The LinkTHE BSS MAGAZINE | VOL. 2 · 2008/09

BSS BY THENUMBERS

6 ASSISTANTHEADS

4 BOARDMEMBERS

10 STUDENTLEADERS

SPECIALISSUE!

1 ANNUAL REPORT+ KIM GORDON HAS A COUPLE MORE THINGS TO SAY!

FEATURING

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A Report to Shareholders.By Kim Gordon

While we don’t exactly have shareholders in the tech-nical sense, we do have a community that financially

supports our activities through tuition, do-nations, and volunteering time and exper-tise to help us be the best we can be. That’s why we believe it’s important to keep you informed about our progress on the strategic plan as well as provide you with our audited financial data. We are accountable to you and want you to take an active role in under-standing how your investment is being used in the service of educating your daughters. Our mission is to provide your daughters with a superior academic and life experience during these most formative years. Achiev-ing that means setting the bar higher every year, reaching beyond the tried and true and tackling new ideas and ways of doing things that keep BSS on the cutting edge in educa-tion circles, and delivering on our promise to you. You will see in this issue of The Link, our progress to date as we reach the halfway point on the strategic plan. You’ll also meet some of the people behind our success, the drivers of our innovative approaches that extend throughout the School. The 2007/08 Annual Report is also included that will give you the financial statements as well as an op-portunity to see how vital your donations to the School have been. We’ve put a spotlight on the Rogers family who have, throughout many years and generations, provided stal-wart support, innovative ideas and incred-ible loyalty to BSS that continues with the appointment of Martha ROGERS ’90 to our Board of Trustees this year. I’m pleased to give you this snapshot of how we’re doing at BSS and invite any comments or questions you might have. Enjoy!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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2 OPENING NOTES A report to our shareholders.

4 LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT Taking Charge. Students learn the complexities of leadership and develop lifelong skills.

6 INSIDE BSS What’s the difference between a Governor and a Trustee? These and many other questions answered as The Link takes us inside the BSS Boards.

9 FEATURE We’re halfway through and it’s time to take stock. BSS’s Assistant Heads give us a Strategic Plan update.

12 KIM GORDON: THE FINAL INTERVIEW At least, as Head of BSS that is. Who knows what tomorrow will bring for this dynamo.

15 FACULTY SPOTLIGHT Professional Learning Communities at BSS.

16 COMMUNITY Family Values. Canada’s first family of media suffered a staggering loss when patriarch and media genius Ted Rogers died last year. But the family carries on a legacy of innovation, community spirit and philanthropy that would leave others gasping.

19 SPECIAL FEATURE Annual Report 2008. BSS by the Numbers.

29 OLD GIRL NEWS Find out where your classmates are these days.

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Emily Kalatzis GRADE: 11LEADERSHIP POSITION: Prism EditorWHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? Coming to the School in Grade 7, I always looked up to the pre-fects. The crisp white blazers, the official name badges, and the privilege to wish the entire School good morning in Chapel. Needless to say, I have matured from my Grade 7 year and discovered what leader-

ship really means to me. BSS has taught me that you can be a leader at any age. It’s the ability to inspire others and motivate them into action. Whether this takes place at the next Prism club meeting or in the lineup for the microwave at lunch, if I can assist someone in any way or get them to try something new, I feel that I have shown traits of leadership. It has been in my Grade 11 year that I have discovered that you don’t need a white jacket to be a leader. FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? I consider Oprah to be a public leader that I admire. Her ability to motivate others is out-standing. She talks about her favorite book and within the next day 100 million copies have been sold and waitlisted across Canada and America. It is truly a sensation that one person can posses such a heavy influence on others. In addition, she is much more than mo-tivational, she is inspirational. To some, her monthly published O magazine is looked at as a bible. She has shaped the way the world views women, current issues, and success. She has shown us that anyone has the ability to turn their dreams into reality if they pursue their passions.

Emily Kassie GRADE: 11 LEADERSHIP POSITION: Improv Team Head WHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? Who ever thought that a girl who hardly spoke until she was in middle school could become the head of a team that improvises and performs in front of huge audiences? BSS has taught me that if I am passionate about some-

Lessons Learned10 BSS Students Share Their Leadership Lessons

SPOTLIGHT | STUDENTS

thing, I can take the initiative to pursue it and I will have the School, my peers and my teachers behind me. Leadership, is not just a word or description of a position, it’s a feeling you get when you watch the eight girls you’ve been spending every day after school rehearsing with jump up and down like lunatics when they win second place at their first Improv competition. If it were not for BSS, I would have never had the opportunity to have this feeling, or work with these amazing girls. Leadership is about inspiring one another, and that is what BSS has taught me.FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? My favorite public leader would have to be Tina Fey. No, she isn’t the president or the head of a world-renowned charity, however she is an awe-inspiring leader. Tina Fey sees a public issue, and uses her talent of comedy and writ-ing to address it and spread awareness. When she felt it was neces-sary to shine a light on teenage issues she made the movie Mean Girls. When she saw problems in the American election she per-formed as Palin on Saturday Night Live, to bring a sense of levity to the situation, but also to point out some serious issues that needed to be addressed. Not only is she is hilarious, but she commits herself to every role and every decision she makes.

Kristin VeselyGRADE: 12LEADERSHIP POSITION: Environmental Council ChairWHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? BSS has taught me that be-ing a successful leader isn’t having a title nor is it about recognition. Leadership is the willingness to go the extra mile and the desire to reach beyond expectations. When you aim for something new or dif-

ferent, others become inspired and start to follow your lead. FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? I would have to say that Elizabeth May is my favourite public leader. Although she did not win her seat in parliament this past election, Elizabeth May has de-veloped political awareness for environmental issues and has really put the Green Party of Canada on the political stage. Her remark-able ambition and determination are qualities I can only hope to emulate in my own leadership initiatives.

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Kelly Damp GRADE: 12 LEADERSHIP POSITION: Head Ambassador WHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? BSS has taught me a lot about leadership. I think leadership is something that everybody possesses and BSS has given me the opportunity to learn about this quality as well as develop my skills in this area. We are all leaders in our own way and at this School we are

given countless opportunities to learn how this word applies to each unique individual. Through my experiences, my accomplishments and mistakes, I have learned about the importance of taking risks and that I must have confidence in myself. WORDS OF WISDOM Mistakes happen. You have to take everything stride and learn from your experiences.

Kyra Azzopardi GRADE: 12 LEADERSHIP POSITION: Arts and Clubs Prefect WHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? BSS has taught me two im-portant lessons about leadership: 1. have integrity and 2. the gift of leadership does not come from what benefits the leader but from what the community gains; lead-ership is a service.

FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? Without a doubt, my fa-vourite public leader would have to be Barack Obama. He is an inspiring politician, and the world has been in dire need of such individuals for some time. Obama has championed the concept of change and hope as he challenges not only America, but the whole world, to better themselves. His perseverance, intelligence, strength and optimism is inspirational, and my admiration for him even led me to travel to Washington with my sister and stand in the Mall for his inauguration.WORDS OF WISDOM Always remember that no matter what hap-pens, keep your head up high and keep trekking through.

Julie Park GRADE: 12 LEADERSHIP POSITION: 8A Form Advisor WHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? BSS taught me that anyone can be a leader and that everyone at BSS IS a leader—even the students without the leadership pins or the white blazer. FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY?

Martin Luther King. Because to me, he seems like a true leader—he inspired and

motivated many people through his words and actions. After being positioned as a form advisor, I realized that the hardest part of this responsibility was to engage the Grade 8s and to be a good role model for them. Martin Luther King was able to easily engage his audience and build relationships with the audience. He worked ex-tremely hard and was willing to do anything to prove his point.WORDS OF WISDOM It’s okay to make mistakes.

Erica Li GRADE: 12 LEADERSHIP POSITION: Social Services Prefect WHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? BSS has taught me that leadership comes in many different forms. It’s important to lead but also to know when to take a step back. Most impor-tantly, I’ve learned to take advantage of the opportunities I have around me and take risks.

FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? My favourite public leader is Pierre Trudeau, a former Prime Minister of Canada. As I learned in many of my classes, Pierre Trudeau was unafraid to speak his mind and make bold decisions. I admire his courage to lead Cana-dians through difficult times while staying true to his beliefs. As a result, he redefined Canada and left a lasting impact.

Lessons Learned10 BSS Students Share Their Leadership Lessons

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Kim ChenGRADE: 12LEADERSHIP POSITION: Head of BSS’BO and member of the Academic Student CouncilWHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? It’s a skill that is useful everywhere, within school or outside of school, and especially beneficial in the fu-

ture—it’s good that there are opportunities to make mistakes now and learn from them and become a better leader than later on in life when mistakes could have far more detrimental effects.FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? Truthfully, I don’t really see why I have to name a public leader. Many people within the School do things that come naturally to them every day—some smile all the time, some fight for what they believe is right, some are considerate of others, others are full-out passionate about what they do—these are just some qualities that truly make someone a leader and I ad-mire them all.WORDS OF WISDOM Sleep lots! It’s more useful than it seems.

Elizabeth  Grace Sermol GRADE: 12LEADERSHIP POSITION: Fair Trade Club Head WHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? BSS has taught me that leadership, in its truest sense, is not a des-ignated role, but rather an attitude and an ability to interact and inspire those around you. If you are able to do this, then you are a successful leader. It also taught me that you need to be able to recognize flaws in yourself, and to correct them—laughing helps. FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? My favorite public leader is, as many people at the moment, Obama. But my favorite unof-ficial leader was Anita Roddick, who founded The Body Shop. Her story is incredible, and her book Take It Personally—How to Make Conscious Choices To Change The World inspired me to continue on with my project and the Fair Trade Club.

Gillian HannonGRADE: 12LEADERSHIP POSITION: Head GirlWHAT HAS BSS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT

LEADERSHIP? BSS has taught me most of what I know about leadership. Three of the most important leadership les-sons I have learned at BSS, however, are teamwork and cooperation, how to plan

ahead, and the importance of time management.FAVOURITE PUBLIC LEADER AND WHY? My favourite public leader is Nelson Mandela, primarily because he has displayed such im-mense leadership amidst such difficult conditions.WORDS OF WISDOM Write absolutely everything in your agenda!

For more than 140 years, BSS has been empowering, edu-cating and encouraging girls. It is, quite arguably, the best girls’ school in all of Canada and much of this credit is due to the School’s skilled and committed leadership. Behind

the scenes and after hours, the dedicated members of the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees propel the School forward in terms of support, strategy and financial oversight.

Kim Gordon, Head of BSS, can’t emphasize enough how impor-tant the Boards are to the functioning of the School. “Having these Boards allows me to have Bay Street financial experts, marketing gurus, entrepreneurs, and lawyers at my fingertips. I have access to the top talent in Canada and North America who I can turn to for their expertise, and all of it, pro bono. They’re always just a phone call away and the generosity they’ve shown, both of their time and their talent is extraordinary.”

The Board of Governors, chaired by Kate BERGHUIS Stevenson ’81, has three main responsibilities: to hire and support the Head of the School, to oversee and approve the School’s mission and strat-egy, and to maintain financial oversight of the School’s operations. The Board of Trustees, chaired by Sarah Kavanagh, is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the health of the BSS Foundation in a fundraising capacity, as well as managing the Foundation’s invest-ment growth strategy and its disbursements to the School.

Kate Stevenson has nearly 25 years of experience as a senior fi-nance executive for large, multinational corporations. Sarah Kava-nagh is Vice Chair of Investment Banking at Scotia Capital. On aver-age, they each spend at least four days of every month working for the BSS Boards. Both Boards have multiple subcommittees devoted to ensuring the School is in a position of strength to achieve its goals. Bruce Rothney and Ruth Woods, both Vice Chairs of the Board of Governors, also volunteer similar amounts of time to the Boards and various subcommittees. All members of the Boards contribute their time, talents and often show incredible leadership in the School’s fundraising activities.

“It’s a commitment to be on the Board,” says Ms Woods. The Boards are self perpetuating, which means members are often on the lookout for new volunteers, and selecting Board members requires much consideration in order to diversify the Boards’ talents. “They can’t all be lawyers,” she laughs. It is also important to select people

What it takes to be a BSS Board member.They give at the office...then they start th eir second shift. By Rachel Hahn

SPOTLIGHT | STUDENTS

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INSIDE BSS

Ruth Woods Vice Chair, Board of Governors

Bruce Rothney Vice Chair, Board of Governors

Kate BERGHUIS Stevenson ’81 Chair, Board of Governors

from Kim.”Ms Stevenson says that BSS is unusual among independent

schools in this regard. “Attracting and cultivating top talent, and to have chosen two Heads of School in succession from our own ranks is a rare feat,” she writes. The strength of the staff and Board members ensure BSS is a standout school on the continent, as does the reputation of the academic and co-curricular program—yet an-other aspect of BSS’s vision and mission that the Board is involved in stewarding.

Bruce Rothney is, in his words, “fully engaged” in BSS. All three of his daughters—Mackenzie, Stephanie and Katelyn—are enrolled at the School. Part of the reason he enthusiastically volunteers on the Board is because he wants only the best for his girls. “The passion stems from your hopes and aspirations for your daughters to get the best education they possibly can. That’s really what drives me,” says Mr. Rothney.

“UCC and the other great boys’ schools have always had a unique advantage and a unique place in society, and, in my own mind, I think that hasn’t been as much the case with the girls’ schools. I

who have, in other ways, demonstrated their dedication to BSS. It is a demanding volunteer role and Board members need to be willing and able to carve out the time required from their busy lives.

There are many issues that the Boards tackle and this year es-pecially presented a host of challenges such as managing budgets within the context of an increasingly tumultuous economy and ma-jor leadership changes in the School with the announcement of Kim Gordon’s retirement. “I’m particularly proud of how smoothly the transition between Kim as outgoing Head and Deryn Lavell as in-coming Head has been handled,” says Ms Woods who, along with Board member, John Barford, managed the Head selection process. BSS has a history of effective succession planning and smooth tran-sitions of key staff, including the Head’s position. The importance of a strong and talented Head of School cannot be underestimated, and Ms Stevenson agrees that the process was an accomplishment to take pride in. “Managing the Head succession process was undoubt-edly the activity that will have the greatest impact on BSS for years to come,” she writes in an email, adding that “we are exceptionally fortunate to have such a talented internal candidate to take over

What it takes to be a BSS Board member.They give at the office...then they start th eir second shift. By Rachel Hahn

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think that’s fundamentally wrong,” Mr. Rothney explains.

“It’s time for the world to wake up and really create a balance and an attitude that says…girls can do anything if we create the right institution. If Ms Gordon drills into us to teach girls in the way that they naturally learn more effectively, and then really un-leash that power, I think it’s almost an un-stoppable force.”

This passion for quality girls’ education contributes to the program strategy that the Board oversees. A recent programming ac-complishment has been ushering in the Reg-gio-inspired approach in the Junior School. “The Reggio-inspired program, in my view, has created a renaissance school which is unlike most others in Canada, if not North America,” says Mr. Rothney.

One of the most important responsibili-ties of the Board of Trustees is to manage the School’s endowment. Managing the invest-ments and various other monetary concerns of any institution in the current economic cli-mate is a delicate and difficult thing, but BSS is more than prepared. “Certainly this econ-omy has impacted both the Boards,” says Ms Woods. “We have contingency plans in place. We’re managing our costs at as low a level as we can and are making sure that we’re de-ferring capital expenditures that we wouldn’t otherwise have to make,” she explains.

“As Governors, we are very sensitive to the hardship that families of all shapes and sizes are going through with the economy turning very sour and the capital markets turning incredibly sour,” says Mr. Rothney. In times like these, he says, there are two main areas of focus for the Board: to be very thoughtful about expenditures and to continue providing financial aid as much as possible. A result of the Board’s efforts was reflected in the very minimal tuition increase recently announced (2.9 per cent). “I think the 2.9 per cent is really good evidence of us trying to be extra cautious and careful about raising costs and tuition prices when everybody is feeling the pinch,” says Mr. Rothney, adding that it is also of the utmost importance to maintain the quality of the School’s programming. “We want to make sure that we don’t deliver a less than fantastic product which people are obviously expecting and deserve.”

