HSC Review 2022 by Hillfield Strathallan College

HSCReview

The magazine for the Hillfield Strathallan College community Spring 2022

Doctor of Diversity Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Linda Suleiman ’04 is a champion for health equity

Mentorship

is the KEY to career success for young professionals

HSC connect has

1,000+ alumni

Follow these easy steps to get connected with your HSC Connect alumni networking community! Visit www.LinkedIn.com and build your networking profile Under the Education section, search for Hillfield Strathallan College Fill in your graduating information and save it to automatically link to your HSC community Visit the Hillfield Strathallan College page for all of your alumni updates and networking opportunities!

Mentoring is a

WIN-WIN

Join our community network and

get connected!

1 in 4

MillenNials credit a mentor for helping them seek a leadership role at work

JUST

1 2 3 4

The number of mentors it takes to make a difference

Interested in alumni events? Keep an eye on your inbox for monthly alumni trivia nights! Join your fellow alumni and test your knowledge against your peers. House prizes for the top three winners each trivia night! Reach out to Alumni Relations Officer Bianca Barton ’03 at alumni@hsc.on.ca and make sure your information is up to date so you don’t miss any future events!

Contents

Features 16 Doctor of Diversity Dr. Linda Suleiman ’04 has made major advances in orthopedic surgery and health equity for at-risk patients in Chicago.

Departments

24 Coming Out Activist It took a while for Ted Flett ’95 to find his inner human rights lawyer.

28 Work Global, Think Local Business advisor Natasha Varma ’03 has worked around the

College Life

Top Honours

Giving

Lives Lived

Where the Grads Are

world, but starting a high-tech laundry service in Toronto may have been her most enlightening experience.

32 The Glass Gardener Kim Webster ’76 has found an artform recreating flowers, veggies and succulents that light up the night.

36 Ohhh Brother! They didn’t plan it that way, but Khaled ’08 and Sherif ’11 Ramadan both ended up doctors.

The Alumni Award of Distinction The Alumni Hall of Excellence Stellar Students Great Grad Perfect Prefects HSC Lifers HSC is reaching out. Here’s how you can help.

SPRING 2022

HSC STRATEGIC PLAN

ONE COLLEGE. FOUR SCHOOLS.

BOUNDLESS POSSIBILITIES A whole community coming together to set a clear path forward.

PURPOSEFUL AND SUSTAINABLE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

PERSONALIZED LEARNING

strategic Goal: Enhance the Learning Experience

Joyful Engaged Inclusive

strategic Goal: reimagining time and space

Community A WHOLE COLLEGE– INCLUSIVE AND CONNECTED

RESILIENCE AND WELLBEING

strategic Goal: Diverse, Inclusive, Equitable, Lifelong Community

Building on the success of Towards 20/20, our parents, leadership, faculty and board members have been busy surveying, brainstorming and prioritizing what matters most to our community. Today, we’re implementing an action plan that will enhance HSC for years to come. Learn more at www.hsc.on.ca/strategicplan

Never miss a moment

@ hillfieldstrathallancollege @ hillstrathalumni

@Hillstrath

@hillStrath

@hillfield-strathallan-college

Masthead HSC Review is published by the Advancement and Communications Office of Hillfield Strathallan College. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please contact Zahra Valani at 905-389-1367 ext. 162, or communications@ hsc.on.ca. Visit our website at hsc.on.ca.

Editorial Director

Text and Photography

Cover

Katelyn Galer

Bianca Barton ’03, Dawn Gelbaugh, Jason Gordon, John Hannah, Patricia Hluchy, Jaime Hogge, Carly Holmstead, Diane Jermyn, Steph Martyniuk, Bruce McDougall, Mary K. Nolan, Saira Peesker, Lisa Rostoks, Martine Severin, William Vipond Tait, Nick Timms, Nora Underwood, Barbara Wickens, Berton Woodward, Frank Zochil

By Martine Severin

Editorial Advisor Berton Woodward

Design and Production Director of Advancement & Communications Zahra Valani

Hambly & Woolley Inc. www.hamblywoolley.com

Printing Barney Printing

Messages

Celebrating the HSC Spirit

WE ARE VERY EXCITED TO SHARE WITH YOU this latest issue of HSC Review, which is a chance to celebrate the past, present and future of HSC and help the entire community stay connected. We have had to rely on our broader community for support so much in these past few years, and I am pleased to report that the response has been overwhelming. The HSC Spirit is truly alive and well. In this issue, you will see in action many elements of the new Strategic Plan that represent our present and future, but certainly those, too, that are grounded in the traditions and foundations of the past. Some examples of this are related to our theme of Purposeful and Sustainable Learning Environments, which sets explicit goals for developing and using all of our learning environments on our 50-acre-plus campus. Whether it is students learning about the importance of honeybees in our ecosystem or our student Green Team planning sustainable areas of the campus, this generation of students has made environmental leadership a priority at HSC. As we work on our next Campus Master Plan, this theme will continue to be a priority. As we have worked through the pandemic challenges, our focus on wellbeing and resilience has never been more important. This will be a key programmatic feature of 2022. We have made substantial efforts to provide spaces and opportunities to focus on student wellbeing daily. Whether that is a change to athletics to provide more intramural programming or the new Wellness Room in Montessori or the Play Pods in the Junior School, students can determine ways to improve their wellbeing with the support of their teachers, counsellors, advisors and coaches. Our goal of becoming an even more diverse and inclusive community, one that is supportive and welcoming of those from all backgrounds, is dependent on better educating ourselves on some of the challenges that our historically marginalized groups have faced. To meet this goal, we have done a significant programmatic review, dedicating a lot of time and energy to holding challenging and enlightening conversations. One result with respect to the Calls to Action 4

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By Marc Ayotte Head of College

related to Truth and Reconciliation was a group of committed students and teachers producing an incredible Orange Shirt Day. The day was full of reflection, learning and making commitments to be a better partner to the Indigenous Peoples with whom we share this land. It was a very moving day, but just one of many ways that inclusion will be a continued effort at HSC. The College, for instance, has also updated policies that honour and respect sexual orientation and gender identity. In this issue, we will also celebrate the past with some amazing alumni profiles and updates from the community. Hopefully, more alumni will be inspired to reach out and share their stories of accomplishment with us by sending an email to communications@hsc.on.ca. Please enjoy this issue, and thank you for your continued support of HSC.

Photos by Will Vipond Tait

Our focus on wellbeing and resilience has never been more important

Messages

Feeling Closer than Ever There’s been a palpable change in the way HSC has engaged its community

IN MY WILDEST DREAMS, I never imagined writing my piece for HSC Review as we

approach Year 3 of the pandemic. Yet here we are. As I set about giving you my third—and final—summary as President of the HSC Alumni Association, I realize that much has been said, and written, about the good works of the HSC community during what we simply refer to as “COVID.” I and so many others continue to applaud HSC’s staff for their tireless dedication during these trying times. In my previous reports, I have written about HSC as a community—and how that community has “stepped up” during the pandemic. HSC staff have executed a powerful alchemy that has resulted in HSC@home, virtual extracurricular activities and continuance of beloved events like the Carol Service. There has been a palpable change in the way HSC has engaged its community in the past year. This has led me to wonder: Is it possible to feel closer while being farther apart? Research tells us that for human beings, social connection is a necessity, not a luxury. And the things that cause us social pain—such as COVID-induced isolation—result in real physical and emotional pain. We need no ulterior motive to connect—we literally need to connect to thrive. HSC has enthusiastically tuned into our need for connection over the past year. Our alumni events—Trivia Nights, Musicians Showcase, among others— have allowed us to spend some free time safely together. But it goes beyond that. Facilitating alumni participation at events like Virtual Chapel enables the participation (and nostalgia!) that meets our need for social contact. And there is proof that this is working—many of my fellow alumni have remarked that they feel “more connected” to HSC during the pandemic than ever before. Virtual events have made it easier to take part in College activities.

By Sue Owen ’85

President, HSC Alumni Association

“We literally need to connect to thrive.”

So, in answer to my question: yes, it is possible to feel closer while being further apart. Finally, as this is my last report as President, I want to thank those who have made these last four years so special: Bianca Barton ’03, whose energy and enthusiasm for HSC is unwavering, the Executive for their support of alumni activities and of my leadership role, HSC staff for their tireless efforts, and lastly, the members of the HSC alumni community— with a special shout out to the ’85 old girls with whom I join in “putting on my old green sweater” from time to time. SPRING 2022

College Life

2021 2019

Making a Beeline for HSC

–

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How the campus supports threatened pollinators

Stories by Barbara Wickens IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR THE BUMBLEBEES to home in on a campus

naturalization project. A group of Grade 3 students were planting 120 smooth blue asters, a native wildflower with small daisy-like flowers. The bumblebees were landing on the asters even as the students were putting the plants in the ground, says John Hannah, a science specialist and champion of outdoor education at HSC. The students were fascinated, he adds, and some even petted the insects’ hairy bodies. The bumblebees ignored the attention as they concentrated on collecting pollen. “Observing these highly efficient pollinators was an amazing opportunity for students to see nature at work,” says Hannah. As part of HSC’s commitment to sustainability and increasing biodiversity on the 20-hectare campus, a range of student projects and other initiatives in recent years has focused on restoring important ecosystems. The arrival of the bees was also a timely testament to how environmental stewardship can have a positive impact on the world, Hannah says. Planted in a newly created 10-by-100-metre bed, the asters are now part of a nascent tallgrass prairie seed orchard along with native grasses like big bluestem. Once widespread throughout southern Ontario, tallgrass prairie has all but disappeared in the wild. What’s all the buzz about? HSC bees being prepared for winter.

Photos by Frank Zochil

College Life

2020 2022

College Life

The new bed is located near one of the bioswales, landscape features installed with the new Senior School to help manage storm water. The bioswales support native species such as swamp rose mallow and swamp milkweed that tolerate wet conditions. Other projects have enhanced elements already in the landscape. The campus is home to 37 species of native trees, including the five different oaks in the oak savannah. This area, along with the old apple orchard, has been planted with wildflowers that thrive under an open canopy. Different ecosystems help attract a wide variety of pollinators that co-evolved with native plant species, Hannah explains. Monarch butterflies, for example, will only lay their eggs on milkweed, so this genus of perennials is essential to their survival. While the dramatic decline of monarchs, native bees and honeybees has been well documented, pollinator populations worldwide are shrinking. In Ontario, where there are over 300 species of native bees,

Beekeeper Dave Stotesbury of Backed By Bees gives students an up-close look at the non-aggressive honeybees.

habitat loss and fragmentation pose a particular threat because these species generally fly shorter distances than their honeybee cousins. Two of Ontario’s 16 species of bumblebees are officially listed as “special concern” or “endangered.” HSC is part of a collaborative effort to reverse the decline and increase biodiversity. The Hamilton Pollinators Paradise Project initiative is working to develop a corridor across the city of certified gardens that, among other things, provide herbicide- and pesticide-free food and shelter for native pollinators. Hannah says HSC has also been experimenting with bee hotels. Similar in size to birdhouses, they offer solitary, cavity-nesting bees a safe home from the time they’re laid as eggs until they emerge as fully grown adults. What’s more, in 2021, HSC partnered with beekeeper Dave Stotesbury and his company, Backed by Bees, in Burlington to position two beehives in the apple orchard. Although honeybees are a non-native species, they play an important role in pollinating North American food crops. Stotesbury estimates that at their late summer peak, there were about 80,000 bees in each hive. By the time the season ended, the honeybees had produced over 90 kilograms of honey. In addition to tending to the hives, Stotesbury provided a series of virtual and in-person educational sessions, including one where the students were able to see the queen bee. “One little guy in Grade 1 actually asked me ‘why do the bees make hexagons in their honeycomb?’” Stotesbury says. “One of the neatest aspects of this project was how the kids were asking really intelligent questions and absorbing everything they saw and heard.” SPRING 2022

