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125TH YEAR
Ashbury Ball
Dai Vernon’s Magic
Alumni Profiles16 2420
Spring 2016
211891 2016
Ashbury News
Uniting the past and the present… D’hier à aujourd’hui…
Over 70 students made up the cast and crew for Musicals @ Ashbury’s production of Oliver! The produc-tion has been nominated for several Cappies, an interna-tional awards program recognizing high school theatre students.
Table of ContentsNews & Notes2 From the Head of School
3 School News
8 Student Voice
10 Going ’round the world for Round Square
12 Teachers You May Know
16 Ashbury Ball
19 Annual Gifts for the 125th
Feature Articles20 Focusing a Lens on History
24 Dai Vernon: The Spirit of Magic
Ashbury Alumni28 Ashbury Travels
31 Exploring the Elements in Brazil
32 Ashbury Chatter
37 International Investment
38 In Memoriam
MOVING? Update your address. [email protected]
Ashbury News Spring 2016
Ashbury News is published twice a year and sent to over 3,800 alumni, parents and friends.
Ashbury News is printed on 35% recycled paper. Online magazine updates are available at ashbury.ca
Please submit news, story ideas, alumni updates, and any address changes to:
Ashbury College Communications Office 362 Mariposa Avenue Ottawa, ON K1M 0T3 [email protected] Phone: 613.749.5954
The front cover image was inspired by the Dear Photograph project of taking photos of the past in the present (dearphotograph.com)
Design and layout by AN Design Communications
Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!@ashburycollege
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Quasquicentennial. It’s a big word for a big occasion. The Latin-derived word connotes a 125th anniversary, and though it may be a mouthful, it’s appropriate for Ashbury in mark-
ing our milestone year. Now, almost midway through our term of commemoration, we still have much to celebrate, and much to look forward to.
The roots of this school, both in Ottawa and in Canada, are strong. Like many Canadian institutions, practices and ideas, our foundation is due to a new Canadian, 24-year-old George Penrose Woollcombe who came from England. With support of many here in Ottawa, Mr. Woollcombe managed to establish and grow a school of record here in the nation’s capital, all within a short time after Canada established its own Confederation.
And how the school grew. From a one-room schoolhouse with 17 male pupils, to our sprawling campus, with its blend of high-tech and historic buildings, and 700 students of both genders, Ashbury transformed into one of the country’s longest-standing and recognized independent schools.
As our legacy cemented itself over the course of the 20th century, our impact began to assert itself. Soon after the school opened, Ashbury graduates began to influence the world around them. It’s almost overwhelming to think that for over a century, Ashbury alumni have contributed to—and changed for the better—their communities, work-places, and even their respective countries. Ashbury’s vast graduate population includes political leaders and peace keepers, scientists, athletes, business influencers and law makers, teachers, mentors, com-munity activists, artists, actors, musicians, writ-ers, parents and much, much more.
You’ll read in these pages about some our graduates who have left, or are leaving, an important mark on history through their work. As we spend much of this year looking back on our suc-cesses, there is similar excitement around what the future will hold. Our current students are the lucky benefactors of such a storied legacy, and that foundation will serve them well when they leave these halls. We look forward to sharing their stories—and the stories of those who will follow in their footsteps—for the next 125 years.
La suite de nos activités du 125ième anni-versaire portera fièrement un regard sur notre histoire et sur
notre avenir prometteur. Nous invitons nos anciens et anciennes à venir voir notre école devenue un centre d’apprentissage international au sein de la capitale nationale du Canada.
A bientôt!
Probitas, Comitas, Virtus,Norman SouthwardHead of School
Norman Southward and Esha Mital, Grade 5, on International Day.
From the Head of School
We look forward to sharing their stories—and the stories of those who will follow in their footsteps—for the next 125 years.
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November 2015
Ashbury hosted the Fall Fulford Debate, bringing students from
across the province together to examine the Syrian refugee crisis.
The Fulford Debates take place three times a year at one of the 20 indepen-dent schools that are members of this provincial league. The tournament allows junior and senior students to tackle both sides of a single topic, improving their public speaking skills and persuasive abilities in the process.
As host school, Ashbury selected this year’s resolution: Should NATO occupy Syria to end the refugee crisis? Students researched the issue for months, exam-ining all points of view, in order to fully dissect the topic. To complement the discussion, representatives from three area embassies spoke to students at the
debate’s conclusion to offer interna-tional insight to the issue at hand.
As an IB World School in Canada’s capital, Ashbury regularly engages stu-dents in international issues, and the tournament provided a means to encourage intellectual discourse.
Over 50 parent and community vol-unteers pitched in to help judge the debates, including students from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education, and Carleton University’s Department of Political Science. Each judge received training beforehand, to help them assess the students’ critical thought process. Over 100 students (over 40 Ashbury students plus over 60 guest debaters) from Grades 8 to 12 took part in the tournament.
Seven Ashbury parents volunteered their expertise at the fall edition of
Career Scope, an exciting and interac-tive event designed to provide students with the rewarding opportunity of hear-ing the professional journeys of parents covering the areas of diplomatic rela-tions, entrepreneurship, politics, medi-cine and academics, business and finance. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and mingled with
speakers in a reception following the event. Speakers talked about their edu-cational paths, early influences, their work ethic, professional code and les-sons from failure. Thank you to Mary Taggart, Editor in Chief Ottawa at Home Magazine, Mark LePage, President & CEO Genome Quebec, Beverley Isles, Dr. Lawrence Oppenheimer, Head Obstetrics Ottawa Hospital & University of Ottawa, Mary Burke Cameron, Diplomatic Bank Specialist RBC Royal Bank, Charles Brandeis, Regional Security Officer/Supervisory Special Agent at U.S. Department of State, and Andi Marcus, CEO Mitsura Inc. for their time.
December 2015
During Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week, Canadian
broadcaster Kevin Newman and his son Alex Newman spoke to students
School News
Second World War veteran, Alex Polowin, spoke to senior students about his experi-ences at war. The Remembrance Day assembly also included a reading of the names of fallen Ashburians who served their country.
Zak Rahman, Grade 11, at the Fulford Debates.
Junior and Senior students spent the night on the lawn of Ottawa’s City Hall as part of YSB’s (Youth Services Bureau) SleepOut for Youth. The team raised nearly $6,000 towards ending youth homelessness in our community.
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in Grades 7–12 about bullying, mascu-linity and being different. They recently published a joint memoir entitled, All Out.
Students filled backpacks with items to make life on winter streets a little
more bearable for Ottawa’s homeless
and vulnerable youth. The drive was in aid of the Angels with Backpacks pro-gram, a collaborative outreach program from Ottawa’s Youth Services Bureau and St. Matthew’s Anglican Church.
Ashbury courts were busy with action as the Senior Girls Volleyball
and the Senior Boys Basketball carried out impressive seasons.
Ashbury launched its Refugee Sponsorship Initiative (RSI) and
committed itself to sponsoring a Syrian refugee family. As an international school, Ashbury is dedicated to global responsibility. We have forged links with families around the world and instilled in our students the importance of caring for others. Our 125-year history includes a tradition of reaching out to help, including opening our doors to 55 Abinger Hill students in 1940. We offered those students from Surrey, England safety from the chaos of the Second World War, and a chance to continue their education. In 2012, we opened our doors again to Roya Shams, a young woman escaping the Taliban threat in her native Afghanistan.
The RSI achieved tremendous momentum right out of the gate. Several
Ashbury presented its independently organized TEDx event in November, exploring the theme of the pursuit of progress, becoming the first high school in Ottawa to feature the unique TED-style series of talks from a range of speakers, including students, teachers and members of the wider community.
David Sung, Grade 12, one of the organizers of the student-led event said his goal was to spark deep discussions and serve as a forum for idea sharing. The speakers, ranging from students in Grade 6, to some of the more impressive thinkers in the city, provided thought-provoking conversation.
Sung and several fellow Ashbury students applied for the TEDx licence in the spring of 2015, vowing to follow the strict rules and guidelines of the TED organization, and committing to unearthing local voices and perspective-changing stories. Months of planning and vetting speaker applications have resulted in what Sung calls, “a one-of-a-kind event.”
TEDxAshburyCollege speakers covered topics ranging from the role of design in the everyday product to achieving environmental sustainability in the 21st century and more. Notable community presenters included, Dr. Joel Westheimer, from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education, who spoke about educating children for the common good; Emilie Taman, former crown prosecutor and recent federal NDP candi-date, who spoke about citizen engagement in the political process; and Mitch Kurylowicz, Ashbury class of 2015, who spoke about philanthropy and his charity, Project Jenga.