Ms Kavanagh, too, is quick to point out that often improving the School through program changes is not necessarily a costly en-deavour. “Some of the kinds of changes that we think are innovative and improve the program may not cost a lot. They might be about teachers doing things a little differently, collaborating, or design-ing interdisciplinary programming,” she says. Alternately, the types of projects that are being delayed or interrupted are large capital projects and extensive fundraising plans for the endowment, which instead will remain an ongoing priority for the School as a driver of overall fundraising initiatives. For example, having a larger endow-

INSIDE BSS

ment would enable BSS to achieve its goal of increasing diversity and making the School more accessible to a variety of girls.

According to Deryn Lavell, who is cur-rently the Assistant Head of Institutional Advancement, “the importance of the en-dowment is more evident now, in these tough economic times, than ever before. The School is committed to doing everything possible to help its families in need through bursaries and financial aid.”

Ultimately, the Boards of BSS are pre-pared to meet an uncertain environment with thoughtful, intelligent planning based on their collaborative approach and immense experience. “We’ve been thinking about the worst thing that could happen to us and have planned for it. We have a plan. We’re not expecting the worst, but we’re planning for it,” assures Ms Woods. “The great news is that we’re not seeing any change in the number of people interested in the School,” she adds. “We don’t see any foreshadowing that enrolment is going to be down. Our admissions numbers are extremely strong and we expect to have the revenue that we need. If unusual attrition happens, we have plans in place for how we would manage the School through a time when enrolment was down slightly.”

Though prudent planning is necessary in any economic climate, Ms Stevenson notes that, “BSS still has a great opportunity to make a difference in the lives of each of its students. With the School in excellent finan-cial shape and continuing to invest in its strategic priorities, it is in a strong position to distinguish itself in today’s uncertain en-vironment.”

Ms Gordon practically beams when she discusses the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees, and rightly so. Even in a time of market turmoil they continue to plan and strategize ways to make the School better than it was the day before. In essence, these behind-the-scenes strategists are always looking ahead and always seeking improvement. “I’ve been so blessed to have had the support and talent of the people working with me on these Boards,” says Ms Gordon. “I have felt supported from day one and they have never let me down, no matter what the challenge. They are a very big reason why BSS is so strong and we all owe them a debt of gratitude.”

“In the near term, supporting our Head transition is our top pri-ority,” writes Ms Stevenson. “Over the longer term, without a doubt, building the endowment will be the key to our success in ensuring that we have access to the very best talent. Great schools have great endowments. It’s my dream that every deserving girl could have the opportunity I have had with a BSS education. It’s as simple as that!” She adds, “With a culture committed to the best way to motivate and teach girls, our leaders, faculty, staff and community are all bound by the goal that our students graduate with the confidence to pursue their hopes and dreams with passion.”

“If Ms Gordon drills into us to teach girls in a way that they naturally learn more effectively, and then really

unleash that power, it’s almost an

unstoppable force.”Sarah Kavanagh Chair, Board of Trustees

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We have the plan. Now, how to make it work?Six Assistant Heads make the vision a reality at BSS. By Julia LeConte

Every Wednesday morning, the six Assistant Heads at The Bishop Strachan School come together with Head of School, Kim Gordon, to strategize, problem solve, share successes and challenges, and to obtain perspective and

feedback. Individually, the Assistant Heads are incredibly focused women, heading very different departments with a singular common goal: to provide the best education possible for the students. Collec-tively they represent three branches of BSS’s strategic plan: People, Program and Sustainability.

PeopleBSS is a unique place. It has a large full-time staff, including over 100 teachers. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For any school, succession planning and smooth transitioning of staff is important, but for an institution as comprehensive as BSS, it’s vital. These issues, among many other priorities, are top-of-mind for Bar-bara McLean, Assistant Head, Human Resources and Professional Growth.

“Professional growth is everything from the orientation compo-nent at the hiring, all the way through to teacher evaluation, per-formance reviews and the mentoring program,” says Ms McLean. “You need to be sustaining the level of expertise. Part of it is hiring the right people, and then making sure that the skills are there,” she says. Ms McLean sites Ms Gordon as a prime example—she was already at BSS when she was named Head. Similarly, when Deryn Lavell left her role as Principal of the Junior School, Jennifer Arm-strong, who was Vice Principal at the time, was promoted to Princi-pal. “You have to grow your own talent in many areas. Our teachers at BSS are much farther ahead of the curve than they are at many other places,” says Ms McLean. “They step into leadership posi-tions and they have an opportunity to grow and develop.”

Clearly BSS has laid a strong foundation of talent, but it’s not always easy to find the right candidates in the first place. “There is not a shortage of teachers from a demographic perspective,” says Ms McLean, adding however, that there are few teachers with the necessary skills to fulfill BSS’s standards. To that end, it’s even more important to cultivate the School’s existing talent. The Junior School follows a Reggio-inspired program—an approach to learning that isn’t common in many North American institutions. Promoting from

within—someone who is already familiar with the approach and its principles—is beneficial to the School, and to the students.

For Ms McLean, the weekly meetings with the other Assistant Heads are an efficient way to make informed decisions and keep ev-eryone on the team up to speed on the different areas of the School. She says that, although for any given issue some individuals are more involved than others, it’s valuable to have everyone present. “There are many, many decisions that affect different portfolios, so it’s a great opportunity for us to minimize the requirements for individual meetings. Meeting together as Assistant Heads means that we know what the next steps are and [you’re making] a much more informed decision.”

The Assistant Head model isn’t brand new; rather, it’s new ter-minology for a system that was more or less already in place. “I’m not sure that it was a huge change as much as a formalizing of what was actually happening,” says Ms McLean. “The Assistant Head organization really formalized the people who were running the or-ganization with Ms Gordon. It really just brought everything under one umbrella.”

It’s not difficult for Ms McLean to pinpoint exactly what drives her. “There are two questions that we ask a lot: Is this in the best interest of the girls, and is this teaching them what they need to be successful in the future?” she says. “Then we think, how does this impact the staff? And what do we need to do for the staff?”

ProgramJennifer Armstrong has been with the Junior School for seven years (four years as Principal, aka Assistant Head, Junior School) and has seen it completely revamped based on the Reggio-inspired approach, which, she explains, is based on three central tenets: transparency, reciprocity and relationships. “And those three things are ultimately what the Assistant Head team is all about,” she says. “It has been re-ally exciting and an intensive period of growth and development for all of us, but it’s also about recognizing what this School is in context with the community; what is its relationship with the bigger institu-tion?” says Ms Armstrong. “How do these all interconnect and how do we all focus our energies here on the children? That’s been seven years of work.”

Needless to say, the other five Assistant Heads have been mas-

FEATURE

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FEATURE

sively helpful when it comes to seeing the bigger picture. “It’s easy to get swallowed by minutia,” says Ms Armstrong. She likens the As-sistant Heads to a group of critically thinking friends. “If you have an idea or a problem, you have this incredibly intelligent group of people who are still committed to the same strategic objective with their eyes and expertise,” she says. But Ms Armstrong notes that fo-cusing on the grand scheme doesn’t mean losing sight of the human aspect of what they do. “Our daily business is dealing with kids and their families. To have those discussions with that group of people keeps reality on the table.”

Just as Ms McLean focuses on transitioning teachers and staff, Ms Armstrong is concerned about a fluid transition as her students go on to attend the Senior School. “The level of connectivity is im-

portant; there’s no hiving off the Junior School,” she says. “You can hive it off physically but it’s not a separate silo. In a big institution, the voice of the Junior School could be drowned out. “But not at BSS. Ms Armstrong credits the Assistant Head team, which she says is very committed to staying connected. “That’s the biggest differ-ence. In the past, we all proposed ideas and all had responsibilities for certain things. We got feedback and went back and worked on it ourselves. Now we sit around the table to create the first idea to-gether. That’s a much richer way of moving forward.”

It’s a philosophy that the Assistant Heads try to pass on to the classroom level, and, for the girls, it’s definitely working. “We’re actually modelling for the girls,” says Angela Terpstra, Assistant Head, Senior School. “One of the things we are really strong about is teaching leadership, and what leadership is really about is how well you delegate and motivate; how well you understand from the smallest detail to the larger picture.”

This is Ms Terpstra’s fourth year at BSS. She came as Principal of the Senior School, a position that has since been renamed Assistant Head, Senior School. The titles may be new to BSS, but are actually common in other institutions. More important is the functionality that they represent. One of Ms Terpstra’s guiding principles is to make sure people are listened to, and that their “highest priority needs are being served.” The team of Assistant Heads helps facilitate that.

“Above all, one thing we do when things get overwhelming is constantly remind ourselves of why we’re here—we’re here for the girls,” she says. “That’s where it all starts.”

And the girls are certainly doing their parts, too. When Mary Anne Ballantyne arrived at the School seven and a half years ago, one of the first things she did was lobby for an IT prefect and an IT coun-cil. Today, the council is in full swing and taking on myriad tasks and responsibilities. “They’re an amazing group of girls,” says Ms Bal-lantyne, Assistant Head, Technology and Innovation. “They’re not only training and helping other girls around the School, but they’re definitely leaders in terms of ethical use in technology. One of the things they’re working on right now is a code of ethics.”

Ms Ballantyne’s role is multi-faceted. She manages a department

that supports the School in terms of pure technical support, and also develops technology-based programming alongside teachers in the classroom. She’s also in charge of all the databases and the data management. Ms Ballantyne is very focused on the education aspect, and making sure that BSS is not at the bleeding edge, but at the lead-ing edge, of teaching and learning and using technology to enable that. “Technology”, Ms Ballantyne says, “plays a role in everything BSS does, right down to the nuts and bolts.”

And helping the IT aspect of the School to remain free of techni-

“Above all, one thing we do when things get overwhelming is constantly remind ourselves of why we’re here—we’re here for the girls,” she says. “That’s where it all starts.”

Angela Terpstra, Assistant Head, Senior School Deryn Lavell chats with BSS Boarders

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cal difficulties, is the team of Assistant Heads. They’re “a smaller team of senior people who report to [Ms Gordon], who can work at a more strategic level, and help carry out a very ambitious strategic plan,” says Ms Ballantyne.

SustainabilityThe third branch of that aggressive plan is sustainability. Leading its charge are Janet Ainslie, Assistant Head, Finance and Facility, and Deryn Lavell, Assistant Head, Institutional Advancement.

Ms Ainslie tackles sustainability in terms of one of life’s most practical aspects: dollars and cents. “As you hear about the program initiatives and people initiatives, my challenge is to be able to fund them,” she says. One of the things the strategic plan hadn’t antici-

pated is the current economic climate. A major coup for Ms Ainslie has been her ability to dramatically lessen the School’s increase in fees this year. “Over the last decade, we’ve increased our fees, on average, six per cent, and some years as high as nine per cent,” she says. “We knew that was not sustainable at a time when we want diversity in our student base.”

The struggle lies in continuing to advance the curriculum at the pace that the School is accustomed to—and at the pace BSS’s lead-ers would like—and to maintain and improve the School’s physical facilities, all without putting financial strain on families during these difficult times. Rolling back fees at a time like this would jeopardize the quality of the School, but increasing them at the rate they had in the past isn’t realistic either.

Luckily, with an incredibly talented team, Ms Ainslie has man-aged. “We are pleased that we were able to keep the increase to 2.9 per cent for 2009/10,” she says, adding that the success is a reflec-tion of the team of Assistant Heads and the teams who report to them. To achieve this feat, Ms Ainslie and her team found alternative revenue streams, such as renting out some of the School’s facilities during off hours. They’re also planning for the future. “[The Board’s Finance Committee] has been pushing us to make sure that we’re doing scenario planning and contingency analysis, and that we also network with other schools to compare strategies,” says Ms Ainslie. “My sense of fulfillment comes from taking my business experience

and making this a great experience for the girls. At the end of the day, I’ve done my most to ensure that the families get value for their money, and that I’ve helped to make this a great place for the girls.”

Ms Lavell will replace Ms Gordon as Head of School in the sum-mer of 2009. But her current role in Institutional Advancement is certainly not without its challenges. “Part of our strategic plan was to raise our endowment to unprecedented levels, and we set a target of an additional 15 million over and above what we have now,” says Ms Lavell. That plan included reorganizing a number of depart-ments in order to synergize effectively. “We’re starting to get a much better, coherent model together that can help us to really reach our goals,” she says. “What it’s allowed us to do now is really be able to focus on our families even before they get in the door—from that

first inquiry right through to when they’re Old Girls”. But, like Ms Ainslie, Ms Lavell is also reacting to the economy.

“In fact, an opportunity has arisen in that we are able to look at how we are sending the message about our endowment to our commu-nity,” she says. “We’re widening our lens a little bit. The endowment will always be the engine that drives us, but we need to be sure that during these times we’re sensitive to the families and cultivating our relationships, while still driving forward with the strategic plan.”

It’s that kind of flexibility and innovation that define BSS. “As an institution we understand the incredible rate of change in the world,” says Ms Lavell. She stresses the importance of “taking a good look at what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, and asking yourself what are the next practices out there?” As a team, those are things that the Assistant Heads examine weekly.

“We’re incredibly fortunate to have really strong teams within teams at this School,” says Ms Lavell. “The idea of having the As-sistant Heads for a senior executive is that each Assistant Head over-sees significant areas of the School. It’s a wise crowd as opposed to working in a silo.”

So what keeps these six women going? Easy. “Our students are at the heart of everything we do,” says Ms Lavell. On a recent trip to Calgary, she met up with an Old Girl who was an executive with a very big Canadian company. “She said ‘all the leadership skills I brought to this position I learned from BSS.’”

Janet Ainslie with members of her Finance team; Irina Klenkin, Susan Douglas and Olya BeaupreBarb McLean, Assistant Head, Human Resources and Professional Growth

12  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

SETTLING IN TO the too-squishy sofa in Kim Gordon’s of-fice, we take position for the ‘final interview’, but the door constantly swings open with eager visitors—parents, stu-dents, Old Girls, staff, all dropping by to say hi or deliver a problem on the doorstep of BSS’s unflappable leader. In good humour and with the deftness of a Cirque du Soleil performance, Ms Gordon balances three problems with two hello’s, four ‘we’ll deal with that laters’ and finally, a plea to close the door so we can begin our chat.

FEATURE

Kim Gordon The Last InterviewBy Sharon Gregg

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  13

This is the typical day in the life of Kim Gordon, BSS Head for five years and VP of Curriculum for six years before that. Her en-ergy is infectious without being disorienting. She stands at the centre of the ongoing storm of activity at BSS, her manner neither calm nor flustered, she dives in to the chaos with enthusiasm, giving new meaning to the term ‘multi-tasking.’ She’s always thinking, always quick to connect the dots. Every day on the job she takes in a tsu-nami of information that gets synthesized and redistributed as a co-herent plan. And all of that performed on three-inch heels.

Running a $23 million organization, which BSS is, is as complex a job as any CEO position in a large company. Long gone are the days when the title ‘Head of School’ evoked images of the pleasant former academic enjoying languid teas and chit chats in leafy quad-rangles. Today’s Head must be adept at managing large, complicated budgets and organizational structures. She must be thoroughly im-mersed in cutting edge technologies, curriculum breakthroughs, and brain research, while being the go-to person for the big fundraising challenges, manage the School’s public relations, be highly skilled at troop motivation, problem solving, strategic planning, sales, mar-keting, and…you get the picture. The days begin at dawn and last until well past sundown, and for much of the past 11 years, would continue with the other fulltime job Ms Gordon had as the mother of two delightful young women, Kelly and Christie, both Old Girls who have gone on to enriching careers and lives of their own.

Now as the ever-vibrant Ms Gordon contemplates a new chap-ter, saying farewell to BSS and welcoming life with future husband Marv MaGee in California, one cannot imagine this woman ever contenting herself with sailing and golf. No, there will be more yet. But in the meantime, she has much to feel proud of in the life she’s led to-date.

SG: What are you most proud of in your tenure at BSS?

KG: The team. I will take credit for recognizing and nurturing great talent; but the rest is up to them. And boy have they come through. My Senior Admin Team consists of professionals who are at the top of their respective fields. They work together collabora-tively, but have strong individual viewpoints that they’re not afraid to voice. They are creative, passionate and just so, so smart. I have been incredibly lucky to have such talent around me and because of that, we have such a depth of talent, skill and commitment that reaches right through all aspects of the school. That’s why BSS is so strong.

SG: Any job, no matter how great, has its frustrations. What 

have been the biggest for you during your time here?

KG: We don’t have the capacity to do everything we want to do. It’s a problem of our reach being greater than our grasp. It is frus-trating when you have to dampen the enthusiasm of hard-working, innovative colleagues because we don’t have the resources to carry out their dream. We’ve had to make tough decisions, stay true to our strategic plan, respect our resources, both human and financial, and put some great ideas on hold. That’s never something that would sit well with me.

