The READ magazine (Winter 2016)

IN THIS ISSUE … OUR AWC SUCCESS … MAKING BABIES … A CREE CHAMPION THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGAN DONATION … BUILDING ’BOTS … MY LIFE UP SCHITT’S CREEK THE MAGAZINE FOR THE BRANKSOME HALL COMMUNITY WINTER 2015 – 16

ON BEING TRANSGENDER TWO STORIES, TWO CHANGED LIVES Reed WANLESS’04 and Andy SPRUNG’04 talk about their transitions PAGE 12

Branksome is pleased to offer our Athletics and Wellness Centre to members of our community as an events venue.

The beautiful spaces are suitable for cocktail receptions, sit-down dinners, product launches, conferences and parties.

www.branksomevenues.ca 416-920-6265, ext. 181.

Branksome Hall Vision To be the pre-eminent educational community of globally minded learners and leaders.

Branksome Hall Mission Each day, we challenge and inspire girls to love learning and to shape a better world.

Contents Winter 2015 – 16

On the Cover Reed WANLESS’04 and Andy SPRUNG’04, photographed in Toronto.

18 Features

26 30 Whirlwind

12 Being Andy

Andy SPRUNG’04 was Tammy Sprung at Branksome. Now, as a transgender male, he just wants to be a good lawyer

18 Cri de Coeur

Sarah TAYLOR’84 is an advocate for the kind of organ donation that gave her husband a life-saving lung transplant

22 Making Babies

Allison CASE’85 has brought joy to countless families by pioneering the use of in-vitro fertilization in Saskatchewan 26 Preserving ‘the Ways’

Sarah PASHAGUMSKUM’89 champions Cree culture and heritage at a stunning new institute in Quebec 28 Robot Champions

Pamela WILBY Catricala’79 and her husband inspire kids through building ’bots that win major competitions

Stefanie LIM’04 is always on the go— whether as a veterinarian or as a competitive pole dancer

32 Israeli Immersion

Melissa FELDMAN’89 writes about her 18 years amid the people and the uncertainties of the Jewish state

16 Coming Out and Coming Back

Teacher Reed WANLESS’04, formerly Elizabeth, writes about his transgender transition and getting used to “he”

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In Every Issue 2 Principal’s Message 3 Editorial 4 School Scoop

David Suzuki’s holistic message A gift of love for Learning Strategies Meet student Signy Matthews The AWC: We dreamed big!

34 Alumnae Update

Our changing board A year of travels and outreach Wellness initiatives in the AWC Winning Women: Alumnae Award recipients Nicole LEVESQUE’95 and Victoria CHENG’00

40 Fun photos from Reunion 2015 42 A Day in the Life

Up Schitt’s Creek with the Levy family

The READ Committee

Tanya Pimenoff, Editor Berton Woodward, Editorial Advisor Karen L. Jurjevich Lydia Levin Karrie Weinstock Contributors

Carl Chaboyer Allison Cordner Melissa FELDMAN’89 Jamie Day FLECK’00 Jeff Kirk Brigitte KOPAS’88 Mitch Lenet Sarah LEVY’04 David Leyes Ruth Ann Penny Nancy Rahija Jimmy Rogers Janet Sailian Andy SPRUNG’04 Dave Stobbe Caley Taylor Amy VERNER’98 Reed WANLESS’04 Alumnae, Employees and Friends of Branksome Hall Design & Production

Michael Cherkas + Associates Branksome Hall 10 Elm Avenue Toronto, ON M4W 1N4 Tel: 416-920-9741 www.branksome.on.ca Email: tpimenoff@branksome.on.ca Winter 2015 – 16 Volume 55, Number 1 Canadian Publications Mail Agreement No.40010445 The polybag containing this publication is made from recycled materials and is 100% biodegradable.

Correction Notice

Winter 2014 – 15 Issue of The READ On p. 58, Poppy Merry’s birthdate (daughter of Sarah MERRY’89) was incorrectly printed and should have read November 15, 2014. The editorial committee apologizes for this error.

from the principal

Keep Well Ourselves Arianna Huffington’s unique extension of our motto made us think of the personal choices we make each day to live a balanced life

by Karen L. Jurjevich

Following her presentation on November 12, Arianna Huffington greets Prefect Mikki Barnett, as Principal Karen Jurjevich and Prefect Sydney Weinryb look on.

Arianna Huffington—author, entrepreneur and co-founder,

President and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post—generously shares her wise words and good advice.

During her recent visit to Branksome Hall, we learned that she likes our school motto, Keep Well the Road. In fact, she liked it enough to respectfully suggest that we add Keep Well Ourselves as a way of demonstrating our commitment to the personal wellness journeys that we seek for our students, employees and community.

Arianna’s words resonated with me. For anyone who has read her book, Thrive, these words come as no surprise.

In Thrive, Huffington tells of her personal journey to redefining what it means to be successful. She advocates that we leave behind the old paradigm that defined money and power as pillars of success and embrace well-being, wisdom, wonder and service as the foundation for a happy, healthy and successful life.

Arianna’s unique extension of our trusted motto was greeted with

a smile. Keep Well Ourselves made us think about the personal choices we make each day to live an active, balanced and healthy life.

In an interview with the Huffington Post after the presentation, Grade 12 student Naz Gocek addressed this topic. “When you start developing healthy habits at a young age,” she said, “they stay with you.”

Naz, a keen debater and feminist, conducted her first-ever onstage interview with Huffington, asking questions that Grade 9–12 students had submitted. One of the most pressing questions she asked Huffington was how high-achieving girls, who have a hunger for life and want to do and experience everything, can find balance. Huffington responded that high achievement must go hand-in-hand with “refuelling, unplugging and recharging oneself.”

“Keep self-care your number one priority and your passion will follow,” said Huffington. I find that this is good advice for both students and adults in our community.

“Keep self-care your number one priority and your passion will follow,” said Huffington. I find that this is good advice for both students and adults in our community.

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from the editor

Welcoming Change

Rick Miller

From donor cards to gender transition, working on this issue has been a valuable learning experience for me

Caley Taylor

by Tanya Pimenoff

Self-care conveys the message that we, as individuals, are responsible for our personal health and wellness. Last January, when we opened the Athletics and Wellness Centre, I spoke about the sheer impact of our new facility, framing it as “an invitation to wellness.” The key element here is the invitation. Everyone who has the privilege of using the Athletics and Wellness Centre has received this invitation to wellness and, every day, can make his or her own choice about how to accept the invitation.

Recently, school employees accepted the invitation to wellness through their participation in the Branksome Health and WellBeing Project, presented by renowned scientist, broadcaster, author, coach and Branksome parent Dr. Greg Wells. Topics such as sleep, nutrition, exercise and stress management are just part of an ongoing program being delivered by Dr. Wells and his team. Over a six-month period, employees will have the opportunity to take their learning and their practice of well-being to the next level.

Given the impact of Arianna Huffington’s message of self-care and Dr. Wells’ program on well-being, we are on track to Keep Well Ourselves. Simple straightforward messages from two leaders have inspired our employees and students to keep wellness at the forefront and to make positive changes, one step at a time.

And, when Arianna Huffington was asked about one step she might have taken as a young student, her answer brought warm laughter from the audience. “I would say: stop worrying and get a good night’s sleep.”

Arianna Huffington’s comment, with its simplicity and relevance, will be remembered for a long time. I

as another busy school year settles down, my attention turns to planning this magazine.

As the layout and contents began to take shape last August, the number of alumnae who had their fingers on the pulse of timely news headlines became apparent, and our focus fell into place. The READ was underway!

First, there are the stories of two young transgender men, Andy Sprung and Reed Wanless, each with his own personal account of gender transition. As Andy expressed it in a phone call with me, the approach to these articles must be “to educate and not to sensationalize.” Reed, in 2014, had been invited as a special guest to a student-run Gay-Straight Alliance meeting at Branksome. For him, that forum was an important first step before writing his story for our entire community.

Branksome has recently established a Transgender Working Group, which will explore the needs of current and prospective transgender students. We are very grateful to Andy and Reed for their involvement as consultants and, of course, for letting us into their lives.

What follows after their stories are six fascinating accounts of alumnae who are creating change. They are all on the leading edge, whether using science to make babies, employing robotics to produce future engineers, advocating for organ donations, preserving indigenous culture, helping new immigrants, or giving pole dancing the credit it really deserves.

As I hope it will for you, working on this issue of The READ has had a profound influence on me. I am better educated.

My understanding of gender transition has taken a giant leap forward and my organ donor card, which sat around my house for months, has now been signed and mailed. I look forward to learning more and embracing our changing times. I

Every summer,

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SchoolScoop News from the Branksome Hall Community winter 2015–16

Law and Order

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he pomp and splendour of Installation—one of the best-loved traditions in the school year—took place on Friday, October 9. Head Girl Priyanka Dogra spoke passionately about the power of team work and its influence on this year’s prefect motto, Inspire & Impact. With a vision to bring the community closer together, the prefects will work to help individuals inspire one another to have an impact on the community.

From an early age, guest speaker Shelby AUSTIN’99 knew that law was her true calling. When she left a secure

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Suzuki continued by discussing the way cities, such as Toronto, have stopped thinking about nature and are economically focused. “For the planet to survive, we must think more holistically,” he said. This was a strong message that supports Branksome Hall’s vision of health and wellness.

More recently, Suzuki, along with members of the David Suzuki Foundation, have been crossing Canada to educate people about how dire the situation has become. The Blue Dot campaign promotes our inherent right to a healthy environment—clean water, fresh air, healthy food and a say in decisions that affect everyone. So far, more than 88,000 people from across the country have come on board.

Branksome Hall students contributed to the assembly by presenting their own sustainability initiatives, including a presentation about the Grade 8 tree planting day.

—Robert Shaw, Branksome Hall Communications Officer

legal position to start ATD, her own legal outsourcing company, Shelby encountered a number of stumbling blocks before achieving success through hard work, perseverance and resilience. She acknowledged how failure is inevitable in life and that “no effort can be achieved without error or shortcomings.” Students, she urged, must trust their instincts, for one day “you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumbles.” In 2014, Shelby successfully negotiated the sale and ATD was absorbed into Deloitte Canada.

Now a partner at Deloitte, Shelby has indeed reached full gallop, and has clearly lived up to being named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in 2011.

“For me, I’m at the end of my life, but you have to think much more long term.”

Caley Taylor

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n November 4, Middle School students and special guests were invited to hear a powerful presentation by renowned environmental activist Dr. David Suzuki. Pauline Shirt, a Plains Cree Elder and founder of the Toronto First Nations School, with whom Branksome partners in service learning initiatives, opened the presentation with a traditional blessing.

After reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, Suzuki’s life changed. “I had come back to Canada to pursue a career in science, but the book showed me there was a pressing issue with the environment and something needed to be done,” he told JK to Grade 8 students during a special assembly, which included parents and guests.

“For me,” he told students, “I’m at the end of my life, but you have to think much more long term.” With a lifework spanning 60 years, it was an unsettling reminder to students of how important it is for them to act now.

David Suzuki Foundation http://davidsuzuki.org

DAVID SUZUKI’S HOLISTIC MESSAGE

From left: Scott Clan Chieftain Morgan Doman, Shelby AUSTIN’99, Head Girl Priyanka Dogra and Douglas Clan Chieftain Ruairi Smith.