Grade 6 student, Kyle Wilson, spoke about the benefits of eating bugs. He finished off his TEDx presentation with a snack of crispy crickets!
Ashbury teacher, Dr. John Richardson, spoke about youth identity formation in the 20-year history of Toy Story movies.
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members of the Ashbury community stepped up to help, donating more than $18,000 while others volunteered their time and energy to secure housing for the family, and gather all the necessary contents.
By mid-March, we received the news that we had been matched with a family of five, and as of the time of printing, we awaited their arrival to Ottawa. We’ll share more of the family story in the next edition of Ashbury News.
It took some time for snow to blanket the campus, but that didn’t prevent
the sounds of Christmas carols from filling Maclaren Hall with some sea-sonal cheer. Students decorated the tree and cookies, competed in a holiday-themed karaoke contest and whispered their gift lists to Santa and Mrs. Claus in a fun-filled spirit day before holiday break.
January 2016
Stephen Woollcombe ’57 helped to launch Ashbury’s anniversary year
by speaking to students in chapel about the life of his grandfather, George
Penrose Woollcombe, who founded Ashbury in 1891.
Grade 7 and 8 classes began the new year with trips to Montreal and
Quebec City for learning and leadership opportunities. The annual excursion provides a great chance to explore cul-tural offerings in the province, including visits to museums, singing and dancing lessons, and commandeering dog sleds, and the opportunity for students to uti-lize and improve their French skills.
Ashbury’s Robotics Team, the Ashbury Coltenoids participated
in a day of VEX-ing, completion, repairs and action. Four teams from four schools participated in practice, qualifying and playoff matches with their respective robots, with Ashbury ranking as a finalist.
Peggy Joyce, wife of former Ashbury Headmaster Bill Joyce, visited the
school in January to see some of the many upgrades since her last visit. The sprightly 98-year-old has witnessed a great deal of Ashbury history first-hand, and her walk down memory lane was fitting for our 125th anniversary year.
Ashbury students joined students from 13 other schools for the Kids’
Lit Competition, with the Governor General, his Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, and many authors.
Students welcomed Prof. Joanne St. Lewis from the University of Ottawa at an assembly to mark Black History Month. With its theme of celebrating diversity, the month gave students the opportunity to both learn and discuss how different historical experiences can influence and shape the future.
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February 2016
Governor General Award winning author Kim Thúy, author of Ru
and Mãn, spoke to students about her experience as a refugee to Canada as one of Vietnam’s boat people, and about her careers in translation, law and now, writing. Here, she poses with Grade 11 students Lili Potvin and Duncan Lemieux.
The Senior Boys Basketball team capped off an impressive and
unprecedented season of winning by capturing the city championship title.
The boys then went on to compete at OFSAA in Thunder Bay where they suffered a heartbreaking loss to a memorable season, and brought home the silver medal. The team should be immensely proud of their 44–4 season record, unparalleled in Ashbury basketball history.
March 2016
Lawyer Eric Roher spoke to students about social media and bullying,
ahead of his Parentscope presentation on the same topic. He explained that what students do at home can lead to serious school consequences if actions affect school culture. Mr. Roher asked the students to brainstorm some strate-gies when dealing with bullies. They shared the following: block the cell number; ignore; take a screenshot; share with an adult; and remove a student from a chatroom. He added some of his own advice, such as not replying; not erasing a message; making copies of the messages and/or photos to be shared
with parents and the school; and chang-ing a password or an email address. The talk was eye-opening for all.
The Arts Committee organized a successful Coffee House, raising
$500 for the school’s Refugee Sponsorship Initiative.
April 2016
For the third year in a row, Grade 12 business students helped plan and
execute programming for Experience Ashbury Day, a fun-filled event to wel-come new and prospective families to the school. Icebreaker games, sporting activities and bite-sized lessons on school life helped to share a snapshot of the Ashbury advantage with new students.
Audiences cried, “please sir, may I have some more?” as Musicals @ Ashbury put on their four night-run of a rousing version of the Dickens classic, Oliver! Over 70 students were involved in the cast, crew and pit band for the grand production.
Snow finally settled on campus and the wintry setting provided the perfect backdrop for February’s spirit week, which culminated in a variety of house competitions for both the Junior and Senior Schools.
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Grade 8s participated in a blanket exercise that helped students
understand how First Peoples, Inuit and Métis lost their land and the impact this has had on their communi-ties. Senior students participated in the same exercise as part of International Day.
Ashbury’s students and staff came together in the school
chapel to share their memories of Ms. Glenna Allen, who retired from Ashbury last June after 31 years as a dedicated and well- loved Math teacher, and who passed
away in early April after a courageous f ight with cancer. She was a colleague, a dear friend to many and an incredible teacher to countless students.
Dubbed by many as ‘the best day of the year’ Ashbury’s International Day offered a traditional mix of discussion, debate and desserts. Students heard from aboriginal voices and then engaged in critical conver-sations about both the history and the future of Canada’s aboriginal and First Nation peoples.
Performances and traditional international dress added colour and culture to the day, while the popular lunchtime food fair offered delicious treats from some of the 52 countries we have represented on our campus.
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Student VoiceTalking TEDStudent David Sung brings TEDx to AshburyBy David Sung, Grade 12
Organizing the first TEDx event to be hosted by a high school in Ottawa was a daring and ambi-tious dream. TEDxAshburyCollege took place in late November of 2015, led by a team of stu-
dent organizers and faculty advisor, Ms Marilynne Sinclair. The phrase TED refers to Technology, Entertainment
and Design. The idea of initiating a conference to sharing innovations originated in Silicon Valley in the early 1990s—since then, it has expanded to more than such three fields. Today, its topics span from social activism to hard science. An interesting aspect is that TED talks are limited to 18 minutes, the average attention span of a human, and speakers are challenged to convey their ideas, however complex, in this concise fashion.
After watching TED talks on the internet and hearing from friends about TEDx events held at international schools in Asia, I was inspired to bring the same energy to Ashbury College. Beginning in spring of 2015, I volunteered to be head organizer for this event. I worked with Ms. Sinclair, visited Mr. Southward and Mr. Godkin with the idea, and most importantly, recruited a team of dedicated peers who shared the same dream. Aware of the wealth of speakers within Ashbury and in the government, business and educa-tion sectors of Ottawa, my team and I were ecstatic at the possibilities of having ideas from this range of fields be shared at the event.
The dream was to introduce TED-style talks to Ashbury, while also showcasing a multitude of disciplines. Under the theme, Pursuit of Progress, which was voted on by the student body, the speakers shared life stories and provided insight into the work of their fields. These speakers, comprised of Ashbury students, faculty and renowned individuals in the
greater National Capital Region, were carefully selected with consideration given to a variety of topics. Primarily, we sought to intertwine different fields of study to show how the pursuit of progress is present in many sectors of society. Other factors that were considered included the age and duration of the talks—we wanted to keep the audience continue to be engaged throughout the event.
We were fortunate to generate some good interest in our project. Our final list of speakers included several Ashbury students and teachers, along with Joel Westheimer, from the University of Ottawa, and community activist and federal election candidate, Emile Taman. One especially noteworthy speaker was recent graduate Mitch Kurylowicz ’15 who returned to speak on his ongoing efforts with Project Jenga, a charity that builds schools for boys in Kenya, and serving as an inspiration for another generation of Ashbury students with dreams of helping those less fortunate.
Through TEDxAshburyCollege, our organizing group was able to transform Ashbury into a forum for idea sharing in the community, sparking meaningful discussions in the minds of fellow students. For our speakers, TEDxAshburyCollege was special in that it created an atmosphere of learning and engagement, where the audience could interact with the presenters during breaks. They hope that the ideas presented at the event were inspiring and motivational, prompting others to pursue their dreams.
For the students who attended the talks, most came to the event to enlighten themselves and hear about intriguing topics, while others came to see their teachers and fellow students speak.
Overall, this project took roughly a year to plan, of which the three months prior to the event were most intensive.
N E W S & N O T E S 125TH YEAR
The student organizers of TEDx Ashbury, from left to right: Tony Li, Anthony Cui, Sean O’Donoghue, David Sung, Rachel Cohen, Scott Kennedy, and Justin Huang.
Planning, at times, was a bit like steering a boat in uncharted waters. As we didn’t have the benefit of prior examples to follow, every detail had to be accounted for, from com-munications to logistics to marketing the event. We also had the freedom to explore different options as we were charting our own course. Thanks to the help of the entire school, from the art department contributing art pieces to liven up the Teron Foyer, to the teachers in the English department coaching the Masters of Ceremony, TEDxAshburyCollege reflected the innovative and col-laborative nature of the Ashbury community, as well as the creativity of its students.