SG: Were you born for this? Was education in the blood or 

was it something you stumbled into?

KG: Oh I was definitely born for it. I used to hold phys ed classes at my house when I was a kid. The neighbourhood parents loved me! I love teaching and learning and this career has given me ample opportunity to do both. At BSS I’ve really been able to mentor other educators and administrators in ways that have been incredibly ful-filling for me. At the same time, I’m in a place that breathes learning

and opens the door to new challenges all the time. I think I share with most educators, the passion to see the growth and development of the young, fertile minds around us. The difference we can make in the lives of our students is both awesome and daunting. It’s a big responsibility and I take it very seriously.

SG: How do you  think BSS differs  from other  independent 

schools? If I were a parent in Toronto contemplating a school for 

my daughter, I’d have lots to choose from. Why BSS?

KG: We are fortunate in this city to have such choice in education and there are many top quality schools with great strengths. That makes it tough for all of us because we know that there is another choice just down the street. It certainly ensures for parents that we are all working very hard!

I think BSS shines as a beacon of innovation. There is a distinct “BSS way,” that sets us apart. We are a culture that is not afraid to try new things, that is as gutsy and assertive as it is warm and nur-turing. Everything we do has the BSS twist on it from adapting the Reggio approach to our Junior School, to getting technology like our 3-D printer into the hands of our students to learn sophisticated engineering and industrial design just as they do it in the profession-al world. We see no limits and we take chances. We’re not always on the money, but wherever we land, it’s bound to be a few feet further than if we’d played it safe.

SG: You mention innovation a lot. Another favourite word of 

yours is creativity. You’ve often said that you need creativity as a 

basic life skill to be successful in the future economy—agreeing 

in many ways with  the  thinking of academics  like Roger Mar-

tin, Richard Florida and others who talk of intellectual and emo-

tional flexibility  as  the keys  to  success as our economic base 

moves from industrial towards knowledge. What innovations or 

initiatives have you authored to make BSS an environment that 

celebrates and inspires creativity?

KG: Creativity in schools has been defined in the past as the abil-ity to make art. We put areas of learning in silos so there were divi-sions among skills required to do math or science versus literature, history or art. What that did is it robbed students of the opportunity to apply a creative mind to problem solving of all kinds and made things like math formulaic. That alienated a lot of girls from those subjects because they are not linear thinkers. Unleashing creativity in girls and celebrating it as a highly prized skill that is not neces-sarily just linked to the arts, encourages them to tackle math and engineering problems with enthusiasm…and great success.

So when we implemented the Reggio-inspired approach in the Junior School, I knew that would revolutionize learning approaches for girls at the earliest stages, planting the seeds for the kind of cre-ativity that would support them throughout their academic careers. They learn how to think about problems using their own curiosity and imagination to figure out solutions. Just look at the documen-tation coming out of the Junior School and you can’t help but be amazed at what these young minds are capable of.

Putting technology in the hands of our students when we intro-duced the laptop program during my tenure as VP Curriculum, was without question, one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced, but one that clearly paid off because we enabled girls to get really comfort-able with technology and to use it as a tool to expand learning. Their level of computer literacy now is remarkable and we were ahead of the curve on that initiative. The explosion that’s happened since with the software programs we use in film studies and other art courses, as well as the technology in robotics, engineering, math and science,

14  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

FEATURE

is just breathtaking and BSS students are running with it to the point that they are well beyond the skill level of most of their peers going into post-secondary levels.

SG: We are facing some tough economic times now and for 

the  foreseeable  future.  As  Deryn  Lavell  prepares  to  take  the 

helm on your retirement in an environment that could be even 

more challenging than usual, what advice would you give her 

and the BSS community?

KG: Well first, I am even more thankful that we had the good sense to hire Deryn for this job because we are going to need her en-ergy, savvy, and breadth of experience to help navigate these waters. She has the skills to guide BSS through, and I know I’m leaving the School in a position of great strength to weather the storm. We’ve had an upward trajectory of admissions stats over the past several years; we’ve built a realistic budget that gives us the room to stay true to our culture of innovation and growth without jeopardizing our financial stability; and perhaps most important of all, we have a Board of Governors and Trustees that represents the best and the brightest across a variety of professions giving us a constant and very reassuring source of knowledge from which to draw. I can’t say enough about how wonderful these Boards have been for me and I know they will be there just as powerfully for Deryn.

So with that, I’d advise Deryn to dream big. The trouble our economy is facing will pass, but BSS has been around for over 140 years and has a long journey ahead. I know she’ll keep her eye on the prize and continue to push forward with an exciting and dynamic leadership style that will inspire everyone to be their best. That’s what BSS needs right now.

SG: What will you miss most about BSS?

KG: Well it certainly won’t be the long hours! Without hesita-tion it will be the people. I work with extraordinary people whom I respect and genuinely care about. Many have become personal

friends—it was a Board member who introduced me to my fiancé, for goodness’ sake! The community, from the students to their par-ents, the teachers and staff to the admin team, the Old Girls who stay in touch and the Boards whom I’ve loved working with, it is such a family and I will truly miss that.

SG: What does your future hold? You’re getting married this 

spring, moving to California with your husband. Your daughters 

are grown and launched into their lives with great success. And 

you’re leaving a career you’ve had since you started out over 35 

years ago. That’s a big part of your identity. All this change must 

be a bit nerve wracking?

KG: It is. No question. I’ve had many a sleepless night as I turned over all those thoughts in my mind. But I have learned in my life that change comes at you, whether you want it or not—change that can mean redefining your whole life. I’ve done it before. I can do it again. I’m not afraid of it because through it, I’ve discovered aspects of myself I might never have known. It’s growth and that can only be good.

So, as I look to the future I know that I will be with a wonderful man and partner for life and that’s irreplaceable. My daughters have had a good start to life and the rest is up to them, though my moth-ering days are far from over! And my career with BSS has been the jewel in the crown, one of the best things that ever happened to me. But it’s a tough, demanding job and I think a leader ought to know when it’s best for the organization to bring in new blood and new energy. That time is now and whatever happens down the road for me, I know I’ll have done the right thing at the right time for BSS and myself. I kind of like not knowing precisely where the path will lead. I’m looking forward to sleeping past 5:30 am and having some time to read, and think and pursue new learning. It’s exciting!

SG: I say you’ll be bored in two weeks. 

KG: That’s probably true! But I’ll give it three…then we’ll see.

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  15

Over the past few years, BSS had been looking for a way to incorporate time for formal group discussion into Senior School teachers’ busy schedules. Monthly staff meetings, where the

entire faculty was present, were not proving to be effective mediums for in-depth examination of issues across the cur-riculum.

“In these large, group meetings, teachers weren’t able to have substantive conversations about real issues in the Senior School,” says Angela Terpstra, Assistant Head, Se-nior School.

“Some of my colleagues and I attended a conference in the U.S. called Best Practices for 21st Century Learning, and heard about schools who had abandoned afterschool meetings and moved to daytime meetings,” says Sian Jones, Vice Principal, Academic Program.

The result was the formation of Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs, implemented in the Senior School this year. PLCS are heterogeneous groups of ten to fifteen teachers across departments and grades. PLC groups meet bi-weekly to discuss curriculum, exchange ideas on assign-ments and evaluation, and even visit one another’s class-rooms to share methodologies and best practices.

“It’s a good way to hear varying viewpoints on issues around the School,” says Rita Gravina, Head of the Learn-ing Commons and Canada/World Studies teacher. “We can bring a topic of discussion that we feel is useful. It’s a good way to dis-cuss educational issues that are hot at the moment. And I like hear-ing how various departments are responding to the issues that the School is dealing with.”

The end goal is to build a tightly-knit group of teachers who can be open and honest, and can grow together to build a common un-derstanding of each other’s teaching practice. Says Ms Jones, “one of the struggles with education is that teachers are in the classrooms, behind doors, working alone. That’s how school life is scheduled. Having time to converse with colleagues, and to work with col-leagues, is not a natural part of a high school system.”

According to Jan Sullivan, Vice Principal of Student Life, “a lot more can be accomplished in a meeting with a small group, and cur-

riculum issues can be examined much more in-depth.” Adds Ms Jones, “there is a huge difference between the conversa-

tions we would have had in our staff meetings versus the conversa-tions we have in the PLC. I hope that people feel that’s valuable.”

Students also benefit from the PLC model because, as Ms Jones puts it, “the more their teachers are talking to each other, the more streamlined their learning experience will be.”

In a high school where everyone is divided up by subject and discipline, the structure is not built for teachers to collaborate. Says Ms Jones, “that’s just how education has been for such a long time at the high school level—and at the university level. So it’s really a shift for those people to think about putting together the skills and the knowledge that’s common and enables the kids to come together to build something even bigger.”

Above the treetopsTeacher’s ‘think tank’ lets BSS educators get above the fray. By Rachel Yeager

PROFILE | FACULTY

Jan Sullivan, Vice Principal of Student Life and Sian Jones, Vice Principal, Academic Program

TABLE OF CONTENTS

16  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

He is a household name that is synonymous with busi-ness titan, a man of vision, a dreamer and a doer. It’s hard to resist the allure of his underdog story: A five-year-old boy loses his father and the family business,

leaving him with almost nothing but a burning desire to reclaim the prestige and success once attached to his name.

That is the Ted Rogers the public knows, infamous for his work ethic. However, for those who were a part of Ted’s family and Ted’s community he was much more than all that. He loved to give and he loved to joke. “People want to make him into something else, but in the end he was just a guy who thought he was a little dorky,” says Ted’s youngest, Martha. He was a man who would leave a mess in the kitchen after making a late night snack (usually his favourite—a peanut butter and banana sandwich). He would spend hours playing with the kids in the family pool. He loved Hallowe’en, family, travel and business, and his love of these things came easily and naturally.

Ted was an innate entrepreneur. While boarding at UCC, he strung a wire from an antenna on the roof down into his dorm room and at-tached it to a small TV, which he charged his schoolmates to watch. Compassion was also in Ted’s nature. When his father-in-law passed away in the 1990s he wanted to comfort his beloved wife, Loretta, and decided that wearing some of his father-in-law’s clothes would

do the trick. He donned an outdated powder-blue suit and bold shirt, both with extreme 70s lapels, and gladly wore them to work and around the house. Despite his children’s cries about the fashion crisis being committed, he insisted it made Loretta feel better.

Loretta was his match in many ways. Married in 1963, the two were supposed to spend three weeks on a honeymoon in Kenya. Predictably, Ted had to cut the trip short for business reasons and promised he’d take Loretta away for a full month in the following year to make up for it.

“Which month?” Loretta had asked her new husband.“February,” he replied.“That’ll now cost you six weeks for choosing the shortest

month,” she quipped.Her next move was to pick their destinations and she selected

them with the question in mind, “Where can’t he live on the tele-phone?”

They went to Fiji, Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti, all about a 12-hour time difference from Toronto, so Ted couldn’t talk to the office all the time. Ironically, it was this trip that got Ted started in cable.

The entrepreneurial Ted and the compassionate Ted were not two different manifestations of one man. They were not even two

Thank you, Mr. Rogers.A great family legacy continues. By Rachel Hahn

COMMUNITY

PROFILE | STUDENT

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  17

sides of a coin. They were traits that truly existed, all rolled into one with no discernable separation. Family, philanthropy, commu-nity and career were all part of one full life. “He wanted to be in the thick of things. What he would hate is if he was in the study with the doors closed,” explains Martha. “It wasn’t work to him. He loved it and that concept is strange to a lot of people. A lot of people divide [work and home] but it wasn’t divided with him. He would find that a peculiar statement.”

Education was one of Ted’s passions and he gave of his time and money to many educational institutions including Ryerson Univer-sity, University of Toronto, UCC and, of course, BSS, where all four of his children (Lisa, Melinda, Martha and even Edward) attended, as well as his sister, Ann, and currently his grandchild, Chloe.

Loretta served on the BSS Board of Trustees for 27 years and headed many capital campaigns to improve the School. “I was there forever,” laughs Loretta, about her time with the Board of Trustees. She wanted to be involved in giving her children a quality education. “When you have four kids, you do want the best education you can get, and BSS was always very highly rated,” she says.

Among the many projects the pair was involved in at BSS, was the new Junior School built in 2003, and the Rogers wing, which officially opened in 1988. The wing houses a 250-seat theatre, two libraries, science labs and classrooms. The BSS fitness room named for the Rogers children is another project of Loretta and Ted’s. The family also established the Edward S. Rogers Family Scholarships that are awarded annually to one Grade 9 student and retained (if specific criteria are met) until that student leaves BSS.

“He just really believed that everyone has a right to education—

it shouldn’t be if you can afford it or not and he hated that concept,” says Martha. “Education should be a right for all people and he re-ally did believe that you can reach your full potential if you have it. So the idea that only certain people got an education; he hated that. It didn’t make any sense.”

Ted’s business sense and passion for BSS combined with the idea of a beneficial partnership. He believed strongly that BSS and UCC should collaborate and he found an eager ear with Kim Gordon. Early in her tenure as Head, Kim met with Ted to discuss the busi-ness side of the School. “He challenged me to look for opportunities to work smarter and said there were untapped opportunities and cost savings in a potential back-room partnership with UCC,” writes Ms Gordon in an email. That initial conversation put in motion a partnering that will continue to blossom. “Four years later we share a strategic vision with UCC around sustainability and several goals to tap opportunities for shared services. Mr. Rogers’ advice will con-tinue to impact the future of our two schools,” says Ms Gordon.

Creating opportunities for people was an important part of life in Ted’s eyes and is part of the reason he gave so willingly to educa-tion and also to the health care system. “For people to do well in life you need an education,” explains Loretta. “It opens up a lot of op-portunities for careers and whatever else, and if you’re going to do anything you need your health.”

Ted’s life was shrouded in health problems, whether they were his own or his family’s. His father’s sudden death due to a ruptured aneurysm shook Ted to the core. His mother was very ill for the last years of her life and eventually died of cancer. Ted, himself, was almost completely blind in one eye since a very young age, and suf-

above: 1963 Engagement. above, right: Ted and family at the Rogers Centre, May 2008, his 75th birthday party hosted for and by the 

Rogers employees: Melinda ’89, Lisa ’86, Ted, Loretta, Martha ’90, Edward and son in law, Eric Hixon

above: Ted Rogers, his stepfather and Ron Turnpenny

18  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

you’ll be thrilled to see him and to meet him and to get to know him because you’ve built a company bigger than he did.” Re-telling the story of the last laugh shared between her and her brother brings a smile to Ann’s face and a soft glaze of tears to her eyes.

That December night Ann said good-bye to her brother and walked home in the sleet. By the time she had sat down, the phone rang. It was Melinda and all she could say was, “he’s gone.”

Ted’s funeral was attended by hundreds of people from all walks of life: businessmen and women, family members, politicians and friends. Loretta asked that in lieu of flowers people give to the Loretta Anne Rogers Critical Care Centre at Toronto Western Hospital. It stands as a testament to the amount of respect

Ted earned as a businessman and an individual that about $2.5 mil-lion has been donated in his name so far with large amounts given by competitors, such as Shaw Communications and Bell.

BSS has changed a lot over the past few decades, both in pro-gramming and in capital. Ted, along with his family, deserves a lot of credit for those positive changes. Unlike many businessmen, Ted de-fined value not by monetary amounts but by how much something is used and by how many people. By improving the facilities and fiduciary capacity at BSS, he and Loretta were able to make it more accessible for more girls and that legacy outlives Ted Rogers.

fered from several ailments throughout his life, requiring dozens of surgeries. It was this close contact with sickness that instilled in Ted the belief that everyone deserves healthcare wheth-er they can afford it or not. “It would physical-ly pain him to hear of people who had medical problems and couldn’t see a doctor or couldn’t afford it,” says Martha. She tells the story of a cleaning staff member at Rogers whose wife had cancer and they couldn’t afford the opera-tion for her. Ted paid for it and was applauded by his peers, to which he replied, “Why are you applauding me? If my wife was dying and someone could have helped her I would have done anything.”

It’s that attitude that Martha is most proud of. “A lot of people help someone if they know them…but that’s where it ends. His definition of people wasn’t exclusive to those who worked at Rogers or if you were a family member or if you were a friend of his daughter. It was literally anybody and I loved that about him. There was no ‘us and them’ perception. It was ‘we’re all one,’” she says.