College Life

Wider Ways of Knowing FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER SHERI WHITMORE, attending a social justice event in 2016 was an eye-opening experience. After hearing calls for greater awareness of the history and painful legacy of Canada’s residential school system, she realized she needed to know more. She also wanted her students to learn about it, too, so such a tragedy never happens again, she says. Each year since then, her students have embraced a variety of self-directed projects and eagerly shared what they’ve learned with others. One project focused on participating in Orange Shirt Day, the Indigenous-led initiative held each September to honour those who survived residential schools and remember those who didn’t. The orange shirt symbolizes that every child matters, thanks to the efforts of survivor Phyllis Webstad, whose own new shirt was taken from her the day she arrived at school. Both Orange Shirt Day and the newly enacted National Day for Truth and Reconciliation take place on September 30, and to mark both in 2021, every student at HSC wore an orange t-shirt. Senior School teacher Nick Buffo says the students also wrote personal messages to residential school survivors on orange shirt-shaped pieces of paper that were temporarily planted on the campus grounds. 8

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Students engage in College-wide Indigenous activities on the inaugural National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Photos by Will Vipond Tait

HSC is developing a more Indigenous-centred curriculum

College Life

Fun Facts: HSC’s Trees

Everything you’d like to know about our 50-acre campus ecology The messages, he adds, will be delivered to the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford when pandemic conditions allow. The building housing the centre was once the Mohawk Institute Residential School, one of a handful of residential school buildings across Canada still standing. The campus-wide event reflects how HSC is reshaping its approach to Indigenous issues. Like Whitmore, other teachers have created units where students can learn about Canada’s First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people. Now, however, the focus is on developing and delivering a more coordinated Indigenous-centred curriculum, a scenario teachers advanced during professional development sessions for the 2021-2022 school year. “There’s an added urgency because of the discoveries of unmarked graves at residential schools,” says arts teacher Julia Hillyer. “There was so much news coverage we knew students would have questions.” Montessori School Principal Danielle Hourigan ’82 agrees it’s important to have challenging conversations if students are going to understand Canada’s history and respect its diversity. But it’s also important to do so in age-and-stage appropriate ways. Kassie Hill ’17 rose to the occasion when she spoke to younger students about some of what had taken place at residential schools. Hill, the first person in her family to speak Mohawk since her maternal grandmother was forbidden to speak anything but English at residential school, was able to draw on some of that personal knowledge. “Students specifically asked her about the ages of children when they were taken from their families,” says Hourigan. “You could tell by the looks on their faces that, even without hearing all the details, they understood the gravity of what happened.” History lessons are just the start. From art and botany to geography and zoology classes, Indigenous knowledge and wisdom is being incorporated whenever possible. New resources are also available, including a growing selection of fiction and non-fiction books by Indigenous authors. Junior School Principal Shailau Spivak says Indigenous ways of knowing aren’t only being embedded throughout the curriculum. Indigenous culture and voices are becoming part of students’ everyday lives. A piece of art that now proudly hangs in each of the school’s classrooms reflects this development. By Métis artist Kelly Duquette, it’s an image of Sky Woman, an ancestor central to Haudenosaunee creation myths. “We’re really discovering our shared background,” says Spivak. “It’s becoming part of students’ shared experience.”

HSC had 1,232 trees on campus at last count, with more added every year.

Our trees provide two days’ supply of oxygen for every one of our students.

In fall 2020, students put 361 plants, representing 17 species of trees and shrubs, in the ground at Willow Landing, supported by the Tutty Fund and World Wildlife Fund Canada.

Students have identified over 60 species, including three that are at risk in Ontario. We also have a wildflower and a cactus on the at-risk list.

Each tree absorbs about 10 kg of carbon dioxide and 1-2 kg of pollutants from the air each year.

Across campus, trees intercept up to six million litres of rainfall annually and remove 75 per cent of nitrates from groundwater before these pollutants reach our sewer systems.

In fall 2021, 493 students, 27 teachers and three grounds staff planted a tallgrass prairie seed orchard, supported by a grant from WWF Canada. The 1,000-squaremetre orchard contains 1,580 prairie plants and 21 species, and has already rendered 250 grams of seed for restoration projects elsewhere (see page 12).

There are four ongoing ecosystem restoration projects on campus—Carolinian Forest, Oak Savannah, Tallgrass Prairie and a Wildlife Corridor. It gets greener every day!

In the next 50 years, our trees will provide nearly $200 million worth of ecological services by shading our buildings, blocking cold winds, recycling water, reducing air pollution, controlling erosion and producing oxygen.

Each tree can provide the cooling effects of 10 air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

SPRING 2022

College Life

Moments of Solitude

The Montessori Wellness room has proven popular with both students and staff

Montessori students find their inner peace and tranquility inside the dedicated Wellness room.

classroom, where a variety of age- and stage-appropriate tools lets them choose how to calm themselves. But sometimes a person—big or small—needs a quieter, more tranquil environment in which to restore their equilibrium. A room dedicated to just that now exists at the school, thanks paradoxically to the pandemic. Students stopped putting on gym clothes for gym class and that freed up a change room. A little makeover magic converted the unused space into a Wellness room, a no-talking, no-cellphone haven of peace and quiet. When the door is open, teachers and students aged six to nine can sign themselves in, close the door and decompress for a little while before returning to class. Teachers stay with the younger students throughout their visit. Inside, they’ll find some objects familiar to them from the classroom, including yoga mats and fidget toys like squishy stress balls. With its focus on calming and centring pursuits, the Wellness room also has comfy chairs, salt lamps, aromatherapy and a miniature Zen garden to rake. Principal Danielle Hourigan ’82 says the Wellness room is an outgrowth of HSC’s approach to student wellbeing, which focuses on developing and supporting their emotional, spiritual, mental and physical health. The appointment of Senior School teacher Nick Timms to the newly created position of Chair of Student Wellbeing is intended to enhance and integrate health initiatives throughout HSC, she adds. Creating the Wellness room did not initially include structural work, so that post-pandemic it could be converted back to its original purpose. But it’s proven so popular with both students and staff that the search is on for a permanent home. That may involve more changes to its current site. “We are always looking for ways to support the health of our community,” says Hourigan. 10

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Photos by Will Vipond Tait

WHEN MONTESSORI SCHOOL STUDENTS FEEL STRESSED OR ANXIOUS, help is at hand in each

College Life

Furniture that Shapes Learning Even a ‘Sharpie disaster’ couldn’t defeat the Junior School’s new setup

INSTEAD OF SITTING IN ROWS FOR A SCIENCE CLASS,

some Junior School students had a different idea about how to configure their learning space. With that, they rearranged wooden benches into a square so they could collaborate. Grade 1 teachers Hilary Munn and Kristen Stephenson frequently see their students reposition the new modular units. One popular setup is combining small tables into a conference table for classroom discussions. The furniture helps facilitate students’ voice and choice, and being able to see and hear one another makes them feel their contributions are valued, says Munn. “The furniture is light enough to move, but stable enough that it doesn’t topple over,” she says. Other safety features include rounded edges and the wood itself, a natural, non-toxic material that’s easily sanitized. Stephenson discovered how effectively the pieces can be wiped clean following what she describes as “the Sharpie disaster.” The ink came right off and left no trace behind, she says. The September 2021 update to the two Grade 1 classrooms is the first stage of a capital project that will eventually replace classroom furniture throughout the Junior School. The brief was for furniture that is flexible, multi-functional and sustainably made in Canada. Natural Pod made the grade. The Burnaby, B.C.-based company has design and manufacturing facilities on Vancouver Island where its child-friendly designs are made with sustainably harvested and managed forest materials.

Above: Some of the rearranged benches; right: Grade 1 students enjoy a book in the new reading nook.

The new shelving on casters can also be easily moved to create an open and child-friendly space that suits whatever activity is taking place in the classroom. Along with storage space in the benches, the low shelves keep items where they’re accessible but not distracting, says Stephenson. “We don’t have clutter,” she adds. “The whole set-up is very calming.” That includes an elevated play loft in each classroom that often serves as a quiet retreat. The safety railings have slats shaped like waves or foliage—or anything else that young imaginations want them to be. SPRING 2022

College Life

Green and Keen

IF THERE’S A COMMON THREAD RUNNING THROUGH the 100-plus cocurricular activities at HSC, it’s that they offer students yet another opportunity to find and follow their passion. That’s certainly the case with the Eco Club, whose members share a keen interest in finding solutions to a variety of environmental concerns, whether protecting natural habitats or promoting actions to reduce one’s carbon footprint. Working as a group, they organize projects and campaigns and encourage their peers to participate. The club also affords students the opportunity to take individual action to develop their skills as environmental stewards. Avid amateur ornithologist Liam Thorne, for example, led birding workshops at HSC when he was still in Grade 7, says science specialist John Hannah. Then, when Liam was in Grade 8, he invited Rick Ludkin, an in-demand master bird bander, to oversee several bird banding days on campus. Only licensed individuals are permitted to capture and band migratory birds in Canada and Liam isn’t yet 18, one requirement for certification. Club members are always on the lookout for ways to promote a sustainable lifestyle both at home and at school. When, for example, pandemic protocols led to students eating grab-and-go lunches at their desks, club members were concerned about all the waste being generated. Their solution: multiple bins in each classroom to divert the waste to appropriate channels. 12

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Middle School students plant the tallgrass prairie seed orchard during E-Week.

Photos by Will Vipond Tait

Members of the student Eco Club promote sustainability

College Life

“They’re a small but mighty team with some amazing ideas.”

Photos by HSC Faculty

Above

Even so, the pandemic’s unpredictable cycle of remote and in-person learning has been challenging, and club membership has fluctuated. Also, Middle School students were without a faculty advisor when Hannah was on sabbatical for the first term of the 20212022 school year. Enter the Green Team, the Senior School chapter of the club that’s been carrying on activities, including making plans for Earth Day 2022. Geography teacher John Bulger, relatively new to the role of faculty advisor, is impressed with what he’s seen so far. “They’re a small but mighty team with some amazing ideas.”

Students gather for an outdoor meeting and dig in at the tallgrass prairie seed orchard.

Right Grade 8 student Liam Thorne (far right) masters his bird-banding skills.

SPRING 2022

College Life

In the Grip of a Passion

Student Amaan Gulacha excels at freestyle wrestling AMAAN GULACHA SAYS HE WAS FOUR WHEN his

Above Amaan, second left, with cousins Aamin and Udhay Gulacha.

Below

“He is the hardest working athlete I’ve ever had the honour to coach.”

Amaan pins his opponent en route to OFSAA wrestling gold.

That intense dedication to training has honed his technique along with his physical strength, stamina and flexibility. But what also sets Amaan apart, she says, is his approach to the mental aspects of the sport. “He was never afraid to lose,” says Mancini, noting how some competitors become discouraged if they’re pinned. “Amaan’s attitude is ‘I’m going to learn from this’ – and he rarely loses to the same person twice.” Amaan says knowing that “failure isn’t fatal and success isn’t final” means he’s able to stay calm and relaxed before a match. “But when the time comes in those championship tournaments, I’m able to hit a switch.” Mancini says she’ll miss Amaan’s leadership when he graduates this year, most likely to attend university in the United States where he’s been on scouts’ radar for years. And if he achieves his long-term goal of competing in the Olympics, she – and everyone else at HSC dedicated to helping students achieve their dreams – will be cheering him on. 14

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Photos by HSC Faculty

father Amar, a former wrestler turned businessman, began teaching him the sport. Even so, the Grade 12 student says he only realized he was actually pretty good at freestyle wrestling a few years ago. That was in 2020 when Amaan was the gold medal winner in the Boys 67.5 kg weight class at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championship. In the semi-final round, he’d defeated the reigning champion, a youth in Grade 13 who’d returned for a fifth year of high school and another crack at the title. Amaan was in Grade 10. Phys ed teacher and wrestling coach Melissa Mancini has seen Amaan develop since he attended a summer wrestling camp at HSC when he was six. “He is the hardest working athlete I’ve ever had the honour to coach,” she says. “He perseveres when others would quit.”

