uses his talents for increasingly innovative and quirky projects. At the opening of the 2009 Festival of the Arts, which features student fashion designers, six models walked the runway in Will’s designs— six dresses made entirely from balloons. A profile of Will and his balloon creations is featured on the University of Chicago website.

Jeff Hong ’05 recently graduated from the co-op business programme at Wilfrid Laurier University. Brendan Innes ’05 is currently at The University of Western Ontario, and spent his summer working with Dr. Edward Chow P ’16 at the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre in Toronto. Felix Lau ’05 has recently accepted a position at CTV as a junior motion designer after completing his honours degree in graphic design from the joint programme at York University and Sheridan College. Felix’s outstanding portfolio can be viewed at creativereflex.ca. Ted Livingston ’05 has recently completed his third year of engineering at the University of Waterloo. Ted co-founded Unsynced, an emerging company that developed awardwinning software that allows users to keep all of their music files on their BlackBerry and manage those files from any computer without having to download an application. Ted and his team won free patent-filing services from law firm, Miller Thomson LLP, for their award-winning prototype. Ted spent part of his third year living at the VeloCity residence at the University of Waterloo where about 70 gifted and innovative students a term get a chance to live together in an environment where they can bounce ideas off each other, day and night. Kyle Buckley ’06 played for Canada in an IRB Rugby 7s tournament at Twickenham, England and Murrayfield, Scotland. Vitali Bourchtein ’07 is going into his third year at the Sterne School of Business at NYU, majoring in finance and accounting. Recently, Vitali was studying in Prague, Czech Republic. Vitali has been hired as an admissions ambassador at NYU. Justin Kwong ’07 has co-written a medical textbook chapter with Dr. Edward Chow P ’16. He is currently working at the London Regional Cancer Centre.

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John Coutts ’05 and Jamie Hunter ’05 recently graduated from the commerce programme at Queen’s University.

Jonathan Norris ’07 along with fellow Crescent School graduates, Michael Yan ’05, Michael Martin Evans ’04, Gordon Smith ’05, and Remi Ojo ’08 have implemented a FIRST Robotics programme for high school students in the greater Kingston area.


Aaron Choi ’08 completed his first year at Duke University where he plans to declare a double major in electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering. A huge basketball fan, Aaron attended every single Duke home game this season.

Jonathan Telch ’05 Recently graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa, Jonathan Telch ’05, is pursuing his career aspirations in politics. Currently working in the public affairs office at B’nai Brith Canada, Jon will begin his Parliament Hill career in September. His new position will help Jon determine his career path; either as a director of a human rights NGO or a politician.

Jonathan Telch, Alistair Cartwright, and David Wright, all class of ’05

Jon fondly remembers his days at Crescent and his active involvement in athletics, the arts, and different leadership opportunities. Some of Jon’s favourite memories include his years with the varsity rugby and soccer teams, the drama programme, being a camp counsellor at Tawingo, and assuming the responsibility of a Prefect: "Being a Prefect taught me a great deal about leadership; it helped me at Carleton when I joined an international fraternity, eventually becoming chapter president in my last year." Jon’s involvement with Alpha Epsilon Pi, particularly his strong stance on antiracism and his advocacy towards anti-Semitic intimidation on the university campus, resulted in Jon being presented with a Lieutenant Master Award in 2008. Jon’s time at Crescent helped to create and encourage the drive and determination that motivates this ambitious young man. While at Crescent, he learned that you can never contribute too much to your School, or your community, lessons that have insired Jon to pursue a career in politics and follow his passion in human rights and anti-racism activism. Although Jon is proud of the journey on which he is about to embark, it is a career he does not suggest to all: “Politics is a rough game. You must be able to take slander against your character in stride. Even if you are successfully elected, you might confront situations when you may not be able to achieve the things you set out to do.” The classes may have come to an end, but the life lessons that Crescent taught still apply to Jon’s life today. “Crescent was responsible for making me an honest man in my endeavours. The values that were imparted to me over my years at the School will never leave me.” One of those life lessons included pursuing your life’s passion. He was taught to do so early on by many of his teachers who helped Jon through his struggles with math and science. Jon remembers his teachers coming in early every morning to help him, not because they had to, but because they were passionate about teaching. This Crescent alumnus feels very lucky to have such wonderful role models in his life. Even

Kristian Kuld ’08 is pursuing a double major in geography and economics at UCLA. Kristian was the starter for the UCLA varsity volleyball team. Sheldon Kwok ’08 spent this past summer working at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where he assisted in writing three textbook chapters with Dr. Edward Chow P ’16. Remi Ojo ’08 successfully completed his first year at Queen’s University. Remi hopes to study biochemical engineering and pharmaceutical technology. He was the starting striker for the Queen’s varsity soccer team and hopes to attend the Queen’s soccer training camp in Liverpool.