Ted left this earth on December 2, 2008, at home with family at his side. He kept his winning spirit through it all, recalls his sister, Ann. Their last conversation, which was about whom he’d see in heaven, brought him a smile and a laugh. “All you have to do, Ted, is look at mother and say, ‘Is it all right, mom, or do you think there’s anything else I should have done?’” Ann said. “As for your father,

COMMUNITY

above: Ted and Loretta Rogers at BSS Heritage Dinner, 2006. below: Ann GRAHAM ’62 with Rogers Scholarship recipients at Prize Day

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  19

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BSS annual report 2007/08

20  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

ANNUAL REPORT | 2007/08

THE BISHOP STRACHAN SCHOOL FOUNDATION Statement of Financial Activities and CapitalYear ended June 30                    2008    2007

            Donor    Donor            Designated   Designated      Endowment     Endowed   Unrestricted   Flowthrough    Total    Total

revenue    Donations  $  2,490,330  $  56,532  $   —   $  833,598   $ 3,380,460  $  2,585,603    Realized income    399,070    92,978    22,561    —     514,609    411,729    Gain on disposal    364,811    80,157    18,979    —     463,947     369,651    Change in fair value     (1,724,346)    (366,876)    (82,976)    —   (2,174,198)    1,590,770 

  Total revenue    1,529,865     (137,209)    (41,436)    833,598   2,184,818     4,957,753 

expenditures    Transfers to school    456,484    25,982    —     833,598  1,316,064    2,349,928    Marketing development    —     —     60,000    —     60,000    60,000    Investment agent fees    64,753     14,256    3,624    —     82,633    82,249    Professional fees    —     —     11,873    —     11,873    13,128    Life insurance premiums     (15,019)     —     —     —     (15,019)    — 

  Total expenditures    506,218    40,238    75,497    833,598  1,455,551    2,505,305

  Excess (deficiency) of revenue over expenditures    1,023,647     (177,447)    (116,933)    —   729,267     2,452,448 

  Capital, beginning of year     11,179,675    2,403,852     559,102     —   14,142,629     11,690,181

  Capital, end of year  $ 12,203,322  $  2,226,405    $  442,169    $   —   $ 14,871,896   $ 14,142,629

Statement of Financial PositionJune 30                    2008    2007

                 Donor               Designated          Endowment    Endowed    Unrestricted     Total    TotalassetsCash        $  18,994  $  —  $  317,026  $ 336,020  $  184,877Other          15,019    —    —  15,019    —Investments at market value        12,169,309    2,226,405    519,165  14,914,879   14,098,090

          $ 12,203,322  $  2,226,405  $  836,191  $ 15,265,918  $ 14,282,967

liabilitiesPayables and accruals      $  —  $  —  $  16,837  $ 16,837  $  18,045Payable to The Bishop Strachan School        —    —    377,185  377,185    122,293            —    —    394,022  394,022    140,338

Capital         12,203,322    2,226,405    442,169  14,871,896    14,142,629

          $ 12,203,322  $  2,226,405  $  836,191  $ 15,265,918  $ 14,282,967

Message from Janet Ainslie, Assistant Head, Finance and Facilities

I am pleased to report that BSS remains in a strong financial position. The School enjoyed a very successful year in 2007/08, ending with a surplus of $1.6 Million before transfers of $1.44 Million to surplus invested in capital assets. Total revenue

increases of $1.93 Million resulted primarily from increased fee revenue of $1.73 Million from increases of 5.9% in day fees and 4.2% in boarder fees, combined with an increase in day students, as a result of higher acceptance on offers for the Senior School. As well, there was $199,000 in additional revenues from interest income and alternative revenue streams. Total expenses increased $974,000 (4.7%) due to increases in faculty and staff salaries and related benefits, and other operating expenses pursuant to the strategic plan.

The School appreciates the work of the Foundation to provide endowment funds to help support bursaries, scholarships and awards for outstanding students. This year, the Foundation funded $456,000 for this purpose, and transferred an additional $436,000 for other designated purposes, including Head’s Discretionary and Academic Enrichment funds, as well as $424,000 collected on pledges from recent capital campaigns.

In 2008 the School renovated the library space to build the new Learning Commons. These renovations were funded by the operating surplus in 2007/08, together with $50,000 donated by the BSS Parent Association, thanks to their fundraising efforts. The Parent Association also continued their support for the endowment by directing a further $20,000 to the Parent Association Bursary.

Should any members of the BSS community have questions or wish to discuss the School’s financial position, I encourage you to contact me at 416 483 4325 ext. 4205.

—Janet Ainslie, Assistant Head, Finance and Facilities

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THE BISHOP STRACHAN SCHOOL Statement of OperationsYear ended June 30    2008    2007

revenue  Fees

    Boarders  $ 3,931,650  $  3,859,500

    Day pupils    18,687,365    17,030,674

      22,619,015    20,890,174

  Other income    108,425    140,287

  Summer usage

    (net of expenses of $120,995; 2007 - $115,019)    123,234    96,698

  Bookstore and uniform shop

    (net of expenses of $185,912; 2007 - $141,084)    68,018    55,303

  Interest  328,525    136,959

      628,202    429,247

      23,247,217    21,319,421

expenses  Salaries and wages    12,476,030  11,893,355

  Staff benefits  2,360,300   2,275,652

  Academic  616,855   574,300

  Information technology  807,868   743,601

  Building  1,243,438   1,118,588

  Household  1,570,694   1,505,898

  General   1,620,652   1,608,456

  Interest  22,302   58,211

  Depreciation  1,561,443   1,510,175

  Amortization of deferred contributions   (628,435)   (610,679)

      21,651,147   20,677,557

Excess of revenue over expenses  $ 1,596,070  $ 641,864

Excess of revenue over expenses  $ 1,596,070  $  641,864

Transferred to surplus invested in capital assets   1,440,000    337,500

To unrestricted deficit  $ 156,070  $  304,364

Statement of Financial PositionJune 30    2008    2007

assets Current  Cash and cash equivalents  $ 6,999,731 $  2,189,195  Receivables    Student accounts    2,813,013   4,924,920    The Bishop Strachan School Foundation  377,185   122,293    Other  49,071   85,781  Inventory, at cost    14,068   15,521  Prepaids  23,735   59,721        10,276,803   7,397,431

Cash relating to continuing deposits  514,000   520,500Capital assets  32,523,632   33,374,996

      $ 43,314,435 $  41,292,927

liabilitiesCurrent  Payables and accruals  $   3,098,071  $  3,018,201  Unearned revenue    14,327,739    14,089,304  Deferred contributions    1,244,480    970,223  Current portion of obligations under capital leases     83,017    77,182        18,753,307   18,154,910

Continuing deposits  514,000    520,500Obligations under capital leases    33,845   116,708Deferred contributions relating to capital assets  17,344,444    17,428,040        36,645,596    36,220,158

net assetsSurplus invested in capital assets  17,073,448   17,022,131Reserve for future capital projects    1,000,000    —Unrestricted deficit   (11,404,609)    (11,949,362)      6,668,839   5,072,769

      $ 43,314,435  $  41,292,927

22  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

Leigh AndersonZoe BandCaitlyn BarfordRachel BeckOlya BilykMadeline BourgeoisAlex BruceJessica BuCaroline CameronAmanda ChanMaggie ChasmarJennifer ChauStephanie ChenSarah ChiuAlle ChoiMelissa ChuRaven ComeryKerry CousinsKirstie CreberShannon CurleyAlessia De GasperisRafaella D’EliaAllie DennisAngelica DimopoulosMary-Katherine DimouAnna DouchanovaAmy DuttonMadelaine EdmondsSimone EstrinJaclyn EvansEmily FarrowJulia FazariCharlotte FuLaura FullertonLiesa FullertonSalina GhebratJessica GibbonsJou GlasheenAbby GreenbloomHannah GrossMeredith HarbinsonNatalie HoMaddie HollandNatalie HuMary Lou HugessenAngelina HuiChloe HungNatasha HuntAndria IhnatowyczEsther JooSally KavanaghMaryam KhalidSonya KimRebecca Kirby

Geneva KlimanEmma KrauseSally KwokNatalie KwongRachel LawJessica LeeTara LengyelRenee LesperanceVivian LeungAngela LeungFiona LiKrystal LungJulia McCurdyLoren MorroneKimberly NgLucia NgRosa NgWendy NgMelissa OliphantCarolann ParksSara PhelanEmily PhillipsSimran PooleMonica PulecShaunn RabinovichLauren RamsayRuth RobertsKathryn RossTalia RotmanKatya ShabanovaRobyn ShortSamantha SinnMolly SkellyMaggie SkeltonHilary SmithKerry SmithKa Yee SoSofia SoniNikki St. George-HyslopRebecca SteinSarah StewartTaylor StokesHannah TolkinAthena TseTubi TseRoxanne VoidonicolasRobyn WalterVivian WanHally WoszczynaJesse WrightClaire WunkerAngela YooVictoria YowNancy Zheng

Congratulations to the Class of 2008 who achieved 100% participation toward their Leaving Class Gift—the Class of 2008 Bursary.

ANNUAL REPORT | 2007/08

The Gaudeamus Society celebrates those who have made provisions for a future gift to The Bishop Strachan School.H. A. ArrellAlexandra BABCOCK 1987Carroll NICHOLLS Baker 1972Alice WEST Bastedo 1957Katherine BEATTIE 1983Gail BERMAN 1975Merle OVERHOLT Bezoff 1955Nan HAM Blair 1955Carolyn BOX 1948Pamela BROOK 1964Latham BurnsAnn GRAHAM Calderisi 1962Sally ELLSWORTH Cameron 1955Jane WOOLLEY Carruthers 1950Suzanne IVEY Cook 1979Janet COTTRELLE 1971Honor BONNYCASTLE de Pencier 1955Marni LITHGOW de Pencier 1950Ebie SNIVELY Dunbar 1940Donnie SADLEIR Farley 1955Sherry CARRUTHERS Fleming 1946Michael R. GouinlockStephanie HERDER 1973Patricia HULL 1977Nancy PARK Ivory 1952Barbara JONES 1939Janet KennishJodi KNIGHT 1975Laura LANNING 1985Virginia BEATTY Leach 1943Joyce CARTWRIGHT Lewis 1950Anne LINDSEY 1973Rosalind HEATH Logue 1942Margaret MACHELL 1937Margaret BLACKMORE Maclure 1940Annie FRASER McClelland 1970Isobel MOON 1940The Duchess Elaine DAVIS Morgan de Clermont 1962Hilary WARREN Nicholls 1955Andrea ODETTE-Federer 1979 & Andrew FedererPilar PARDUCCI 1985Mary PATHY 1955Dianne PERKIN 1979Jennifer RainbirdLeslie STEPHENSON 1985Kate BERGHUIS Stevenson 1981Bishop Ann E. TottenhamCindy TRIPP 1982Erika TURNARETSCHER van Dam 1995Anonymous—5

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The Bishop Strachan Circle $1,000,000+

1867 Circle $500,000–$999,999

distinguished patronsLevel I Distinguished Patrons $250,000–$499,999Level II Distinguished Patrons $100,000–$249,999 Patrons $50,000–$99,999

distinguished benefactorsLevel I Distinguished Benefactors $25,000–$49,999Level II Distinguished Benefactors $10,000–$24,999Benefactors $5,000–$9,999

Partners $1,000–$4,999Associates $500–$999Contributors $1–$499

Annual Report Donor Categories

PATRONSApotex Foundation—Honey and Barry ShermanKaren and Ray ArbesmanBrendan and Sandra CaldwellPeter J. DevineDonald Johnson and Anna McCowan JohnsonDee Patterson and Tony GaffneyThe Midloch Foundation Bruce and Lisa RothneyArvind and Julie SanmugamKate BERGHUIS Stevenson 1981

and John StevensonELizabeth THOMSON 1967Kimberlee and Peter WallaceTom and Ruth Woods

LEVEL II DISTINGUISHED PATRONSJocelyn and John BarfordAnn Horton Chapman and Tony ChapmanKen Huggesen and Jennifer ConnollyAndrea ODETTE-Federer 1979

and Andrew FedererMarilena Fuda and Timothy LazarisBlake and Belinda GoldringCatherine and Rob GrundlegerTerry and Sarah KavanaghRajiv and Zarine Silgardo

LEVEL I DISTINGUISHED PATRONSMichael MacMillan and Cathy Spoel

1867 CIRCLEAnonymousVahan and Susan Kololian

LEVEL II DISTINGUISHED BENEFACTORSJalynn ROGERS Bennett 1962Diane Blake and Stephen SmithBSS Parent AssociationSamuel and Claire DubocAngela and David FeldmanThe Godsoe FamilySusan and David HowardDaniel HungCynthia LAM 2000Lind Family FoundationAnita and Michael MahMariel and Irwin MichaelMiles NadalEdward and Suzanne RogersJanna and William Tatham

LEVEL I DISTINGUISHED BENEFACTORSThe Cheuk FamilyNiall Finnegan and Erin HoganChris Morgan and Jan InnesSarah and Thomas Milroy

24  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

BENEFACTORSAqueduct Foundation—Lind Family FundBarclays Global InvestorKelly and Andrew BarnickeJean and James BaumgartnerEstate of Eugenie I. BeattyThe Catherine and Fredrik Eaton

Charitable FoundationJanet COTTRELLE 1971Michelle DATHORNE 1985Denis Gubert and Luisa Di IulioLaura Dinner and Richard RooneyNancy and Tom EisenhauerCatherine SMALLMAN Grant 1984

and John GrantThe Hope Charitable FoundationAlex and Roberta JarletteRoland KeiperRon and Lucinda KoganThe Lawrence and Judith Tanenbaum

Family FoundationThe Lee FamilySai Sung Tse and Kai Ye LeeChristina Mauro-Manget and Joe MangetMartha OSLER 1973 and Greg HannonDanise and Jeffrey PhillipsKim and Adrian PopeGillian Riley and Chris ThompsonLoretta and Ted RogersLois PARKER Ross 1966 and Donald RossDebi and Robert SchacterTom and Marjorie SchwartzMarta Witer and Ian IhnatowyczYanPing Xu and Robin HibberdAngelo Zaccheo

PARTNERSMary Johnston Abbott and Neil AbbottKim and Martin AbellDeborah and James AberAntonia Accettola-FudaRosemary and Souren AgemianChristine and Dean AndersonRobin and Darryl AnthonyJennifer Armstrong and Eric CockshuttTony and Suzanne ArrellSalvatore Badali and Kim McInnesTamara BAHRY-Paterson 1991Ingrid and Garo Baler Janet Bateman-Fullerton and Terry FullertonWilla BERGHUIS Baynard 1984The Bederman FamilyFaith and William BerghuisRichard and Jennifer BradlowDavid BruceBrooke BUNSTON 2006Gail BURNETT-Rumack 1984

and Daniel RumackMartha Burns and Paul GrossWinifrede ROGERS Burry 1954CAE Inc.Ann MARTIN Calder 1959Dorothy BOYLEN Caldwell 1962Don and Jane CameronHong Yang Cao and Hua QiaoMargaret CAMERON Case 1960Benjamin Fu and Catherine ChanGilbert and Daphne Chan The Chandaria FamilyLi-Mei and Kuen-Chu ChangBetty Chee and Michael KaufmanCharles and Karen ChiuHelen and Kevin ChoBrenda and Daniel ChornousSwati and Dae ChungJessica Chutter and Derek BerghuisSandy and John ClarkeToni and Kevin ClarkEllen KOLBERT Cornelissen 1984Bob and Flora CourteauWanda Ann and Mark CowieSara and Peter CreaghanBryn CURRIE 1986Lee CURRIE 1983Paul and Lynn DampMaureen MANNIX Eberts 1963Paul and Kimberly Edwards

Tracy GLYNN Elder 1983 and Robert ElderElizabeth ESTEVES 1979Nancy and Robert EvansLynn Factor and Sheldon InwentashLihua Fong and Shuzhong BuSybil LOGIER Foote 1952Noah Blackstein and Wendy GellerIan de Verteuil and Linda GloverJanet and Gerard GlynnKimberly GordonMichael and Susan GouinlockDaniel and Maria GuizzettiEric Windeler and Sandra HaningtonCynthia and Michael HansenJan Harkness and Robert SamekFaryl Hausman and Ronald McCloskeyAlasdair and Katherine HayesElena MATHER Heard 1956Alverna and Harry HillNorine Weiss and Bernard HillickMeegan Hinds and Marc LetourneauNancy and Matt HollandHarland and Robin HornerPatricia HULL 1977 Rennie MCCARTHY Humphries 1959Adele and David ImrieJudy and Craig JarvisJill and Marc KadonoffOla and Funmi KassimDoug and Kathleen Keller-HobsonJane KELLY 1982Wendy KENNISH 1987Robin Kerbel and Jordan SlattThe Kololian FoundationNives and Dennis KrmecNancie and Alex KwongBlanche and John LamKate and Ted LarkinGreg and Susan LatremoilleMargaret and Hon LeeInna and Val LevitanLoan Le and Nguu NguyenMary LEWIS 1965Doris and Edmund LiPhyllis SCANDRETT Lill 1970 and John LillTanya LOW Luder 1983Liz Lundell and Guy Burry Nancy Lyons and Barry CampbellConstance MARLATT 1982Claire and Martin McConnellLucia and William McCurdyBarbara McLean and Mort MitchnickCarolina and Arjen MelisKaren and Bradley MeredithCorry and Jason MeretskyCatherine Morelli and Nicholas BreartonLinda KOLBERT Mountford 1987Sarah NEILSON 1984Victor Lee and Courtney NgMelissa NIXON 1984Old Girls AssociationKevin and Linda O’LearyLaurel and Randall OliphantPilar PARDUCCI 1985Joan DIXON Parkes 1959Mary PATHY 1955

ANNUAL REPORT | 2007/08

Inspired by her first year in the Senior School, Grade 7 student Gabriella Gilpin Beck, daughter of teacher and Old Girl Wendy BECK ’80, spearheaded the Class of 2013 Bursary with a

contribution to honour her teachers and coaches. Gabriella’s initiative was matched by her mother’s generosity to her daughter’s class bursary.