TED talks are most appealing in that the event merely serves as a forum for speakers to share their ideas and there are few restrictions on the content or presentation style. Instead, TED encourages speakers to take innovative approaches to convey their ideas. In preparing our speakers,
we were dedicated to preserving their authenticity. No two speakers had similar speech structures—at TEDxAshburyCollege, there was even a live demonstration of eating bugs, as the speaker sought to convey the benefits of eating bugs. This level of freedom, in addition to the variety of topics covered at a typical TED event is what I believe makes TED talks so popular.
I hope thatTEDxAshburyCollege will become an annual event at Ashbury. I am already assisting next year’s organiz-ing committee with their plans. I would love to see an expansion of TEDxAshburyCollege into an interschool event, bringing together students from Canada and abroad. I hope that I have been able to leave a meaningful impact on the Ashbury community. Videos of the talks can be found on Youtube by searching for TEDxAshburyCollege.
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Going ’round the world for Round SquareAshbury students practise international thinking in India
In early January, four Junior School students headed to Indore, India for the Round Square Conference at Daly
College. A total of 315 delegates from 112 schools took part in the conference, which kicked off Round Square’s 50th anniversary year. Programming offered the young
students age-appropriate opportunities to learn, participate, collaborate and grow and to develop awareness of their own inner strengths and of their responsibilities in the world, both on a local and global scale.
1Going to India was the trip of a lifetime. I loved it. We
got to meet new people, eat new food, stay in a new
place, and experience being in a different country. The
people were so kind and helped with anything anyone
needed. The keynote speakers spoke about interesting
topics, such as never giving up on your dream, the
amount of garbage we produce and so much more. I
also enjoyed meeting new people from places all
around the world. I met people from Australia, India,
and Kenya. I made friendships and experienced things
that I have never done before. I would suggest anyone
who would like to go on a trip like this to go, because
you will never forget it.
Bella Peters, Grade 8
Within my first 20 minutes of landing in Indore, I realized that I have absolutely nothing to complain about. There was a 15-minute bus ride from the airport to the school and in that brief glimpse of the streets of India I saw so many things. Children skinnier than I’d ever seen, but still smiling, mothers working hard to keep their small slums clean, and fathers looking desperately for work. I tried to live in the moment and appreciate India for what it is: a beautiful and sacred land, rich in history and full of spice, literally and figuratively. I came back to Canada with a newfound appreciation of what my parents worked to give me. Molly Skvorak, Grade 8
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The most challenging thing at Daly College was the
heat. Coming from the Canadian winter, during the day,
I was completely drenched in sweat. The kids from
India, in the morning, would be wearing sweaters and
thick pants, while we Canadians were wearing T-shirts
and shorts. Remember, for them, this was winter time.
The most enjoyable thing was meeting kids from all
over the world and different cultures (33 countries). I
made a lot of friends and have remained in contact
with them.
Arnav Hiremath, Grade 7
Colourful cultural performances showcased the variety of delegate countries.
Excursions to local sites allowed for off-site learning.
Picturesque Daly College served as the host school for the conference.
Fun and games using the universal language of play.
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The school was very different from Ashbury. The
property is huge and the main building looked like a
palace from a fairy tale. There were many birds on
campus and a lot of colourful flowers. Sometimes,
during personal time, I would go lie down in the grass
until a peacock came and started honking at me. The
rooms were really big with 20 boys to a room. The
beds were close together and within easy jumping
distance. The dorms looked like the dorms from the
book Madeline: neat beds in neat rows, with many
children sleeping. The food at Daly College was great
although quite spicy. Every day we awoke and walked
down to the dining area which was outdoors. There
was always a group of men baking fresh naan bread
over a fire and many platters of fruit and new and
delicious foods.
Kaia Raina, Grade 7
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Teachers you may KnowService under the sunLessons for teachers from the Junior School’s trip to the Dominican Republic
When the final bell rings at Ashbury in June, it will signal the start of summer vacation for most of our students and faculty. But for a small group of Junior School volun-
teers, the bell will mean a long-prepared-for journey is about to begin.
For the third year in a row, Ashbury students and teachers will head to the Dominican Republic for a service trip on June 17 for eight days, where they will work with counterparts at Ashbury’s sister school, Les Enfants pour Christ, and with children at an orphanage outside the town of Soúsa.
This year’s outing will be the third time Ashbury has ventured to the Dominican armed with a mandate to help. The inspiration came from Junior School teacher Tana Smith, who spent time living and working in the Dominican before arriving at Ashbury. “I had seen the poverty there first hand
and I knew there was opportunity to make a difference,” she says.
When the Junior School began looking for a new inter-national location for a service trip, Smith made use of her contacts on the ground in the Dominican to coordinate the excursion with Ashbury colleague Mélissa Berry. With the success of that inaugural visit in 2014, interest and participa-tion in the trip has grown. Three teachers, seven Junior students, one Senior student, and one parent chaperone will make the trip this year.
Fundraising for the trip happens through the year, and money is raised through events like dances, and from proceeds of out of uniform days. Teachers manage the donations, and arrange for monthly transfers to be sent to the sister school, which help pay for teacher salaries and other supplies.
The first stop on each trip is at the Les Enfants pour Christ school, where two teachers work with about 60 students—a
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mix of Dominican and Haitian kids—in kindergarten through Grade 12. The school, housed inside a church, is a stark contrast to the facilities at Ashbury, so part of the purpose of the trip is to provide much-needed supplies and funds. Last year, Ashbury students brought a laptop and projector for the school, as those items can be costly and hard to find in the Dominican. For the Ashbury teachers, letting go of preconceptions around need has been eye opening.
“We brought lots of what we thought were really excellent teaching resources and games with us one year, but the teacher found them totally overwhelming,” says teacher Susan Nally, who was part of last year’s trip. “It was such a lesson for us on the difference in styles and approach. We had to check our Canadian point of view.”
School structure and even expectations for students are unique in the Dominican Republic. Nally explains that teach-ers at Les Enfants pour Christ organize lessons differently than what might happen in a Canadian classroom. “They don’t do group work, for example,” she says. “It’s just not practical with the lack of physical space and the different grade levels together in one classroom.”
While not every aspect of the trip can be pre-planned, during the lead up to the trip itself, Ashbury teachers liaise as much as possible with their contacts in the Dominican Republic to find out what assistance would be the most valuable. The proactive effort helps makes the most of the limited time available, and works towards a worthwhile experience for all involved.
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“The community consultation aspect is important,” says Smith. “We want to make sure we’re not arriving and pushing our agenda or ideas on them.”
The collaborative conversations have resulted in some memorable—and ultimately useful—ventures. “We make a point to try to do what the teacher has identified as a priority,” explains Berry, adding that most of the asks have little to do with advancing pedagogy and are purely practical. “He [one of the Dominican teachers] told us he wanted a garden on site, because the kids come to school hungry. So we built him a garden and a chicken coop.”
Other efforts have included building desks for the school. Even the process of completing what might be considered a fairly simple construction job here in Canada can be a chal-lenge in a country like the Dominican.
“It’s amazing the lessons that can come for kids shopping in a Third World country,” says Berry. “Lumber is really, really expensive and not everything is abundantly available like it is here. There’s no quick trip to a big box store to grab all your supplies at once.”
And the Ashbury crew isn’t alone in their work on these building projects. There’s no lack of local volunteers willing to pitch in to help, and each year, many people rally around to lend a hand. Tapping into local expertise goes a long way to ensuring some of the more complicated construction targets are completed, explains Smith, who cites the example of a local man who spent hours volunteering his talent as a
welder, all the while working without a mask. “I made it a priority to track down a proper welding mask to bring to him this year,” she says.
Given the limited resources on site, the Ashbury contingent carefully plans what to bring with them before hand. With the high cost of shipping to the Dominican, all transported supplies are physically delivered by the students and teachers in their luggage. There’s a strict suitcase policy for the trip, with half of the space designated for donations, and the other half for travel necessities. Each year, the volunteers carry shoes, used uniforms, sports equipment and clean water bottles rescued from Ashbury’s lost and found onto the plane from Ottawa, to be presented to children living more than 3,000 km away.
“It made our students feel special, like they were making a difference,” says Berry. “Last year the kids showed us the ball we had given them the year before. They had saved and used and cherished that ball for an entire year. It’s so good for our kids to see what our help really means.”
The trip also includes a stop at the Mustard Seed Orphanage, where many of the children live with severe physical restric-tions and challenges. Ashbury students spend time cleaning a park across from the orphanage so they can spend time with the children there. Smith, Berry and Nally spend a great deal of their time prior to the trip prepping their students for what they might encounter and instilling skills to deal with different levels of ability.