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Stephen Joffe ’09 was accepted into the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. Team Crescent (Robbie Mitchnick ’09, John Nicolucci (S), Cory Austin ’09, Bryce Blakely ’10, Alex Mirkalami, grade 12 and Chase Heinemann-Maze, grade 11) cycled 200km over two days from Toronto to Niagara Falls in the second annual Ride to Conquer Cancer benefitting the Princess Margaret Hospital. The team raised $25,450.34 in memory of Eric Innes P ’05, ’07 (former Chair of Crescent School Board of Governors), grade 7 student, Dean Voutsas and all others who have been affected by the illness.

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Crescent School’s Upcoming Events 2009/2010 SEPTEMBER

Friday 25 Saturday 26 Tuesday 29

House Day Coyote Kickoff and Alumni Reunion Transition to University Evening

OCTOBER

Monday 12 Thursday 15 Thursday 22-24 Tuesday 27 Tuesday 27 Tuesday 27 Saturday 31

Thanksgiving Alumni university visit: Western CAIS national U13 soccer tournament CISAA junior and senior cross country finals LS Halloween Party US Careers Night CISAA U10/U11/U12/U14 soccer/volleyball finals

NOVEMBER

Tuesday 3 Wednesday 11 Friday 13/ Monday 16 Wednesday 18 Thursday 19 Thursday 19 Friday 27

MS Madness Remembrance Day assembly Mid-term break Holiday Sale Cocktail Party Holiday Sale Alumni Networking Reception American Thanksgiving Mentoring Panel

DECEMBER

Thursday 3/Friday 4 Tuesday 8 Thursday 10 Wednesday 16 Thursday 17 Friday 18-Monday January 4

US drama performance LS Winter Celebration MS/US Winter Celebration Bidiak Basketball Challenge Alumni Holiday Reception Winter break

JANUARY

Tuesday 26

LS Bingo Night

FEBRUARY

Wednesday 3-Friday 5 Monday 12/Monday 15 Friday 19 Friday 19 Saturday 20 Thursday 25

MS Drama performance Mid-term break Reading Week Mentoring Panel LS/MS Ski Day CISAA U10/U11 Basketball Finals US Coffee House

MARCH

Friday 5-Friday 19

March break

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

Class of 2009 University Placement In Ontario:

Other provinces:

Overseas:

The University of Western Ontario ........ 23 Queen's University ................................. 21 University of Toronto ..............................8 McMaster University ...............................5 Wilfrid Laurier University ........................4 Carleton University..................................2 University of Guelph ...............................1 Ryerson University...................................1 York University........................................1

McGill University ....................................8 University of British Columbia.................1

Durham University (U.K.)........................2 Oxford University (U.K.)..........................1 Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland) .........1 University of Sheffield (U.K.)...................1

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United States: Boston University ....................................1 Georgetown University ............................1 Northwestern University ..........................1 Parsons School of Design ........................1 Rochester Institute of Technology ............1 Union College (Albany Medical School) ..1 Wake Forest University ............................1


Guild Past Presidents Luncheon, April 2009

Back row: Cathie Singer P ’97 (President 1996-1997), Samantha Lloyd P ’07 (President 2003-2004), Cathy Carl P ’06, P ’08, P ’15 (President 2002-2003), Ruth Walker P ’04 (President 2000-2001), Catherine Demeroutis P ’12, P ’14 (President 2008-2009), Betsy Bertram P ’79, P ’81 (President 1973-1974), Ingrid Milic P ’78, P ’80, P ’82 (President 1979-1980), Diane Fleming P ’95, P ’97, P ’01 (President 1993-1994), Sue Riedlinger P ’09 (President 2007-2008) Front row: Nancy Wright P ’10, P ’12 (President 2006-2007), Sharon Miller P ’07, P ’12 (President 2005-2006), Cathy Macdonald P ’04, P ’06 (President 2004-2005), Faith Burridge P ’69, Sue Jenkins P ’96, P ’99 (President 1995-1996), Carol Laschinger P ’02 (President 1997-1998)

We need you on our side!

Crescent School Alumni Annual Giving Programme Honour your Crescent experience with a gift today. Visit http://alumni.crescentschool. org/donate.asp to make a secure gift online. Your gifts make a daily impact on current and future generations of students. For more information on ways to support Crescent School, please contact Stephanie Lang at (416) 449-2556 ext. 260 or slang@crescentschool.org. We are grateful for your generosity.