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  25

Calvin and Suzanne PonLeal QuarringtonSharon and Steven RansonPamela WARD Rennie 1964Jane and Kenneth ReucasselAmy and David RichardsonMaria and Domingos Rites Elaine ROBERTS 1968Meghan ROBERTSON 1980Barbara and Jonathan RoseKate SADLEIR Rowley 1982Abigail DOOLITTLE Ruhlman 1975Neil and Christina SelfeThe Sermol FamilyAnna and Daniel SgroSandy and Robert ShortNan SHUTTLEWORTH 1961The Small-Wainstein FamilyGilda SMART 1989Sofia Soni Family TrustApril SolmanGuela Solow-Ruda and Harry RudaGary and Carole SolwayJoseph SorbaraDavid Leith and Jacqueline SpayneCynthia and Donald StewartJeremy SturgeonJennifer and Kenneth TanenbaumJordan Gnat and Lisa Tanenbaum-GnatHak-Keung Yow and Wai-Sim TangAnna and Giovanni TassoneSandra Teperman Goldlist and Harley GoldlistAngela TerpstraMary Thanh and Michael TanLisa Thomasos and Alan HarrisThe TowerBrook FoundationCindy and Gary TravisJennifer Trent and Douglas ScottCindy TRIPP 1982Elizabeth Trotter and Thomas Kennedy Tina Cheung Tse and Sam TseDawei Zheng and Yung TsuiShannon and Darcy TuckerStefan and Marica VargaStanley and Susan VieznerNancy Viner and Raymond SteinDino and Dora VoidonicolasDennis Kwong and Angela WaiCheryl and Keith WalterJoan DAVIDSON Watson 1943Linell and John WatsonBeth CURRIE Watt 1988Judith OSLER Weeks 1957Judith WilderNatalie Williams and Alek KrstajicJoyce WILSON 1971Lynne Wolfson-Bond and Ira BondTina FULTON Woodside 1982Joan JENNISON Wright 1951Andrew and Silvy WrightArnold Ye and Lucy YangLorna YATES 1992Alejo Mariano and Flora YeeChristine YoungJohn and Agnes Yuen

ASSOCIATESRoger AliLori Angle and Jeff HouslanderMary Anne BallantyneSusan TEMPLE Bassett 1966Alice WEST Bastedo 1957Willa Black and Donald JarvisLisa BALFOUR Bowen 1957Heather and Edward BryantBurgundy Asset Management Ltd.Jill Cannon and Kevin McCaffertyMan Kuen Lai and Ping ChoiJill CurtisAdri DEN BROEDER 1987Margaret DEROCHE Derry 1964

Mary Louise DICKSON 1958Arlene DougallMargaret WHEALY Duncan 1946Michael and Alison DysonWendy CHONG Edgell 1994Sherry CARRUTHERS Fleming 1946Yan Fu and Jiang DingBritanni FUBLER 2007Judith and R.D. FullertonLorne GertnerGinny MEDLAND Green 1972Kathleen Sheilah Hanly and Hugh ChasmarPatrick Garver and Judith HinchmanJane PATTEN Hourihan 1986Sharon HowellConnie and Bryce HunterDominique HUSSEY 1991Nuala and Sidney KennedyHelen and Cal Kogan

Jason and Marci KroftDeryn Lavell and Steve JohnsonDelores Lawrence Anny Li and Edmond Siu Kwok NgSharyn and Mitchell LindsKathy and Mike LombardoMaryanna Lui and Gabriel LeungCatherine Lyons and Ian SmithMargie HUNTER McCallum 1970Mary NAGLER Meyer Foote 1935The Myles-Coffin FamilyRosa Panettieri-Morrone and

Rudy MorronePhilippa DUMOULIN Pemberton 1955 Barbara and Roy RastrickMary CAMPBELL Richardson 1948

R. James RobertsonRichard RotmanMeredith ROBINSON Saunderson 1952George SharpRebecca-Anne SHEPPARD-HICKEY 2007Tillie ShusterDonna MOTTERSHEAD Sisam 1979Robert SmithLisa STEWART 1988Heather LORIMER Thomson 1955Bishop Ann E. TottenhamDiana ELLIS Trent 1952Liz TURNER 1981Sandra and Lionel WaldmanSharon and Alan WestJanet ANDERSON Wilson 1959Kitty and Richard WuMiae and Byung YooStacey YUEN 1998

Q uintessential Old Girl (and current BSS Great Aunt) Pat HALL Cassels ’63 can easily account for the unflagging generosity she has shown BSS. “One night in March

of ’81, the phone rang. I think I was already in bed, but I answered. It was my classmate, Jennifer ROGERS ’63 on the other end, raising money for the Foundation. That phone call got me thinking. When I went in to see Nan Aitchison, I decided to become a Lifetime Member. Later, when I was invited to a luncheon hosted by ‘Chairman’ of the Foundation, Loretta Rogers, I thought, ‘These women really know what they’re talking about, and I want to support what they’re doing.’”

26  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

CONTRIBUTORSSally DENNY Adamson 1953Janet WRIGHT Ainslie 1951Rowena ANDRADE 1997Luba AndrewsValerie YOUNG Argue 1957Tania DARCY Archdekin 1987Evelyn COWAN Archibald 1928Ariane AREND 1986Susan MAGYAR Ades 1986Gwendolyn BALL Arnoldi 1946Yvonne LEE Attard 1985Ann MCMASTER Bacque 1953Sandra ANDERSON Baird 1956Mary Elizabeth BARBER 2007Winifred WELCH Barclay 1960Carroll NICHOLLS Baker 1972Heather BARNES 1996Barbara ALLEN Barnett 1942Claire BARRON 1983James Keating and Mary Bartlett-KeatingKatherine BEATTIE 1983Beth BEATTIE 1986Gabriella BECK 2013Lydia BECK 2007Wendy BECK 1980Sarah BehlMary Lea KENLY Bell 1951Merle OVERHOLT Bezoff 1955Elaine BARRETT Billings 1954Ron Skelton and Nancy BirnbaumSheelagh ORR-MCAULEY Black 1984Martin and Harriet BlacksteinJillian BLAKEY 2002Lyndall CADBURY Boal 1953Jenny ENNIS Bon 1992Ellen PANTZIRIS Bowlin 1987Barbara LOW Boyer 1958Marian HAHN Bradshaw 1940Helen PEPALL Bradfield 1956Roz MURRAY Bradford 1954Lisa BRADLEY 1987Carolyn GALBRAITH Brieger 1958Heather GORDON Brodeur 1955Allison BROWN 2005Pamela WEDD Brown 1946Cynthia POPE Bruce 1976BSS Faculty AssociationJane PETERSEN Burfield 1967Hilary COOK Burgess 1949Barbara Burton-Williams and Desmond WilliamsElizabeth LEPPARD Burton 1960Mary GILL Byers 1951Deirdre Sian CAMERON 1986Djenane CAMERON 1987Margaret CampbellPat HALL Cassels 1963Briony CAYLEY 1968Deborah BAKER Chalmers 1957Lai Ching Chan and Alan LeungAlexandra CHAPMAN 2007Stella and Benson ChenElaine HO Cheng 1983

Cynthia CHENG 1998Eunice CHEUNG 1989Elaine RUSSELL Christensen 1985Nancy-Helen ERICKSON Clifford 1947Jennifer CLUMPUS 1982Robin HUBBS Comery 1984Anne GARDINER Conlin 1943Sarah MORRIS Connor 1987CoordinationsDara COWPER 1986Linda GRILLS Cox 1957Cynthia CraggNancy MOORE Cresswell 1955Joan CROCKER 1976Mary LONG Crowley 1949Therese CULNAN 1975Pat JONES Dalton 1951Mary MCGIVERIN Daniher 1976Betsy MACLEAN-HOWARD Davidson 1949Miranda DAVIES 1959Glady De GuzmanTheda DEVITT Deacon 1954

Catherine MCDERMOTT DeLenardo 1986Alessia DI CECCO 1997Cynthia ALLEN Dinsmore 1947Natascha DJELWEH 1994Johanne HINTERSEER Dotsikas 1982Caroline MARTIN Duncanson 1975Jennifer DYMENT 1987Beej BARNETT Edgar 1982Jennifer BALDWIN Eielson 1984Whitney ELLIS 1989Carly ELY 1994Sandy ENGLAND 1967Jane ERRINGTON 1970Enid EASTERBROOK Fanning 1957Lisa FAWCETT 1992John FlanaganJoan LANGS Flye 1961Marie and Drew FossJoan ALLEN Fox-Revett 1942Haile Ghebrat and Tsighereda YosiefCaroline CASEY Gibbons 1985

Elizabeth MCPHEDRAN Gibson 1942Jan GillespieRachel GILLESPIE 1996Mike and Branka GlavanGayle and Willy GnatSheila TATE Goering 1946Carolyn GRANT 1975Connie and Larry GreenSara GREEN 1992Carolyn GreenbergTheodora WHATMOUGH Greene 1949Susan GRUENBERGER 1974Michelle GUERRERO 1985Kira GULLANE 2007The Guttman-Slater FamilyEmma GUTTMAN-SLATER 2007Elizabeth HAMILTON 1946Ellen HanbidgeDora and Lief HansenDiana COOPER Ham 1989Katie HARRIGAN 1998Winifred Hawks

Goodith FEILDING Heeney 1955Winnifred HERINGTON 1942Rives DALLEY Hewitt 1968Jane STRATHY Hill 1953Shraddha KOTHARI 2002Nancy CREAN Hotson 1996Daphne CARRUTHERS Howard 1967Mildred STROTHER Howson 1946Elizabeth HOWSON 1970Naomi KIRKWOOD Kuhn 1945Mary DEWDNEY Hume 1948Naomi IWASHITA 2007Elizabeth JACOB 1958Catherine JARMAIN 1987Janet HOWELL Karn 1966Diane Karnay and Stuarte BolleferAnne ODETTE Kaye 1976Janet and Tim KennishConnie PAYTON Kiellor 1972Margaret SMITH Kingstone 1952E. Ruth HETHRINGTON Kitchen 1955

ANNUAL REPORT | 2007/08

Blake Goldring, BSS parent and Member of the Board of Trustees, and his wife Belinda, an active parent volunteer, established The Goldring Family STEM Fund to help

strengthen BSS’s commitment to an innovative girls’ education which prepares young women to be leaders in all professions. A passionate advocate of a BSS education, Blake’s vision is inspiring: “We are planting seeds today for a rich harvest of incredibly accomplished young women in business, politics, engineering, science and medicine. I am looking forward to it.”

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  27

Julie KIZEMCHUK 2003Jeanette LambieLoya LAMBIE 2007Edith EDDIS Land 1947Nora LanningBrenda BENDIXSEN Lawler 1939Virginia BEATTY Leach 1943Michael LeranbaumJoyce CARTWRIGHT Lewis 1950Shirley TRUSSELL Lewis 1938Vicki WELSTEAD Lilleyman 1975Jane LIND 1957Catherine PALMER Littlejohn 1957The Lockyer-Cotter FamilyLynda and Rand LomasLise HUBER Longlade 1986Alice KETCHUM Lurie 1987Margaret PIRIE Luxton 1958Ginny BOYD MacDonald 1982Carol WELLS Macfarlane 1958Kendra MacFARLANE 2007Marilee and Richard MacFarlaneAna MACMILLAN 1982Maria Madero and Guillermo JassoGillian GUEST Marwick 1958Janine VARCO Mason 1986Suzanne ALLEN Mayhew 1982Cynthia McCallTannis TOPPING McDonald 1982Janice MCDOUGALL 1976Janet MCGEER 1977Diana LISTER McHardy 1957Catherine TURNBULL McKenty 1948Leslie and Neil McLeanMargery MCLEOD 1943Karen MCLEAN 1983Elizabeth STAPLES McLeod 1949Robin MEDCALF 1957Mary MISHEFF Memedova 1952Lindsay MEREDITH 2007Betty BROOK Messier 1947Lauren MIFFLIN 2007Ruth MARTIN Miller 1985Elizabeth COOPER Miller 1975Aileen BOECKH Morris 1938Andrea MozarowskiDan MulockLaurel SANDERSON Ness 1941Corinne NG 2004Gretchen NG 1997Hilary WARREN Nicholls 1955Charlotte HOLMES Norcop 1951Margot NUNNS Northey 1957Julie TRICARICO Nunez 1982Lisa WILLMOT Nutting 1989Mary FREYSENG O’Flynn 1952Robyn VAREY O’Hare 1994Julia HIGGINS Ormsby 1949Joan ROLPH Osler 1952Liza OVERS 1984Ann SKAITH Paterson 1949Jennen PHELAN 1997Victoria PILON 2007Lauren-Elle PON 2007

Yvonne DAY Poupore 1939Judith LUNDY Powell 1957Phyllis ANDERSON Pringle 1942Huma and Shafiq QaadriLaura Rachlin and Morry EdelsteinWendy MACLACHLAN Reddy 1945Gail PHELAN Regan 1962Stephanie HEWITT Reid 1986Patricia HYLAND Remillard 1958Adelaide WATSON Revnyak 1948Andrea RobertsonElizabeth MORTIMER Roberts 1939Britta MECHLINSKI Robinson 1982John Aquino and Lisa RobinsonBrenda MOORE Robinson 1965Nadia CRISANTE Rochon 1982The Rogan FoundationMelinda ROGERS 1989Alana ROMOFF 2007Wendy NIMMO Ross 1960Anne DELAMERE Ross 1954Katherine ROUP 1991Sheila NORTHEY Royce 1964 and Michael RoyceLeanne RUTTAN 1983Kelley DWYER Ruys de Perez 1987Kat SALLOUM 2001Juliana GIANELLI Saxton 1950Jan de PENCIER Seaborn 1975Wendy HORSFALL Secord 1961Ralph and June ShawMary COLBECK Sinclair 1955Lise and Luke SklarLaverne and Ian SmithJasmin SOOBRIAN 2007Victoria COOMBS Sos 1987Timothy SpainNell FARMER Spicer 1985Helen A. and Basil StevensonJulie ALEXANDER Stevens 1986Lindsay STILES 1999Ilse BENJAMIN Stockwood 1961Suzanne HAAS Stohn 1942Jane THORNTON Strathy 1954