Gracias, Señora Mustos

B

ill, Margot (Class of 2015) and Debra Mustos (long-time Spanish and French teacher) arrive at the annual Graduating Year Breakfast on April 21. The event, held jointly with the Alumnae Association, offered bittersweet moments for students and faculty alike, who would, later in the school year, see Señora Mustos retire after her 26-year career at Branksome.

Guest speakers Bill and Debra took turns at the podium, speaking passionately about the importance of pursuing dreams and overcoming personal fears.

History Takes Its Place In recognition of their 60th reunion last spring, 1955 class reps Louise COFFEY Hastings and Mary BOLTON Armstrong spearheaded a special fundraising project. Old athletic photos from our archives—skiing at Clansdale Heights, the old pool and gym class—were carefully restored, enlarged, framed, plaqued, and then hung in the new Athletics and Wellness Centre. Branksome’s history lives on, thanks to support from the Class of 1955!

Laura Bincik chats with former colleagues on the lower level of the AWC. From left: Laura, Vesna Davidovac, Susan MacGregor and Pat Merrilees.

Branksome Opens Its Doors

T

he Athletics and Wellness Centre held great appeal for Torontonians during the city’s popular Doors Open weekend on May 23 and 24. It was the first time that Branksome participated in the city-wide event. Here, Guidance Counsellor and Doors Open volunteer

Into the Wilderness

D

uring the summer months, thanks to another generous donation from Bridget HORNE Colman’87, students Olivia Brayley, Carolyn Bowman and Alex Whang participated in a wilderness education course, run by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).

Olivia embarked on a backpacking adventure in the Yukon, while Carolyn and Alex tackled the challenges of a white water river expedition. All three, now in Grade 12, were thrilled to push themselves mentally and physically, gain a better understanding of environmental sustainability and, importantly, learn to grow more resilient through their reactions and responses to difficult situations.

Thank you to Bridget and her family for their ongoing support of our school and for passing along their love of adventure to Branksome students.

Transformational

2014–15 Donor and Giving Report

Transformational, the 2014–15 Donor and Giving Report is online at branksome.on.ca/ supportbranksome.

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SchoolScoop Alumnae Influences…

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n March 30, at a Senior and Middle School STEM assembly, students learned how studies in science, technology, engineering and math can lead to fascinating and rewarding careers. Speakers were Laura HANSEN-XUEREB’06, a registered nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Phyllis LEE’06, a software engineer at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington.

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ast winter, Branksome hosted age-appropriate presentations, for Grade 7 to 12 students, on the topic The Drink Initiative: Understanding and Managing Your Risk. The Grade 12 presentation addressed managing alcohol and preventing date rape in university settings. Participating in the interactive presentation were, from left, May Anh NGUYEN’12 (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), Branksome social worker Joelle Therriault, Ann DOWSETT Johnston’71 (author of Drink, The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol), Deputy Principal Karrie Weinstock and Ariella MINDEN’11 (University of Toronto).

A New Tradition Begins on Jeju Island It was all about celebrating success, flowers and white dresses last May 29, when 32 girls from the Class of 2015 enjoyed becoming new alumnae from the first graduating class of Branksome Hall Asia.

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hile in Toronto visiting family last September, Carol SZETO’90 was invited to speak with students who were interested in learning about her education and subsequent career path. Carol has a B.Sc. in Engineering from Cornell and an M.B.A. from New York University. She currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland and works at GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance, where she is a senior manager and multi-disciplinary team leader in global health.

On the Green Carpet

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eputy Principal Karrie Weinstock welcomes Tori LORD’06, left, and Jamie Day FLECK’00 to the end-of-year Green Carpet Celebration for Grades 7 to 11. With a passion for the world of the arts, both alumnae were invited to speak about their varied experiences in such a competitive business.

Tori, who worked with worldrenowned Shakespeare coach Patsy Rodenburg, recently completed her debut short film, Lost Cause, which she wrote, directed, produced and starred in. Jamie, an accomplished photographer and documentary film maker, holds an M.F.A. from Ryerson University, and was a recent recipient of the Documentary for Social Justice Award from Ryerson for her in-depth work on Photos by Kirk.

Student profile

The Many Sides of Signy She likes to be hands-on

by Gillian MiNsky

sides of me,” says new Grade 9 student Signy Matthews. Bubbly and energetic, she is curious and interested in nearly everything she comes across at Branksome Hall.

With the first few weeks of the school year behind her, Signy has been accepted into the Best Buddies program, and will try out for the rowing team soon.

Her mother, Sandra JARVIS’83, loved her time at Branksome and is thrilled and nostalgic that Signy is now at Branksome. The International Baccalaureate program was one of the main draws for Signy and her family. “My old school was more about memorizing,” she says. “I’m more into the understanding and handson part.”

A scientist at heart, she is excited to advance her knowledge of chemistry, physics and math through hands-on classroom opportunities. “I love science because it explains how the world works,” she says.

“I like to see how all the gears fit together.”

With her love of learning comes a passion for helping others. Signy has travelled to South Africa and hopes to visit Costa Rica next year as part of the Grade 10 service learning trip.

With wellness one of Branksome’s priorities, Signy’s healthy lifestyle is thriving. She incorporates wellness into many aspects of her life, from food to physical exercise. A pescatarian—someone who does not eat meat but eats fish—since Grade 5, Signy also works out in the Athletics and Wellness Centre three to four times a week and loves snowboarding in winter.

Her mom knows Signy has a bright future ahead of her. “I hope she finds her passion and that she flies out of here well prepared and able to embrace what university will present,” she says. “And that she’ll make lifelong friends like I did.”

When thinking about her own future, Signy has an idea of what she’d like to do. “I’ve thought about it and I’d like to be a portfolio manager,” she says. “I don’t mind getting up early to watch the stocks, and

Jamie Day Fleck’00

“I want to be able to show all the different

“I love science because it explains how the world works,” she says. “I like to see how all the gears fit together.”

I like to see how they work and fluctuate. It’s almost like a science.” She is also interested in engineering and thinks she may like to apply those skills to environmental preservation. “Because I really do care about the environment,” she says. “It’s the only earth we have, after all!”

For now, Signy is looking forward to enjoying her next four years at Branksome. “I hope to be able to become remarkable,” she says with a smile. “It might sound a bit cheesy because it’s our school slogan, but it’s true. To be a Branksome student is be taught things you can’t be taught anywhere else,” she says.

“Passion, independence, curiosity… and you almost just learn it by being here. That’s why I really want to be here.” I Gillian Minsky is a Communications Officer at Branksome Hall.

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SchoolScoop A Gift of Love Promotes Learning Meredith CARTWRIGHT’83 honours her mother’s legacy As an advocate of life-long learning, Barbara MacFadyen Cartwright was

an inspiration to her three children, Meredith CARTWRIGHT’83, Brian, and Heather CARTWRIGHT’88. “Mom only completed Grade 9,” explains Meredith. “But, she was extremely well read, well-spoken and really well informed.

“Mom had three dyslexic kids who she navigated through elementary and high school. Between us, we hold three B.A.’s, an L.L.B., an M.B.A., a Master’s from Harvard, and Heather has her Level 4 Coaching Certification. Every year, at least one of us is teaching or taking courses.”

Barbara died in June 2014. To honour her mother’s legacy, Meredith has generously added an additional $28,000 to an estate gift of $25,000 that Barbara left Branksome, to create the Barbara MacFadyen Cartwright Fund for Learning Strategies. This $53,000 expendable fund will provide approximately $5,000 a year to the Branksome Hall Learning Strategies Department for the next 10 years.

Meredith has been supportive of the Learning Strategies program since her daughter Brooke, currently in Grade 8, started at the school in Junior Kindergarten. She is passionate that teachers be excited to “learn about learning.”

“Some of the most exciting research right now is in the area of the benefits, not deficits, of the dyslexic brain,” says Meredith. “Yale calls dyslexics ‘slow readers, out of the box thinkers’ and I think that’s about right,” she says. “It’s why so many dyslexics are entrepreneurs and why dyslexics have been so instrumental in the digital economy.”

She explains that “I wanted to create something that would enrich and inspire teachers at an intellectual and professional level.” The fund will enable teachers to travel to conferences and continuing education seminars related to the latest learning strategies research and practices on “learning about learning,” with a special emphasis on dyslexia. In fact, Meredith has been supplying funds for this purpose for the last several years.

Meredith is a huge believer in leveraging and multiplying effects. What is new is that this fund will also support and encourage teachers to share their new knowledge with colleagues at Branksome as well as with other educators through special seminars and gatherings supported by the fund.

In the same way her mother inspired her children, Meredith hopes the Barbara MacFadyen Cartwright Fund for Learning Strategies will inspire others to support teaching at Branksome. “There are so many different ways and approaches to learning,” she says, “and every student’s learning style can add value to the classroom and the community.” I

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In the same way her mother inspired her children, Meredith hopes the Barbara MacFadyen Cartwright Fund for Learning Strategies will inspire others to support teaching and learning at Branksome.

Teacher profile

The Learning Strategist Jane-Anne Tateishi helps students reach for their full potential

For Jane-Anne Tateishi, it was a

personal risk—and she was someone who dealt in risk every day. After 25 years as an actuary, she left her executive role in insurance and enrolled in teachers’ college.

Why at this stage? “I really wanted to work with teenagers,” she says. “I had been tutoring math at Pathways to Education in Regent Park and realized that no matter how long my corporate day had been, I looked forward to working with these young men and women.”

She set out to teach Math and Business Studies, but upon completing her B.Ed., immediately enrolled in additional

courses in guidance and special education.

“I wanted to be able to further support students,” she says.

The risk paid off. Hired by Branksome Hall in January 2013 to work with senior school students in the Learning Strategies Department, she was promoted to Director, Learning Strategies earlier this year. “It’s exciting and inspiring,” she says. “I love the challenge.”

With a team of four full-time teachers, whom Tateishi oversees and works with on a daily basis, the Learning Strategies Department helps students develop and improve their learning skills. It also

Jamie Day Fleck’00

Jane-Anne, in her office located in the Margaret Sime Wing.

offers workshops throughout the year to all students on such topics as organization, planning, exam prep, attention, memory and assistive technology.

“In our program, we support students with learning challenges, which can include learning disabilities, ADHD and anxiety,” says Tateishi. “We collaborate with the students, their teachers and their parents to find the best way for them to succeed in the classroom. We help students maximize their strengths to compensate for their learning needs.”

More than 100 students visit the Learning Strategies Centres each school year.

Some of these visits are for short-term help with a specific need, such as reading or writing support, one-on-one help with how to prepare for exams or assistance in navigating a return to school after an absence.

Some students have a formal Learning Strategies Plan and may receive accommodations for assessments, such as extra time or the use of assistive technology. “There is a lot of new technology out there, which can be very helpful,” says Tateishi. “It’s important for us to find the right technology and offer support so that each student is comfortable using it.”

Students feel very optimistic when they learn that many of the same services that Branksome provides are available in university, she says. “We have so many examples of girls who have embraced their learning needs while working with our department and have continued to succeed in their post-secondary careers.”

Tateishi’s career has followed an unexpected road, with a steep learning curve. But she is delighted with the surprising twist it took after she left her job as an actuary. She’s excited about the future of the department and learning from the latest research, but she says she’s most passionate about helping each student reach for her full potential. I

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The Branksome Becomes Campaign surpassed its goal, and the Athletics and Wellness Centre has now become the hub of school life

Big! We Dreamed

Closing Our Successful Campaign We had two worthy goals in mind: to build a state-of-the-art athletics and wellness facility that would match and complement our stellar IB programs, and to increase our Student Financial Aid endowment. The Athletics and Wellness Centre stands testimony to our bright future. With an increased Student Financial Aid endowment we are now able to offer more scholarships and bursaries to deserving girls.