College Life

The Best Fit

Photo by Will Vipond Tait

Meet HSC’s new Deputy Head of College WHEN HE’S NOT SUPPORTING DAILY SCHOOL FUNCTIONS, visiting classrooms, strolling hallways or engaging in teaching and learning conversations, you can find Jason Caruana, HSC’s new Deputy Head of College, waiting in Foxcroft Circle to warmly welcome students to school each morning or bidding farewell at the end of each day. Embodying true HSC spirit, Jason says that “school leadership is about helping a school actualize its mission while nurturing an environment where great teachers want to work with fantastic students and families.” His varied background will no doubt foster a collaborative approach to managing day-to-day school operations. He brings nearly 20 years of educational and leadership experience from across the globe to his position, with a master’s degree in educational leadership, qualifications as a K to 12 principal in both Ontario and Alberta, and experience as a guidance specialist. “Over the years I’ve become more and more convinced that in schools, decision-making and direction are less about absolute right and wrong and more about the best fit for the current context,” he says. “I’ve been fortunate to serve on leadership teams across a number of schools, which affords me a pretty good-sized tool kit to draw on when supporting discussions at HSC.”

“Getting to see and talk to people from across the College each day is one of the best parts of this job.”

As the deputy head, Jason is responsible for helping to shape the College’s culture and overseeing day-to-day operations. His duties extend to all areas of the College, ensuring that each student, staff person and faculty member is supported. “Getting to see and talk to people from across the College each day is one of the best parts of this job,” he says. “To go from a classroom with three-year-olds into a Grade 12 math class and see students fully engaged in learning in both environments is inspiring.” Jason says that while his younger self would have loved to teach Grade 11 or 12 history or politics, he is thrilled to be at HSC as the deputy head—hoping to bring just the right amount of energy and experience to keep HSC flourishing. “Joining a great school at an exciting time has been a wonderful opportunity,” he says, “and it’s a journey I am looking forward to continuing with this community.” —Carly Holmstead SPRING 2022

Doctor of Diversity Dr. Linda Suleiman ’04 has made major advances in orthopedic surgery and health equity for at-risk patients in Chicago By Diane Jermyn Portraits by Martine Severin

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Photo by

SPRING 2022

Linda sits in the Sewell Museum at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

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To Dr. Linda Suleiman ’04, building community is a thread that runs throughout her life, beginning when

she was a child living on the family compound in a Somali village just outside Mogadishu.

LINDA WAS BORN IN WASHINGTON, D.C., but her family returned to their homeland when she was three, staying until she was four. As a kid, her happiest childhood memories are there—not of war, but of a community that wrapped itself around her. “It’s not like you just lived in one house,” says Linda. “Somalia is tribe-based, so you had cousins, second cousins, third cousins, aunts and uncles all living in the same compound. There were always people in your house. “That’s what was so much fun about it. You didn’t go home and have dinner with your immediate family—it was with everybody.” As Somalia’s civil war resurged, the family left again in the early 1990s. At the time, Canada was one of the few places open to Somali refugees, and her parents, both educated professionals, were able to move first to Fort Erie and then to Hamilton—her mother wanted a city with other Somali refugees. But those early Somali experiences made an impression. SPRING 2022

“IT WAS A WONDERFUL COMMUNITY,” Linda recalls. “Looking back, it’s shaped how I’ve always run my life, by building community around me because that’s how I thrive.” That sense of community is still with her in the world of orthopedic surgery, where she is now a leader and diversity champion. Based in Chicago, Linda in 2018 became the first African American woman faculty member appointed to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern Medicine hospital system, affiliated with Northwestern University where she has also been assistant dean of medical education for its Feinberg School of Medicine since 2020. She further serves as director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Feinberg, with over 1,300 residents and fellows. And as a surgeon, she is one of only seven Black women in the United States who specialize in adult hip and knee replacement and reconstructive surgery. Already, after only three years in the hospital job, Linda’s passion for improving health equity is transforming how care is delivered for underserved and socially vulnerable patients in the area’s at-risk communities, where there’s a huge need for joint replacement. “The discrepancies and health inequities I saw within orthopedics is what led me to diversity work,” says Linda. “Now we’re making sure that we’re recruiting underrepresented minorities and retaining them on faculty. We’re also educating our physicians on how to provide equitable care for all our patients.”

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Linda in the operating room.

Linda also advocates for Black patients who often have medical complexities or other challenges that might typically result in them being turned down for surgery for degenerative joint disease. Many are Black women who will travel simply to have a surgeon who looks like them that they can feel more comfortable with. “Everyone should have a fair shot at doing what they want to be doing functionally,” says Linda. “It’s important to have different perspectives, to be able to understand diverse backgrounds. When I started, we didn’t have bias training, so we were expecting our physicians to take care of a diverse patient population without any education about it. I want to change that.” Under Linda’s leadership, the number of graduate medical trainees from underrepresented groups has increased from 14 per cent to one quarter of the incoming class in residency and fellowships. In developing a bias-free curriculum, Linda wanted them above all not to make presumed judgments prior to really understanding a patient’s needs.

“We’re making sure that we’re recruiting underrepresented minorities and retaining them on faculty. We’re also educating our physicians on how to provide equitable care for all our patients.”

“My goal for our trainees is to ‘know your bias’ so that you’re consciously making an effort to change that perception when you interact with patients who may not look like you, because it affects your medical decisions and how you communicate with patients,” she says. “We are seeing change and an incredible amount of allyship from our house staff. We’re not letting it fall by the wayside.” As an educator and diversity leader, Linda has also expanded faculty support and mentoring for her students and fellows, creating an inclusive, welcoming community where everyone can feel they belong. In this regard, much of Linda’s inspiration comes from her mother, who wasn’t able to practise as an anesthesiologist in Canada because her degree wasn’t recognized. So she started helping other refugees. “Once we settled in Hamilton, my mom ended up working in immigration services welcoming other Somalis who were new to Hamilton,” Linda says. “It seemed like we always had a newly arrived family member or friend staying with us, so we kept that connection.” Hillfield Strathallan College was another influence. When her mom heard about HSC being a really good school, she was determined that Linda and her siblings attend, despite an expense that meant working additional jobs. Linda started in Grade 4, along with her brother Abdullah ’03 and sister Patricia ’07. All were into sports, and Linda joined the soccer and basketball teams. “I had a really good experience at HSC,” says Linda. “I made some great friends and it helped build my leadership skills. I never felt my skin colour or culture was an issue. While it was noticeable—there were no other Black students in my grade—it wasn’t a barrier.

“The education was very centred around understanding people, different cultures and human rights—you were exposed to the world, such as participating in the Model United Nations. It felt very inclusive to me for those reasons.” Sports provided another inclusive environment, with national soccer tournaments, hosting students at home and being hosted by other families. “The thing about HSC was that it was always building community around you, which has resonated with me since I was a young kid,” she says. “It shaped me moving forward. And then, always helping the person behind you. The mentorship from coaches and teachers taught me that, so I need to do the same. “My basketball coach, Christine Ellis, was a powerhouse who instilled discipline, leadership and confidence in the women on our team. The coaches had a significant impact on our personal and professional development—including what we wanted to do with our lives beyond sports.” SPRING 2022

FOR LINDA, that meant becoming a doctor like her mom. By high school, she was devouring the advanced level biology, physics and math classes that were available at HSC to prepare her for university. “Loving science and wanting to help others moulded my interest in medicine,” says Linda. “My mom would talk about her experience of helping patients and I wanted to have that same joy of helping someone else.” Linda chose the University of Maryland because when she walked onto that campus, she saw so many students who looked like her. That kind of Black representation was missing when she visited universities in Canada. “I felt I would thrive a little better with a more diverse university experience,” she says. “And I had grown up visiting the Washington, D.C., area because my mother’s siblings and cousins live there.”

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“The thing about HSC was that it was always building community around you, which has resonated with me since I was a young kid. It shaped me moving forward.”

With cardiologist husband Dr. Quentin Youmans.

At work in the OR.

When it came to choosing a medical school after Maryland, Linda thought back to HSC with its small classes where you knew everybody. “I picked Howard University because it had class sizes of only 100 students,” she says. “Then when I walked those halls and saw the history of Black surgeons and physicians on the walls, I knew Howard was the right experience for me.” At Howard, Linda was matched with an orthopedic surgeon, shadowing him during her first year. When Northwestern accepted Linda in the orthopedic residency program, she was the first Black woman ever to train there. “I had fantastic mentorship from the surgeons who are now my partners,” she says. “Your gender or skin colour didn’t matter. They just wanted you to become the best orthopedic surgeon you could become.” While a resident at Northwestern’s McGaw Medical Center, she became president of the Northwestern Underrepresented Residents and Fellows Forum, leading to the diversity work she does today. What she takes away from all her years of education is the importance of building relationships, including from her time at HSC.

“Because classes were small, you couldn’t just ignore the person sitting next to you,” says Linda. “Someone may not look like you or like the same things you do, but build a relationship and you’ll always learn something from that individual.” Linda currently lives in Chicago with her husband, Dr. Quentin Youmans, a chief fellow in cardiology at Northwestern University, and their two-year-old daughter Yama. Social media has made it easy to stay connected with old friends in Canada or living around the world. “I’m following what HSC is doing online and seeing how diversity, equity and inclusion has become a priority,” says Linda. “I’m excited to see there’s a Black Students’ Association now.” Her message to HSC students is to continue building a community around yourself wherever you go and to appreciate people’s differences. “Being a teenager can be hard, because you’re at a time in your life where people’s differences can be called out,” she says. “But try to really understand everybody’s individuality. Take a piece of someone and try to incorporate it into yourself so you can understand them.” SPRING 2022

COMING OUT ACTIVIST It took a while for Ted Flett ’95 to find his inner human rights lawyer By Mary K. Nolan

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Portraits by Jaime Hogge

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SPRING 2022

THE REASON TED FLETT ’95 WAS so keen to attend Hillfield Strathallan College had nothing to do with excellence in education or any other such ideal. He just wanted to ride the bus. To be fair, he was only eight years old, but the idea of climbing aboard that bus with his two big sisters every morning held more appeal than walking to the local public school. And so it was that young Teddy, decked out in little grey cords and green golf shirt, got his wish in September of 1984. Now a busy employment and human rights lawyer and gay rights advocate in Toronto, Ted easily took to HSC life. And he loved that bus. Living in suburban Dundas, the Flett children had a long ride to school, and the sociable Ted enjoyed being with his sisters—Laurie ’89 and Heather ’91—and all kinds of kids of different ages from different grades. It was a community unto itself, and it was fun. He got a bit of a shock that first day, though. “I still remember the French teacher blasting in, speaking fluent French, and I couldn’t understand a word,” recalls Ted, whose classmates had been learning the language for two years already. 26

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All in all, life at HSC was a smooth ride. He did well academically, made friends easily, joined clubs and activities, and collected a few awards along the way. But he was troubled by a burgeoning awareness that he was somehow different. “Around Grade 7 or 8 I began to have suspicions. I felt strongly that whatever my compulsions were, they weren’t something to be shared.” In those days, the subject of sexual orientation was relatively taboo. He didn’t know gay people, there were no public gay icons, no role models. It just wasn’t a thing in his world. Still, Ted was pretty sure there was a reason he gravitated toward cooking club in Grade 3, gave up hockey for figure skating, had no interest in girls beyond friendship and even brought his She-Ra action figure to show and tell. He was in Grade 9 when history teacher Cecelia CarterSmith told her class about politician Svend Robinson, who had come out as the first openly gay Member of Parliament. And Ted readily identified. There were mean kids, as always, but Ted was never bullied on the basis of his inclinations. His orientation wasn’t overt, and his status as the brother of head girl Heather accorded him a certain level of protection. But he regrets there was no easy way for a confused young student to ask questions and get answers. “It was solitary and lonely grappling with this and I knew it wasn’t good,” he says. “I was so impressed to hear there is a Gay/Straight Alliance now.” Looking for a change, he took a brief hiatus from the College after Grade 10. “I thought HSC was too rigid. I didn’t want to take the damn bus or wear the damn clothes. I wanted to walk to school, wear my own clothes.” He lasted about three days at Parkside High School in Dundas before realizing the weight of expectations he’d been feeling at HSC was not necessarily a bad thing, that he missed it. And back he went. Although Ted’s family were all involved in health care— mom Janet was a nurse, dad Norm a family doctor, Laurie studying nutrition and Heather in medical school—there was no pressure to follow suit, not least because he was hopeless at math and sciences. He shone at English and aspired to be a politician, a lawyer, perhaps an author, thanks to his English Writing teacher Cathy Inn. At McMaster University, where he earned an honours degree in political science, a still deeply closeted Ted avoided joining the LGBTQ+ association. “I had some gay acquaintances, and I was warming up to the idea that this might be me. But I was worried it would bring huge shame on my family, that I’d lose friends and family.” His world expanded when he moved to Toronto to work as an intern at Queen’s Park with government and opposition backbenchers, writing speeches, fielding constituents’ calls and handling a host of other responsibilities. And early in 2001, he met someone. “I was almost 25 years old,” he says. “I needed to come out before I hit that milestone. I needed to start being who I was.” To his relief, his announcement on Mother’s Day that spring was met with unqualified support and love.