Pinkle SturgeonLarysa SZANC-SMARSH 1995Hadley TAYLOR 2007Sandy TECIMER 1995Sabrina TEITEL 2007Kathleen CAMPBELL Thomas 1964Meredith ThompsonMary SELBY Thurgood 1957Nancy HUNGERFORD Titley 1958Julia TREMAIN 1983Jennifer TRIPP 1986Sally and John TrippMary REIFFENSTEIN Ursel 1948Erica CHMEL Viezner 1952Susan TURNER Walker 1951Sheilah Wallin and Gary BourgeoisJennifer WALLACE 1996Jane Cole Walton and Hugh WaltonMary Ethel THOMPSON Weatherseed 1943Cathie CARRUTHERS Weaver 1980Jennifer MAYNARD Weekes 1967Andrea BROUGHALL Weller 1958Sophie WELSMAN 2007Mary WRIGHT Wemp 1965Mary CLARKSON Whitten 1944Marianne FAIRGRIEVE Whitten 1947Noreen MCFARLANE Wigle 1947Martha WILDER 1974Sherry WILDING 1967Peggie CHAN Wong 1982Barbara KINDERSLEY Wood 1953Elizabeth WoolleyKatherine STEWART Wotherspoon 1960Deanne WrenJanice WU 1996Rachel Yeager and Mark AlexanderSook-Kyung Yeo and D.K. SeoHelen STEERS Young 1950Natascha ZEITLER 1988Anne ZELLER 1966Hongquan Liu and Jianguo ZhuDana Zosky and Adam KronickJenna ZUCKER 2007

“Our priority in choosing the best education for Maggie was to find a school which could deliver a strong education in academics, athletics

and the arts. BSS fulfilled this mission on all three fronts. The ancillary appeal of BSS is the spirit of the community and the camaraderie the girls share. We feel fortunate to provide Maggie with an excellent education. But we realize that it’s a capital contribution that enhances this program we love, even more.” —Sharon and Steven Ranson, Current Parents

28  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

BSS also thanks the generosity of the following donors. These names represent annual gifts and active pledges made to BSS between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.Flora MULLIGAN Agnew 1945Diana HOOPER Ainslie 1950Roberta MAROCCO Ajmera 1996The Amber FamilyLeah ANDREWS 1996Jeanette RIGG Arthurs 1947Alexandra BABCOCK 1987Madeleine ARMOUR Bain 1941Jane DALTON Baldwin 1960Milton and Shirley BarryRuth Ann GILPIN Beck 1955Susan Watson Beckerman and Arnold BeckermanHeather MENZIES Beecroft 1967Ann WALKER Bell 1942Judith POYNTZ Benson 1955Gail BERMAN 1975Nan HAM Blair 1955Robert BoecknerLee ROWLAND Booth 1951Nelly and Hagop BoyrazianMichael and Janice BrentPamela BROOK 1964Tibbie TURNBULL Brooks 1937Derek BROWNBrenda BROWNLEE 1965Terri Bulger and David HonderichJane WEBER Bunting 1955Leslie Buskard and Stephen HarrisDorelle MACKELLAR Cameron 1935Betty BEATON Cameron 1941Sally ELLSWORTH Cameron 1955Bruce Harbinson and Gillian CameronMary MUSKE Campbell 1949Judith PIERCE Campbell 1953Jane WOOLLEY Carruthers 1950Susan HARRISON Carter 1981Marion and Hugh ChambersDenise CHAN 1996Lianne BRAWN Chumley 1988Ashley CLARK 1999Paddy BOYER Clark 1939Rosemary WHEALY Clewes 1954Tami and George CopeSusan CORRIGAN 1972Norma CostaNancy and Ken CroitoruHilary and Andrew CummingWendy DAKIN 1958Sergio and Sandra De ZenJennifer JEFFREY Deacon 1971Sylvia and Max D’EliaThe Dimopoulos FamilySusan DrakeMargaret FARNSWORTH Dube 1955

Ebie SNIVELY Dunbar 1940Jennifer WATSON Durham 1985Susan ALLEN Dutton 1979 and Brian DuttonJoan EDDIS-Topolski 1947Susan DALTON Farrow 1980 and Craig FarrowMegan and Andrew FooteLinda Frum and Howard SokolowskiFrances Marie COPPA Gabriele 1987The Gallucci FamilySandra Geddes and Robert MorrowRoman and Julie GofmanJonathan and Hannah GraffJill MAIER Graham 1982Beverly MINHINNICK Graham 1952Kathleen ADAMS Gray 1974Keith Laushway and Wendy HannamElizabeth UNDERHILL Harfenist 1941Naomi Harris and Boulaye TraoreFrank Burke and Nancy HartryJohn and Christine HawkriggMary MCLEOD Henderson 1955Roy and Joan HintsaMary Ann HoodKenneth and Pauline HoodGreg Reed and Heather HoweKatharine MCFARLAND Howland 1938The Hrycko FamilyJanice JACKSON Hughes 1952Peggy HullLois HURST 1941Susan HUYCKE 1958Rosemary REID Iggulden 1971Nancy PARK Ivory 1952Jennifer JACKSON 1987Stephanie WALLACE Johnston 1957Barbara JONES 1939Ruth and Robert KeiltyMelanie-Ann Kirby-Allen and Upton AllenMary and Spiro KoumoudourosCarmen LAI 2003Susan Lambie and Roger DentJill STEPHENS Lavine 1964Victoria MACKENZIE Lazier 1973Catherine DAUPHINEE Leak 1955Beth MCILROY Lech 1945Patricia BELSHAM Leggett 1958Jacqueline Leung and James TsuiKathryn SMITH Lewis 1970Anne LINDSEY 1973The Loszak FamilyJane EASTERBROOK Louey 1963Jane and Don LuckCheuk and Yvonne LungPatricia MACDONALD 1948Mary Jane MacDonaldConnie KINNEAR MacDougall 1954Margaret BLACKMORE Maclure 1940Frances MACLEAN Macnaughton 1935Aimee LEE Malcolm 1937Mary CRUISE Malloy 1940Anne Marriott and David WunkerCecily TAYLOR Martin 1938Annie FRASER McClelland 1970Mary McGowan and Michael LevineJohn and Aileen McGrathMary MCKEE 1993Heather HATCH Meltzer 1973Michele and Paul MendelsonAllison and Peter MenkesMargaret SHOTTON Meynell 1952

Denise and Frederick MifflinSusanne and Murray MillerMartha SAUNDERS Moore 1961Catherine and John MooreDeborah MORRIS Morrison 1971Brenda MINHINNICK Moroz 1957Glenn MullanEdward San and Lucia NgAlexandra BURGESS Norris 1989Debra O’Rourke and Paul CurleyVirginia PRISCUS Padfield 1988Elizabeth Palatics and Frank ArchibaldDonna PatersonCatherine PEARCE 1981Nick and Nicki PerpickJudy and Larry PhillipsWendy MCCART Porritt 1958Mary MULLIGAN Prendergast 1942Leslie PRINGLE 1977 and Donald WrightValerie WHITTINGHAM Pringle 1971Barbara GRAYDON Priscus 1958Isobel RIGG 1938Lindsay and Brian RittenbergJennifer ROGERS 1963Mary Ann Sabatino-Romeo and Carmelo RomeoHeather SAMPSON 1972The Santaguida FamilyLorna HUNGERFORD Scott 1954Marion SeretisLynda and Albert SinyorJuliana SoaresThe Solomon FamilyMaureen and Warren SpitzMichaele DEL ZOTTO Sproul 1983 and

Robert SproulCaroline STEGER 1984Marina Stephens and Leonard HomeniukAmy STODDART 1996Helen Little StrasserRob Douglas and Joanne SutherlandJacqueline and William SuttonJoy RIDDEL Telfer 1938Nicola ToryFion Tran and Francis WatErin and Timothy TrappDiana DUNBAR Tremain 1959Carol PURDY Trusler 1952Deborah and Tom TutschNancy TUTTLE 1951Marion DEMPSEY Tuttle 1945Lois URQUHART 1971Deborah SMITH Vernon 1947Nancy DOUGLAS Watt 1939Lucienne WattKen Manget and Susan WattJoanne Weaver and James MountainVictoria WEBSTER 1994Victoria WHITMORE 1970Harriet GERRISH Whynacht 1951Mary WILLIAMSON 1951Sally WATT Williams 1940Kathleen WillingGwyne MCCABE Willmot 1962Blythe WINTERS 2007Diana WOOD 1985Sydney MACHELL Woollcombe 1954Lasanda YU Yuen 1983

ANNUAL REPORT | 2007/08

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  29

Old Girl NewsWe want to hear from you. Please email advancement@bss.on.ca or write to us with an update. You can also contact your year rep or update your news on The Thread at thethread.bss.on.ca.

REUNION 2009Year Reps are hard at work with their commit-

tees and hope to see you over Reunion Week-

end,  Thursday,  September  24  to  Saturday 

September  26,  2009.  If  you  have  questions 

or would  like to get  involved, please contact 

Jill BLAKEY ’02  (416  483  4325  ext.  1871  or 

jblakey@bss.on.ca).  Celebrated  years  end  in 

4s and 9s!

CLASS NEWS1939 70 YEAR REUNIONPlease  save  the  date!  BSS  will  be  hosting  a 

Reunion Weekend  from September 24  to 26 

to recognize and honour the Old Girls of the 

School.  This  year  marks  our  70th  Reunion. 

How would you  like  to celebrate  this  special 

milestone?  Please  contact  Jill BLAKEY ’02 

(416 483 4325 ext. 1871 or jblakey@bss.on.ca). 

1944 65 YEAR REUNIONSave the date! Reunion Weekend September 24 

to 26. 

1947 Many  of  us  are  celebrating  80th  birthdays 

Friends and family gathered at a Queen Street 

restaurant on January 30, 2009,  to wish Pau-

line SMITH Kingston many happy returns. Last 

June, family came from Toronto and from as far 

as Ottawa to a buffet lunch in Guelph for Edith

EDDIS Land. 

Grace CALVIN Dow of Minnesota writes, “I re-

tired  from  real  estate  last  May  and  have  not 

regretted it for a second. My life  is full.  I have 

two  Border  Terrier  show  dogs  who  keep  me 

busy. Fourteen grandchildren keep me in touch 

with the world. Three have graduated and have 

good jobs in Toronto. One is in her last year at 

McGill, two at Western, one at U of Minnesota, 

three in high school and two in grade school. I 

have travelled a lot in 2008, to Asia (Singapore, 

Hong Kong, South Vietnam, China and Japan). 

I also travelled to England, to Canada, Oregon, 

Hawaii, Texas and Wisconsin. I am blessed with 

good health, still playing a lot of tennis and Du-

plicate Bridge.”

Cynthia ALLEN Dinsmore writes, “So far we are 

fine and love where we live in Montreal. We still 

have our small house in Sutton and are there al-

most every weekend. I have a large garden there 

and in the winter, John skis and I catch up with 

indoor things. Busy this year as President of the 

‘Digger’s and Weeder’s Garden Club.’ I also took 

a seminar at the Thomas More Institute about 

Helen of Troy and the concept of beauty. Next 

term is Urban Montreal in conjunction with the 

Museum  of  Architecture.  With  a  very  good 

background  from  my  Concordia  studies,  and 

from teaching Grade 8s (Architecture of Mon-

treal), should be interesting.”

Debby SMITH Vernon, now a widow, continues 

to live in her family home in Toronto “climbing 

five sets of stairs.” She writes, “I still drive, thank-

fully,  and  get  around  to  lectures,  Ballet,  and 

Symphony, to which I book seasons tickets. Have 

explored the wonderful new AGO, galleries and 

restaurants, and the ROM. Last Spring, I travelled 

with my daughter, Kathy, and son, Geoff,  for a 

visit  with  cousins  in  my  home  town,  Wilming-

ton, Delaware. Spring was in its glory. We visited 

Winterthur and the Dupont estates, and enjoyed 

seafood down by the Delaware River.”

In Ottawa, Jeanette RIGG Arthurs and husband, 

Bill, volunteer with the British Isles Family His-

tory Society. Bill’s specialty is tracing ancestry 

via DNA. Riggy also helps Bill with yard work 

on their beautiful treed property and the neigh-

bouring  NCC  (federal  government)  shoreline 

on the bank of the Rideau Canal near Carleton 

University, and minutes away  from downtown 

Ottawa. Each spring they watch the little duck-

lings hatch and then paddle about in their gold-

fish pond until the ducks mature and move to 

the inlet beside the Arthurs land. In September, 

Riggy  showed  Joan EDDIS-Topolski  the  site 

where  Archibald  Lampman  had  a  small  cot-

tage near their house. The poet’s parents once 

owned the Arthurs’ property.

Noreen MCFARLANE Wigle  of  Hamilton,  by 

happenstance,  became  related  by  marriage  to 

a  classmate.  Her  eldest  son,  Ian,  is  married  to 

Barb Crowther, whose brother, Hugh, is married 

to Edith EDDIS Land’s  daughter,  Mary LAND

Crowther ’80, who lives in Georgetown, Ontario. 

Phyllis MANNING Creighton of Toronto writes, 

“I  had  a  marvellous  weekend  in  Halifax  (Fall 

2008), my first trip there! After the Voice of the 

Women Conference, at which I showed the film 

I’m in, Veterans Against Nuclear War, I attended 

Muriel Duckworth’s fourth, last, and real 100th 

birthday party, as all of Halifax did.”

Special thank you to Joan EDDIS-Topolski for 

collecting these special updates. 

1949 60 YEAR REUNIONHilary COOK Burgess writes: Tarantara, Taran-

tara. Drum roll. Trumpet fanfare. The 60th an-

niversary year has arrived. Gulp. Save the date: 

September 24 to 26, 2009.

1954 55 YEAR REUNIONSave the date for Reunion Weekend: Septem-

ber 24 to 26 (details to follow). This year marks 

our 55th Reunion! To get involved or update us 

on  your  whereabouts,  please  contact  Braire

SHERATON Biggin: bbiggin@rogers.com. 

1958Mary Louise DICKSON  was 

appointed  to  the  Order  of 

Ontario on January 15, 2009, 

for her important work as a 

lawyer, educator, and cham-

pion for the rights of the dis-

abled. In 2002, Mary Louise 

received  the  first  ever  Dis-

tinguished  Old  Girl  Award 

(DOGA). 

1959 50 YEAR REUNIONPlans are underway for our 50th Reunion this fall! 

Save the date for celebrations: September 24 to 

26 (details to follow). To get involved or update 

us on your whereabouts, please contact Jenny

JONES Trebilcock at atreb@passport.ca or Joan

DIXON Parkes (joanwparkes@gmail.com).

1961 Our condolences and warm wishes go  to  Ilse

BENJAMIN Stockwood.  Her  husband,  David, 

died on March 7, 2008. The David Stockwood, 

QC,  LSM  (Law  Society  Medal)  Scholarship  in 

Advocacy has been established at the Univer-

sity of Toronto Law School. He will be deeply 

The BSS Magazine  is published three times a year by  The Bishop Strachan School Community.Chair of the Board: Kate BERGHUIS Stevenson ’81

Head of School: Kim Gordon

Associate, Old Girl Relations and Alumnae Programs: Jill BLAKEY ’02

Director of Marketing and Communications: Rachel Yeager

Editor: Sharon Gregg

Assistant Editors: Darby Briggs,  Andrea Mozarowski, Rachel Yeager

Copy editor: Suzi Leonard, Elda Scott

Art Director: Stephen Gregory

Photos: Caitlin CRONENBERG ’02,  Garry Madlung, Stephanie Weiner

THE LINK EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

• Submissions to Old Girl News are encouraged. Please send your submission to Jillian BLAKEY ’02 at jblakey@bss.on.ca. We will accommodate as many as space will allow and ask that you try to keep content to approximately 50 words. Photographs are also invited and will be published depending on available space.

• Letters: We’d love to hear what you think about any of the articles in The Link. Please send letters to Sharon Gregg at sgregg@bss.on.ca. We will run as many as we can and letters will not be edited, though we ask that you keep them to approximately 50 words.

• Corrections: Every effort is made to ensure accuracy but from time to time, errors occur. Please send any errors  you notice to Sharon Gregg at  sgregg@bss.on.ca.

• Old Girl Portal: The Link is posted on  the BSS website (www.bss.on.ca), and  on The Thread (thethread.bss.on.ca). Some items that are time sensitive and cannot be accommodated in The Link will appear on The Thread.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

missed by his two daughters, Kristina STOCK-

WOOD ’85 and Kathryn STOCKWOOD ’92, and 

his  nieces,  Liisa BENJAMIN Rugelis ’89,  Ruta

BENJAMIN ’88, and Danae BENJAMIN ’02. Da-

vid was the son of the late Anne JONES Stock-

wood ’32. 