“

Our Branksome community stepped forward to help us realize our vision and we have exceeded our goal of $15 million. We are deeply grateful for the support of our community of alumnae, parents and friends who helped to make our vision a reality through this campaign. In particular, we thank Jim Christie and Mary LESSLIE Hallward’74, the Campaign Co-Chairs, as well as members of the Campaign Cabinet.”

Principal Karen L. Jurjevich

“

The Alumnae Association Executive believes in giving deserving girls the same outstanding education that we received at Branksome.”

Tenley GIBSON’94 President of the Alumnae Association Contributions made by the Alumnae Association to the Branksome Becomes Campaign

$150,000

to the Athletics and Wellness Centre

$100,000

to the Alum Association Endowed Bursary Fund (Student Financial Aid)

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Have You Walked the Walkway?

“

Thanks to hundreds of individual donors, our alumnae can take great pride when they visit such a beautifully landscaped venue that they can truly call their own.”

Jason Balaban Senior Development Officer, Annual and Leadership Giving

Our remarkable Athletics and Wellness Centre provides students with numerous opportunities to thrive.

An Exclusive Evening for Alumnae On September 29, a special evening in the Athletics and Wellness Centre brought generations of alumnae together. Guests were wowed by the spectacular facilities and the stunning Alumnae Walkway. It was a time to celebrate and raise a glass of bubbly to the newest building on campus. Laughter and lively conversations were abundant as generations mingled and showed their pride and joy in their alma mater.

From left: Lisa TWEEDY Clark’92, Pixie BIGELOW Currie’62, Diana STYLE Tweedy’60, Jane OMAND Barber’62 and Kathy KERNOHAN’62.

Classmates from 1982 are, from left: Alison WILEY Rochon, Martha DINGLE Reeve, Mary MORDEN Fernandes, Kathryn BULEYCHUK Champion and Susan SHAW.

Principal Karen Jurjevich welcomes Alisha GULAMANI Kurji’08, left, and Hubie YU’08 to the celebration.

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It’s more important to Andy SPRUNG’04 that his clients win a proper settlement than that someone learns more about the transgender community. He’s not trying to be the male version of Caitlyn Jenner. He just wants to be a good lawyer.

Being Andy

by Berton Woodward

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hen Andy SPRUNG was

Jeff Kirk

interviewing for a position as a lawyer, the conversation would usually get round to his education.

Post-secondary was straightforward: King’s College in Halifax, University of Toronto B.A., University of Toronto law school. But some interviewers asked about his high school.

“I went to private school,” Andy would reply carefully.

One interviewer persisted, seeking to know more about his background. “Well, believe it or not, I went to Branksome Hall,” Andy told him.

“Oh, I didn’t know it was co-ed,” the interviewer said.

“It’s not,” Andy replied. Followed by an awkward silence.

“And then we moved on,” Andy recounts with a chuckle. In fact, he doesn’t mind talking about how, at Branksome, he was Tammy Sprung, rowing star. After all, if a potential employer isn’t comfortable with a transgender associate, why would he want to work for them? But it does take time away from the professional matters at hand.

And Andy is all about his profession. He’s currently an associate at Findlay Law Offices in Hamilton, working as a litigator in personal injury cases. It’s much more important to him that his clients win a proper settlement than that someone learns more about the transgender

community, though he does his part in that quest, too.

Indeed, he is grateful to the trailblazers who have eased his way, but he’s not trying to be the male version of Caitlyn Jenner. He just wants to be a good lawyer.

“I’m a pretty open person,” he says. “If someone is coming from a place of good intentions, I’m happy to have conversations. But, of course, if someone is coming from a place of salaciousness or being gossipy, that’s different.”

He’s aware that in some workplaces he has been the subject of after-hours bar talk. But compared with the often tortured history of transgender people across North America, Andy agrees he’s had a relatively smooth ride.

He comes from a supportive family, and being in the legal profession means he’s surrounded by people who are highly educated and well-informed. “I haven’t really been subjected to much direct abuse.”

It’s not as though it hasn’t been an intense journey, stretching back to his time as young Tammy, growing up in Rosedale. “I have always been a masculine-presenting person,” he says. “My parents have stories about how I insisted on being called George when I was 3.” Tammy wore unisex clothes and Andy recalls “epic battles” with his mother, Christine Mackiw, about having to wear dresses on formal occasions. (continued on page 14)

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(continued from page 12) Christine, a retired corporate lawyer, remembers that time, too. “Tammy was very much a tomboy growing up,” she says, “more interested in sports than in playing with dolls or dressing up.” She recalls asking her pediatrician about the “George” statement. “He told me jokingly not to worry about it unless Tammy still wanted to be George at age 16, so I decided not to take her comments very seriously.”

Due to her boyish ways, Tammy did suffer some teasing and bullying at public school. After her parents divorced, she entered Branksome in Grade 7. “I didn’t mind going to an all-girls school because I didn’t have fundamental questions about my sex or gender—I just knew I was more masculine.

And Branksome had a great athletics program,” says Andy.

“In retrospect, I think the single-sex environment removed or delayed the question for me. I could be as masculine as I wanted and, in a sense, I didn’t have to confront the real world.”

Tammy plunged into rowing, and Christine remembers when her daughter was coxswain for a group of Branksome and other Toronto rowers, facing off against U.S. teams in the prestigious

Our Transgender Working Group Branksome Hall’s mission states that “Each day, we inspire girls to love learning and shape a better world.”

It is against this background that the Branksome Hall Transgender Working Group began its work in October 2015.

Led by Deputy Principal Karrie Weinstock, and joined by our lead social worker, Joelle Therriault, administrators, teachers, parents, alumnae and students, the Transgender Working Group will study, discuss and make recommendations regarding our approach to supporting and accommodating current and prospective transgender students in an all-girls’ school.

The Transgender Working Group will develop guidelines for addressing these issues and for educating the Branksome community about the emerging needs of transgender students. Legal and privacy issues will be considered. The goal is to report the Working Group’s recommendations to Principal Karen Jurjevich in May 2016.

Membership Chair Karrie Weinstock, Deputy Principal Joelle Therriault, Lead Social Worker Amanda Kennedy, Head, Senior and Middle School Fiona SAMPSON’81, BH Parent Sasha DARLING’87, BH Parent, BHPA Member Jill Strimas, Faculty Siamak Boroomand, Faculty Naz Gocek, Admissions Prefect Darcy Bandeen and Miranda Bassel, Heads, GSA Andrew SPRUNG’04, Consultant Reed WANLESS’04, Consultant Hershel Russell, Psychotherapist

14 The READ Winter 2015 –16

Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. As they raced under the many narrow bridges spanning the Charles River, Tammy unflinchingly held her own, and in one incident, actually collided with a U.S. team under an arch. Watching with other moms, Christine held her breath. “The Toronto team coxed by Tammy was first out the other side,” she says. “At that moment I knew that Tammy would always have the courage to face whatever obstacles life threw her way.”

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ammy dated boys while at Branksome;

however, by the end of high school, she had begun identifying as a lesbian. Branksome’s Rainbow Society (now the Gay-Straight Alliance, or GSA) held a presentation about transgender people but, Andy says, “I was resistant to the idea—I think because it hit close to home.” At graduation, Tammy wore a long white gown to please her mother. It turned out to be the last time she wore a dress.

Fast forward through two years at King’s College, two more at U of T, a gap year after graduation, and into first year at the U of T law school. Tammy had learned a lot more about the transgender community, not least from a person she dated who had decided to transition from female to male. “I got a crash course,” Andy says.

Though known at the law school as Tammy, he was now sure he wanted to graduate and be called to the bar under the name Andy Sprung. “I couldn’t put off the decision any more—about who I wanted to become as an adult and as a professional, and what I needed to do to be comfortable in my own skin. The only way I could see myself becoming who I wanted to be was to physically transition.”

He decided to make the change known at the beginning of second year law school. There are a lot of planning elements to a decision like this. He was a residence don in University College, known in the co-ed dorms as a female. He would need to let professors and classmates know. And his academic records still said Tammy, gender F. “In order to transition, you have to come up with a whole communications and marketing strategy,” Andy says. “You are building a new persona.”

Presenting as what he calls “a butch lesbian,” his style was already pretty masculine. He began taking male hormones, which deepened his voice, added muscle, reduced fat and even made part of his hairline recede. With close friends, he used the name Andy and male pronouns. He consulted closely with his mother and began to tell family members. At the end of the summer break in September 2011, Andrew Sprung publicly arrived.

Andy remembers the reaction as almost all positive. His friends were “100 per cent on board” and helped spread the word about his transition. U of T’s Sexual and Gender Diversity Office helped with his professors. His father took a bit of time to get used to it, but “I’d say we’re as close now as we ever have been,” says Andy.

Christine, of course, had been with him all the way, but it was still a huge change. “It was clearly much more difficult to come to grips with the idea of Tammy as a trans male than as a lesbian,” she says. “I first had to educate myself as there is much less awareness, generally, of trans issues. This education was also

Jeff Kirk

I couldn’t put off the decision any more—about who I wanted to become as an adult and as a professional, and what I needed to do to be comfortable in my own skin.

necessary before I could explain Andy’s transition to my family, which is quite conservative, including my 82-year-old mother.”

How did that go? “To my surprise, Andy’s aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmother were much more supportive than I had expected. They all recognized and respected the courage that he had to have in order to make this transition in his life.”

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t the time, Ontario would not allow a

transgender person to get a revised birth certificate or driver’s license without evidence of some kind of gender reassignment surgery, which also caused difficulty in changing some of his university transcripts. But with his mother’s financial help, Andy scheduled his so-called “top surgery”—breast removal—over the Christmas break in second year. Legally, that allowed him to become Timothy Andrew Mackiw Sprung, retaining the initials Tamara Ann Mackiw Sprung had always had.

Andy went on to article at Lerners LLP in Toronto and then joined Findlay in early 2015. “We discussed it, and I knew my transition wasn’t going to be an issue working here,” he says.

He has thrown himself into representing clients who have

suffered an injury or have been cut off from long-term disability.

“It really appeals to me,” he says. “You connect with people who are in crisis. And if you’re successful, the impact is huge.”

He has done volunteer work with various legal clinics and forums for LGBT people, and he sees parallels between the experiences of people fighting big insurance companies and the struggles of trans people in an often hostile society. He has also worked with sexual assault victims and can see this expanding into broader human rights representation.

There is one aspect of his transition he feels comes into his work. “If I were to identify something that’s still a challenge for me, it’s that I appear very young for my age,” he says. “It happens at least once a week where I meet a new client and they’re like, ‘Are you a lawyer? You look too young to be a lawyer!’”

He’s also aware that a youthful appearance, like society’s current fascination with transgender people, is likely to fade as he builds his career. His change from Tammy to Andy may be behind him, but his transition continues. I Berton Woodward is a Toronto-based writer, editor and communications consultant.

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When you change your gender, it’s never simple

Coming Out and Coming Back Jeff Kirk

by Reed Wanless’04

“Bonjour, Monsieur...”

I’m standing in my orange safety vest at the bottom of the primary stairs. It’s the beginning of a new school year and I’m on recess duty for the first time. After two years of teaching rotary kindergarten, most of the kids scampering up the stairs are former students. “He’s a real teacher now,” I hear one say to the other. Her comment makes me smile. This year, I have my own Grade 3 French Immersion class. Every word of her sentence feels a little unreal—starting with the word “he.”