Around that time, he was lured to the new Tourism Hamilton agency by its executive director David Adames, whom Ted had met while doing an undergraduate internship at the City of Hamilton. Setting law on the back burner, Ted signed on as media relations officer and “absolutely loved it,” he says. “Hamilton was a tough brand to sell and I loved opening peoples’ eyes and surprising them.” It was “a bit frenzied,” but he managed to get a journalism degree from Ryerson University during his tenure at Tourism Hamilton. In 2010, Ted joined Visit Britain during the heady days of Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton as well as the 2012 London Games, regularly hopping across the pond, hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, and eventually running the agency’s U.S. marketing operation out of Manhattan. But the glamour began to fade. “The job started to feel a little less appealing,” he says. “The excitement of getting and measuring the public relations value of a story was wearing thin.” Even as he was hosting international journalists at opulent hotels, Ted was thinking about the housekeepers who’d be coming in to clean up. “I wondered if what I was doing was just making rich people richer, not doing anything to help people with decent, life-supporting, mortgage-paying jobs. It was kind of an awakening.” So, after years of deferment, Ted finally wrote his law school admission test and was accepted at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. And it was there he became not only an advocate but an activist for gay rights. His first order of business was to establish a much-needed campus chapter of OutLaw, a North American organization that supports LGBTQ+ law students. Next up was to join the fight against accreditation in New Brunswick of graduates of a proposed law school at a British Columbia Christian university that banned same-sex relationships. It was a steep learning curve articling and practising at the Toronto powerhouse Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, where he worked in almost every area of law and particularly savoured civil litigation and employment law. After a short solo stint, Ted purchased an existing practice in September 2019. The firm’s four lawyers and two clerks occupy the third floor of an old brick walkup in Toronto’s eclectic Grange Park neighbourhood, about a half-hour’s walk from Ted’s Regent Park condo. His own office is furnished with a massive antique desk, an ergonomic stand-up workstation and a trio of paintings purchased at the annual Dundas Valley School of Art auction. Ted credits his parents and his schooling for his strong social conscience and passion for justice. He aims to make legal services more accessible to clients, especially since those needing advice on employment law are usually least able to afford it.

He does pro bono work for the Ontario Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as well as The 519, a Toronto-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group where he speaks to gay youth about employment rights, workplace standards, contractual language and local resources. Ted is still skating and teaching the sport to new Canadians at the Central Toronto Skating Club. A lifelong teetotaller, he works out religiously at his gym and spends as much time as possible with his partner and at the family cottage at Lake Temagami. It was a long, circuitous path to Zubas Flett Law, but Ted has reached his destination. “It’s where I am meant to be.” SPRING 2022

WORK GLOBAL,

Think Local Business advisor Natasha Varma ’03 has lived, worked and studied around the world, but starting a high-tech laundry service in Toronto may have been her most enlightening experience Portraits by Steph Martyniuk

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By Bruce McDougall

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F THERE’S ONE THING THAT Natasha Varma ’03 thrives on, it’s change. Since she arrived in the fifth grade at HSC 25 years ago, her curiosity and initiative have led her through more twists and turns than many of us navigate in a lifetime. But she has always followed her own counsel. Since she left HSC, Natasha has lived in Bahrain, New York, Toronto, Calgary, Paris and London, England. She has studied at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She has worked in the fields of wealth management and financial advisory with Merrill Lynch and Ernst and Young as well as for the Canadian High Commission in London, and has helped businesses in Canada streamline their operations with enterprise software at SAP. SPRING 2022

And for five years, until 2020, she ran her own business in Toronto, a concierge garment-care service called Vaundry, which she intended to expand throughout Canada until her inner voice advised her against it. That may have been the best education of all. Still in her mid-thirties, Natasha keeps her eye on the future as she works in Toronto as an advisor and consultant to technology startups and entrepreneurs, either through her company, Reddy Impact, or through organizations like MaRS Discovery District, TechToronto and the Upside Foundation of Canada. “After being a founder myself, I’m now helping small businesses to succeed,” she says. “I enjoy the fun of sharing my knowledge with people who don’t have my background.” To each of her assignments, Natasha brings not only her experience, learning and expertise but also a wealth of accumulated wisdom. “My choices in life have challenged me to grow personally,” she says. “They’ve also challenged my thinking about success. Some of these lessons you can’t learn in school.” The daughter of an entrepreneur, Natasha grew up in Bahrain, a country of two million people in the Persian Gulf. But her mother’s aunt lived in Hamilton, and her parents travelled there occasionally with Natasha and her younger sister, Namita. “We’d drive by Hillfield Strathallan,” says Natasha, “and my mom’s uncle would joke with my parents. He’d say, ‘You have to move to Canada and send your kids there.’” Little did he know that Natasha and her family would do exactly that in 1995. Arriving in Grade 5, she worked hard to adjust to her new environment. “She was kind and warm and never had a bad word to say,” says her classmate, Arielle Stockdale ’03. “And she had a great sense of humour. We were always laughing.” But after five years, their friendship was abruptly severed when Natasha returned with her family to Bahrain. “I remember when she left,” says Arielle. “I was very sad.” Natasha completed high school at Bahrain International School in Manama, exchanging with Arielle occasional 30

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photographs and letters. They communicated more regularly when Natasha returned to North America to earn a bachelor’s degree at NYU Stern in 2004, although she had little time to spare as she achieved A grades in economics, finance and French, spent the spring and summer of her sophomore year in Europe, interned at two investment banks and made the dean’s list before she graduated in 2008. Returning to Bahrain, she worked for the next two years as a wealth management analyst for Merrill Lynch and a management consultant with Ernst & Young. But neither of those organizations captured her passion, so she went back to school in Toronto, enrolling at Rotman. She was 25 when she graduated with her MBA, having spent a semester in London, and went to work for SAP, a German multinational. “I’d worked in finance and consulting,” she says, “but I always wanted to be part of something more innovative, creative and disruptive.”

With SAP’s account executives and tech teams, Natasha helped to manage the integration of the company’s enterprise software into customers’ operations, first in Toronto and then in Calgary. “But I began to feel that my career was being shaped by people other than myself,” she says, so she left SAP and returned to Toronto. A day after she arrived in the city, Natasha walked from her downtown condominium to a nearby Starbucks, where she met by chance the man who would become her husband, Harsha Mohan. In the days and weeks that followed, their relationship blossomed. Driving home after a trip to Montreal, Natasha looked at their laundry in the back seat and began to think about starting the business that would become Vaundry. She had all she needed to do it: education, experience, background and determination. She also had Harsha’s encouragement and expertise in IT. “He said, ‘If you have the inclination, you should try,’” Natasha recalls. Co-founded with Harsha, Vaundry offered customers in Toronto a pain-free, on-demand garment-care service. Instead of hauling bundles of shirts, blouses and pants to a storefront dry cleaner, Vaundry’s customers could use an app on their phone to schedule a pickup by a trained driver. For the cost of the cleaning and an added service fee, the driver would take their laundry and return it, cleaned and pressed, as instructed. “The company was based on the frustrations I’d had as a corporate employee,” Natasha says. “I wondered why dry cleaning had to be such a pain in the bum.”

A Vaundry vehicle at work in Toronto.

In 2016, as Vaundry’s distinctive blue vans became a familiar sight in Toronto, Natasha and Harsha decided to get married. In true Indian fashion, their wedding at the Millcroft Inn in Caledon, north of the city, lasted for three days. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” says Arielle, who travelled to the wedding from Nunavut, where she works as a policy analyst for the Nunavut Housing Corporation. “My parents went, too,” she says. From the outset, Vaundry attracted positive reviews. Natasha was recognized as one of Canada’s most dynamic entrepreneurs. In 2019, she was highlighted in a special feature by RBC on tech entrepreneurs who were disrupting traditional businesses. She was also invited to speak on stages and podcasts both at home and abroad. But even before COVID-19 hit in 2020, she began to have a change of heart. “My business was becoming a chore to me,” she says. “We had five-star reviews, but we also had to deal with a very archaic industry: vendors who just didn’t adapt to the changing customer landscape; contractors who did not care enough about customer service; and supplier capacity constraints exacerbated through the pandemic. It was draining.” “Making customers happy became the centre of our focus,” she wrote on her blog on Medium. “But somehow I still didn’t feel happy.” As she discovered, “if you’re in the business of making people’s lives easier, your life will be hard.” After a period of soul-searching, Natasha decided to sell the assets and close the business. “I always wanted to start a business like Uber,” she says, “but I discovered that it’s not having a million dollars in the bank, but the people around you, that count.” Now, in addition to her consulting work, Natasha lectures to college students, writes articles on Medium and helps the founders of early-stage, high-growth Canadian companies to build social responsibility into their businesses through the Upside Foundation. Her clients range from a scientist who founded a health-care company to a middle-aged entrepreneur who has pledged one per cent of his software company to Upside. “I’m on the precipice of whatever’s next,” she says. “But it will have to be something I’m interested in or I won’t do it. After all, life and business should be centred around the notion of joy. Why else do we do anything in life?” SPRING 2022

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GLASS Kim Webster ’76 has found an artform recreating flowers, veggies and succulents that light up the night

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By Patricia Hluchy Photography by Dawn Gelbaugh

SPRING 2022

OR THE 24TH WINE COUNTRY FILM FESTIVAL in California in 2010, Kim Webster

’76 donated a glass creation that went to actor Martin Sheen for his humanitarian work. The late actress Carrie Fisher purchased one of Kim’s illuminated floral pieces at a Berkeley art gallery. The Hamilton native has also produced glass sculptures on commission for numerous individuals as well as a few institutions—she fashioned a glass triptych for the meditation room at the Kaiser Hospital in Antioch, California, and collaborated on a wall piece for the Birth Center at John Muir Health in Walnut Creek. Still, it wasn’t until her late 30s that Kim, now 63, found her creative groove. She is the daughter of a physician and a nurse/homemaker/volunteer. Her family home was full of music, fine craft and lively discussion. One of her three siblings led the way to having a career in the arts: her brother, William Webster ’60, is a prominent actor in Toronto. And Kim says that with the encouragement of her parents, she was “always making things” in clay as a young child and, later, sewing up a storm. After attending HSC for Grades 12 and 13 and then getting a degree in English literature and business at the University of Guelph, she held a variety of jobs, including what was then the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation. It was at Queen’s Park, where Kim worked in communications, that she met her husband of 29 years, cinematographer and film editor Barry Stone. He strongly encouraged her to pursue her artistic impulses. Another catalyst for shifting to life as a creator was the adventurous couple’s three-month honeymoon in India and Nepal. “The fact that people with so little were able to smile and have babies and invite us to their homes,” says Kim, “made me realize 34

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Kim’s succulents and maize on display at the annual Autumn Lights Festival at the Gardens of Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.

that there is a kind of universal safety net that wants and helps us to survive. It gave me the courage to follow my heart.” Eventually, Kim approached a friend who worked in glass and asked if she could “hang out in her studio and do some work in exchange for time to fool around with her kilns and the glass,” says Kim. “After I spent some time there, she suggested, ‘Why don’t you study it?’”