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“We focus on preparing our kids for what they will experi-ence at the orphanage,” says Berry. “We talk about the impor-tance of not pitying or going in with preconceptions.”
While some of the situations might be troubling or uncom-fortable for children used to the relative luxury of life in Canada, Ashbury teachers say their students react and respond exceptionally well. “We’re always amazed at how comfortable our kids are in such different circumstances to what they’re familiar with,” says Nally. “You can tell that these are experiences that will stick with them for a very long time.”
Berry and Smith agree that the trip is worthwhile on many levels and its impact is lasting. If the goal of the service trip is to make a difference, Ashbury succeeds, but the children in the Dominican aren’t the only ones to benefit. Says Berry, “Our kids really do come back as better people.”
Only a handful of students and teachers take part in the Dominican trip each year, but the trip’s impact is felt throughout all grades, and indeed in almost all aspects of the Junior School.
Beginning in September, trip participants present in chapel about their experiences in the Dominican the previous June. “All the kids are absolutely riveted by the reports,” says Nally. The recap serves as an introduction for the planning of the next trip—the rollout of which continues all year.
The trip is a mainstay focus of the Junior World Issues Club, but it makes it way into traditional classroom subjects as well. Smith draws examples to include in her lessons in geography, where students study human populations and interna-tional poverty levels.
There are other take aways too, such as the risk management practices and societal differences that make their way into a variety of social study classes. Sometimes even a small anecdote relayed to a class can have leave a lasting impression.
“I tell our kids about my experience as a female teacher in the Dominican, and having men in the Dominican instinctively default to speaking with male teachers or male parents, even if none of them speak Spanish like I do,” says Nally. “It’s good for our kids to learn that some of the practices we take for granted here might not be typical in other parts of the world.”
Beyond the tangible additions to curriculum or co-curricular programming, the teachers say they bring back transferable lessons from the trip. “The Dominican experience has taught me that I need to be flexible,” says Berry. “We’re lucky that we have such a structured school day at Ashbury, but even with that system in place, things don’t always go according to plan. The trip has taught me to better deal with changes around me. It gives me perspec-tive and makes me more patient.”
For Smith, who once lived and worked in the Dominican, her return visits with Ashbury reinforce how fortunate she is, and what truly matters. “I realize how fortunate we are to live where we do.”
Junior School teachers Mélissa Berry, Tana Smith and Susan Nally sort through the supplies destined for the Dominican Republic.
Students clean a park for use by children at the Mustard Seed Orphanage.
There’s always some time to play with local children.
Students learn construction skills on the trip.
Delivering much-needed supplies.
Tana Smith helps hand out donated shoes to local Dominican children.
Mélissa Berry and Susan Nally spend time with children at the Mustard Seed Orphanage.
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This year’s Ashbury Ball was yet again another huge success! The Ashbury Guild enlisted co-chairs Cindy Tomlinson-Keon and Kris McGinn to pay homage to the bold and lively Andy Warhol with
a sold out crowd of 340 guests. Ticket sales together with the exciting live and silent auction items helped raise over $300,000 towards student bursaries and scholarships for the school. On behalf of the school community, we would like to thank Cindy, Kris and their tremendous team, our partners Doherty & Associates, EY, Mark Motors and Sezlik Luxury Properties, event sponsors and corporate guests for the evening.
PartnersDoherty & AssociatesErnst & YoungMark Motors of OttawaSezlik.com
Corporate SponsorsStar Motors of OttawaLaurin General ContractorHCM WorksKPMGBrown’sSakto CorporationXeroxDilawri Auto
Event SponsorsAdvantage Audio VisualAllegra PrintingArtistic Landscape Designs ltdBradley Commercial InsuranceBrenmar ConstructionCapital Photo BoothCBRECenturion Conference & Event
CenterCoughlin and AssociatesCourtyard MarriottCreative Edge Studio IncCreo MarketingEcono PetroleumEddie and Elyse Malouf
Exclusive ResortsGowlingsItalfoodsKichesippi Beer Co.Norton Rose FulbrightOttawa SenatorsPelee Island WineryPrime Time EntertainmentR.W. Tomlinson LimitedScotiabankShahzan Food LimitedSmith & Bradley’s InsuranceUnposed PhotographyW.O. Stinson & Son Ltd.417 Bus Line Ltd.
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SAVE THE DATE
SATURDAY, NOV. 19125 BIRTHDAY BASH GALA & AUCTION
Perusing our silent auction table.
Greeted by KP ‘Babe Kelly ‘ Proulx, guests arrived to a paparazzi style interview along the red carpet.
Warhol-inspired centerpieces.
A sumptuous meal catered by Centurion Conference and Event Centre.
Our lively auction.
Electrik band took the stage to close out this amazing evening!
Ball co-chairs, Cindy Tomlinson-Keon and Kris McGinn.
Norman Southward led the call out for our new athletic facility.
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Ashbury’s students, faculty and staff gathered in the snow to kick off the school’s 125th anniversary year in early 2016. The photo was taken by a drone, operated by Grade 10 students Max Kelland and Kevin Hu, who have teamed up for other overhead captures of the Ashbury campus and various Ottawa landmarks.
The photo is a recreation of a similar image taken for the school’s 100th anniversary.
N E W S & N O T E S 125TH YEAR
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We have identified four areas where the Ashbury experience for all of our students can be augmented above and beyond what tuition alone can cover. Help us in supporting our $1.25 million focus in our 125th year. Your gift can be directed to one of four areas of priority.
Annual gifts in celebration of our 125th anniversary
A birthday gift that will make a differencePlease consider giving Ashbury a birthday gift this year. Your gift will have a lasting impact far beyond this special year. Visit ashbury.ca/give, email [email protected] or call Jannine Atkinson, Director of Advancement, at 613-749-9630 ext. 321. Thank you for your support.
1Access & Excellence We are building a meaningful finan-cial assistance program through the Endowment Fund
which will help expand access to an Ashbury education for students with merit and potential.
2 Heritage Renewal Through renewal of our Heritage spaces such as the former residences (Advancement
House), Rhodes Hall, and Memorial Gym Hall, we want to celebrate our history and manage our resources for the long term.
3 Science & Innovation Developing our culture of excel-lence and innovation in teaching and learning is important
to ensure that our students receive an education that is rel-evant in today’s world. We are improving our Science and Innovation facilities and creating Teaching Chairs in areas of excellence.
4 Community Partnerships & Engagement Ashbury has long had a tradition of service to others. From hosting
students fleeing danger during the Second World War, to sponsoring a refugee family from areas of conflict today, our students, staff and families have stepped up to help when help is needed. Engaging in our community whether through service or experiential learning, makes the Ashbury experi-ence an enduring one. We have created a fund to help our students accomplish and experience all that the world has to offer.
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Focusing a lens on history
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Adam Scotti ’07 photographs Canada’s Prime Minister
Since coming into office in October, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has garnered inter-national attention, with his image gracing pages and screens around the world. Much of that visual
popularity is due to Adam Scotti ’07, who travels the globe as official photographer to Trudeau and his family.
Scotti has worked with Trudeau since the 2011 election campaign, joining the team full-time in 2014. He spends long days documenting the daily life of now Prime Minister Trudeau. His photos give the public insight into what the government does on a day to day basis, and serve as histori-cal documentation for the future.
A passion for photos runs in Scotti’s family. His father, Bill McCarthy, served as the official photographer to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Scotti says his father’s eye no doubt helped to shape his work, but so too did the inter-national leanings of his mother, who worked for the Canadian International Development Agency and later Foreign Affairs.
Scotti says he was first bitten by the photography bug as a child when he lived in various parts of Africa, where his mother was posted. After returning to Canada to attend Ashbury, where he served as School Captain, he renewed his interest in Africa when he enrolled in African Studies at McGill.
It was at McGill where Scotti first met Trudeau, during a model UN conference Scotti photographed for the uni-versity’s paper. That encounter led to an offer to shoot a fundraiser for Trudeau, after which Scotti volunteered his services during the 2011 election campaign, juggling the shots with his university exams.
After those final exams, Scotti left Montreal to take a one-year journalism program at the University of King’s College in Halifax. With that diploma in hand, he returned to Montreal, hoping to document Trudeau’s leadership bid for the Liberal party.
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The rest, as the saying goes, is history, and Scotti moved quickly from taking photos of a newly-elected party leader to a contender in last fall’s federal election. October 19, 2015 changed not only Canada’s future, but Scotti’s as well, as he found himself tasked with photographing an historic election night and the beginnings of a new government.
“The week prior to the official swearing in was one of the greatest weeks on the job,” Scotti says. “Taking photos as MPs were offered positions as ministers in the new govern-ment was a career highlight.”