I’m transgendered. I grew up as a girl, and now I live as a man.

That’s the simple way of describing my more masculine gender presentation. There’s a bit more to it, but that’s the first thing I say. When I started coming out, nobody knew what I meant by “transgender.”

My name was Elizabeth when I started at Branksome—a shy Junior Kindergartener. Despite many changes over the years, I’m still rather shy. When I first started coming out, I didn’t think I’d be able to transition. The logistics alone of changing one’s gender—the phone calls and awkward conversations at government service kiosks—were intimidating. Then there was everything—and everyone—else.

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In my final year at Branksome, I came out as trans, but only to myself. Two of my close friends had just established the Rainbow Society (now the Gay-Straight Alliance or GSA) and organized a workshop on trans issues. A dozen of us sat around the tables in Room 105. We listened attentively as two guest speakers told their stories.

They gave us words that described my experience. Unfortunately, in 2004, the internet didn’t offer much in the way of resources, and YouTube hadn’t been invented yet. It would be years before I came out as trans to anybody else.

I started going by ‘Reed’ in 2008, during my final year at McGill.

On a quiet January evening, my roommate and I were preparing to attend a fundraiser. She had asked me to do the photography for the event. Jean Chrétien was going to be there. My roommate asked on the way out the door, “How do you want me to introduce you tonight?” It would be my first night publicly as ‘Reed’. Changing your gender isn’t one transition, but a series of steps that is different for everyone. Each step gives you the strength to take on the next challenge.

That evening spent smiling across my camera at Jean Chrétien was the first of many experiences I would look back on and remind myself, “If I can do that, I can do this too.”

After four years of studying environmental science and geography, I wanted to get outside. I started working full-time as an outdoor educator. Seasons were dedicated to leading games, skits and songs,

For years, ‘he’ caught me off guard. Now, when I hear the words, ‘he’s a real teacher,’ I’m more focused on the ‘real teacher’ part.

and teaching students how to paddle, navigate, and rock climb. In the winter, we snowshoed through forests south of Algonquin Park, identifying trees and following animal tracks. After years of working with different schools, I even ended up leading an ALIVE program with Branksome. When I started teaching outdoor ed, I was on girls’ night duty; my last contract was as the male guide of an all-boys canoe trip.

In 2009, I legally changed my name and had chest surgery. I began presenting workshops in staff training sessions and spoke at a youth conference at The 519 in Toronto. I started hormones in 2010 and, at 24, went from being called “she” to “he” in a few months. My gender presentation went from noticeably ambiguous to unquestionably male.

Everything changed, including how to come out.

When you change your gender, you have to tell everyone. You’re also working on a deadline, racing to catch up with all your friends before they find out on their own. Puberty is a tricky topic of conversation for anyone and it doesn’t get easier the second time around; however, once physical changes set in, “being trans” becomes much less apparent. Since gender transition doesn’t often come up in conversation, you have to get a little creative.

Fortunately, I’m a Branksome girl. We spent a lot of time being creative in school, learning how to solve tricky problems. Between

parliamentary debates and school-wide essay competitions, I found myself quite prepared to find the right words if I had to. Indeed, simply saying “I went to Branksome” has often been enough.

But, at first, it wasn’t so simple. as my voice lowered and my appearance started to change, small talk about where I grew up and went to school became complicated. The truth involved a follow-up conversation that wasn’t well-suited to busy subway platforms or street corners. Answering the simplest of questions required an immediate scan of our surroundings, time check, and assessment of our relationship. I developed a repertoire of ambiguous answers.

When high school came up during an important French oral exam during my teacher training at OISE, I was too nervous to spin an elaborate story in my second language. I said I studied French at Branksome. The panel smiled uncertainly. It occurred to me they might be wondering whether I knew that Branksome was an all-girls’ school. One of the examiners broke the silence: “What an experience that must have been, going to school with so many girls.” I chuckled timidly about “des circonstances spéciales” and that was that. I went to Branksome.

“Are you going to the reunion?” Hil LEDERER’04 asked between turns at the indoor rock climbing gym. Our ten year was fast approaching. “Only if I can grow a good beard,” I joked. I would be the only man there not involved with the catering. But in the weeks leading up to the event, I found myself faced with the same questions as everyone else: will my friends be there? What will we talk about?

And, most importantly, what am I going to wear? It took ten years to get ready.

Six months after the reunion, I was back again at Branksome for a GSA meeting. After a day spent with dozens of kindergarteners, I was sitting in a circle of 50 high school students and teachers from a handful of Toronto private schools. The room seemed especially quiet. This wasn’t the same casual chat in Room 105 I had been expecting. Suddenly, I had no idea where to start or what to say.

Two hours later, I was taking the final questions in what had become a very open conversation about identity, gender, and growing up. They were the first students to whom I had ever come out, not just as transgendered, but as a Branksome graduate too. They reminded me that I was part of a community in which you can be who you are.

For years, “he” caught me off guard. Now, when I hear the words, “he’s a real teacher,” I’m more focused on the “real teacher” part. I draw on my Branksome experience every day. What I’m trying to develop in my students is what I’ve learned through my transition: strength to be yourself, confidence to be open with the people around you, and determination to make things happen. I Reed WANLESS’04 teaches Grade 3 and is a consultant to Branksome Hall’s Transgender Working Group.

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Sarah TAYLOR’84 is an advocate for the kind of organ donation that saved her husband

Cri de Coeur

by Amy VERNeR’98

she decided to register as an organ donor. She first learned about the option like most people—receiving their driver’s licence—and she recalls no hesitation. “It was a no-brainer for me,” she says, glossing over her word choice. “I’ve always been registered, but it was never something I was passionate about,” she continues. “It was just something you do, because why wouldn’t you? Your body is dead but you still have useful stuff inside—why wouldn’t you want to put it inside someone else?”

For such a sensitive topic, Sarah is refreshingly matter-of-fact. And, within the past four years, the viewpoint she took as a teenager has strengthened into a rallying cry. Sarah’s husband, Keith Childerhose, is alive today because of a lung transplant he received in 2013. When we speak by phone, the Oakville-based couple is en route to a job. After taking 18 months off work, Sarah returned to their window repair business, Windowfix.ca (formerly Lakeshore Home Maintenance), in early 2015, once Keith had made a successful recovery.

But to get to this point has involved no shortage of effort and emotion, and an uncanny twist of fate. From Keith’s sickest period through to the present, Sarah has leveraged social media, maintaining a strong and personable presence by sharing their highs and lows. (continued on page 20)

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Caley taylor

S

arah TAYLOR was still a student at Branksome when

Sarah and Keith at their home in Oakville.

As advocates for organ donations, both wear a green ribbon.

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(continued from page 18) The underlying message, however, is that organ donation has been the key to his survival.

“I knew I didn’t want him to die. But the only way for him to live was to get a pair of lungs from someone who was a registered organ donor,” she explains. “The only control I had over the situation was raising awareness about being an organ donor in Ontario and talking to as many people as I could. I did it for purely selfish reasons.

I knew it would help other people as well but I wanted it to help Keith.”

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nd it did, at precisely the moment that

his health had dramatically deteriorated. Nine days after Sarah launched a Facebook page in January 2013, Lungs For Keith to Breathe, Keith received his transplant.

Yet the prolonged ordeal began nearly two decades earlier. When Keith was in his mid-20s, he suffered what doctors believed was pneumonia. It turned out to be a rare respiratory illness that would progressively worsen and decrease his lifespan. When Keith and Sarah first met in 2006, his condition wasn’t affecting the quality of his active life. “It’s not like you looked at him and thought, he looks like a sick man,” she recalls, noting that he

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would rollerblade and run with vigour, but his recovery from a common cold would take time. Three years ago, he began to get noticeably weaker and was losing weight dramatically. At one point, as Sarah muses now, he was “a handyman on oxygen.” In late summer 2012, Keith was told he needed a double lung transplant. By October, he was admitted to Toronto General Hospital.

Meanwhile, Sarah had begun a blog called The Daily Breaths. Once she directed the focus to organ donation, local media outlets helped disseminate her appeal. As she tells it, an elderly couple from Erin, Ontario, saw one of the segments a few days before the husband, 79-year-old John Vibe, accidentally fell down a flight of stairs at a friend’s home and died. He became Keith’s donor.

Remarkably, within a few hours of the transplant, the man’s son reached out to Sarah via her Facebook page. They then began corresponding with John’s wife, Ruth, through official channels. Through a mutual friend, they met his two daughters and, finally, his wife, who invited the couple to dinner on the anniversary of her husband’s death.

Sarah still marvels at the outcome. “It sounds really cheesy, but every morning, I wake up and he’s breathing,” she says, pausing, “I’m actually tearing up as I say this,

While Sarah does not take credit, it’s worth noting that organ donation registration numbers increased in Ontario during the first quarter of 2013 when Sarah was most active on social media.

but there’s not a moment that goes by when I don’t just stop and look at him—it doesn’t ever lose its sparkle. It really doesn’t. I’m so grateful that John Vibe was an organ donor—his wish ultimately saved Keith’s life.”

Together, Sarah and Keith appear on behalf of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the Ontario agency that oversees organ and tissue donation. They participate where they feel they will have the most impact—church and school groups rather than hosting a trade show booth.

Usually, Sarah ends up speaking for both of them; unsurprisingly, it can get overwhelming for Keith. During our conversation, Sarah recounts the details as if she has told them countless times before. But because Keith is alive on account of someone else’s death, there is an exceptionally human element to the experience, and this is how Sarah has come to frame the story. “It’s very powerful,” she concedes.

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he tricky part, she says, is getting people

to understand that, first of all, a body is treated “with as much, if not more, respect” when the organs are used for donation. Incidentally, Keith did not register as a donor until his transplant because, as Sarah says, “he always got the willies.” She assures people that any preconceptions about “butchering” the body are entirely unfounded—the procedure plays out as a proper surgery.

But there’s another challenge, one that Sarah believes carries equal weight: loved ones must be aware of the decision to be a donor, since they actually have veto power over the decision when the person has been pronounced brain dead. “Make sure they know what you want,” she implores. “In their time of grief, the last thing they should be doing is saying no, because this is important.”

In fact, according to Sarah, John’s wife insisted on carrying through with his wishes, despite his age. “If she hadn’t have done that, we wouldn’t have received his lungs. That’s the piece of the puzzle your loved ones need to know.”

While Sarah does not take credit, it’s worth noting that organ donation registration numbers increased in Ontario during the first quarter of 2013 when Sarah was most active on social media. According to the Trillium Gift of Life Network, 27 per cent of people living in Ontario are registered donors—3.3 million out of a total eligible population of 11.9 million. Trillium’s website states a short-term goal is to achieve 233,000 new registrations between April 1, 2015 and March 30, 2016. At press time, they had reached 71 per cent of that number.

Around this same time, Sarah posted an update to Facebook reporting that Keith’s lungs were functioning at 100 per cent of the capacity predicted for a male his age and size. She also posted a pair of photos showing Keith at his weakest in the hospital, on life support and weighing just 110 pounds, juxtaposed with a picture of him from August, posing beside an enormous tree trunk in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. They had planned to take the trip before his transplant but then he became too ill.

The fact that Sarah has proof of him breathing such fresh air—and from all the way across Canada—shows just how far they’ve come together. I To learn more about registering for organ donation, visit www.beadonor.ca.