Barry and Kim playfully paddle the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories in 2016.

Kim went on to do a summer course in glass at Oakville’s Sheridan College and then a three-year craft and design diploma there, graduating when she was 40. While at Sheridan, she created numerous glass fruits and flowers, which led her to adopt the email name “glass gardener,” now her artistic handle. “It was clear back then,” she says, “that glass was my medium.” She and her husband moved to Oakland, California, a year or two after she had finished at Sheridan. There, in addition to doing glass work, Webster started a gardening business and did some accounting on the side. For the gardening, she hired another native Canadian and lover of plants, Tara Gill, to help her. Tara, a photographer and graphic designer who has been one of Kim’s best friends for two decades, urged Kim to make glass versions of succulents that grow in the desert, such as agave. “She’s my muse a little bit,” says Kim. “So, I started to noodle on it, and the first succulent I created sold immediately. I don’t really like the part of selling my work, but that was encouraging.” Tara, who lives in Fremont, about a 35-minute drive from Oakland, asserts that “Kim is compelled to make things. The word that always comes to mind when I think of her is ‘whimsy.’ But her creativity isn’t just limited to glass. She makes pajamas for all her grand-nieces and -nephews in Canada every year. And with her customary love and attention to detail in every stitch, she made receiving blankets with beautiful embroidered edges when my son, André, was born. And then she knitted a colourful patchwork blanket for me when I turned 50.” As for her artwork, early on Kim began putting LED lighting into her glass pieces. “I always had in mind that these big plants would light up,” she says. “And it’s the best thing to see one of those plants at dusk gradually turning into something else at night—the light really kind of infuses them with life.” Kim rents time at a couple of Bay Area glass-blowing studios about one day a week, but she also works on projects in a workshop in her backyard built by her husband. That’s where she, with Barry’s help, installs the lighting in her glass creations and mounts them onto their non-glass bases. One of the things Kim loves about her artistry, she says, is that when she makes a piece for a private residence, “it’s like a gift, one that they’re going to enjoy every day of their lives henceforth. There’s a relationship through the glass—it’s a way of connecting.” Kim observes that HSC, with teachers who cared to really know each individual student and a House system to create a sense of community, was a place where she grew her love for literature, music, theatre and the creative process. She loved the chapel experience, which she says gave her an appreciation of spirituality. For many years, Kim has been a student of Zen Buddhism and tries to live by its precepts and to meditate on a regular basis.

“Her Buddhism led her to examine her part in things and how she can bring peace to the world through her actions,” says Tara. “She’s the kind of person you would want for a neighbour, just thoughtful and giving.” Recently, Kim’s generous nature, and how it manifests in her creativity, was apparent when Tara was diagnosed with breast cancer. “She came to visit me, and we have had frequent phone contact. She gave me a beautiful handmade card for each day, and they depict the beautiful and fun things we love, like VW vans or flowers. They’re inscribed with messages of love, support and friendship. Each card also contained a bead for me to string to make a bracelet. I felt the timelessness and beauty of female friendship.” Kim is also a singer, a passion she discovered at HSC. “One day in the dining hall, one of the teachers was playing the piano and I just started belting out this song from The Pajama Game and sounded like Ethel Merman. I ended up playing the lead character, Babe, in the school production of the musical.” She’s now part of an amateur a capella choir called Sacred and Profane, whose repertoire ranges from devotional music to works by contemporary composers. These days, Kim and Barry are working on a private commission for a couple with a lakeside place on Lake Huron near Goderich. “She is originally from Nova Scotia and wants some Scotch thistles made in glass. I’ve done some prototype flowers and plan to mount them on a metal structure reminiscent of the bow of a boat. I will make it so the piece can be displayed outdoors in the summer and then mounted on a wall indoors for the winter months. And I’ll add some tiny forget-me-nots so she can be reminded of her East Coast heritage.” Another, bigger project is for a heritage site in California called Filoli, owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. ”They are renovating the kitchen garden that was originally part of the estate, and I will make a row of vegetables that light up for people who tour the gardens at night,” she says. “The veggies will emerge from the earth: a carrot, beet, Swiss chard, onion, garlic, a rutabaga and a broccoli. I might also display some of my fruit and veggie birdhouses: the Carrot Common, Banana Cabana, Lemon Drop Inn and Strawberry Preserve—naming the pieces is half the fun!” The true definition of whimsy. SPRING 2022

Ohhh Brother! They didn’t plan it that way, but Khaled ’08 and Sherif ’11 Ramadan both ended up doctors. Portraits by Jason Gordon Photo by

By Nora Underwood

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WHEN SHERIF RAMADAN ’11 WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL AT HSC, he was pretty sure he was going to go into engineering in university. For one thing, both his Egyptian-born parents were engineers—his mother was an electrical engineer before she had children and his father is still a practising civil engineer. For another, physics and math were his two favourite subjects. “I didn’t really question it that much,” says Sherif, 28. “I thought for a very long time I would just do engineering and call it a day at that.” SPRING 2022

IT WAS A BIT LESS OF A SLAM DUNK FOR HIS BROTHER,

Khaled Ramadan ’08, who was equally drawn to physics and math but had a real soft spot for biology as well. “Dr. Moffatt, who was my biology teacher in Grade 11 and 12, was a big part of that,” says Khaled, 31. “He had a very strong background in biology, and it showed in his teaching.” Khaled still fondly remembers the fetal pig dissections. For him, medicine was the future. Both Sherif and Khaled were lifers at HSC, going all the way through from kindergarten to graduation. Both were drawn to the sciences. Both were in band. Both volunteered. Both won awards—Khaled two Governor General’s Awards and two Duke of Edinburgh Awards and Sherif three Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Both considered the extra-curriculars a highlight of their time at HSC and excelled at sports—particularly soccer, hockey and rugby. (In fact, both were captains of the rugby team and both won the independent school league championships.) Both took advanced placement courses so they could work a year ahead of themselves, freeing up space to take additional credits in maths and science. But then their paths diverged: Sherif went to the University of Toronto for mechanical engineering and Khaled to McMaster University for health sciences. Both, however, are now doctors. Sherif has been asked many times what changed his mind. For one thing, when he was doing a master’s degree at U of T in clinical engineering—clinical engineers manage a hospital’s medical devices, from an IT and infrastructure perspective—he was working in a hospital part of the time, so he was comfortable in that environment. But there was something else. Sherif and Khaled were living together while Sherif was doing his master’s and Khaled was at the peak of his residency. “Khaled was doing all this clinical work, and he’d come back just talking about it—he’s very enthusiastic about what he does,” says Sherif. “I’d see him come back at 10 a.m. after he hadn’t slept for 24 hours and he’s still super excited and talking about all the surgeries he did. So I think some of that enthusiasm rubbed off on me.” Khaled’s own enthusiasm really blossomed in the small, competitive health sciences program. “It was very much like HSC— smaller class sizes geared towards giving you good tools to learn rather than just trying to teach you facts,” he says. He got into medical 38

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school at the University of Toronto after only three years of undergrad. One of the people who was influential to Khaled—and later to Sherif—was neurologist Dr. Rose Giammarco, the mother of Sherif’s best friend at HSC, Curtis Urbanowicz ’11, who guided both brothers on their paths into medicine. “There was lots of other value from being at HSC that we’ve had that I’m not sure we would’ve had at other schools,” Khaled says. But he wasn’t sure what kind of medicine he wanted to practise—until he stepped into the operating room for the first time. “It was a very straightforward operation—a gallbladder,” he recalls. “I was mesmerized by the whole process. I kept unconsciously creeping too close to the table and they kept telling me to step back. They eventually threw a sterile gown over me to make sure I didn’t screw things up. But I was enthralled.” From that point, Khaled explored many of the specialties by shadowing surgeons. He got hooked by general surgery. “It was the approach of taking care of the entire patient from beginning to end,” he says. General surgeons do a wide variety of operations, big and small. Khaled ultimately opted to subspecialize in thoracic surgery because he was particularly drawn to the anatomy and physiology of the lungs and the “very interesting” operations of the chest. During his master’s, Khaled transferred into a PhD program, which he is in the process of completing. His lab was connected with the hospital, so he was still doing some clinical work, but he was focused mostly on research, subspecializing in oncology and cancer. “I still primarily consider myself a clinician and a doctor but I do definitely think research is going to be part of my practice,” says Khaled, who is continuing his residency at U of T and applying for positions in thoracic surgery. “I think for a lot of us surgeons it’s kind of a grey line, where we’re doing both. It’s not just one or the other.”

Khaled and Sherif as boys visiting the Great Sphinx in Egypt.

For Sherif, it was a perfect storm. During his master’s, he was living with and being inspired by his enthusiastic surgeon brother while working at a hospital himself as part of his degree, with radiologist Dr. Narinder Paul. Together he and Paul—whom Sherif credits as being a huge inspiration behind his choice to pursue radiation oncology—were working to create a device to help optimize CT scanning for heart disease, and Sherif felt his interests making a decisive shift from the engineering aspect of the work to the biological. “It’s funny how things change,” he says. So it was that Sherif entered the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster in 2018. And in July 2021, he began his residency in radiation oncology at Victoria Hospital in London, Ont. Despite their busy lives, the brothers still enjoy their extracurriculars. In his spare time, Sherif paints, plays in a soccer league with other residents and has done volunteer work with an organization called SkateABLE, teaching kids who had mental and physical developmental disabilities how to skate. “It was a cool program but physically hard because the kids were energetic,” he says. Khaled has snowboarded across the continent and even in Japan. He rock-climbs indoors and, sometimes, out. He plays and watches soccer—his favourite player is Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah—and he tries to plan a trip to a new global destination at least once a year. For all the things they have in common and all the things they’ve shared at HSC and beyond, there is little competition between them. Nor was there when they were growing up, they say. “My brother was on the path to being a doctor, and I was on a completely different road, so there wasn’t a lot of overlap in that sense,” says Sherif. “Obviously being the younger brother, I was always trying to outdo him when I could, especially when it came to sports, but we never directly competed in anything.”

Sherif, left, and Khaled in their parents’ home in Hamilton.

Khaled didn’t like to compete with Sherif in sports anyway. “Sherif was very strong,” he says, “and I think he would’ve beaten me.” Even though they have different specialties and currently live in different cities, they’ve discussed the possibility that their paths will cross again, Khaled as a surgeon and Sherif in radiation oncology. “It’s not always in our control where we end up or if we can work together,” says Sherif. “But if we end up working at the same hospital, working on the same disease sites, like the lung, it’s quite possible we could work together in the future.” If the past is any guide, their chances are pretty good. SPRING 2022

Top Honours

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Top Honours

2021

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Building It Better Developer Steve Kulakowsky ’03 has helped reshape Hamilton by renewing heritage buildings Stories by Saira Peesker STEVE KULAKOWSKY ’03 HAS HAD A FRONT SEAT to the dramatic change going on in downtown Hamilton. As co-founder of developer Core Urban Inc., he has spent the last 13 years helping shape urban renewal in the city, largely through the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, increasing Hamilton’s stock of housing and commercial space. Core Urban has turned a former school into a dramatic, glass-topped condo building, joined two aging commercial buildings to create a mix of residential and street-level storefronts, and remodelled a 19th-century textile factory into an airy and modern office building, among other projects. Steve says he’s proud of his contribution to Hamilton’s resurgence, saying his company often works in overlooked areas of the core and on challenging projects that many other developers wouldn’t risk. He describes his philosophy as one that looks to create attractive buildings that add to the streetscape and improve the community, as opposed to one that seeks to build the maximum number of units in the most cost-efficient way possible. “A lot of the time it’s taking old buildings that have been underutilized for years and making something special out of them,” says Steve. “We’ve shown that by building in interesting places, you can attract and retain people from Hamilton and out of town, through buildings that are kind of cool.” The local community has taken notice. Core Urban has received multiple awards for its projects, such as the Hamilton Municipal Heritage Awards’ heritage property developer of the year seven times between 2010 and 2020, and has had developments recognized by the City of Hamilton’s Urban Design and Architectural Awards of Excellence every year since 2013.