The work pace hasn’t slowed since, with Scotti accom-panying Trudeau across Canada, and on international trips to Davos, Switzerland, and the official U.S. state visit to Washington and the White House earlier this year.
When Trudeau is at home in Ottawa, so is Scotti, who spends time editing photos or researching potential venues while the House is in session. He manages to squeeze time in between travel or meetings to post photos to social media, or send images to government departments or ministries that might need them.
No matter the location, city or country, Scotti says he approaches each day of work with fresh eyes and with an aim to capture the stories that unfold before him.
“Every day is a new day,” he says. “Just because you have a similar photo from an event three weeks back, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t document it happening again on another day, in another location with new people.”
As with his subject matter, many of Scotti’s photos receive international recognition, such as the image of Trudeau’s youngest son Hadrien high-fiving President Obama in the White House oval.
“It’s sometimes hard to stop and think about it,” says Scotti of the impact of his work. “I file my photos at the end of the day, put the one or two artsy ones on Instagram, and then immediately move onto the next thing. The idea these photos will go into archives is far more daunting and humbling.”
While he looks mostly forward through his lens for work, Scotti says he does look back fondly, and often, to his days at Ashbury. Indeed, he says it was in the halls and co-curricular options offered at the school where he first began to think seriously about an artistic career with lasting impressions.
“Working with Ms. Rust on the yearbook and then Mr. Coles, Mr. Boulet and Mr. Simpson on musicals and theatre really helped me embrace the idea that an artistic outlet could be more than just a hobby,” he says. “It allowed me to combine working with great people, and giving something back to everyone for them to take home at the end of the day long after the last whistle on the rugby pitch was blown or when the stage lights shut off.”
Up next for Scotti? Only a parliamentary schedule and international agenda will tell. But he is hoping for an official trip to the Ukraine soon, where his mother is stationed with the Canadian Embassy.
“Seeing my father on the tarmac as we disembark and then meeting my parents for dinner while on a work trip will be surreal,” he says. “Who knows, maybe I can get my Dad to be my assistant on that part of the trip.”
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A rare self portrait.
Scotti captured the now-iconic image of Hadrien Trudeau high-fiving U.S. President Obama during a visit to Washington in January. (photo credit: Adam Scotti)
Scotti captured this image of Ashbury students with Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill in the spring of 2015. (photo credit: Adam Scotti)
The job as official photogra-pher allows Scotti access to Trudeau and his family in both ordinary and extraordi-nary situations, such as the family, with Margaret Trudeau, watching election night coverage on October 19, 2015. (photo credit: Adam Scotti)
Scotti giving his School Captain address at Closing in 2007.
Bill McCarthy, Scotti and fellow Ashbury alumnus, Philipe Sly ’07 in Montreal on election night. (photo credit: Adam Scotti)
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“I file my photos at the end of the day, put the one or two artsy ones on Instagram, and then immediately move onto the next thing. The idea these photos will go into archives is far more daunting and humbling.”
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Dai Vernon The Spirit of Magic
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By David Ben
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Ashbury College has produced artists and athletes, politicians and philanthropists, and more than its fair share of business leaders. But probably none of its alumni have achieved the worldwide
acclaim and lasting impact of one of its early graduates, David Frederick Wingfield Verner, of the Class of 1913.
Verner—known professionally as Dai Vernon—was a magician, but not just any magician. He was the most influ-ential magician of the 20th century. In reality, he was even better than that. For my money, he is the most influential magician in the history of this venerable craft.
So, who was Vernon and how come—if he was so influ-ential—no one has ever heard of him?
Vernon was born in Ottawa in 1894, and died in California in 1992 at the age of 98. He performed magic for 91 of those years. He often quipped that he had wasted the first seven years of his life. After moving to New York as a young man, he found that the locals, with their pronounced accents, had trouble pronouncing Verner. He experimented with several variations before settling on the name he would be known by for almost a century: Dai Vernon.
It was his father, a career civil servant—a registrar of copyright for the Canadian government—who performed a simple trick for his son, sparking young David’s insatiable curiosity for magic. The road less travelled, however, came into view in 1905 when, by happenstance, Vernon bought a small paperback book on sleight of hand, primarily card cheating, called Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card
Table. Vernon studied it like it was the Bible. Distilled to its essence, the book’s premise was that, although sleight of hand was engineered, its machinations had to be cloaked in move-ment that was natural for the character and the context. Known today as The Expert at the Card Table, it is—because of Vernon’s interest in it—the cornerstone of sleight of hand.
In 1908, Vernon left the Ottawa Normal School for Ashbury College. He most likely received some financial assistance from Warren Soper, a wealthy businessman who was the director of the college and a prominent amateur magician. Back then, just as it is today, those who love magic tend to support others who share the same passion. And while Soper may have been Vernon’s initial patron, paving the way for him to attend Ashbury, there would be many others along the way who recognized Vernon as sui generis, an artist of such superb skill and insight into his craft, that he warranted their support.
As a student at Ashbury, Vernon was average. He was, however, a gifted artist whose pen-and-ink drawings appeared in The Ashburian. (Vernon’s uncle was Frederick Verner, the great Canadian painter of the prairies.) He was also a superb athlete. He won numerous track and field events, played on the rugby team, and was for a time the captain of the Ashbury hockey team. His position: Rover. Occasionally, Vernon would also tickle the ivories, playing ragtime on any piano that might be available.
But, to paraphrase Mark Twain, Vernon never let his schooling get in the way of his education. His schooling
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certainly taught him, as he would say years later, “how to use a knife and fork,” but his real education came from seeing celebrated magicians perform in Ottawa and Montreal, and more importantly, from tracking down card cheats who plied their trade in the lumber camps in and around the Ottawa Valley.
Upon graduating in 1913, Vernon went on to the Royal Military College in Kingston. He left there after just six months—“at his parents’ request” —and within a year per-suaded them to allow him to study at the Art Students League in New York City. It was in New York that he then met the renowned artist Charles Gibson, who advised him, after seeing Vernon perform some of his magic, to follow his fortunes in that art rather than pursuing the commercially tenuous and potentially soul-crushing career of a visual artist. (Like Gibson, Vernon was deft at cutting silhouettes, and would later support himself and his family at times as a shadow cutter. He eventually was recognized as one of the preeminent masters of that once-popular, now almost-for-gotten art form.)
Vernon would go on to perform magic for the public—at private parties in the 1920s and ’30s for the New York 400 and at Billy Rose’s Casino de Paris; on cruise ships to South America in the 1940s and ’50s; and at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, among other venues, in the 1960s and ’70s. But he always preferred to describe himself simply as a student of magic.
So what made Vernon so influential?First, he had unparalleled technique, the finest all-around
sleight-of-hand skills of any modern magician—and he retained much of his skills through his entire long life. Regardless of whether people saw him first in the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s or beyond, they could say they saw him in his prime—an extraordinary achievement for any artist.
Second, Vernon composed the most beautiful magic, and his compositions—really arrangements of various techniques
that create magical effects—still remain the most elegant and most frequently performed in the cannon of magic. He exercised, as Jay Marshall, one of his contemporaries, so aptly put it, “perfect editorial judgment”.
The hallmark of a Vernon composition was the choreog-raphy: each movement or action was made consciously and ingeniously, with subtlety and artifice, in a natural manner, with the goal of directing the mind of each spectator, step by step, to defeat itself with its own logic. His magic was simply the epitome of the impossible.
The legacy is that there is probably not a performer today who does not feature something of Vernon’s art in his or her repertoire. Regardless of where in the world you may be, when you see a magician perform the Cups and Balls or the Linking Rings or simply divine the name of a playing card that someone has merely thought of, they are most likely using elements, or entire handlings, devised by Vernon.
Third, his passion. Vernon lived to be 98 and he retained his passion for magic his entire life. And that passion was contagious. Vernon became the hub of the magic wheel wherever he lived and wherever he went. That included extended stints in New York and Los Angeles, as well as brief sojourns in other major cities—London, Paris, Munich, Rome, Tokyo, Sydney, Buenos Aires—as well as in smaller cities and towns in countless countries throughout the world. Magicians forever flocked to be near him, and to learn from him. He mentored dozens of magicians who, in turn, influ-enced many more. (Doug Henning once received a travel grant from the Canada Council to take lessons from Vernon in Los Angeles.) The archive of his work, both in print and on video, now digitized, is extensive, and is studied through-out the entire world.
And fourth, he was indefatigable when it came to time to pursue perfection.