Amy VERNER’98 is a freelance writer covering lifestyle and culture from Paris and Toronto.

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Allison CASE’85 has brought joy to countless families by pioneering the use of in-vitro fertilization in Saskatchewan

Making Babies

by Berton Woodward

Dave Stobbe

A

llison CASE likes making babies. In fact, she’s

helped make thousands of them.

We’re not talking about nature’s usual way, of course.

Allison helps others conceive at her fertility clinic in Saskatoon, where she pioneered techniques such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in the province of Saskatchewan. Before Allison arrived in 2000, people had to travel out of province to try to achieve their dream of having a family.

Hers is especially rewarding work. “It’s a very special group of patients,” Allison says. “We get to know them very well, and I really like that. And when everything works out, it’s wonderful. It’s great to have played a role in creating these families.”

But the process is not without complexity. “A diagnosis of infertility has been likened to a diagnosis of cancer in the emotions it generates,” she says. “Our patients require not just medical care but emotional support. It can be stressful. And not everyone is going to get pregnant—there are some things we can’t overcome. But we have a strong role in that scenario as well—to help them move on to whatever the next step in their lives is going to be.” (continued on page 24)

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“I was fascinated by how the body worked, by how diseases were diagnosed and treated, and by obstetrics. I remember reading about Louise Brown, the first in-vitro baby, and thinking that was just so cool.”

(continued from page 23)

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s an obstetrician-gynecologist with

specialized training in reproductive medicine, Allison offers a wide range of services at Aurora Reproductive Care, the clinic she runs with colleague Dr. Adrian Gamelin. Best-known is IVF, in which eggs and sperm are put together in a Petri dish (not a test-tube, despite the “test-tube baby” expression) to create one or more embryos that are transferred to a woman’s uterus in the hope one will take. Common, too, is intra-uterine insemination, or IUI, in which selected fast-moving sperm are inserted directly into the womb. Allison also deals with early pregnancy complications, hormone issues and fertility investigations of all types. “It’s a small clinic with only two doctors, and the care is very individualized,” she says.

Indeed, there are many different combinations in this work.

Allison may be treating a man and woman, a same-sex couple or a single woman. Sometimes the sperm comes from the husband, sometimes from a sperm bank. Eggs, too, can be donated if the donor is known and uncompensated. Some women freeze their eggs, or unneeded embryos, for later use. And a few patients use surrogate mothers, who in Canada cannot be paid and may only carry an embryo that is not their own.

Among heterosexual couples, Allison says, male issues account for about 35-40 per cent of infertility problems (often low sperm count or motility). There are a variety of reasons for female infertility—ovulation problems and blocked fallopian tubes are the most common—but she pinpoints another big factor in the 21st century: aging.

“Every week I see women in their late thirties and early forties who haven’t had a baby yet,” she says. “They may be

24 The READ Winter 2015 –16

waiting for their careers to be established, or taking an advanced degree, or it can take a while to find a partner. Some are in second marriages. Often they have a false sense that if they have problems they can use treatments like IVF. The treatments we have are very good, but they can’t fully overcome the effect of age. A woman’s chances of getting pregnant at 40 are half what they are at 30.”

And the process is not cheap. In Saskatchewan—among the lowest priced in Canada—IVF costs around $7,000, and the accompanying drugs range from $2,000 to $6,000. So, one three-and-a-half-week treatment cycle can cost $10,000– $14,000, with no guarantee of success. Women are welcome to try again, as soon as a month later, but finances may come into it. Few provincial health plans outside Ontario have any coverage for IVF, though some companies—particularly in the hard-driving financial sector—offer support. Despite the challenges, Allison has helped hundreds of women have babies through IVF, and “with all the treatments, it’s in the thousands.”

Allison herself was born in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, where her father was an economic consultant involved in international development work. That meant a lot of foreign postings and, at various times, Allison went to school in Indonesia,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka and spent summers in South Korea and Nepal. But by Grade 7, her family was settled in Toronto, and she entered Branksome in Grade 9.

“The education I had there was just first class,” she says.

With encouragement from “amazing teachers”—including Jackie Shaver in physics, Vesna Davidovac in chemistry and Pat Merrilees in biology—her innate love of science crystallized into a determination to enter medical school. “I was fascinated by how the body worked, by how diseases were diagnosed and treated, and by obstetrics,” she says. “I remember reading about Louise Brown, the first in-vitro baby, and thinking that was just so cool.”

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he never felt held back as a girl in science

Her late mother Caroline inculcated Allison and her sisters, Rosalyn’87 and Amanda’92, with the sense that “you can do whatever you want—there are no barriers,” she says. “And Branksome was a very supportive environment. It was a great foundation for sciences and for learning in general.”

After doing Grades 9–13 in four years, she headed to the University of Toronto for her undergrad in human biology and

applied to the U of T medical school. “It was one of the toughest things I ever had to do—it was incredibly competitive,” she says. “But I wanted it badly enough and I just persisted.”

Her acceptance was fortunate in another way. On her first day of medical school, she met her future husband, Pieter, and they began dating soon after. Together, they did their four years at U of T and moved on to Queen’s University for five years of residency; she in ob-gyn, he in general surgery. After that, came two more years of specialist training at U of T. Then, they had to find jobs—for both of them.

“We interviewed right across the country,” says Allison. Often, one job in a location would be attractive but not the other.

Or there would only be one opening. “Then I got a call from a friend, who said this position would be perfect for you, it’s in a really nice place and the people are great. But she avoided saying where. Finally she said, ‘Saskatoon.’ I said, ‘Saskatoon – are you crazy?’ I’d never been to Saskatchewan. But there happened to be a general surgery job as well.”

Within three weeks of her interview, they had moved to Saskatoon. Allison took over the University of Saskatchewan’s brand-new fertility clinic and ran it for 13 years. Then, as demand became too great and waiting lists too long, she and Gamelin, who had joined in 2008, set up their own clinic. The university IVF facility shut down, and Aurora Reproductive Care remains the only IVF clinic in Saskatchewan.

Now, after 15 years in Saskatoon and three kids of her own—Caroline, 18, Sam, 16, and Ben, 13—Allison is well settled into her Prairie life. “It’s a good place to live. My commute is 11–12 minutes. The kids have good opportunities in school and sports.” Her offspring, of course, are a reminder of the value of her work. “I can’t imagine my life without my children,” she says. “It just reinforces every day what we’re trying to help people accomplish.” I

Why is IVF so expensive?

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) can cost well over $10,000 per treatment in Canada, and there is little or no coverage by most provincial health plans. What’s behind the patient’s bill?

The equipment needed to perform IVF, and a lab setup that requires special air-handling technology, make outfitting the clinic space very expensive. Then there are the professionals on staff. It takes up to two years for someone to become fully trained in IVF, and most clinics employ several such lab technologists to handle the volume of treatment cycles.

“As a result, the overhead for IVF clinics is very high,” says Dr. Allison CASE’85 (see main story). “And the cost of establishing and maintaining a program is paid entirely by the clinic, which has to charge the patient directly.” The final factor is the steep cost of pharmaceuticals, over which IVF clinics have no control.

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Sarah Pashagumskum’89 champions Cree culture and heritage

Preserving ‘the Ways’

By Janet Sailian

A

s Sarah PASHAGUMSKUM

steadfastly followed a path from her home community in northern Quebec to Branksome Hall and far beyond, she had one abiding dream: to work to maintain the Cree culture and language and share it with the world.

Now she fulfills that dream by offering authentic, innovative programs in the stunning facilities of the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute in Oujé-Bougoumou, Quebec, where she is executive director. (Aanischaa: passing traditional knowledge from generation to generation; Kamikw: home/ building.) The soaring 30,000-square-foot institute, built from wood and glass in the style of a long communal tent, embodies the James Bay Crees’ commitment to preserve and transmit the ways of the people that have resided on this land for 7,000 years.

Sarah’s transition from the small Cree community of Chisasibi to Branksome Hall’s Toronto campus might have daunted a less grounded person. But she was poised to thrive at Branksome when she arrived as a Grade 7 student in 1985.

Her parents had noted a particular focus and drive in their daughter. They sought a school that would build on her potential and prepare her for post-secondary education.

“My mother has family in Toronto that knew of Branksome,” says Sarah. “My parents appreciated that the school is built around empowerment for girls.”

Sarah took to heart the hopes and expectations of her parents and her community in sending her so far for an education.

“My time at Branksome was focused on goal setting and personal development,” she says.

“We were encouraged to develop our abilities to think critically and frame our own

The Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute in Oujé-Bougoumou, Quebec, is a soaring 30,000-square-foot structure, built from wood and glass in the style of a long communal tent.

26 The READ Winter 2015 –16

perspective. I met girls from all over the globe in residence, and that helped broaden my view of the world.”

After graduating from Grade 13, Sarah obtained both a B.A. and B.Ed. from the University of Toronto. Home, family and community called her back to Chisasibi to teach for several years and co-author a secondary school history textbook. She also worked as a consultant on teacher evaluation and program development before travelling to Lakehead University to earn a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Educational Studies.

Due to her renown as an educator devoted to cultural maintenance, Sarah was named director of programs for the newly created Aanischaaukamikw in 2012. The building’s construction had followed an impressive fundraising campaign that netted over $25 million, including major donations from the Canadian, Quebec and Cree governments, industry and philanthropic foundations, and individuals. To leaders of the institute’s charitable foundation, such strong support demonstrates the important role philanthropy

Carl Chaboyer; Facing page: Mitch Lenet, courtesy of Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute

Sarah, in front of the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute.

can play in First Nations development.

They have since launched a $13 million endowment campaign to build a substantial permanent collection at Aanischaaukamikw and to support its operations and outreach.

Sarah is at the forefront of this growth and development. In May 2015, she became executive director of Aanischaaukamikw (pronounced “Anishdakamook”), leading the institute’s museum, programs and outreach to Cree communities and to Canadian and international institutions.

“The Cree community is one of the strongest First Nations in Canada,” Sarah notes.

“Much of our culture and language have

survived through keeping and sharing what Cree Elders term ‘the Ways’.”

Already, the institute is making its mark.

In 2015, it received the Canadian Museums Association’s Award of Outstanding Achievement in Education for the project Mind’s Eye: Stories from the Heart of Eeyou Istchee, a travelling theatrical production directed by Cree playwright Shirley Cheechoo and performed by young Cree actors.

Aanischaaukamikw has also earned recognition from the Quebec Ministry of Culture and the Canadian Ministry of Heritage. Says Sarah: “We maintain very high standards for all the work we do. We are

“It’s important to present culture in ways that are accessible to non-Native people,” says Sarah. “We all share experiences such as child rearing and the cycle of life.”

now developing a travelling exhibit themed around the importance of walking in our culture—ceremonially, as a rite of passage, in traditional technologies and as part of political movements.”

The museum at Aanischaaukamikw houses hundreds of Cree artifacts, which can be viewed on its lively website (creeculturalinstitute.ca). From utilitarian snowshoes, tools and tents to graceful goose decoys, exquisitely crafted and beaded clothing and whimsical children’s toys, the items speak a universal language.

“It’s important to present culture in ways that are accessible to non-Native people,” says Sarah. “We show commonalities to help people make practical and emotional connections. We all share experiences such as child rearing and the cycle of life.”