Alumni Award of Distinction The HSC Alumni Award of Distinction Program celebrates the achievements of alumni in our community who have lived the aspirations of the Hillfield Strathallan College vision and developed into global citizens who have in effect bettered the world around them.

Photo by Frank Zochil

Top Honours

Steve is particularly proud of the impact his buildings have had on the local economy, which—barring the struggles seen everywhere during the COVID-19 pandemic—has been on a steady upward trend for the past decade. He notes his commercial developments are home to 1,000 net new jobs when compared to what was in the buildings before redevelopment. “In an office market with a vacancy rate in the high teens we have consistently outpaced traditional office buildings because we design the spaces with character that people appreciate,” he says. “In the last 13 years we’ve been in business, we’ve seen a tremendous change in the downtown. We’re excited by the small role we play in that transformation.” He believes the city’s evolving, new-look downtown is helping drive a new image beyond its borders, from scrubby steel town to forward-thinking innovation hub. “It’s been a very effective tool in correcting an outdated public perception of Hamilton,” he says, adding, “I am confident that Hamilton will continue on its ‘comeback’ trajectory when we return to our new normal.” The balance between improving the core and pushing out long-time residents is a hot topic in Hamilton, and it’s not one that has escaped Core Urban as the company conducts its work, Steve says. He believes it’s possible to drive urban renewal without the displacement that often comes with gentrification.

Steve Kulakowsky ’03

“We work really hard to make sure nobody is left behind,” he says. “Through our numerous projects, we’ve never displaced anyone.” Instead, the company has found new homes or commercial spaces for tenants before beginning to redevelop their buildings, he says. He believes his attention to the holistic impact of his work is a result of his education at the school. “HSC fosters leadership and awareness that good work can be done thoughtfully,” he says. “You’re exposed to so much when you’re there.” It’s also where he met his wife Stephanie Howe Kulakowsky ’03. The couple have two children, Grace, 5, and Bennett, 3, who are both in the Montessori program at HSC. “When I was graduating at HSC, most of my classmates looked to opportunities outside of Hamilton,” he recalls. “Twenty years later, through some meaningful urban renewal, I hope that outlook has changed for today’s students and Hamilton is an area that can attract and retain the talent that gets lost to other communities.” WAR STORIES: In the 2021 edition of HSC Review, we carried a Top Honours story about retired lieutenant-colonel Christopher Waters ’72, an Afghanistan war veteran, that described him as “the only graduate since the Second World War to serve with the Canadian Forces in a zone of conflict.” At least one reader, Tim Taylor ’67, has notified us of his own service, at a base in Bahrain during the first Gulf War. The definition of a zone of conflict, or a war zone, is somewhat elastic, but if we ignored other graduates, we’re not only sorry but we’d like to hear from you. Have you served in a zone of conflict, however you choose to define it? Let us know your story by contacting alumni@hsc.on.ca. SPRING 2022 | 41

Top Honours

“I figured I might need to create my own process to figure it out.”

Jennifer Turliuk ’06 combines tech and people skills for kids AFTER GRADUATING FROM THE COMMERCE PROGRAM AT QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY, Jennifer Turliuk ’06 landed the type of corporate job that was highly coveted among her peers—but not, it turned out, by her. “I couldn’t figure out what to do next,” she says. “I had done career testing and spoken to a career counsellor, and those had led me to what I was doing, which I didn’t like. I figured I might need to create my own process to figure it out.” Jennifer entered a competition to shadow an angel investor, and was selected as a finalist. She flew to the San Francisco Bay Area for the interview and, while she didn’t get the gig, she ended up using her time there to meet with and shadow founders and investors from Silicon Valley companies including Airbnb and Square. After writing an article about the experience for Forbes that went viral, she got so much mail she decided writing a book would be the best way to answer all the questions. And so was born How to Figure Out What to Do with Your Life (Next), which was published by Dundurn Press in March 2021. It’s one of four books she’s written, and writing isn’t even her main job. Since 2013, Jennifer has been running MakerKids, her Toronto-based business offering coding, robotics and Minecraft courses for children aged six to 13. She says her program is unique in that it incorporates lessons about people skills as well as technical education. 42

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The Alumni Hall of Excellence The Alumni Hall of Excellence celebrates alumni who embody and promote the ideals of Hillfield Strathallan College. By honouring this distinguished group of alumni, the College continues its tradition of inspiring others through the legacy of alumni who have come before them

Photos by Frank Zochil

Teaching Happiness

Jennifer Turliuk ’06

In the early days, parents of kids with diagnoses such as autism, ADHD and anxiety often said they were seeing benefits from the program that included, she says, “improved happiness and better behaviour and engagement at school. We started to realize there were certain things happening at our programs that were contributing to that, so we started adding social and emotional skills lessons to the classes.” Now, her formula is being studied by a team from the University of Waterloo, which is following participants through parental surveys for between six months to a year. Jennifer, who lives in Toronto with her 14-year-old Beagle mix Lexi, attributes her ability to keep so many balls in the air at once to her time at HSC. She transferred to the school in Grade 9 after being bullied and unhappy at public school, and says HSC’s focus on getting involved pushed her to do things she never would have expected. Her extracurriculars included leading a fundraising team for the social action committee and organizing a conference headlined by WE Charity’s Marc Kielburger. They were demanding roles that taught her how to multitask in order to stay on top of her schoolwork, she says, noting she went on to contribute to student clubs at Queen’s. “I actually, definitely learned this skill at HSC, and I am not just saying that,” she says, laughing. “At HSC it’s cool to be smart.”

Top Honours

A Sense of Community

Need to ask a busy person in order to get something done? Ask Matthew Tutty ’16 MATTHEW TUTTY ’16 IS NOT JUST THE TYPE OF PERSON WHO GETS INVOLVED.

He’s the type of person who gets heavily involved. Matthew recently finished his undergraduate degree at Western University, with double degrees in chemical engineering and business administration from the Ivey School of Business. But that was just the beginning. In addition to the intensive course load, he was elected by the engineering student body as president of Western’s Undergraduate Engineering Society, managing funds of more than $850,000. Further, he was selected as co-chair for the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students’ Conference on Diversity in Engineering, a national event with 170 delegates. And he was appointed as the federation’s corporate relations commissioner, founding a new mentorship program shared between the federation and Engineers Canada. For his contributions to the engineering community, Matthew was awarded the Engineers Canada Gold Medal Student Award 2021. He says his passion for getting involved started while at HSC, a value he thinks will stay with him for life. “Students were invited to take ownership and build the community,” he recalls. “I think that heightened sense of community has really stuck with me.” Matthew says he also felt HSC focused on “developing the whole child and encouraging students to pursue multiple interests and passions, which meant getting involved inside and outside the classroom.” That awareness helped him notice, upon his arrival at Western, that “the student experience is not the same for all students.” He became dedicated to helping make change, which in part, meant addressing diversity issues in engineering. “The profession does not mirror the population of Canada,” he says. “There’s an under-representation of women, Indigenous people and other marginalized groups. To address the issues the engineering profession wants to solve today, we need to have a profession that mirrors our society.”

Matthew Tutty ’16

“We need to have a profession that mirrors our society.” He says he knows that work will continue at Western, and he hopes to get involved in the industry’s professional association in the future. Matthew started a full-time job at Hatch Ltd. in Mississauga in spring 2021, working in the engineering firm’s climate change and sustainability practice, and has already started getting involved in community there. He’s joined a task force at Hatch that is working to develop an engineering methodology to “design sustainable prosperity” at mine sites once resource extraction has ended. He’s also still involved in the alumni communities at HSC and Western, and has a near-term goal of obtaining his professional engineer designation. “I see myself staying in consulting but moving toward a more managerial role, and continuing work on climate change,” he says. “I want to be heavily involved in the communities I work in.”

The Alumni Hall of Excellence

SPRING 2022

Top Honours

Milk of Kindness

Dr. Julia Upton ’93 is helping break new ground on food allergies in children JULIA UPTON ’93 HAS WANTED to be a doctor for as

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Dr. Julia Upton ’93

In recognition of her clinical and research work, Julia is an associate professor at the University of Toronto, the past food allergy and anaphylaxis section head of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and a member of the health care advisory board of Food Allergy Canada, a patient advocacy organization. She holds leadership roles at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Ontario Medical Association. She is also working on projects researching the prevalence of COVID-19 in hot spots, the socioeconomic risk factors for the virus, and safely vaccinating children with allergies. She says HSC led her to develop interests in many disciplines, which helps her today. Back then, she was the yearbook editor—she fondly remembers working alongside teacher Doug Moore—but also had the opportunity to play sports, all of which were encouraged in addition to academic excellence, she says. “You have the opportunity to do a lot of different things that may not be your direct strength,” Julia says. “These experiences come back to help you.”

The Alumni Hall of Excellence

Photos by Frank Zochil

long as she can remember. “Since I was two years old,” she says. Now, as an allergist-immunologist and clinical researcher at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, she’s living her childhood dream. She says working with children is a huge part of what drew her to the job. “I did a residency in internal medicine, which is an adult specialty, and when I was looking at subspecialties, I realized if I did allergy and clinical immunology, this would bring pediatrics back into the domain of my practice,” says Julia, who has a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University in addition to her MD from Western University. “I love helping kids to be kids,” she adds. “To be able to minimize the effect on their life of whatever medical diagnoses they have is fulfilling.” Her research is helping further this goal. She’s part of a team that advanced the understanding that the majority of children who are allergic to cow’s milk or eggs are not allergic to those foods after they have been baked into items like muffins. It’s work that is making a huge difference in the day-today lives of people with food allergies. She is also researching immunotherapy for food, in which small amounts of the food a child is allergic to are eaten under medical supervision to treat the food allergy. “Some of my work is about, How do you best apply new findings and new treatments to the care of the patient?” says Julia, who lives in Toronto with her husband Dave MacAulay and their children Clara, 12, and Donovan, 10. “For example, how do you know who can tolerate heated forms of milk and who can’t, and how can we make food allergy treatments more widely available?”

Top Honours

Adrienne Wu ’08

Of Gender and Fashion

Adrienne came out as queer in Grade 9—something that left her at odds with many of her high school peers, who she says sometimes treated her with “blunt” racism and homophobia. In her mid-twenties, she decided to take a step back from her fashion career to focus on better understanding the LGBTQ+ community, becoming a prominent YouTuber and Huffington Post writer focused on issues of sexuality and gender. She looks back to her early career, and her fascination with designs that played with gender norms, as a hint to her future as a trans woman. “I think my fashion career paralleled my struggles with gender and gender dysphoria,” she says. “It was an outlet I could justify.” These days, Adrienne is spending a lot of time thinking and writing. She’s been approached by a prominent agent to write a book on the non-binary experience, so is working out just what it will look like. “I lost a lot of contracts after I transitioned,” she says. “At the time, everyone thought I lost my mind, that being trans equates to being mentally ill.” She’s also still heavily involved in the trans community in Toronto, where she currently lives. She says she has learned that as part of a group that faces an inordinate amount of discrimination, one must build “tools to survive.” It’s still a struggle at times, she admits. But Adrienne has already proven she has the will and the wisdom to be the person she wants to be.