So again—why haven’t you heard of him?Although he has been profiled in various books and maga-
zines, and online, inspired movies and has been the subject of an award-winning documentary, he just isn’t famous to the wider world. It still remains true today that when asked to name a magician, most people quickly come up with Houdini. But there is a difference between fame and acclaim, between brand awareness and influence. Houdini was a marvel in so many ways, and although their careers over-lapped briefly—Houdini the established megastar and Vernon the young ultra-enthusiast—when it comes to documenting the impact of Vernon versus Houdini, or any other magician for that matter, it is the work and creations of Vernon that endure in today’s compositions, performances, even practice sessions. It will likely remain so for decades, if not centuries.
So, while there have been many prodigious talents in business, politics and the arts who have tread the halls of Ashbury College, none can claim, like Vernon, to have influ-enced, altered, and transformed the very artistic universe that they themselves helped to create.
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Ashbury grad, Dai Vernon, Class of 1913.
Front row centre: Dai Vernon, or David Verner as he was known then, in his position as captain of Ashbury’s hockey team.
Dai Vernon performing at New York’s Kit Kat club.
Dai Vernon, with his wife Jeanne, in Atlantic City, 1924.
David Ben author (Photo credit: Paul Alexander)
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David Ben is a Canadian stage magician, illusionist, magic historian and magic consultant. He is the biographer and estate representative of Dai Vernon.
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David Ben will present on Dai Vernon’s life at Ashbury’s 125th Homecoming celebrations in September. His keynote talk, The Best Kept Secret, will take place on Saturday, September 24 at 7 p.m. at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club.
Please check ashbury125.ca for more information.
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Ashbury Travels
It has been a busy fall and winter for Ashbury alumni, as the school kicked off 125th anniversary celebrations and a host of alumni events across the globe. We caught up with alumni in Kingston, Ottawa, China, California and
Toronto at several successful alumni receptions. A group of alumni, mostly Queen’s University students,
gathered at the Grizzly Grill in October. They were joined by several staff members for a successful reception. Over 70 alumni gathered at the Clocktower Pub in Ottawa for the holiday party in December, as well as 20 staff members. Head of School Norman Southward and his wife, Anna Rumin, travelled to China in January where they met with several alumni in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
The cold weather in Ottawa didn’t stop alumni from gather-ing for the first annual Ashbury Alumni Winter Classic! A group of alumni and staff met in February at the Rockcliffe
rink for a shinny tournament, followed by an alumni recep-tion at Ashbury. Later in February, Ashbury made a visit to the west coast where successful receptions were held in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, hosted by James Nabwangu ’95 and Francisco Durazo ’82, respectively. And another popular event was held in Toronto, this time in early March, where generations connected and caught up over food and drinks in Hart House, right on University of Toronto’s campus.
U P C O M I N G A L U M N I E V E N T S :
May 30: Ashbury College Charity Golf Classic
June 17: Alumni Welcome Reception
September 23–26: Homecoming and Reunions
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A group of all ages gathered in Toronto, including the Right Honourable John Turner ’47.
Ashbury’s 125th anniversary celebrations in California.
Celebrating the 125th in Calgary.
West coast alumni and former Headmaster, Tam Matthews, connected in April.
Grads assembled for the Ashbury Winter Hockey Classic.
Benji Oppenheimer ’12, Andres Beltran ’96, Jon Landon, John Biewald ’12, David Ross ’06.
Jack LaMorre ’12, Audrey McCrobie ’11, Ben Ashley ’12, John Biewald ’12, Todd Lamont, Patrick Rhodes ’12.
Alumni currently living in London, England gathered to share memories in May.
Another fun reception in Kingston!
Grads from the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s gathered in Toronto to remember Ashbury.
Kingston alumni caught up with past teachers Brian Storosko and Andres Beltran.
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Chemistry teacher Chris Miedema shares his professional knowledge south of the equator
Just like many Canadians hoping to escape the cold, chemistry teacher Chris Miedema headed south in January. But unlike those destined for the beach, he was headed for a chemistry lab.
Miedema travelled to the city of Vitória, Brazil to act as an advisor to a group of high school teachers interested in professionally developing their techniques. The invite came as a result of Miedema’s work in the materials science and corrosion workshop he runs each year at Ashbury. That initia-tive attracts teachers from across North America, and last year, a Brazilian expert on pipeline corrosion, asked if Miedema would travel to her home country to share his expertise. The chance to mentor fellow teachers and miss out on a few days of Ottawa’s winter was too good to pass up.
“The people I met were fabulous,” he says. “I was a bit apprehensive, but I was incredibly humbled by the reception I received.”
Most of the collaborative learning days were spent inside a chemistry lab at a college in Vitória, where Miedema worked with teachers and some student lab techs at the college. He a stripped-down version of his workshop was offered, and tried to emphasize the benefits of hands-on learning with the group—a technique he says is not widely used in Brazil.
Language proved to be the biggest obstacle for Miedema, who doesn’t speak Portuguese and was among non-English-speaking teachers.
“We all made very good use of Google translate and sign language to communicate,” he laughs.
Miedema was struck by the differences in the educational systems in Canada and Brazil, as well as a general lack of resources. He said the labs he encountered lacked many familiar resources, which called for some ingenuity.”
“We needed some pipe cleaners for one exercise, and they just didn’t have them,” he says, “so we had to make our own. I loved their ability to improvise.”
Other make-do applications included attempting to fire raku pottery in the school’s furnace, in an attempt to re-create a fairly standard lesson Miedema carries out with students at Ashbury. But the lack of some resources was refreshing, he says. “I don’t think I saw a single iPad the whole trip,” he says. “People were more engaged with each other rather than technology.”
Miedema says he hopes to return to Brazil again for a similar exchange, but notes that he will try to bring more educational resources with him when he does. He says he has stayed in touch with several of the teachers he has met, and has used the experience in his classes at Ashbury to speak to students about different approaches to learning. He calls the trip both memorable and eye opening.
“It was one of the best educational activities I’ve ever done,” he says.
Exploring the elements In Brazil
The chemistry lab in Brazil required some ingenuity.
Chris Miedma is used to demonstrating chemistry techniques, as he did last year for Sarah Freemark from CTV Ottawa.
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’57 Stephen Woollcombe ’57 is writing a biography of his
grandfather, Ashbury founder G. P. Woollcombe. The book will outine G. P.’s arrival in Canada, family life, and the growth of Ashbury, from a one-room schoolhouse to the international
campus it is today. The book will be launched during Homecoming week-end in September.
’87 Marcus Lotto ’87 moved to California and married Terri
in 1997. The couple has two children
together, Matthew (11) and Meagan (9). Professionally, Marcus has spent most of his time working for the Southern California Edison Company. For the last six years he has run a small team of Power System Planners focused on policy and compliance issues.
’93 Simon Dawes ’93 and his wife, Carol, are pleased to
announce the safe arrival of Brandon and Jasmine Dawes, born on January 24, 2015.
Ashbury Chatter
Matthew Perry ’88 starred in his own play, The End of Longing, at the Playhouse Theatre in London’s West End. Perry also stars in the CBS sitcom The Odd Couple, which began its second season on CBS this spring. Next up for the actor is to take on the role of Ted Kennedy, in The Kennedys After Camelot production that recently began filming in Toronto. The miniseries is set to air on ReelzChannel in early 2017.
Photo: Mathew Perry ’88, Chris Murray ’89, Brian Murray ’88 and Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, at Red Bull’s Formula One in the U.K.
Gerald Greenstone ’63 visited the school in December, and found his name on the Governor General’s Medals plaque.
Hunter Tootoo ’82 serves as Nunavut’s Member of Parliament and was appointed the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard in the federal cabinet in November 2015. He accompanied Prime Minister Trudeau to Washington for the state visit in March, where he sported a sealskin bowtie for the state dinner at the White House.
Hunter is the second MP from Nunavut and the second Inuk ever to be named to the cabinet.
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’96 Rory Capern ’96 became the general manager of Twitter
Canada in February. Prior to Twitter, Rory was head of partnerships at Google Canada, and has previously held roles in sales and business develop-ment with Microsoft Canada, Bell Canada, Torstar Digital and Lavalife.
’97 Daniel Baxter ’97, wife Melissa Rousseau, and big brother
Benjamin welcomed their new baby, Katherine Ella Baxter on February 14, 2016. The family is delighted with their Valentine’s gift.
Matthew Buchan ’97 and Yuki
Molteni are very pleased to announce the birth of their second son, Taiki Harrison Buchan, in July 2015. Taiki generally entertains himself these days by chewing on assorted objects and by quietly observing the antics of his very active older brother Theo (now aged 3).
Matthew, Yuki, Theo, and Taiki live near Clapham Common, London, U.K.