CRESCENT SCHOOL’S MISSION:

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

Respect, Responsibility, Honesty, Compassion 47


In Memoriam

David Douglas LaForest '08 February 28, 1990 – April 19, 2009 The Crescent community was shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of recent grad David LaForest on April 19. David succumbed to injuries sustained a few days earlier in a devastating fire in Waterloo College Hall residence at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he was in the first year of a business programme. David is survived by his parents, Barbara Campbell and Pierre LaForest, and his siblings, Rob, Michèle and Dan '01. David started at Crescent in grade 7 in Mr. Bidiak's home form. He was very active and gifted in sports, representing the School in rugby, basketball, tennis, squash and soccer. Additionally, he was able to achieve high academic honour, and was on the Headmaster's Honour Roll numerous times. Don Haag '75, David's Crescent Rugby Team Coach and Upper School business teacher fondly remembers his expertise and character on the pitch: "From the very beginning I knew Dave was going to be something special on our team. He was a committed and hard-working player who honed his skills and always wanted to be on the pitch playing with his teammates. He fit in right away. He was a natural. He played a position that is not always about the flash. Locks don't score a lot of points but are guys who are the keys in lineouts, and in scrums they are the ones who provide stability. ...Dave was always providing stability to hold his teammates together, starting plays at the lineout and the one down and dirty at rucks trying to win the ball for his team." Brian LeNguyen '08, who attended first year university with Dave, recalls the tryouts for Laurier's Golden Hawks varsity rugby team. "When I arrived at the stadium for the first day of training camp, I remember the first thing Dave told me was 'I am glad you are here.' As soon as I heard that, I knew I made the right decision in trying out for the rugby team because I knew that there was someone with me who would watch my back." That was Dave, the consummate good friend and teammate – the guy everyone counted on. He will be sadly missed by the Crescent Community and particularly by his class mates in the Class of 2008. At a memorial service held at Crescent on May 21, George Gleeson ‘08, Head Boy of David’s graduating class remarked: "There is now a hole in the fabric that is our class, the class of ’08. And it is a hole that can never be fixed. Nor should it be. Dave is gone and our class will never be the same. He was one of us and we will miss him always. That doesn’t mean, however, that we cannot go on, or that we will never again have a good time as a group. In fact, it is when we are together having fun that we will think of Dave the most – share a story, have a laugh and raise a glass to Dave LaForest – one of us always, and a truly great guy."

Faith R. Burridge Faith Burridge passed away on June 18 at the age of 85. She was married for 54 years to the late Bill Burridge, former Headmaster and long serving faculty member, and her connection with Crescent covered a span of exactly half a century. Faith was raised in northwestern Ontario, and as a registered nurse worked at Sunnybrook, Toronto Western, and for 27 years at Scarborough General Hospital, where she is still remembered as the last of the " floor-walking supervisors" in management. She was also actively involved in the community, with Arts Scarborough, the Salvation Army, and the Progressive Conservative Party. Both Crescent, from which she held a Life Membership in the (Ladies) Guild, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, have lost a staunch supporter. Faith will perhaps be best and most warmly remembered for her openness and her honesty, her sense of humour and straight talk, and the completely genuine nature she displayed. To her children Reid, Rob (class of 1969), and Hope, the school extends its condolences on their loss of a fine mother and a fine person.

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20 0 8 -2 0 0 9

D onor

Rep ort

Thank you ... The 2008-2009 Donor Report will be available online via the Green Room in November 2009. At that time, please visit the Green Room to view Crescent School’s thank you to all of our generous donors.

Men of Character from Boys of Promise

Contact: John Lynch, Chief Advancement Officer, at 416-449-2556 ext. 242 or jlynch@crescentschool.org for further information.

CRESCENT SCHOOL

alumni reunion

Crescent School and CSOBA invite you to the Crescent School Alumni Reunion

Recognizing the classes of £ Ç ÊUÊ£ n{ÊUÊ£ n ÊUÊ£ {ÊUÊ£ ÊUÊÓää{ ->ÌÕÀ`>Þ]Ê-i«Ìi LiÀÊÓÈ]ÊÓää ÈÊ«° °ÊÌ Ê Ê«° ° Centre for Creative Learning Crescent School RSVP to Lindsay Watt at Ê Ü>ÌÌJVÀiÃVi ÌÃV ° À}Ê or register online at ÌÌ«\ÉÉ> Õ °VÀiÃVi ÌÃV ° À}ÉV> i `>ÀÓ°>ë


Introducing our Newest Alumni

Class of 2009

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

40018682


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