Adrienne Wu ’08 knows all about glamour—and struggle NOT LONG AFTER LEAVING HSC, Adrienne Wu ’08 was suddenly everywhere—if you

were following the fashion world, that is. She had intended to pursue a degree in sex therapy, but soon left university to focus on fashion design—a risky proposition that turned the Burlington-raised creative into a starlet, nearly overnight. “I was discovered online after making 50 dresses in my parents’ basement,” Adrienne says. “I was offered an opportunity to be a fashion correspondent at MuchMusic, and that snowballed into a lot of opportunities.” Adrienne—who is trans and began her transition in her early twenties—hit milestones shortly after she left HSC that many designers dream of for their entire careers. She had runway shows at Toronto Fashion Week and the National Gallery of Canada, and created a collection in collaboration with author Margaret Atwood for the glitzy Book Lover’s Ball in 2012. While her friends were toiling away at their undergraduate degrees, Wu was working hard making a name for herself, and doing the necessary hobnobbing that came with that. She says it was both isolating and exhilarating. “I felt like in my early twenties, I wasn’t allowed to have fun,” she says. “All I did was work. But it was quite glamorous.”

The Alumni Hall of Excellence

An Update on Inclusion at HSC In 2013, HSC students launched Inclusivity+, our first gender and sexuality alliance. Since its inception, the group has worked to raise awareness of our LGBTQ+ community through a variety of whole-school events. Alongside student-led initiatives, the College recognizes the rights of students through updated policies that honour and respect sexual orientation and gender identity. Moving forward, we will continue to provide education and support to faculty, staff and students to eliminate homophobia, transphobia and biphobia at HSC. SPRING 2022

Top Honours

The Alumni Association Leadership Scholarship is given to selected Grade 9 students who embody the College’s Mission, Vision and Values, especially through outstanding leadership potential.

Solving a Complex Puzzle

Small Acts of Kindness

A Passion for Philanthropy

EDUCATION HAS NEVER BEEN a one-size-fits-

BETWEEN SHARING HIS LOVE OF ATHLETICS and

MATTHEW’S ACADEMIC ACCOLADES CONSTITUTE

all, especially as it relates to the social progression of each individual student. While some find transitions between grades seamless, others may struggle at the idea of meeting new friends, teachers and classmates. Zacharia is no stranger to this problem, which is why he proposed a new course at HSC called Social Conventions. Meant to teach students how to properly engage in effective group work, build and maintain relationships, and solve the complex puzzle of social interactions, Social Conventions is tailored to students who may refer to themselves as an introvert. It would be a safe place to explore transitions or situations that may cause undue stress. In true HSC fashion, Zacharia says this course would allow students to grow into their best selves—socially, emotionally, physically and mentally.

captaining Pine House for the past year, Jack’s leadership extends well beyond the classroom. “I am not the fastest athlete on the field, and I don’t have the highest marks in my class, but I am successful because I work hard,” says Jack. This mentality was truly exemplified when the pandemic hit in March 2020. While most teenagers felt disappointment over missed extracurriculars or time spent with friends, Jack used this opportunity to look for small acts of kindness to brighten peoples’ day. He began showing support for health-care workers by making signs, participating in local food drives and dropping off treats to family and friends. Jack’s amiability and work ethic will benefit him well beyond his years at HSC.

only a small portion of what makes him a leader, both in and out of the classroom. After initiating a school club in Grade 6, which brings awareness to the Oakville Humane Society, Matthew led a group of his peers in making posters and speaking to other classes as an advocate for the Humane Society. The donations from his classmates and himself have made a huge impact. His passion for philanthropy is what pushed him to fundraise for the Terry Fox Run and the Lighthouse for Grieving Children, for which he raised hundreds of dollars and encouraged his classmates to join in. On top of his philanthropic pursuits, Matthew can be found on the field running track or leading his teammates in proper warm-ups and cooldowns.

Zacharia Baig

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Jack Collins

Matthew Luke

Photos by Will Vipond Tait

Singular Students

Top Honours

Great Grads

The Lieutenant-Colonel (Ret’d) Christopher Waters ’72 Award of Distinction Graduate Scholarship is given to one or more departing students who epitomize the nature of service and leading by example.

An Ambassador for Everyone Vikram Arora ’21

HSC LIFER, innovative thinker and passionate

Helping Others Join the Team

Great Grad Photo by Edge Imaging

Sydney Snajdman

WHEN SYDNEY SNAJDMAN LEARNED depression was rising in seniors because of the pandemic, she decided to take action by connecting HSC students with seniors in a local nursing home. “It allows seniors to feel less isolated by building a relationship with a member of the community,” says Sydney. Not only does it aid in decreasing mental health struggles among elders, but it also helps Senior School students achieve their volunteer hours. In addition, Sydney is a gifted athlete who is often praised for her leadership skills within the team environment. She is an active member of HSC, participating as an Ambassador and Earn House Captain. “To be the best leader, I have learned it’s not always about being the loudest person who always takes the lead,” says Sydney. “Leadership is about getting other people to share ideas and feel part of a team.”

Vikram Arora ’21

Now studying at McMaster University.

student leader, Vikram truly made a mark during his time at HSC. Known as an exceptional student, peer and friend, Vikram’s list of achievements is remarkable. While COVID-19 wreaked havoc on in-person learning, co-curricular activities and events, Vikram used the opportunity as an Executive Ambassador to revamp the admissions events—creating a sense of community through virtual events for incoming students and prospective families even though they couldn’t attend in person. These events included virtual open houses, welcome events, Senior School orientation and one-on-one meetings for new students. Vikram also created a new online platform to help with the logistics of the Executive Ambassador Team, which he chaired in Grade 12. This platform allowed the team to become more organized and efficient. On top of his time on the Ambassador Team, Vikram participated in Model UN, STEM Fellowship Chapter, VEX Robotics, HOSA and Senior Wind Symphony. He also volunteered as a peer tutor. Currently studying in the honours integrated science program at McMaster University, for which he received a significant scholarship, Vikram says he’s grateful for his time at HSC. “Through various clubs, especially the Ambassador program, I was able to develop my leadership skills, which helped me when working with others for intensive research projects and other positions both in and out of the classroom.” Hoping to pursue a career in health care, Vikram’s ability to analyze problems and seek meaningful solutions will, no doubt, complement his career path perfectly. SPRING 2022

Top Honours

Perfect Prefects These 14 students are this year’s leaders across Hillfield Strathallan College. From reading to dinner companions, here’s what they’re into.

Folayemi Ayibiowu

Ali Haider

Dream job

Currently reading

Favourite HSC activity

Medical doctor and human rights activist Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Viviana Mazza

Dream dinner with...

Chadwick Boseman, Opal Tometi and Barack Obama

CEO of a biomedical company

Investment Club

Currently reading

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Dream dinner with... Peter Diamandis or Sir Alex Ferguson

Gillian Ayotte

Peyton Bear

Dream job

Favourite HSC activity

Currently reading

Dream dinner with...

Renae Clark

Gabriella Corrado

Academic Prefect Something that helps people!

E-Week

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Bobby Flay

Female Athletic Prefect

Dream job

Spirit Prefect

Brand ambassador at Glossier cosmetics

Ram the Rink

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Ted Lasso

Montessori School Prefect

Detective or business owner

Dream job

Favourite HSC activity

Currently reading

CAIS Soccer

59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute by Richard Wiseman

Dream dinner with... Malala Yousafzai or Christine Sinclair

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Senior School Prefect and Head Prefect

Criminal justice lawyer

Grade 10 E-Week The Epidemic by Suzanne Young

Dream dinner with... Meghan Markle

Photos by Will Vipond Tait

Chapel Prefect and Head Prefect

Top Honours Sarah D’Ambrosi

Aidan Hotte

Dream job

Wellbeing Prefect

Star of a reality show about my life as a business leader, wellness coach and motivator

Currently reading

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant

Junior School Prefect Not sure but probably some type of lawyer

Favourite HSC activity

Volleyball/Jam the Gym

Currently reading Dune

Dream dinner with... Shaquille O’Neal

Dream dinner with... Gordon Ramsey

Emilie Macchiusi Arts

Dream job

Anesthesiologist

Favourite HSC activity Winterfest

Currently reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Dream dinner with... Niall Horan

Charlie Meng

Media Arts/Public Relations Prefect

Dream job

Formula 1 Driver

Favourite HSC activity Swim Team ^_^

Currently reading

Mathematics (Calculus and Vectors), University Prep, by Gautam Rao

Dream dinner with... Elon Musk or Jackie Chan

Sofia Prebtani

Aman Serhan

Dream job

Favourite HSC activity

Diversity Prefect Human rights lawyer

Field hockey and Model UN

Currently reading

Service Prefect

Human rights lawyer

Model UN

Currently reading

The Kite Runner

Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani

Dream dinner with...

Ethan Sohal

Nora Treleaven

Dream job

Favourite HSC activity

Currently reading

The Aga Khan

Male Athletic Prefect Private equity firm founder

Grade 10 E-Week Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don’t by Jim Collins

Dream dinner with... John D. Rockefeller

Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet

Middle School Prefect Head of the World Health Organization

Grade 10 E-Week This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Dream dinner with...

Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer head of vaccine research

SPRING 2022

Top Honours

HSC Lifers 2021

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Vikram Arora

Emily Bandkohal

Charlie Bontis

Olivia Calbeck

Kathleen Calzonetti

Sophie Cherubin

Charlie Connor

Devan Costantin

Ashleigh Darcel

Simona DiClaudio

Chiara Di Paolo

Mitchell Dolny

Daniel Fenton

Sofia Ferraro

Emily Foxman

Rafael Gacesa

Photos by Edge Imaging

Every year as we celebrate the graduating class at HSC, we say goodbye to a group of students we know as “Lifers”. These students joined the College at the start of their education and have been part of the HSC community throughout their school years.

Top Honours

Mariana Gastaldo

Lauren Holmes

Jude Hynes

Kishore Jaiswal

Grace Kaminsky

Quinn Levinson

Aveda Mancini

Katelyn Matsumoto

Myles McArthur

Adesh Mehta

Akash Mehta

Alexandra Miller

Evan Miller

James Patterson

Maja Radisic Hoang

Daniela Silenzi

Olivia Valente

Ethan van Adel

Victoria Watson

SPRING 2020

Giving

2021

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2022

The Gift of Excellence HSC is reaching out. Here’s how you can help.

Giving

HILLFIELD STRATHALLAN COLLEGE IS A GREAT INDEPENDENT SCHOOL with a

52 | HSC REVIEW

strong history. It’s a place where exceptional teachers provide an outstanding education—based on a culture of developing the whole child that dates back more than 120 years, to the College’s founding in 1901. This long commitment to academic excellence and developing future community leaders means that today, HSC attracts students from both the greater Hamilton area and far beyond. HSC welcomes internationally located students through its virtual programming, for a diverse educational experience that benefits the entire College. Yet this strong foundation that enables our educational excellence also faces current challenges. HSC’s older buildings are past their prime and do not reflect ideal learning environments. With your help, HSC can undertake major projects that transform education across the College. The College is committed to developing a purposeful, sustainable campus of indoor and outdoor learning environments tailored to students’ individual and evolving needs from 18 months to 18 years. Our community’s generous donors support this work. “There’s always something happening at HSC,” says Zahra Valani, Director of Advancement and Communications. “We are so fortunate to have the support of so many community members of all different ages who enhance the important work of the College by attending our fundraising and alumni events, donating their time, or making a gift. We are so grateful to everyone who helps out however they can. To all our donors, I say, ‘Thank you! We could not do it without you!’” Brick by brick, and bit by bit, HSC has been steadily developing. Building our Endowment helps us build future leaders. Philanthropy will help build Canada’s premier independent school for the next 120-plus years. You can join us in developing this future in one of the following ways.