Elspeth Day ’97 met up with new Ashbury’s Assistant Director, Boarding Admissions, Louise Paoli di Prisco dur-ing a recruiting trip in Italy in late 2015.
Meredith Kucey ’97 majored in jewellery design and metalsmithing at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and has been creating sterling silver jewellery for the past 10 years. Meredith uses the traditional lost wax casting process, and unlike many jewel-lers, does all her own casting. Because of this, she is able to create her signature bold and exciting look. Her interest in art started at Ashbury College, after a knee injury forced her to shift her atten-tion away from sports. While complet-ing her IB diploma, she studied for a month in Sienna, Italy where she solidi-fied her aspiration to pursure a career in art.
David Collacott ’95 and his wife, Nina, met up with Brian Cheng ’96, Dominic Cheng ’97, and Ricky Puk ’96 in Hong Kong. During David’s trip to Hong Kong, he also met up with Jenny Chan ’95 and Mike Lam ’95.
Alexandra Eden-Walker ’00 and husband John Charles Maher welcomed twins, Quinlan Magner Maher and Indiana Eden Maher on December 22, 2015 in Toronto.
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’99 Meghan Walker ’99 and Jimmy Yang ’97 have collabo-
rated to create a new business called Bright Almond. It is a product that brings together consumers and clini-cians practicing complementary and alternative medicine.
’02 Patrick Welsh ’02 and his wife, Pamela Sidey, welcomed their
daughter, Willa, to the world on December 13, 2015. She’s joined her brother, Teddy (born May 2013), and the family is thrilled.
’03Alexander Patrick’s ’03 pro-duction company is airing a
new show, Frontier, on Netflix this year. The show is an adventure drama staring Jason Momoa. Alex is an executive producer for the show and his brother, James Patrick ’05, also works on the project as a picture editor. Alex is presi-dent of Take The Shot Productions, a television and film production com-pany based in St. John’s, Newfoundland where Alex and James both live.
Lauren Power ’03 is chef and owner of Red Door Provisions on Beechwood Avenue, just down the hill from Ashbury. The café serves baked goods
and coffee and many preserves made in house. A recently-launched series of workshops will open the kitchen to students interested in learning the art of pickling and more.
’04 Laura Langford ’04, furniture designer, teamed up with fel-
low designer Brendon Taylor to create their own company, Matchstick. Laura first created a leather handbag company in 2010, but moved on to furniture design in 2012. Laura’s new company will focus on interior design, as well as furniture and accessories.
Matthew Brown ’03 married Gillian Hoyer at St. Paul’s Cathedral on October 10, 2015 in London, Ontario. Joshua Elcombe ’03 served as the couple’s best man, and former Ashbury chaplains the Reverends Beth Bretzlaff and Barbara Maynard were both in atten-dance for the ceremony. Matthew and Gillian are both postulants for ordination to the priesthood for the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia. The couple are presently completing their Master of Divinity degrees at Huron University College at Western University, and are looking forward to moving to Vancouver Island to assume their first church postings following gradua-tion in May 2016.
Dear Alumni, Past Parents and Former Sta� ,We need your help with our 125th anniversary celebrations! We would love to showcase many of the old photos and old uniforms and equipment in our display cabinets throughout the year and at our Homecoming Anniversary Weekend from September 23-26, 2016.
We are looking for photos of the following:
211891 2016
• grounds and sports fi elds• buildings• classrooms• fellow classmates• cadets
• boarding rooms• Symington Hall• library• special visitors to the
school
Also, any old sports uniforms and school uniforms would be greatly appreciated.
Your help would be greatly appreciated in making our 125th celebrations truly memorable. Please contact Vicky Wilgress at 613-749-9630 ext. 252 or [email protected] if you have photos to share.
Please note: Any old photos can be returned to you after we copy them.
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Ashbury Alumni RugbyMark Charette ’11 was named to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Rugby All-Star team, after playing for the Queen’s Gaels for five years. Mark also won the OUA championship in November 2015, alongside fellow alumni Teddy Taggart ’11 and Ryan Aimers ’11. Nicholas De Lallo ’15, who also plays for the Gaels, was selected
for Canada U18 Men’s National Rugby team’s Ireland Tour 2016. Ethan Sanders ’12 was awarded OUA’s Community Service Award after playing at McMaster for the past four years. Stephanie Black ’12 and Quincy Batson ’12 also play for McMaster and won the CIS Women’s Rugby Championship in November 2015.
Jillian Maclaren ’07 and Brad Austen welcomed their baby girl, Piper Joy Austen, on January 1, 2016 in Halifax where they currently live. She dropped by the school for a visit with Head of School, Norman Southward, and proud grandfather, Charlie Maclaren ’71.
Ashbury travelled to Hong Kong and Shanghai in early 2016 to meet with alumni and kick off our 125th anniversary.
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’06 Christine Johnston ’06 visited Ashbury in early April to
speak to students about her extensive volunteering and NGO work in Canada, Rwanada, Ghana and Israel, and her work implementing and managing global corporate volunteering programs.
’07 Tessa Lyons-Laing ’07 is cur-rently living in San Francisco,
California, where she is Business Lead at Facebook. Tessa travelled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year, where Prime Minister Trudeau met with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and others.
Adam Scotti ’07 works as the official photographer for the Prime Minister. His work takes him around the world on Canadian governmental business. He famously snapped the image of two-year-old Hadrien Trudeau giving President Obama a high five, during
Canada’s state visit to Washington in March.
’12 Daniel S. Altshuller ’12 dressed for his first NHL game
on January 21, 2016 for the Carolina Hurricanes in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Daniel was recalled from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers after Carolina’s goalie, Cam Ward, was placed on the injured list. Daniel was a third round selection by Carolina in the 2012 NHL draft.
Maddie Warren ’12 placed 4th at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) track championships (sprinting for the University of Toronto) in the women’s 60m, crossing the finish line in 7.61 seconds.
’15Mitch Kurylowicz ’15 received an award from the Mandela
family at the 2016 Black History Month Mandela Legacy Awards held in
Ottawa. Mitch was recognized for his philanthropy work at Project Jenga, a charity he founded that helps to build schools for boys in Kenya. Other award recipients and attendees at the cere-mony included African-American civil rights activist Al Sharpton, supermodel Naomi Campbell and Canadian televi-sion personality, Tyrone Edwards. Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa Mandela, was on hand to recognize the honorees.
Kerson Leong ’15 was featured as a soloist at The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra’s opening concert in October 2015 at the National Arts Centre. Kerson has also been signed by Analekta, Canada’s largest independent classical music label, and released his first CD in March 2016, titled BIS.
Iris Liu ’15 stopped by Ashbury over her reading week. She is currently attending McGill University.
Brook Simpson ’04 married Anna Borotko on October 3, 2015 at the Horticulture Building in Ottawa. Several Ashbury alumni were involved in the day, including best man Simon Clarke-Okah ’04 and groomsmen Tom Christie ’04 and Tait Simpson ’00. Brook and Anna live in Ottawa where Brook works for the Minister of Infrastructure and Anna works for Global Affairs Canada.
Thank You to our Partners
Mark � Excellence ! O T T A W A L U X U R Y P R O P E R T I E S
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Kathy Boate ’99 makes her mark on London’s financial sceneBy Stephanie Brooks ’07
Like many graduates, Kathy Boate ’99 ventured abroad to further her studies after her Ashbury days and university undergrad, where she majored in International Development and Classical Studies at
Queen’s University. But what started out as a semester-long exchange program at Utrecht University during a post-grad certificate turned into a permanent stay in Europe, where she’s called home ever since.
After completing the post-grad in corporate communica-tions while in Holland, Boate decided not to return to Canada and go to London, U.K. for a year. That year has since become a decade, with Boate now calling London home.
Boate is currently Head of Retail Capital Markets at Peel Hunt, one of the leading corporate brokering, advisory and trading houses in London focusing on mid and small-cap companies. In the role, which she’s been in for almost two years, Boate is responsible for targeting a certain niche of investor, namely wealth managers and retail investors for transactions like IPOs, fundraisings or even retail bond issuances.
“It’s slightly different to what I was doing before, so it’s been a really great challenge, but also a great opportunity to embark on a different aspect of my career,” she adds.
Boate was previously the Head of Investor Access at Edison Group, facilitating investor relations between companies in the UK and private wealth managers.
But her foray into the financial world was not necessarily through a traditional path. With a background in arts and communications, she initially pursued public relations and, being in London, decided she wanted to work in financial PR.
“I ended up getting a job within about three weeks of coming to London in financial PR and did that for four years, and then decided I wanted to move away from the PR side and move more into investor relations,” explains Boate. “It came down to wanting to influence and communicate with a different set of end investors directly, along with needing a new challenge in a new area.”