Diana HUNT Inselberg lives in Enderby, BC, and 

Ilse had a very happy visit this summer with Di-

ana  and  her  husband,  Alex  Inselberg,  at  their 

splendid log home. 

Judy RAYMER Ivkoff continues  to  sculpt  and 

has had shows in provincial galleries in Ontario, 

and solo exhibitions in Toronto. She just finished 

her third solo show in Montreal. Judy enjoyed 

their  daughter  Catherine’s  visit  from  Moscow, 

where she has a diplomatic posting with the Ca-

nadian Embassy. 

Susan NASH Brandino and Judi BOLLMAN Har-

rower get  together  for  lunch periodically and 

have also seen Jennifer DAVIES Surridge, who 

is co-ordinating her father’s literary works. 

We  would  love  to  hear  about  where  you  are, 

and some news. Please contact Susan WOOD

Broll at susanrainer@eagle.ca. 

1964 45 YEAR REUNIONIt’s hard to believe, we know, but 2009  is  the 

year of the 45th anniversary of our graduation 

from BSS. Please mark the weekend of Septem-

ber 24 to 26, 2009, on your calendars and join 

us  in  celebrating  this  milestone.  If  you  would 

consider being part of the organizing commit-

tee,  please  contact  Sheila NORTHEY Royce: 

sheilaroyce@rogers.com or 416 486 7126. If you 

have an email address to add to our class list, 

please send that along to Sheila. It’s so easy to 

keep you  informed that way, but some of the 

ones we had from the last reunion seem to be 

out  of  date.  More  details  will  follow  with  the 

next issue of The Link. Please plan to join us. 

1965Brenda MOORE Robinson writes,  “For Potent 

Pen, my editorial services business, I’m editing 

a new diet book called GET TOUGH OR DIE FAT:

101 Differences in Thinking between Fat People

and Fit People. The author  is Steve Siebold, a 

mental  toughness expert. He  is a co-star with 

Canada’s Bob Proctor in Beyond the Secret, the 

recently released motivational film that follows 

up  the  lessons  taught  in The Secret movie of 

two years ago. Any Old Girls  in South Florida 

please  send  me  an  email;  would  love  to  hear 

from you, potentpen@comcast.net.” 

1965Elizabeth L. Thomson ’67, Presi-

dent and Founder of ICS TRUST 

(Asia) Limited, has been named 

“Entrepreneur  of  the  Year,”  one 

of the four categories in the an-

nual Woman of Influence (WOI) 

Awards  2008,  organized  jointly 

by  the  American  Chamber  of  Commerce  in 

Hong Kong and the South China Morning Post. 

The  Women  of  Influence  awards,  started  in 

2003,  recognize  Asian-based  female  profes-

sionals for achieving career excellence, and in-

spiring and motivating other women to reach 

the top of their professions.

1969 40 YEAR REUNIONBelieve it or not, our 40th Reunion is on the way 

this Fall! Save the date for celebrations: Septem-

ber 24 to 26 (details to follow). Celia CHASSELS

is  collecting  contact  information.  Please  send 

your updates to: celiachasselsgga@bellnet.ca.

1974 35 YEAR REUNION35 years have passed and much has happened 

since our final days at BSS. Let’s gather and take 

that trip down memory lane together. Reunion 

Weekend will be held on September 24 to 26, 

2009. Should you have any suggestions on how 

we can mark this milestone, please contact Pat-

ti CARMICHAEL Pilon at pattipilon@aol.com or 

ppilon@bss.on.ca.  

1976Marina ENDICOTT has published a second nov-

el, Good to a Fault. The novel was Shortlisted for 

the 2008 Giller Prize. Marina’s first novel, Open

Arms, was a finalist  for  the Amazon/Books  in 

30  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

OLD GIRL NEWS

1968Members  of  the  Class  of  ’68  gathered  at 

Cynthia GILLESPIE Webb’s house over the 

Reunion  Weekend  last  September  to  cel-

ebrate the 40th Reunion.

below: Peggy WENTE, Briony CAYLEY and

Sue GRANGER Tallman.

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  31

Canada First Novel Award and was broadcast 

on CBC Radio’s Between the Covers in 2003; 

a new edition was released in February 2009. 

Marina now lives in Edmonton and teaches cre-

ative writing at the University of Alberta. 

1983 The class of 1983 has always had fun together 

and the reunion was no exception. It was great 

to see everyone over our reunion weekend. And 

now the results that everyone has been waiting 

for…the results of our class survey. 

1. Most  likely to have a BSS crest tattooed on 

their behind:

Katherine BEATTIE…the loyalty runs deep.

2. The person who has changed the least:

Claire BARRON…surely some money changed 

hands for this category.

3. The person in a career that you would have 

never expected:

Anne MARTIN…man, she knows how to drink.

4. Most likely to still look good in their uniform:

Michaele DELZOTTO and  Margaret Anne

HODGES….I guess we know what they are wear-

ing to the next reunion.

5. The person who should have been on Ritalin 

while we were at school:

Jenny HUNTER…. perhaps we should have some 

available for her at our 30th.

6. Most likely to feel remorse for the way they 

tormented their teachers:

Jenny HUNTER (see above!), Frances LATCH-

FORD (where is she now?) and Angela GRANT

(but don’t let her kids know)

7. Most likely to be married in the next year:

Julia TREMAIN…what a lucky man her fiancé is; 

she’s a catch.

8. Most likely to be a grandmother at our 30th 

reunion:

Renee SMITH….although she is convinced oth-

erwise, I am afraid the tribe has spoken.

9. Person who travelled the greatest distance to 

come to reunion:

Marie VIEZNER

10. Most likely to still be coordinating our BSS 

reunion in 25 years:

Claire BARRON, Michaele DELZOTTO and Ju-

lia TREMAIN….it’s important to have a role in life 

even from our walkers.

Love, Claire

For  those  of  you  who  attended  our  25th  Re-

union in the fall, I hope you had as great a time 

as  I did.  It was exciting to see so many class-

mates come from quite a distance out of town: 

Deborah KIRBY Stockhausen (New  Jersey), 

Debbie MONK (New  York),  Margaret Anne

HODGES Willett (Regina), Renee SMITH (Ber-

muda), Edurne AGUAYO De Cortina (Mexico) 

and  Marie VIEZNER Manzac (Prague).  I  have 

been asked by a few classmates if they can see 

some of the pictures from the Reunion. One of 

my New Year’s resolutions is to make a website 

using my Mac, with which  I am still  familiariz-

ing myself,  in order to post the pictures.  I am 

sure it will happen; just don’t hold your breath 

for its imminent completion. I hope to be able 

to have people send me their pictures which I 

can then post onto the site. Maybe I will even be 

able to figure out a way to post what everyone 

is doing with themselves. Please contact me if 

you would  like a classmate’s  information or  if 

you would like to update your own information 

at delzottosproul@sympatico.ca. Keep in mind 

that our 30th reunion is in 2013. Keep Septem-

ber open! Cheers, Michaele DELZOTTO

Elaine HO Cheng graduated from U of T with a 

degree in History and Sociology. She returned 

to Hong Kong to work in the banking field. She 

quit so she could stay at home when her son, 

Jason, was born in 1995. She also has a daugh-

ter Alison in Grade 7.

Wendy CHAMBERS Melton is married and liv-

ing in Germany. She and her husband set up a 

company  for  language  services.  She  has  two 

sons, Philip (12) and Matthew (3). 

Kara BUE is one of five founding partners of Ar-

mitage International, L.C., a consulting firm that 

specializes  in  international  business  develop-

ment, strategic planning, and problem solving. 

She says hello to everyone and has stated that 

she is a very talented tour guide of Washington, 

DC and would love to welcome any visitors. She 

has asked that I pass along her contact informa-

tion to anyone interested in getting in touch.

Maisie KO studied architecture and interior de-

sign and is running a studio in Hong Kong with 

her husband who is also an architect.

Romana KASPAR Kraft has been living in Cal-

gary for over 15 years. She owns an art gallery 

and she and her husband have two boys, Jacob 

(6) and Joshua (3). She visits Toronto several 

times a year to visit family. She also sends her 

greetings to everyone and is happy to share her 

email with any classmates who desire it. 

Danae HARVEY is  still  living  in  Australia.  She 

wanted to clarify that she is not a judge; she sits 

as a magistrate in the civil division of the Local 

Court, “lowest court in the state! And I only get 

to traipse around NSW. We do robe in the local 

court, but no wigs (thank goodness) and I’m on 

a couple of Tribunals...”(We are still impressed 

Danae!) 

As a division to her creative event’s firm (Back-

stage  Inc.),  Leandra RUTTAN recently  estab-

lished  Eirelea  Wellness  (www.eirelea.com), 

which offers wellness renewal seminars and re-

treats to corporate executives. These seminars 

are  held  across  Canada,  as  well  as  the  exclu-

sive Leadership Renewal Program, held  in the 

breathtaking Virgin Islands. 

1984 25 YEAR REUNION25 years ago, wearing our grey, white and bur-

gundy, we said  ‘Goodbye’  for  the  last  time as 

we exited the Chapel with all sorts of precon-

ceived  ideas  about  what  lay  ahead.  That  was 

June,  1984. Since then,  ‘Life’ has happened to 

all of us. 2009 is our big year and the time for all 

of us to share, compare, laugh and cry together 

at the BSS Reunion Weekend (September 24 to 

26, 2009) and in particular, at our Class of ’84 

Bash. We are going to try to make this reunion 

accessible  to  everyone  so  please  ensure  that 

your contact information (especially your email 

address)  is  current.  You  can  send  updates  to 

Kim WALCOTT Kelly at kwalcottkelly@rogers.

com. You can also stay informed by joining the 

BSS Class of ’84 group on Facebook.

1989 20 YEAR REUNIONHard to believe it’s been 20 years! Plans are un-

derway for our Reunion so please save the date 

for  celebrations:  September  24  to  26  (details 

to follow). To get involved or to update us your 

whereabouts,  please  contact  Meryl BARON

Witkin at merylwitkin@hotmail.com. 

1985Giselle HADEED Maginley runs three stores in the Duty Free Mall in Anti-

gua, and is involved with school boards and sports activities on the Island. 

She and Nicole SHOUL Coghlan ’88 hosted an Old Girl reunion in Anti-

gua, in the Fall of 2008.

below left: June Abbott, Kimberley HALL ’07, Nicole SHOUL Coglan

’88, Joanna Nunes, Giselle HADEED Maginley ’85, Sarah Scandrett (BSS 

staff), Tony Armstrong, Salwa Saeed

below right: Kimberley HALL ’07, Brian Nunes, Jennifer HALL ’03, 

Joanna Nunes.

left: Giselle HADEED Maginley ’85 sporting her BSS uniform!

32  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

1990Kristy CIRUNA recently moved from a position 

with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, to Vic-

toria, to pursue a position with the BC Govern-

ment,  developing  an  environmental  research 

program for the province. 

1992Jenny ENNIS Bon lives  in  Ottawa  and  is  the 

Executive  Assistant  to  the  Publisher  of  Pres-

ton Catalogue, a luxury lifestyle publication for 

women and men, engaging enthusiasts of art, 

fashion,  dining  and  design.  www.prestoncata-

logue.com. 

1994 15 YEAR REUNIONSave the date! Reunion Weekend September 24 

to 26. 

1995Kate HEWLETT’s  witty,  award-winning  play, 

HUMANS ANONYMOUS,  remounted  after  a 

successful  New  York  off-Broadway  run,  met 

with  an  enthusiastic  reception  in  Toronto  this 

January. Also of note: OG Michelle GIROUX ’94

appears as Ellen, alongside UCC Old Boy, Philip 

Graeme.  In  1992, Michelle, Kate and Philip co-

starred  in  a  BSS/UCC  production  of  Nicholas

Nickleby appearing as Mrs. Squeers, Kate and 

Ralph Nickleby respectively. Great to see them 

trodding the boards together, 17 years later.

1996Cristin PENNACHETTI Lazier has  recently 

launched a  swimwear  line, destineau,  inspired 

by  her  favourite  travel  destinations.  Courtney

WOTHERSPOON ’00 and Devin CONNELL ’00

have  also  contributed  to  the  unique  design. 

View the launch collection of suits for women 

and children online at www.destineau.com. 

1997Rochelle DE GOIAS was featured on the cover 

of  Women’s Post in  November  2008,  for  her 

work as a climate change specialist, ‘Lending a 

Global View to Environmental Issues.’ Read the 

article  online  at  thethread.bss.on.ca,  or  www.

womenspost.ca.

Natasha LASIUK writes, “After finishing BSS,  I 

stayed in Toronto and was probably one of the 

only BSS grads EVER to receive her undergrad 

from York University AND go to community col-

lege (*gasp* the horror!). I’m currently living in 

sin with my boyfriend and if he ever does pro-

pose, I likely won’t have the money to get mar-

ried  in either the BSS Chapel or Casa Loma.  I 

may never have kids, but if I do, I will pray to win 

the lottery, or that they be geniuses and receive 

a scholarship, so I could send them to a school 

like BSS, but with a decent job in this tanking 

economy and no financial support from my par-

ents, that’s highly unlikely!” 

1998Cynthia CHENG launched  an  online-only  life-

style/career  site,  Prospere Magazine (www.

prospere-magazine.com) in January 2008. The 

site targets hip, professional women in their 20s 

and 30s, featuring topics on fashion and beauty, 

career, event coverage, interviews and profiles 

of other professional women (though men pop 

up in sometimes as well), food (restaurant and 

gourmet food shop reviews), travel and news. 

New material is posted every week-day. 

1999 10 YEAR REUNION Save the date! Reunion Weekend September 24 

to 26. 

2003Quinn SIMPSON has 

started  a  business  as  a 

Youth  Life  Coach  work-

ing  with  14  to  24  year-

olds.  Through  in-depth 

conversation  and  ques-

tioning,  she  helps  them 

identify  their  vision  and 

find a way  to achieve  it. 

Coaching begins with questioning, leading the 

client to greater self-awareness, and a shift  in 

perspective,  allowing  for  bold  action  to  be 

taken. Quinn spoke to the BSS students during 

the morning Chapel service in December 2008. 

Coach Quinn is looking for clients; to read more 

about  life coaching and Quinn’s qualifications 

visit www.coachquinn.com. 

Akosia is a unique initiative that provides sum-

mer  projects  for  street  children  all  over  the 

world.  It was organized by two BSS Old Girls, 

Lisa GRASSA and Quinn SIMPSON. This sum-

mer the Akosia team is going to Accra, Ghana 

to make a movie with the children. Please check 

out  the  website  for  more  information:  www.

akosia.org.

Jennifer HALL is living in Antigua and working 

as an interior designer at OBM. She recently be-

came engaged and is planning her wedding for 

the summer of 2009. 

2004 5 YEAR REUNIONSave the date! Reunion Weekend September 24 

to 26. 

2006Emma KNIGHT writes, “I’m in Buenos Aires at 

the moment, practicing my Spanish and writing 

for a newspaper as part of my third year abroad 

from Edinburgh. I’ll be back in Toronto in Janu-

ary before heading to Paris to begin a semester 

at the Sorbonne in February. Yes, life is treating 

me terribly!”

2007Kimberley HALL is living in Antigua, and work-

ing as an assistant  teacher  for a kindergarten 

class. She is thinking about studying Graphics 

at a university in Miami. 

1988A group of ’88s gathered at BSS over the Re-

union Weekend  in September  to celebrate 

the 20th milestone!

BSS Old Girls in London, England, gather in Covent Garden, November 2008. From left: Julia

BELLUZ ’02, Julia CAMERON ’03, Quinn SIMPSON ’03, Courtney LAWRENCE ’03, and Jackie

PEPALL ’01.

OLD GIRL NEWS

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  33

MARRIAGESOn June 15, 2009, at St. Dunstan-in-the-west in 

Fleet Street, London, Margaret PHILLIPS Lum-

ley-Savile ’62 will  marry  French  international 

lawyer, Ghislain Pastré. They will live in London, 

Yorkshire,  and  Combloux,  France.  Margaret 

continues to give concerts, but was very ill with 

pneumonia this winter. 

On July 19, 2008, Catherine CRISPO ’86 married 

Scott Pagett  in the BSS Chapel. The wedding 

was attended by numerous family and friends 

from across North America and abroad. Former 

students Patricia (Patsy) OLIVER Phin ’55 and 

Andrea BROUGHALL Weller ’58 were in atten-

dance. The weather cooperated for a lovely re-

ception at the Rosedale Golf Club. The food was 

delicious and many guests commented that it 

was the best wedding they had ever attended. 