Giving

One College, One Future

HSC’s new strategic plan is the work of the whole community IF THERE WAS A SILVER LINING TO THE PANDEMIC AND ITS IMPACT ON HSC, it

Photo by Frank Zochil

HOW TO GET INVOLVED To keep HSC one of Canada’s premier independent schools, our generous donors and volunteers remain crucial to our success. There are many ways you can help: • Become a monthly donor • Share your story • Volunteer • Give a gift of life insurance • Remember HSC in your will • Honour a beloved teacher with a gift to the Inspirational Teacher Fund • Donate a gift of stock Please call 905-389-1367 ext.107 or email advancement@hsc.on.ca to explore these ideas. Gifts over $25 receive a tax receipt. All gifts are gratefully appreciated!

would be the perspective it encouraged as leaders developed the College’s strategic plan. Although the plan was ready in February 2020, priorities began to shift and the planning team took the opportunity to pause and get more feedback from faculty and the community. “Our strategic plan is the community’s plan,” says Carrie Annable ’97, Chair of the Academic, Innovation and Instructional Team. “We already had identified wellbeing, diversity and sustainability within the plan, but the pandemic, Black Lives Matter and the process of being able to step back and get more faculty input helped us fine-tune it so that it really resonated with the community.” In fact, by the time the plan was accepted by HSC’s Board in October 2021, many items were already moving forward because of the commitment of faculty and staff to the direction. The 2021 strategic plan provides a framework for focusing on three main goals: finding new ways to enhance the learning environment, creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable community, and reimagining time and space. These goals are interconnected and overlap with four sub-themes that ensure HSC is continuing to advance its joyful, engaged and inclusive community. “Despite the strains of the pandemic, over 70 faculty members wanted to Joyful join committees,” says Annable. Each Engaged Inclusive committee is being intentional about Community what actions can further these goals, knowing that there is no end date to the important work of enhancing student engagement. As the committees make progress, Annable expects that HSC will need to engage even more partners from the community. For example, students may benefit from new co-op placements or community connections as part of experiential learning. There may even be a call for resources to enhance learning environments sustainably. What’s clear about the new strategic plan is that the varied members of HSC’s community will be working as one College for the benefit of all. As Head of College Marc Ayotte says, “We have always been committed to providing a first-rate education for our students, and we know this new strategic plan will only aid in our ability to do so.” To follow along with the strategic plan journey, visit hsc.on.ca/strategicplan. SPRING 2022 | 53

Passages

Lives Lived ALUMNI BRUCE HAMILTON ’40, Hamilton-born metallurgical engineer who became president and CEO of Slater Steel; father of six, including Michael ’84; active in the community, including with the Hamilton Philharmonic and McMaster University; husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. On April 2, 2021, at 100. COLIN STEARN ’44, former geology professor at McGill University; did his bachelor’s degree at McMaster University and his graduate studies at Yale, including a PhD in 1952; worked during his career for the Geological Survey of Canada, did field work in the Canadian north and Rockies and spent time in the Caribbean studying corals; often travelled to present his research around the world and published two university textbooks; a devoted Baptist deacon, Sunday school teacher and superintendent; known for a wry sense of humour, and “loved to debate with his grandchildren”; husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. On January 17, 2022, at 93. BRUCE “BOO” BATES ’47, New York state native raised in Burlington who spent 58 years in the investment industry, mainly in Rochester, N.Y.; worked for a series of companies that had become Morgan Stanley Wealth Management at his retirement in 2014; a hockey fan who, post-HSC, captained the team at prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., after which he played at Yale and also attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology; active community volunteer, board member and philanthropist in Rochester; husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. On May 28, 2021, at 89. ROBERT BIRD ’64, sociable owner of R.E.B. Insurance in Hamilton for many years; an avid golfer memorialized as someone who “could always be found with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Quite the socialite, he would run into someone he knew everywhere”; husband, father, grandfather. On April 6, 2021, at 77. ANTONY “TONY” STEEL ’66, good-hearted member of a family of alumni and HSC staff, including his deceased parents Gay and Geoff, both retired faculty, and brothers Graham ’72 and Mike ’69 (see below), as well as remaining siblings Penny Lear ’66, a former HSC Governor, and triplets Peter ’75, also a former Governor, Philip ’75 and Tricia ’75; always willing to help others, he spent the last 20 years of his life in North Vancouver working to support the disadvantaged; husband, father. On June 25, 2021, at 74. 54

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MICHAEL “MIKE” STEEL ’69, teacher who returned to HSC to work after many years at elementary schools in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board; active sportsman in hockey, trail rides and distance biking, known for great coaching skills; loved music and played guitar, ukulele, mandolin and piano; known for a subtle and infectious sense of humour; husband, father, grandfather. On December 5, 2021, at 70. DARLENE “DAR” LEE ’73, interior designer, fashionista and animal lover; memorialized as “an independent spirit who was known for her amazing and natural sense of style in both fashion and interior design” and “especially remembered and loved by her fur babies ‘kiddos’”; supporter of Hamilton/Burlington SPCA. On April 17, 2021, at 67. MICHAEL CALDER ’76, worked at Canada Post in Hamilton until his retirement. On April 27, 2021, his 64th birthday. DIANA LOVELESS ’82, Stratford journalist and sportswoman who left her native Australia at age 2; loved her former job as editorial page editor at the Stratford Beacon Herald as well as squash, skiing, sailing, and animals; later ran a pet-care business; in earlier life, won team and individual honours in squash, and lived at ski mecca Whistler, B.C. for a time; memorialized this way as a sailor: “she developed an almost mystical connection to it, always calm in the toughest situations and able to steer dead straight for hours at a time”; wife. On January 10, 2022, at 56. JONATHAN BROWN ’20, gentle, upbeat and curious student whose time in the honours math program at the University of Waterloo was cut short by his brave but unsuccessful battle with cancer; as a hockey player from a young age, his family noted, “Jonathan was known for his clever skills and unusual antics, often stickhandling around opponents from his knees or on his back; aka ‘Jonny Starfish.’ His teammates, other friends and family members who loved him will remember him fondly as a sharp witted and kindhearted soul with a dry sense of humour and an unbreakable (and at times stubborn) will.” On October 15, 2021, at 19.

Passages

FRIENDS STAN KACZMARCZYK, former vice-president of Carter Welding Supplies (Medigas) in Hamilton, retiring in 1994, and strong supporter of HSC; enthusiastic participant in school events, dance recitals and all manner of sporting events that his grandchildren, Corrina ’14 and Drake Mosca ’18, were involved in; remembered “for his quick sense of humour and for always being a gentleman”; husband, father, grandfather. On January 17, 2021, at 88.

SHARON FERRIS, supporter of HSC with a lifelong love of sports; never missed a chance to cheer on son Tim ’96 at all of his games and more recently doted on granddaughter Avery, currently in Grade 5 at HSC; played softball, badminton and pickleball; known as a caring, selfless person who liked to laugh; wife, mother, grandmother. On June 24, 2021, at 78.

DR. PETER DENT, pioneering McMaster University pediatrics professor and founder of McMaster Children’s Hospital (1988) and the adjacent Ronald McDonald House (1993); chair of pediatrics at McMaster 1980-90, director of research for Hamilton Health Sciences 1990-97 and associate dean, clinical services, Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster, 2002-2012; retired from practising medicine in 2020 after a 60-year career; named a member of the Order of Canada in 2017; daughter Jennifer Dent-Haddon ’82 notes donations to a pediatrics scholarship in his name can be made at hamiltonhealth.ca/dent; husband, father, grandfather. On September 23, 2021, at 85.

ANDREA TKACZYK, accomplished critical-care nurse and researcher well-known at HSC as wife of 31 years to HSC Patron Jeff Paikin ’80 and mom to Natasha ’13, Alexa ’15, and Sasha ’17 Paikin; graduated in nursing from Mohawk College in 1985, went on to a BSc Nursing from McMaster University and a master’s in nursing with first-class honours from the University of California, Los Angeles; was partway through her PhD in 1995 but withdrew to be with her new baby and burgeoning family; over the years, worked in the ICU, the stroke prevention clinic, medical research, and the breast cancer clinic; remembered as “a perpetual optimist whose glass was always half full” and one who always put the needs of others ahead of herself; wife, mother. On January 30, 2022, at 57.

DON FELL, founded Hamilton-based FELLFAB Ltd. at age 15 as a home-based tarpaulin repair business and grew it into the largest manufacturer of airline and rail interiors in North America, as well as other engineered textile products; became a fundraising champion in Hamilton for organizations from hospitals to the arts; father of Glen ’82 and Linda Fell Struthers ’88, as well as Pam Fell; husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. On January 7, 2022, at 85. BASIL GILLYATT, former Chair of the HSC Board and former Governor; born and raised in Argentina, where he managed farms before emigrating to Canada in 1983 and establishing a successful chicken business in Waterdown, Ont.; as board Chair from 1993 to 1995 was a strong supporter of the high-tech Advanced Resource Centre and of purchasing new land south of the HSC campus; father of Nicola ’88 and Roderick ’91 as well as Marian and Rosalie; husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. On August 19, 2021, 2021, at 83.

STAFF WILLIAM FLEMING, former HSC business manager; emigrated to Canada from Scotland and worked as an accountant at Allan Industries before finishing his career at HSC, where he enjoyed the people; avid historian and frequent traveller; husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. On May 4, 2021, at 93. MARIA CSERESNYES, former HSC head cleaner and a member of the cleaning staff for 28 years; retired as head in 1991; remembered as a tireless worker with great pride in her work; wife, mother, grandmother. On July 29, 2021, at 92.

A note about Lives Lived: If you learn of any alumni, faculty or staff who have passed away during the course of the coming year, you are welcome to send a note to communications@hsc.on.ca so HSC Review can properly remember them on this page. If you have confirmed details, including age and date of death, please include them, as well as an appreciation of the person if you wish. A copy of, or link to, a published obituary is especially helpful.

SPRING 2022 | 55

By the Numbers

Where the Grads Are

128 46

The Class of 2021 has gone on to study at top institutions in North America and the world

Majors

Canada

Science

The Breakdown 29 14 13 12 10 9 7

Western University Queen’s University McMaster University University of Guelph University of Toronto University of Waterloo Wilfrid Laurier University

6 5 4 4 3 2 2

Ryerson University Dalhousie University Brock University McGill University Carleton University Gap Year Mount Allison

2 1 1 1 1 1 1

Trent University Georgian College Mohawk College OCAD Sheridan College Thompson Rivers University University of British Columbia

Engineering

QC NB USA

United Kingdom and Ireland 4 1 1 1 1

Business

Arts, Social Science, Humanities

Their New Worlds BC

University College Dublin University of Edinburgh University of Leeds University of Southampton

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3 3 2 1 United States 4 1 1 1 1 1 1

Boston University Johns Hopkins University St. Mary’s University, Texas University of North Dakota

Architecture Arts & Science

Education

3 3

Visual Art, Design, Fashion Kinesiology

Music

2 1 1 1

Computer Science

Law Direct Entry

Media Information

Medicine Direct Entry

Nursing

Recreation

SUMMER CAMPS HILLFIELD STRATHALLAN COLLEGE

JUNE 27 –

AUGUST 26

2022

Full-day and half-day camps

Explore summer camps at

HSC!

Extended care available Variety of programming: recreational, enrichment and athletic camps Lunch and snacks provided

Half-day camps start at

$140/week

Full-day camps start at

$300/week

Please visit our website for more information:

www.hsc.on.ca/camp

Where I Grow Into My

Best Self

Visit www.hsc.on.ca/learnmore to book a virtual 1:1 admissions meeting or attend a virtual open house. For more information please contact admissions@hsc.on.ca