In her own life, Sarah follows a busy cycle of travel between her home community of Chisasibi, the Cree Cultural Institute in Oujé-Bougoumou and the national capital in Ottawa. “It’s an eight-hour drive, but travelling back and forth allows me to work more easily with our national and provincial partners and supporters.”

Her four children—ages 11, 12, 13 and 16—attend school in Ottawa and maintain a strong attachment to their roots. “My children speak Cree,” says Sarah. “Keeping them involved in Cree culture has been a key part of their upbringing. They have taken part in important cultural events and traditional activities.”

“We particularly love going to our spring camp every year. There is usually a walking out ceremony—the first time a child will walk on Mother Earth—that the extended family takes part in to celebrate the lives of new children. All of my own children did this when they were about a year old.”

Sarah’s wealth of experiences in Cree communities, along with her education and commitment to tradition, greatly enrich the influence of Aanischaaukamikw. With Sarah at the helm of the institute, keeping and sharing Cree Ways across generations, cultures and geography is assured. I Janet Sailian is a freelance writer and editor.

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Robot Champions Pamela WILBY Catricala’79 and her husband inspire kids through building ’bots

by Janet Sailian

E

ducators these days continually strive to

involve more students, especially girls, in STEM—science, technology, engineering and math. Pamela WILBY Catricala is sure she has found the path to STEM inspiration.

Building robots.

Pam says robotics help children develop problem-solving skills, strategize, and work in teams. “It’s active, creative and meaningful learning that kids love.”

She and her husband John Catricala, founders of E-Bots Robotics in Oakville, Ontario, challenge kids ages 6 to 14 to program, design and build functional Lego robots through after-school and summer camp programs.

In just seven years, E-Bots has seen tremendous success, including a handful of World Championships in robotics competition. In First Lego League (FLL)—a global organization that motivates kids to pursue careers in technology—six E-Bots teams have travelled to the world championships. In 2011, one of them—the Sentinels—became the first Canadian team ever to earn the first-place Champions Award at the FLL World Festival in St. Louis, Missouri.

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“There were 17,000 FLL teams in the world that year,” says Pam, “and ours was the first of 84 teams invited to participate.”

E-Bots teams have also won the FLL Halton and Peel Regional Champions Trophies for six years in a row, and the Ontario Provincial West Division for three years.

Pam’s own wide-ranging career indicates her versatile creativity. A graduate of the University of Waterloo in environmental studies and geography, and Ryerson University in fashion design, she created home-based crafts, was a fashion production manager, drove a school bus for six years and worked as a fully-certified lifeguard. “I was on the swim team while at Branksome in Grades 11 and 13,” she notes.

Before they ventured into robotics, Pam and John owned a 9,000-square-foot facility for radio-controlled race cars in Oakville. It was one of the top three such racetracks in North America, where they hosted competitions and held race-themed birthday parties, much to the delight of the Catricala children.

Top: The World Champion trophy, won by the Sentinels, in 2011. Left: Ana, the 2011 award-winning robot, is now on display in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

Caley Taylor

Pam, with members of the E-Bots Robotics world champion team, the Pilons.

E-Bots Robotics germinated when their daughter Stephanie, the eldest of their four children, discovered Lego Robotics at summer camp in 2007. John, a computer programmer, became intrigued by the programming aspect and its potential as a fun teaching tool.

“We tried robotics challenges at home with our kids, two per team,” recalls Pam. “They’d go off and be silent for two hours. Then they’d burst out, all excited about what their robot could do.”

The Catricalas launched their own Lego Robotics Camp in summer 2008 with two small teams. The kids clamoured for more, so E-Bots Robotics branched into after-school programs.

Robotics’ popularity exploded.

Pam and John shuttered their racing facility and devoted themselves completely to E-Bots. Their students’ triumph at the Worlds in 2011 culminated in a visit to Rideau Hall in Ottawa, where the Sentinels team met Governor General David Johnston.

“The maximum age for First Lego League is 14,” says Pam. “But my ‘Lego babies’ that we started with in 2008 would not go away, even when they reached high school. So my husband got them into VEX Robotics, a higher-level challenge using aluminum parts rather than plastic.”

In 2014 and 2015, E-Bots’ VEX Robotics teams won back-to-back World Championships and, in 2015, the world’s

top prize: the Excellence Trophy. They also earned the Inspire Award, voted on by peers, as the most inspiring team to others.

“We don’t get as many girls as boys in robotics,” says Pam, “but I’m so proud of the ones we have. Two girls who have been with us since 2008 are both in the mechatronics program at the University of Waterloo. Both young women have been awarded $80,000 Schulich Leader Scholarships.”

Ella Rasmussen is one of them. “The past seven years of learning, competing and growing through E-Bots showed me that my passion was in engineering—programming and design combined with creativity and leadership,” she says. “My eyes were opened up to look at the world through an engineer’s perspective, and I was inspired. I have endless opportunities in front of me, and I am so grateful to E-Bots for being an important part of guiding me to where I am today.”

Not surprisingly, E-Bots Robotics recently opened a branch in Dundas, Ontario, run by daughter Stephanie. “I’m always thinking of the future and planning for it,” says Pam. “I’m the course planner, logistician, registrar. John is an exceptional programmer and coach. Stephanie helps our students with their presentation skills, thanks to her drama background.”

As to her multi-faceted career path and the niche she and her family have found, Pam reflects: “My mother always said I should have been a teacher. One thing I’m sure of—it’s not about us or E-Bots. It’s all about the kids.” I

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W h i r l w i n d

Stefanie LIM’04 is always active—as a veterinarian or up a dance pole

by Ruth Ann Penny

“Everything is important…

I’m everywhere; I’m relentless…

I’m seeing it all.”

Jimmy Rogers (Melbourne, Australia)

T

hose of us who know Stefanie lim can hear her

saying those words even if we haven’t seen her since she was a young girl. Her energy and readiness to gobble up life have never changed. I wrote more notes in the short 45 minutes we spoke than for any other interview I’ve ever conducted!

A veterinarian, Stef lives and works in Rochester, New York.

She’s associated with a company that offers veterinary services to over 15 clinics in the area, work that offers her variety every day. Sometimes she finds herself in general practice clinics, sometimes in emergency settings, sometimes involved in highly specialized interventions.

She lectures to and mentors veterinary students and is working toward an advanced certification in veterinary neurology.

She’s considering moving her career to Australia.

And in her spare time, Stef is a national-level competitive pole dancer. Yes, pole dancer. These days, this art has become a recognized method of fitness and creative performance.

Through Pole Incorporated, Stef has competed in Australia, the U.S. and Canada, placing first in Ontario, second in Canada and third in North America in recent years. Always athletic, she danced hip hop and ballroom at Western University and swam.

“Pole dancing requires strong arms, core strength and huge stamina,” says Stef, who trains up to five hours a day during peak times. Not only does the dancing (“think of it as a horizontal barre”) offer her a creative outlet, but “it also helps me lift the dogs!”

Somehow, all of this makes sense when Stef does it. Busy and fast, but not crazy, not frenetic. In fact, Stef characterizes

her life as very balanced. As a vet, she is called upon to be a scientist every day and also a friend and helper.

“Vets live a tension between heart and head,” she says. “Animals ‘have their people’ and I find I often have to comfort them.

I have to advocate for the animal while reassuring the people in the room. I need to be brave and diplomatic and aware and knowledgeable all at once. Some days are quite a journey!”

Stef wears her heart on her sleeve, and knows she is prone to burnout, so dancing takes her to another realm, where, alone, she leaves the world of reacting to problems and enters one of creation and beauty.

As to what made the biggest impact on her during her Branksome years, she responds immediately. “The people who cared about me.” She remembers many conversations with teachers Nancy Olfert and Leslie Wood, one an artist, the other a scientist, as well as her coaches, Kathy Stegenga, Jackie Bennett and Diana Parker. “I recall feeling spent in a swim competition, and Mrs. Parker came and sat with me and fed me oranges. She didn’t say much, just stayed in the space with me there. It’s a kind of love, that holding space. I love them back.”

Stef continues. “Everything is important. All swim races, all badminton matches, all classroom assignments, all leadership challenges. Nobody ever said, ‘You can’t do that.’ I believed them.

And I live those lessons every minute of every day.” I Ruth Ann Penny is a Toronto-based freelance writer and is Director of Community Relations at Upper Canada College. She is the proud mother of alumnae Rachel’07and Fiona’09.

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What I gained from my 18 years living amid the people—and uncertainties—of the Jewish state

Israeli Immersion

by Melissa Feldman’89

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”

Wade Davis

Caley Taylor

I

32 The READ Winter 2015 –16

t’s been over a year since I left

Israel, but when I close my eyes, a barrage of images, sensations and sounds still overwhelms me. I walk the streets of Tel Aviv in my mind, listening to the increased volume of people’s voices as they argue about politics, or bargain for a good price.

Numerous languages echo up and down the streets, where there are Israelis and immigrants originating from all corners of the globe. Soldiers in uniform, strapping guns, are everywhere. At the crowded, bustling Carmel Market, sellers shout out deals and shoppers grab at items ranging from vegetables to school supplies.

After I graduated from McGill, I was looking for adventure and I was curious about how Israel—such a small piece of land—was the source of so much conflict and international interest. I learned about the Law of Return, which gives people of Jewish ancestry the right to become Israeli citizens, or “make Aliya”, which literally means “to go up” (spiritually).

I arrived at the immigrant absorption centre in Ramat Aviv, Israel in September 1996.

This was a dormitory-like facility where I shared a small room and kitchen with another woman. Israel takes excellent care of its immigrants, providing benefits such as mortgage assistance, tax-free appliances and vehicles, and one educational degree subsidized. I was on a Ministry of Education program which ran for a few years in the late 1990s. The program aimed to train English-speaking immigrants to become English teachers. Together with about 25 mostly secular immigrants, I studied at Talpiyot, a religious women’s college. We received a monthly stipend of $250 plus subsidized housing. Ultimately, I shifted focus from teaching to writing online language learning materials.

Despite the government assistance, Israel isn’t an easy country to immigrate to and it’s a difficult place to live. The extremely high cost of living has led to many tent protests and marches over the last few years, as even professionals struggle with the costs of housing and expenses. Israelis often live in debt.

They do this freely because of an attitude of living in the moment, which inevitably comes from being in a constant state of uncertainty about the future.

Israelis are very direct. You never have to wonder where you stand with them; they’ll tell you. Israelis treat each other like family, and there’s a sense of togetherness and

Israelis are very direct.

You never have to wonder where you stand with them; they’ll tell you.

Israelis treat each other like family, and there’s a sense of togetherness and solidarity that is quite unique.

solidarity that is quite unique. Along with that, the need for personal space and privacy is much less than in North America. On city buses and public spaces people shout loudly into their cell phones, talking over one another.

As there is no separation of religion and state in Israel, religion plays a role in everyday life. Even in Tel Aviv, which is largely secular, most public transport stops at 3 p.m. on Friday until sunset Saturday night. Many shops also close. On Yom Kippur, it’s illegal to drive, and the entire country goes peacefully quiet for a day.

Most of what people abroad hear about Israel relates to war, terrorism, and the conflict with the Palestinians. A frightening personal incident happened in 2002, when I was stopped at a red light. A suicide bomber threw himself against a bus in the next lane and detonated his explosives, injuring 29 people and killing one. There was a massively loud noise that shook the car windows. I jammed on the gas and sped away.

Towards the end of 2014, as Hamas

rained missiles on the city, sirens began sounding in Tel Aviv. I spent 10 days running to the building shelter with my neighbours.