The happy couple then spent their honeymoon 

cruising the Mediterranean seeing many beau-

tiful,  historic  sites.  Upon  returning  from  their 

honeymoon they were content to arrive home 

in Kitchener. Catherine and Scott will continue 

to  reside  in  the  Kitchener/Waterloo  area  and 

would welcome hearing from any former fellow 

students.

Shanti GIDWANI ’92 married Kalan David Mil-

ley (of West Vancouver) in Vancouver on June 

21, 2008. Her bridesmaids, Natalie CONLIN ’92, 

Anne MESAGLIO ’92  and  Nina BARTON ’92 

travelled from various corners of North Amer-

ica to stand up for her, and Lisa FAWCETT ’92, 

Janet BROWN ’92, Sarah DOYLE ’91, and Mary

MESAGLIO ’94 were in attendance from North 

America and Europe. Elizabeth O’MAHONY ’92

was unable to attend. It was a truly magical day, 

and it would not have been the same without 

some of Shanti’s oldest and dearest friends. 

Kimiko TANAKA ’98 and Jamison Arimoto were 

married on August 14, 2008, in Pittsburgh, PA. 

She now works as a postdoc at the University of 

Wisconsin-Madison.

BIRTHS1987Catherine JARMAIN writes, “On November 12, 

2008, my husband, David Knechtel, and I were 

delighted by the birth of our third child, Char-

lotte Catherine Jarmain Knechtel. Charlotte  is 

an adored new baby sister for Elizabeth (6) and 

James (3). She is also niece to Ellen JARMAIN

’91 and Anne JARMAIN ’90. I am currently on 

maternity leave from my position of marketing 

director at Sportball, where we teach non-com-

petitive sports to young children.” 

1997Alyssa BOYD and Rob-

ert  Henry  are  thrilled 

to  announce  the  birth 

of Toby (Robert Tobias 

Henry)  in  Collingwood 

on March 4, 2008. Toby 

is the first grandson for 

Linda  Robinson  (past 

staff)  and  Harry  Boyd, 

and  godson  to  Sarah

DICKSON ’97 and  An-

drew  Moffat  (present 

staff). 

Sarah DICKSON and 

husband,  Andrew  Mof-

fat  (present  staff), 

would like to announce 

the  birth  of  their  first 

child,  Allison  Elizabeth 

Dickson  Moffat,  born 

on September 3, 2008. 

She is healthy and hap-

py, and the family  is thrilled. Sarah  is niece to 

Mary Louise DICKSON ’58. 

DEATHS1939Mary Louise MCRUER Gaby died peacefully in 

her own home in Toronto on April 13, 2008, in 

her 87th year. She is survived by her sister, Kath-

erine MCRUER McIntyre ’40.

1940Mary GRAHAM Allen died  peacefully  on  No-

vember  11, 2008,  in Vancouver, British Colum-

bia. Mary received an M.A. in psychology from 

the University of Toronto  in  1944, and was an 

avid skier, golfer,  traveller, gardener, volunteer 

and dog lover.

1941Madeleine ARMOUR Bain died on October 8, 

2008. She will be missed by her daughter, Peg-

gy BAIN Kruger ’67. She was the sister of the 

late Anne ARMOUR Owen ’38 and Mollie AR-

MOUR McMurrich ’42. 

1945Margaret MCGUINNESS Burka died on January 

4, 2009, in her 81st year. A business and sports 

woman all her  life, Margaret was a director of 

McGuinness Distillers and a founding partner of 

The Answer Salon, a successful women’s spe-

cialty store. She was also active in a number of 

charitable organizations.

1946Nancy YOUNG Proulx of Stamford, Connecti-

cut, died on December 13, 2008. She was cousin 

to Mary CAMPBELL Richardson ’48 and Joyce

CAMPBELL Morden ’53,  daughter  of  Helen

GARROW Young ’26, and niece of Esther GAR-

ROW ’27. 

1947Ann WHILLANS Ellis died  peacefully  on  De-

cember 21, 2008, in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Ann 

is survived by her daughters, Mary Ann ELLIS

Bertram ’72 and Cathy ELLIS McCord ’79. 

1955Tass TORY Wright died peacefully on October 

18, 2008, in Victoria, British Columbia. 

After 70 wonderful and fulfilling years, Philippa

DUMOULIN Pemberton of  London,  Ontario 

died  peacefully  on  November  16,  2008,  sur-

rounded by her family. 

34  THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09

1967Jinny MAYNARD Weekes ’67 died peacefully at 

home (surrounded by beautiful Christmas mu-

sic) at the age of 59 on December 28, 2008, of 

a brain tumour which she had valiantly fought 

for 15 months. Jinny taught high school Math-

ematics in Gravenhurst for more than 30 years. 

She is survived by her wonderful husband, Bob 

Weekes,  who  gave  up  being  an  Ontario  Su-

perior Court Judge to nurse Jinny  in her final 

year, as well as her children of whom she was so 

proud; Andy and Vicky Weekes. She had many 

relatives who attended BSS: her mother, Mar-

garet MCCLELLAND Maynard ’42, sister, Judy

MAYNARD Wilson ’73,  and  aunts,  Joan MC-

CLELLAND Brautigam ’44, Lois MCCLELLAND

Batten ’45 and Mary Louise MCCLELLAND ’52. 

Myrna SHARDT Magnan ’67,  life-long  friend, 

wrote a eulogy which Vicky delivered, and Mar-

tha DINNICK Peterson ’67,  Sue BAXTER ’67, 

Nikki HOLWELL ’72 and  Barb WHITEHEAD

Gordon ’72 were among those who attended 

the funeral. Jinny was elected the Games Cap-

tain in her final year at BSS. She loved her time 

at the School and her reunions with classmates. 

Pictured are Jinny and her husband,  and one 

of their Labrador retrievers named Saltie (who 

is making her laugh hysterically) at their hide-

away cottage, just prior to her diagnosis. 

1969Liss JEFFREY died peacefully at home, a fight-

er to the end, on Tuesday, December 16, 2008. 

Dorion KINGSMILL delivered  a  eulogy,  and 

wrote the following about Liss: “She was a wife, 

a  daughter,  a  sister,  an  aunt,  a  godmother  to 

Jeremy and Jenny who is best friends with our 

daughter Rita, a friend, a scholar, mentor, writ-

er, macho maiden,  igniter of people and ideas, 

fiercely  curious,  a  Canadian,  a  radical,  a  styl-

ish dresser,  and an avid  reader,  a debater/ora-

tor/speaker, a frontier woman, and an outdoors 

maiden.  We  were  classmates,  soul  mates,  and 

strong willed women who wanted to make a dif-

ference. Liss led me and many friends to incor-

porate real changes for women. She showed us 

the way. We are professional and sophisticated. 

We are accomplished in our own fields. We owe 

this to Liss. It is to Liss that I can give credit for 

giving me the confidence to go out into the male 

dominated business world and get the job done. 

Jane said to me this morning that Liss lived 80 

years in 57! Every minute of her life was spent 

searching,  questioning.  To  this  end,  I  will  give 

Liss a hip hip hurray! And many thanks friend.”

As the Old Girls’ Association celebrates its 100th 

anniversary,  we  are  happy  to  report  that  the 

current Old Girls’ Executive Committee (OGEC) 

is working to keep the Association going strong 

for another 100 years and beyond. The OGEC is 

designing programs that we hope will bring our 

national  and  international  alumnae  networks 

closer  together. This year,  the OGEC  is devel-

oping outreach programs to  increase Old Girl 

participation in various school events, promote 

mentorship among Old Girls, and make a mean-

ingful  contribution  to  the  school’s  ambitious 

endowment growth strategy.

Our Committee includes Old Girls from the 

Class  of  1948  to  the  2002/03  double  cohort, 

who  all  share  a  fondness  for  the  School  and 

commitment to preserving its traditions. Keep-

ing Old Girls involved in the School remains one 

of  our  primary  objectives.  The  170  Year  and 

Decade Reps are an important part of this out-

reach  initiative, as  they help us keep  in  touch 

with the School’s over 4,000 Old Girls.

The  School  hosts  a  number  of  Old  Girl 

events  throughout  the  school  year,  which  are 

regularly attended by Old Girls of all vintages. 

This year, over 200 Old Girls attended the Re-

union Weekend, which also celebrated the Old 

Girl  Association’s  100th  anniversary.  A  record 

number  of  Old  Girls  attended  various  events 

over the weekend, and we are always striving 

to  increase  those  numbers.  Old  Girl  registra-

tion online  (which  is  currently at 2,620)  is  an 

important part of our communication efforts so 

please login to The Thread now (thethread.bss.

on.ca)  and  update  your  contact  information. 

Increasing  the number of Old Girls  registered 

is one of our key initiatives, so please encour-

age your friends and classmates to let us know 

where they are and what they are doing.

In  addition,  maintaining  and  growing  our 

constituents’  participation  in  the  School’s  an-

nual  fundraising efforts  remains a key part of 

our mandate. Old Girls have traditionally been 

very strong supporters of the School’s named 

OLD GIRL NEWS

VETERANS’ DAY 2008On November 11, 2008, our BSS Old Girl Veterans gathered with members of the Gaudeamus 

Society for a Remembrance Day Service and lunch in the Great Hall. Following the meal, our 

Veterans shared stories about their wartime experiences with the Grade Seven students over 

cake and refreshments. 

above: WWII Veterans and lifelong BSS friends, Joan DAVIDSON Watson ’43 and Suzie HAAS

Stohn ’42. 

below: Joan DAVIDSON Watson ’43, Suzanne HAAS Stohn ’42, Aimee LEE Malcolm ’37, Naomi

BRISTOL Mallovy ’41, Judy HOPE Poynton ’39, Margaret FOULDS Coburn ’38, Frances MA-

CLEAN Macnaughton ’35, Sally WATT Williams ’40.

A Report from the Old Girls’ Executive Committee

THE LINK VOL. 2 · 2008/09  35

with BSS. She has recently come across a book 

that tells the story of a Mayan healer, whom this 

group of girls encountered on the journey. Once 

Susan began reading the book, she realized that 

its purpose was to celebrate the healing prac-

tices of the very woman that had made a poul-

tice for Amoryn ENGEL’s ’90 leg and provided 

a package of skunk root, other roots and leaves 

for Susan to brew when she got home. The book 

reawakened  in Susan the hope and happiness 

she first felt for the work being done in Belize 

bursary program, and we would like to see this 

trend continue and grow. As part of the 100th 

anniversary  celebration,  we  have  launched 

a campaign to grow the Old Girls’ Bursary by 

$100,000. With more  than 4,000 current Old 

Girls, we can achieve this goal. 

—Michelle DATHORNE ’85 and Stacey YUEN ’98

1988 BelizeSusan Collacott (past staff) would like to reach 

those Old Girls who ventured to Belize in 1988 

I JUST RECEIVED the magazine The Link. It’s really good. Thank you for sending it. In return, I’m sending you one of my fondest memories at BSS.

It was December of 1979. Mrs. Duarte, our English teacher, was explaining some facts about our reading assignment. She was one of the few teachers that had knowledge of my background and understood my stressful situation: I just had arrived from Venezu-ela and spoke almost no English. She had recently married to a Spanish man, so she knew what a language disadvantage felt like, among other things.

As the class fluently progressed, something from the corner of my eye caught my attention; I slowly turned to face the window.

I was dazed. There were these small white messages from above slowly falling in a feather-like fashion and kind of dancing around each other. In Venezuela there’s summer all year long with a rainy season that lasts a couple of months, so my knowledge of the snowing process was probably obtained from text books. That’s why until this moment, I thought that snow was supposed to fall like the rain falls in Venezuela: straight, speedy and fierce, rather than heavenly, gentle, and captivating. I felt miserably privileged because I couldn’t share this amazing experience with the friends that I had just left behind and missed so much, due to the fact that

I was privileged enough to be able to move to Canada to learn English.

The time froze. So much wandering was going on inside my head. The sight was so beautiful, and strange. After I finally figured out the kind of precipitation, it took me a while to switch to real-ity and feel my chair again, in this very, very uncomfortably silent classroom. Because I’ve always been a polite person, I quickly re-sumed my attentive English-speaking student’s posture, but obvi-ously it was too late: everyone was staring at me. Through my embarrassment I managed to look at Mrs. Duarte with my “please remember I’m a disadvantaged student” eyes, hoping for her to soften the inevitable complaint. To my relief, she just smiled, my classmates acted naturally, and the lesson continued.

I’ll never forget this day. —Ingrid PONCE McNaughton ’84

“IT WAS MRS. DATTA, when I was in an advanced Grade 10 math class, who taught me that I could do anything. I remember her response to me when I complained I couldn’t do one of the prob-lems. She said, “Of course you can do it. You just haven’t figured out how yet.” I live by those words whenever I come up against something that seems impossible. Thanks to all of you there, who do what you do!”—Diana WALKER MacKay ’87

LETTERS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

and its potential to impact, worldwide, practi-

tioners’ understanding of healing practices. She 

is interested in supporting the pioneering work 

of the book’s author, Rosita Arvigo. To find out 

more, please contact scollacott@yahoo.com. 

FRIENDS OF BSS Mingling in ManhattanOn a crisp winter evening in New York City’s Up-

per East Side, BSS and UCC alumnae gathered 

together for a special reception hosted by the 

Consul  General  of  Canada,  Daniel  F.  Sullivan. 

Over one hundred alumnae from both schools 

arrived  in style at  this special Manhattan resi-

dence  to visit with old  friends and meet new 

ones. Also in attendance on behalf of BSS were 

Kim Gordon (Head of School), Deryn Lavell (As-

sistant  Head,  Institutional  Advancement),  Liz 

Woolley  (Faculty),  Willa BERGHUIS Baynard

’84 (Chair,  US  Foundation),  Sarah  Kavanagh 

(Chair,  Board  of  Trustees),  Kate BERGHUIS

Stevenson ’81 (Chair, Board of Governors) and 

Kanak BAL ’03 (Old Girls’ Executive). We had 

great  fun meeting this animated and talented 

group of Old Girls, who are doing  fascinating 

work in the areas of fashion design, finance, mu-

sic production, medicine, and politics, to name 

a few. This was the first alumnae reception host-

ed in conjunction with Upper Canada College, a 

unique initiative inspired by the 100th anniver-

sary  celebration  of  the  Old  Girls’  Association. 

The School is grateful to our US Foundation for 

uniting this group of international Old Girls. We 

look forward to seeing you again soon! 

Let us know how we can help you facilitate 

BSS  gatherings  in  your  area.  To  get  involved 

with our branch activities, please contact  ad-

vancement@bss.on.ca. 

—Jill BLAKEY ’02

HONG KONG 2008The Friends of BSS in Hong Kong gathered the Old Girls together for a cocktail party at The 

Foreign Correspondents’ Club on October 10, 2008. Deryn Lavell, Assistant Head, Institutional 

Advancement, and Catherine Hant, Director of Admissions, were delighted to meet this group 

of Old Girls. To hear the latest news and attend HK branch activities, join the Facebook group 

‘Friends of BSS (Hong Kong)’ and send your updated contact information to advancement@

bss.on.ca 

Old Girls’ Events Calendar MAYMay 6   Distinguished Old Girl Award (DOGA) Dinner and 

Grande Finale of the 100th Anniversary of the Old 

Girls’ Association (6:15 pm at BSS)

May 26   Old Girl Pub Night

AUGUSTAugust 28  Submission deadline—Fall Issue of The Link

SEPTEMBERSeptember 24 to 26  Reunion Weekend (celebrated years end in 4 and 9)

Stay tuned for event details posted on

The Thread at thethread.bss.on.ca.

Register online for BSS events at

www.bss.on.ca or email advancement@bss.on.ca.

BSS Admissions

BSS Continues to attract talented young women to 

our  School,  locally,  national  and  internationally.  To 

assist  in  our  recruiting  efforts,  our  extended  BSS 

community,  which  includes  Old  Girls,  Current  and 

Past Parents and Students, act as ambassadors on 

our  behalf.  Should  you  be  interested  in  attending 

any of our events during our travels, or would like to 

recommend a prospective family, please contact the 

Admissions Office directly at 416 483 4325 ext. 1220 

or admissions@bss.on.ca.

THE BISHOP STRACHAN SCHOOL

Want more? The Link magazine is now online at: bss.on.ca/thelink

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