In a sector that is still heavily male-dominated, Boate says one of the areas she’s passionate about is helping promote women and further their careers.
“There are many times where I’ll be in a meeting room and there’ll be 20 guys and I’ll be the only female,” she explains.
With few women at the top of their department, Boate devotes time to working with women’s networks, attending and hosting events focused on promoting women and having them on boards.
Boate credits her Ashbury foundation with helping prepare her for embarking on new educational and career challenges, as well as being a well-rounded individual.
She could often be found on the basketball court, soccer and rugby fields where she played on the teams after school, honing her talent in athletics. After having been introduced to it at Ashbury, Boate went on to play rugby at Queen’s, as well.
Ashbury’s alumni reception in London each spring offers Boate a chance to reconnect with fellow alumni and share memories of her time at the school, including anecdotes about favourite teachers.
“Mr. Andy Sparks will always be the standout teacher and coach for me, although there are so many other members of the faculty that I could mention. They also all had a hand in constantly reminding me to tuck in the back of my shirt!”
These days, her hobbies are still very much centred around sports. Boate plays American flag football in a league every week and touch rugby when she can.
“Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to be able to attend a school like Ashbury where we had fantastic teachers and such a welcoming environment,” she recalls. “I loved having the opportunity to be involved in so many areas, from sports to music to the different exchange programs.”
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Douglass North ’32 died on November 23, 2015, at his summer home in Benzonia, Michigan at the age of 95.
He attended Ashbury College in 1930–1932 before attending University of California, Berkeley. He taught navigation at the Maritime Service Officers School in Alameda before persuing a PhD in Economics. After he completed his studies in 1952, he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Washington.
Patrick Whitworth ’44 passed away on January 31, 2016. Patrick was living in England and attended the Abinger
Hill School when the Second World War broke out. He was then sent to Ottawa to attend Ashbury College.
John Woods ’48 died peacefully, and lovingly
surrounded by all of his extended family, on November 26, 2015 at the age of 85. John was an Ashbury student from 1939–1943, Board Chair during Ashbury’s transi-tion to coeducation and was a Life Governor of Ashbury. He was well known for his role in Ashbury’s Remembrance
Day services, as he was a veteran of the Korean War, and spoke to students about his experiences. Ashbury’s major Junior School award, the Woods Shield, bears his family name and represents his long family history with the school. John’s brothers and his son attended the school and his grandfather was our second Board Chair from 1915 to 1931. John’s personal and family connections and contributions to Ashbury span over a century. We are grateful to John for his vision and support for Ashbury, not only in our development into a coeducational school, but also as a place that values manners, service to others and taking a stand on issues that matter.
William (Bill) Eastwood ’56 died peacefully on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at the age of 79. Bill was born in
England, but his family moved to Venezuela during the Second World War. He then attended a boarding school in Jamaica in 1949, before making his three-week journey to Ottawa in 1950, where he attended Ashbury College until 1956. After his time at Ashbury, Bill studied at Bishop’s
University before spending 42 years in the army. Bill recon-nected with Ashbury College in 1996 and never looked back. He attended numerous events, like Homecoming and the golf tournament where he was often found taking photos of attendees. Bill volunteered at student events like the Willing Listener and regularly attended Ashbury College’s Remembrance Day ceremony. In 2009, he accepted an award from Ecology Ottawa on behalf of Ashbury for the school’s green roof initiative.
Iain Ewing ’61 died on October 12, 2015 in Singapore. Iain was born in England, but moved to Ottawa and attended
Ashbury College from 1957–1961, before studying at the University of Toronto. Iain lived his life with passion, com-mitment and a devotion to doing the best he could. His zest for life and commitment to charitable causes touched many people.
James Whitmarsh ’61 died peacefully at home on Saturday, February 6, 2016, at the age of 73. James attended Ashbury
College from 1955–1961. He was the loving husband of Evelyn for 45 years, dear father of Jim (Rhonda), and proud grandfather of Nicole and Rebecca.
Andrew Moore ’77 passed away suddenly in New York City on April 2. Andrew created the Michael Moore
’75 scholarship in memory of his brother when he passed away while attending Ottawa University. Andrew often dis-cussed so much about his time at Ashbury College and how he and his brother truly embraced all that the school had to offer. Andrew always said that he learned “to fight for those who are unable to fight for themselves” from his Ashbury education.
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Kevin Pendergrast ’93 passed away on August 27, 2015, following a short, difficult struggle with adrenal cancer.
Kevin attended Ashbury from 1990–1992 while his father was assinged to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. While at Ashbury, Kevin was a highly successful member of the school’s tennis team. He then attended Guilford College (Greensboro, North Carolina) where he was three times Most Valuable Player on the tennis team as well as recipient of the College’s Best Senior Athlete and Nereus C. English Athletic Leadership awards. Kevin won the Old Dominion Conference singles champion and was named a Division III All-American. Following graduation, he was a top-ranked player in the United States Tennis Association’s Mid-Atlantic Section and was a longtime associate with the Crate and Barrel organization.
Marie Morissette ’95 passed away at the
age of 39. Beloved wife of Ryan MacDonald and lov-ing mother of Rosemary Asher, age 16 months. During her time at Ashbury College Marie loved the music program and was an avid oboe player. She had other interests in rowing, rugby and winter camping.
Marie was also very involved in the Theatre Ashbury program and was a recipient of the Theatre Ashbury Senior Award. Her spirit of volunteerism was instilled at Ashbury which continued throughout her life experiences. She achieved two degrees from the University of Ottawa, as well as certification as a Sommelier and Registered Massage Therapist. In recent years she made a career change to a Registered Massage Therapist and valued working with palliative patients at the May Court Hospice.
Robert Pearson ‘95 died suddenly on December 26, 2015 due to congestive heart failure. Robert attended Ashbury
College from 1988–1995. He was the beloved husband and best friend of Shannon and devoted father of Emma (age 4) and Maxwell (age 6 months). In his 39 years, Robert dem-onstrated an extraordinarily kind and generous approach to life, always thoughtful of others. He was passionate about his work as Accessibility Officer and was recognized as a global leader and advocate in accessibility. He faced his health challenges with a courageous spirit and his positive outlook on life inspired all who knew him. Robert’s motto was: impos-sible is nothing.
Glenna Allen passed away on April 4, 2016. She retired from Ashbury in June, after a 31 years as a dedicated
and well loved math teacher. Tragically, she was stricken ill last summer and had been fighting ever since. Glenna’s passing is a huge loss for the entire Ashbury community. She was a colleague, a dear friend to many, and an incredible teacher to countless students. She leaves her husband, Bill Stableford, also former Ashbury faculty, and a daughter, Shelby.
Sheilaeagh MacDonald, past parent, died peacefully, October 16, 2015 at the age of 69. Sheilaeagh’s son, Andrew
’01 attended Ashbury College from 1992–2001. During this time, Sheilaeagh served on the Ashbury Guild from 1999–2000.
Rita Thompson, past parent, died peacefully on March 5, 2016 at the Elisabeth Bruyère Hospital, with her sons,
Aidan ’00 and Adam, by her side. Rita was an Ashbury College parent from 1993–2000. She was also devoted to volunteering and was recently recognized when the Governor General presented her with the Caring Canadian Award.
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Ashbury’s campus contains many unique architectural details, some of which date back a century. Others are newer additions to the mosaic of
classrooms, learning spaces and communal areas of the school. Next time you visit, be sure to take a moment to look up and around to appreciate some of these visual reminders of our history.
Look Up! Ashbury crest over Junior School entrance
of CLC.
Peak window of Advancement House.
The “G.P.” window in chapel.
Skylight in the library.
Entrance to Memorial Wing.
Fanlight above front door of Ashbury House. (Head of School’s residence)
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Come Home to Ashbury
Friday, September 23 to Monday, September 26, 2016
ashbury125.ca
211891 2016
125th Homecoming Weekend
Ashbury College362 Mariposa AvenueOttawa, ON K1M 0T3ashbury.ca
Address errors and corrections can be forwarded to [email protected]
Returns requestedAddress Correction Required
MandalaThis artwork is the response of eight Ashbury College students who wanted to use art to create greater engagement in social issues through Ashbury’s Refugee Sponsorship Initiative. Ashbury learned in March that we have been paired with a Syrian family of five and plans are underway to help them settle in Ottawa.
The mandala contains symbols of goodness, peace and joy and over 500 different members of the Ashbury community contrib-uted to its completion. Each stroke of the pencil and each patch of colour comes with a personal wish, prayer or blessing, offered for all who suffer displacement and loss in the world.
The original painting will be gifted to Asbury’s sponsored family to help welcome them to their new home.