When sirens sound, you have 90 seconds to get to a shelter before the missile hits. Israelis are very efficient about this process. They’re used to it and, after all, this is a population of trained soldiers who make security a top priority.

After 18 years abroad, I am happy to be back in Toronto and closer to my family.

What I gained during those years in Israel was a tremendous amount of life experience and insight that I couldn’t have gained elsewhere. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity and the courage to carry out that dream. I Melissa is enrolled in a Master’s program in Immigration and Settlement Studies at Ryerson University, where her research will focus on immigration and mental health. She hopes to use her experience and education to help immigrants integrate into Canadian society.

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alumnae association mission statement To unite, engage and grow Branksome Hall’s alumnae community of globally minded learners and leaders.

Alumnae Executive 2015–16 Allison ROACH’51 Honorary President Tenley GIBSON’94 President Officers Karen CORDES Woods’99 Vice-President, Engagement Deena PANTALONE’95 Vice-President, Nominating & Communications Melanie LANGILL’03 Treasurer Gabriella SICILIANO’06 Communications Kathryn CAMPBELL Holland’80 Secretary Members-at-Large Marielle BRYCK’07 Norah DEACON Matthews’98 Jocelyn DEEKS’95 Lindsey DELUCE Ball’99 Barbara DUNLOP Mohammad’70 Laura GIBSON’00 Alex GILLAM’08 Carolyn HELBRONNER’79 Jennifer JARVIS’95 Katie McCABE Cheesbrough’03 Carol McCLELLAND McCabe’68 Jennifer SULLIVAN Willmot’95 Alanna TEDESCO McLaughlin’03 Melanie WALKER’96 Ex-Officio Karen Jurjevich Andrea McAnally Tanya Pimenoff Paige Tuchner, Advancement Student Rep The Branksome Hall Alumnae Program It’s all about Community, Networking, Volunteerism, Friendship, Traditions and Giving Back www.branksome.on.ca/alumnae Please contact: Tanya Pimenoff, Associate Director of Alumnae Relations tpimenoff@branksome.on.ca 416-920-6265, ext. 285

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AlumnaeUpdate

News and events from the Branksome Hall alumnae Community

Welcome and thank you: Our Changing Board New Expertise on the Alumnae Executive Alanna TEDESCO McLaughlin’03 Alanna runs

Nida Foods, a food and beverage management company, which she founded in 2015. She received a B.Com. in 2007 from Queen’s School of Business, and then spent a year travelling and teaching English in Shenzhen, China. Upon returning to Toronto, Alanna began a career in marketing, working on both the agency and client sides.

She has held numerous volunteer positions and is currently a member of Youthdale Foundation Young Leaders. Alanna looks forward to working with the Communications subcommittee.

Paige Tuchner Advancement Student Rep

Paige has been at Branksome Hall since Grade One. She was a member of the Social Council and was a peer supporter for Middle School students. This year, she will be the Head of Photography for the SLOGAN. Along with her leadership roles, Paige’s passion for service

Stepping Up Welcomed at the Alumnae Annual General Meeting, held on September 22, new Alumnae Executive sub-committee volunteers are, from left, Liz ESSON’90 (take pART), Katie SISAM’98 (Awards), and Lauren HANSON XUEREB’06 (Communications). learning is evident in her involvement as a peer tutor and a former JUMP math tutor. Paige is globally minded and has travelled to France, Jeju Island and South Africa on exchanges and service learning trips affiliated with Branksome. Last summer, Paige volunteered at Holland Bloorview Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital, where she worked in the brain injury and specialized orthopedic units.

She will continue volunteering there throughout this school year.

Retiring from the Alumnae Executive Jessica ZACKHEIM Hurwitz’95 (2011–15) Jessica, a long-time

volunteer, co-chaired Reunion Weekend in 2010 and 2011, and

served as a reunion rep for her 10th and 15th reunions. While serving on the Alumnae Executive, Jessica volunteered on the Plaid Tidings Committee in 2012. Upon taking on the position of Treasurer in 2013, she also played a key role in the solicitation of sponsorships for take pART, securing donations which contributed greatly to the success of this fundraising event.

During the past year, Jessica served as Vice-President, working on secession planning and nomination. Her wise counsel over the years has been invaluable and we thank her for her tireless commitment.

Networking Events February 24, 2015

November 17, 2015

is Toronto Great?

Managing Your Money

There was no shortage of discussion when it came to Toronto’s role as a world-class city. Panelist Kendall ANDERSON’94, Acting Director and Communications Manager at Samara, provided her perspective along with panelists from The Bishop Strachan School and Upper Canada College.

To succeed financially, you need to set goals—the foundation to a stable and realistic financial plan for you and your family. What do you want to achieve in five years, 10 years or 20 years? Our panel touched upon many topics—building a financial plan, RRSP vs TFSA, life or mortgage insurance, wills and tax tips—and provided excellent insights to 40 alumnae and guests.

From left: Panelist Melanie LANGILL’03 (Investment Advisor, RBC Dominion Securities), Tenley GIBSON’94, President of the Alumnae Association, Moderator Sarah HOWCROFT (Senior Economist, Ontario Securities Commission), Panelists Kelly DRINKWATER Buckingham’00 (Mortgage Broker, Dominion Lending Centres), and Dana POSTROZNY Mitchell’99 (Financial Planner, Basis Wealth).

From left: Zoë SHARE’07, Marielle BRYCK’07, Jaclyn PARSONS’04, Jennifer SYKES Holmes’93 and Diana PERL’03.

View more photos on the Branksome Hall Alumnae Facebook page. www.facebook.com/ Branksome-Hall-Alumnae

Alumnae at the reception following the presentation.

From left: Marielle BRYCK’07, Susie HARTKORN’08, Kelly DRINKWATER Buckingham’00, Kendall ANDERSON’94, Laura GIBSON’00, Melanie LANGILL’03, Grace LEUNG’03 and Katie McCABE Cheesbrough’03.

Branksome, Personally Speaking

F

amilies interested in an International Baccalaureate education for their sons or daughters were invited to attend joint Branksome Hall/Upper Canada College admissions get-togethers held in Barrie and Kitchener-Waterloo. Alumnae who attended mingled and spoke to guests about their time at Branksome, including school traditions, extra-curriculars, preparation for university and life-long friendships.

Barrie, October 7, 2015 From left: Anna SMALL’76 and Meredith BOND Skinner’86, seen here with Kimberly BROOKER Carter’96, Director of Enrolment Management at Branksome.

Kitchener, October 8, 2015 From left: Kimberly BROOKER Carter’96, Cassidy TIMPANO’12, Carolyn CAMPBELL’79, Christina TAWIL’91, Lija GAIKIS Obermaier’03 and Diana MARTIN Clipsham’96.

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AlumnaeUpdate

Alumnae Outreach From left: Felicitas KORT’59, Lindsay STRANSMAN’08, Michelle PERSAD’08, Jenna HALBERT’08 and Haley RANKIN’09.

Deputy Principal Karrie Weinstock enjoys a catch-up on the outdoor terrace with, from left, Sarah WILKINSON’02, Natalia PAYNE’99 and Allison HUNG’10.

Dublin, Ireland

Hong Kong, China

February 15, 2015

March 12, 2015

Alumnae studying at universities in Dublin took time out to relax over dinner with Dr. Andrea Stoeckl, Branksome’s Director of Guidance and University Relations. From left: Sarah LOREE’04, Catherine TENNANT’07, Dr. Stoeckl and Lilli MAUER’06. Dr. Stoeckl also travelled to Galway, where she met with Katherine OSTOICH’14, who is studying at the National University of Ireland.

Principal Karen Jurjevich was delighted to spend time with Mara HUI’08 and her father, Wilson Hui. Mara, who boarded at Branksome for four years, and then studied in the U.K., has embarked on a law career in Hong Kong.

New York City May 14, 2015

The unique ambiance of the New York Yacht Club set the stage for a delightful evening reception with alumnae and parents of alumnae. Ellen and Richard Rankin graciously arranged for the event to be held in this exquisite setting.

Calgary, Alberta September 23, 2015

Alumnae in the Calgary area were invited to attend a Women of Influence event last September. It was a unique opportunity to hear and meet keynote speaker Sara AUSTIN’93, a non-profit leader with global clout and a champion for the rights of women and children.

Sara and her family now live in Calgary.

From left: Andrea SVENNINGSON Fraser’79, Sara, Carol PIERCE’79 and Katherine ASHTON’04.

Hubbards, Nova Scotia October 15, 2015

Halifax, Nova Scotia

October 14, 2015

As the sun set on a stunning fall day, alumnae from various decades came together at the Lord Nelson Hotel for an evening of conversation and renewed friendships. Back row: Sarah ROSENBLAT’10, Tenley GIBSON’94 (President, Alumnae Association), Andrea PURVIS’73, Andrea DORFMAN’87, Hilary WELLS Rankin’88, Christine WILSON Baker’96 and Andrea ACHESON’92. Front row: Rebecca GUY’12, Lauren BEATTIE’12, Shawn HEWAT’12, Bahaar CHAUDRY’14, Tanya Pimenoff (Associate Director, Alumnae Relations), Principal Karen Jurjevich and Barbara BICKLE’66.

36 The READ Winter 2015 –16

One can see why acclaimed author Budge ARCHIBALD Wilson’45 (pictured here with out-of-town visitors Tanya Pimenoff and Tenley GIBSON’94) enjoys writing at her home in this idyllic seaside setting, where both inspiration and tranquility abound. Budge, her husband Alan (also an author), and family friend Kirsten Franklin treated their guests to a delicious luncheon, plenty of animated conversation, and several signed books!

Branksome parent, Joy WALDIE’80, checks out the merchandise in the new Alum Shop.

Alumnae find their names amid 1,153 pavers during the AWC Event on September 29.

Alumnae Walkway a Winner

Did You know? Each year, the

Creative Fundraiser Receives National Recognition

Alumnae Association makes a considerable donation to the school, thanks to profits received from crested items sold in the Alumnae Shop and through special events such as take pART, which will be held in the Athletics and Wellness Centre on September 21, 2016.

Become part of Branksome’s wellness initiatives!

Competing against universities and independent schools in the highly competitive category of Best Fundraising Initiative, Branksome’s entry for the Alumnae Walkway Campaign caught the attention of the 2015 judging panel.

The school received the Bronze Prix d’Excellence Award, from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education, for the planning, execution and success of the paver campaign, which contributed $290,000 to the Branksome Becomes Campaign.

As an alum, you are invited to enjoy the fitness programming in the Athletics and Wellness Centre.

• • •

Fitness classes with Toronto’s most popular instructors Weekend swimming in the beautiful saltwater pools Kids’ swimming lessons

Find out more 416 935 4120 awc@branksome.on.ca www.bhinfo.ca/fitness

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Winning Women The Alumnae Association has bestowed its prestigious annual awards on two high achievers

The Power of a Pardon 2015 Allison Roach Alumna Award: Nicole LEVESQUE’95

novels as a kid, and watched Law & Order and COPS every week. So it may not be surprising she went into criminology. Nicole must be one of those avenging angels determined to keep lawbreakers away from the rest of us for good. Right?

Hardly. “I believe in forgiving people,” she says. Nicole is now one of Canada’s leaders in helping clean-living individuals put bad behaviour behind them and become fully engaged members of society.

As co-founder of the Montreal-based National Pardon Centre with her husband, Michael Ashby, she has assisted thousands of Canadians in obtaining a federal pardon for past criminal convictions and getting rid of a record that can hamstring them in later life—in employment, in education, even in coaching sports or crossing the U.S. border.

We’re not talking about serial killers here. Only 10 to 15 per cent of Nicole’s clients have even served time in prison. The most common offences are impaired driving, simple assault such as a bar fight, or possession of marijuana.

“I say this to everyone, including my grandmother and her friends,” says Nicole. “If there’s someone who can truly say they’ve never done one thing that could have resulted in a criminal accusation at some point in their life, I’d like to meet them—whether it’s smoking a joint in university, or perhaps having that one extra glass of wine they shouldn’t have. No one is saying it’s right. It’s understanding that people do make mistakes, or use bad judgment, or go through hard times in their lives.”

Gaining a pardon—procurable from the National Parole Board after a set number of years of no further trouble with the law—means people can apply for jobs without failing the criminal record check, attend certain schools, or travel freely. “People deserve the chance to prove themselves,” says Nicole, whose firm walks them through the process. “If they are arrested again, the pardon is revoked.”

Nicole proudly calls herself an entrepreneur, even though her organization is non-profit. “We are not a charity,” she says. “We are a non-profit business. It’s run the same way as a for-profit business, with all the same challenges. I wanted to make a difference, and I wanted to be my own boss.”

Nicole gives back by plowing surplus revenues into education and youth counselling with such organizations as the YMCA, the Evergreen Centre for Street Youth and the PACT Urban Peace Program. She briefs young people on what rights they have even with a criminal record. “We also tell a lot of Branksome-age children, ‘what you’re doing will have these consequences’.” She goes into prisons to talk about re-integration in society, counselling many women about their employment options.

38 The READ Winter 2015 –16

Allison Cordner

Nicole Levesque has always loved crime stories. She ate up crime

After growing up in Thornhill, Ontario, Nicole moved to Rosedale with her family and attended Branksome for Grades 7 to 9. The school, she says, helped her become “a proud, strong woman.” She attended Concordia University and then, for her M.A. in sociology and criminology, chose the University of Surrey in England. An associated internship in the rough city of Kingston, Jamaica followed, where she worked and taught in the women’s prison. “I think I got more of an education than they did,” she says.

Nicole and her husband decided to set up their pardons firm in 2002 with headquarters in Montreal. Both have become outspoken advocates for improving the pardon system.

To their chagrin, the former Conservative government in its 2012 omnibus crime bill lengthened the waiting period for what is now officially called a “record suspension”. “It’s hurting youth the most,” says Nicole, who testified before a parliamentary committee in 2010.

“They are looking at not getting into a career of their choice for at least 10 years, sometime into their thirties.”

But she is very clear on why, as “a happy, joyous person,” she was drawn to this area of criminology. “Pardons are the light at the tunnel for so many people,” she says. “I really get a lot of pleasure out of seeing people turn their lives around.” I — Berton Woodward

AlumnaeUpdate

Smart Thinker

2015 Young Alumna Achievement Award: Victoria CHENG’00

Great things tend to happen, well, quickly for Victoria Cheng.

Allison Cordner

Take the way she ended up a finalist on the CBC Television show Canada’s Smartest Person. She’d been nominated for the inaugural 2014 competition by her longtime friend from Branksome, Giselle DE GRANDIS’00. The network made its final selection of 32 competitors, and Victoria was not among them. Then, suddenly, CBC was on the phone again. We’ve had an opening—can you come to Toronto in two days and join a qualification round?

Which she did, famously winning against three other contenders from across the country. Then she returned for the finale, all in the same week.

She didn’t win, but she turned the intense experience into a

teachable moment as a writer and feminist. As she wrote in the Winter 2014/15 issue of The READ, “To my great surprise, when I walked into the studio for the first day of taping for the grand finale, I found myself staring at seven men…What happened along the way to eliminate all the women but one?”

You can see why they liked her at CBC. A classically trained violinist from childhood, still playing. A serious athlete, still racing up mountains and playing Aussie rules football. A graduate with two M.A.’s, including a Harvard credit. A writer and editor, working at McGill University. A convener of artistic salons in her home. And, hardly least, a mother of two young children.

The daughter of two Hong Kong-born professionals, she grew up in Edmonton, then moved to Hong Kong at 15. For an Alberta girl, it was a shock. She lasted three years, then looked for a way out.

A friend, back from Toronto for the summer, mentioned Branksome and, with only weeks to go, she got accepted for Grade 13.

“Looking back, I admire my audacity,” she says. “I was flying by the seat of my pants, which is kind of a theme in my life. And it was wonderful that Branksome was able to take me.” In class, her language skills flourished. “It was a really exciting time for me intellectually, developing my passion for the written word.”

She went on to the University of Waterloo, where she met future husband Thomas Leenders. After they did their M.A.’s—he at Dalhousie in philosophy, she at Western in English—they were married in 2005. The next year, they headed for Boston, where Thomas would do further study at Harvard.

Victoria saw that the Harvard Extension School—its continuing education arm—offered a master’s degree in journalism, and she jumped at it. “Again, it was a seat of the pants, last-minute thing.

I saw they had a program and I signed up.” Her classes, where she won the Dean’s Prize for her thesis, led to regular freelance work with the Boston Globe and an internship with National Public Radio.

Daughter Noa was born in Boston in 2008. A year later the couple moved to Montreal so Thomas could do his Ph.D. at McGill. If you note to Victoria that once again, she, the feminist, was following her husband, she agrees immediately. “The irony is not lost on me,” she says, laughing. But she notes that the move helped both their careers.

Victoria took on editorial roles at McGill and currently edits the Faculty of Law alumni magazine. Son Kai was born in 2012.

Outside work, she plays her violin in an improvisational orchestra, jazz-style. She also holds regular salons of 20 or so people who gather in her living room for artistic or academic presentations. And she is pursuing a part-time Ph.D. in communications at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

“There is some method to the seat-of-your-pants madness,” says Victoria. “I don’t know from one year to the next what the new one will bring, but I trust that it’s going to be exciting and entertaining and fun.” I — Berton Woodward

The READ Winter 2015 –16

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1995

1965 1970

Reunion 2015

2005

Held in the retro-themed Athletics and Wellness Centre on May 30, the Reunion Dinner featured a super fun photo booth, a hot plated dinner, dessert table and espresso bar—just some of the new “wow” features that had everyone talking.

1975 and 2000

1985

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1955

1975

1980

1975 2000

1990 1995

2010

The READ Winter 2015 –16

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David Leyes

a day in the life

Up Schitt’s Creek On this fun show, I get to work with my family

by Sarah LEVY’04

I don’t save lives, but I do save good

reviews. My mother still can’t believe that I actually choose to live the life of an actor. One month of steady work, and the next month you’re not sure if you’ll ever work again.

Fun, right?

Right now, I’m working on CBC’s Schitt’s Creek, a show that is very dear to me, not only because it brings me home to Toronto, but because I get to work with my family.

I play “Twyla,” a kind-hearted, sensitive, filter-less waitress at the only restaurant in town. Not only do I work alongside my dad, Eugene, and my brother, Daniel, I also get to work with incredible actors like Catherine O’Hara, Chris Elliot and Annie Murphy— a dream come true.

A day in the life on Schitt’s Creek means a general call time around 5 a.m. I get picked

42 The READ Winter 2015 –16

up and taken to Pinewood Studios where we shoot all the interiors. By 5:45 a.m., I’m in hair and makeup and finished not long after. I like to pretend it takes so little time because I’m just naturally gorgeous, but really, it’s because I’m supposed to look like I’m not wearing make-up.

Next, I put on my wardrobe and meet the director and cast members who are in the scene. On set, we “block” the scene, which means figuring out when and where we’re supposed to move. We then sit around and snack while we wait for the set to be properly lit, which takes about 20 minutes. And then we wait some more. There’s a lot of waiting.

And eating.

We shoot the scene from various angles— a couple of close up takes, wide shot takes, two shot takes, and re-lighting in between

each one. The process starts over again for the next scene, and we usually shoot three or four scenes a day, depending on how long they are. We wrap around 6 p.m.

Every day on this set is the best day ever.

Spending 13 hours with my family and friends, not to mention an unlimited supply of food, is a dream. Most importantly, I actually get to do what I love.

When I stop to look around, I see too many people walking through their lives without following their hearts. When things haven’t gone my way, I’ve often felt that I must be doing something wrong. Then, I remember—I’m following my heart. That alone makes me innately happy and, as long as I’m happy, I must be doing something right. I Sarah graduated with a theatre degree from Dalhousie University. She has appeared in film and on television, and made her feature film debut in Larry Crowne, directed by, and starring, Tom Hanks. Sarah is also a singer/songwriter and has written music for several short films. She splits her time between Toronto and Los Angeles. The second season of CBC’s Schitt’s Creek will air in January 2016.

UpcomingEvents Visit branksome.on.ca/alumnae for details and registration.

Conversations with Parents Speaker Series Alumnae are welcome to attend.

Admission is free; however, advance registration is required.

Shifting Landscapes: Talking about gender, body image and consent Wednesday, February 3, 2016 7:00 p.m.

Allison Roach Performing Arts Centre, 10 Elm Avenue Register at: bhinfo.ca/gender Join us for a panel discussion featuring Ann Kerr, Clinical Director of WaterStone Clinic and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, and Reed WANLESS’04, TDSB elementary teacher and educator on transgender issues. Branksome’s Lead Social Worker, Joelle Therriault, will facilitate.

Untangled: Aligning the FamilySchool Partnership to Promote Girls’ Well-Being Monday, March 7, 2016 7:00 p.m.

Allison Roach Performing Arts Centre, 10 Elm Avenue Register at: bhinfo.ca/lisa Dr. Lisa Damour will share insights from her latest research and newly published book, Untangled:

2016

Call for

Nominations

Nominations for the 2016 Allison Roach Alumna Award and the 2016 Young Alumna Achievement Award are being accepted until February 15, 2016. Please visit the website for details and submit your on-line nomination for a remarkable alumna.

The awards will be presented on Sunday, May 29, 2016, at noon.

A complimentary buffet luncheon follows. Family and friends are welcome to attend.

Reunion 2016 Your friends. Your class.

Your school. (see back cover) May 28 and 29 On May 28 we honour alumnae from the years ending in 1 and 6.

On May 29 we honour our award recipients and welcome all alumnae, family and friends to attend the award presentations and complimentary luncheon.

Deadline: February 15, 2016 Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood.

A psychologist in private practice, Dr. Damour is the Director of Laurel School’s Centre for Research on Girls.

New York City Girls’ School NET (Networking and Empowering Together) An initiative of The National Coalition of Girls’ Schools Monday, February 8, 2016 6:00–7:30 p.m.

The New York Marriott Marquis 1535 Broadway An opportunity to unite with Branksome alumnae in the New

Our e-newsletter will provide you with information on all upcoming events.

Find us on

York area, engage with administrators and faculty from Branksome and network with grads from other girls’ schools around the world.

Contact Tanya Pimenoff at 416-920-6265 ext. 285 tpimenoff@branksome.on.ca

London, England Reception March 2016 Watch your mail and email for further details!

Hong Kong Reception Friday, March 18, 2016 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Grand Hyatt Hong Kong 1 Harbour Road Watch for further details!

take p

Mystery Art Sale & Auction An evening of culture and surprises

take pART Wednesday, September 21, 2016 6:00–9:00 p.m.

The Athletics and Wellness Centre, Branksome Hall