FEATURE
THE
PATH OF
OF
MOST RESISTANCE
RSGC students rise to the challenge of this pandemic and find opportunities to shine
BY SUMNER & LANG
Leonardo da Vinci is known to have said, “Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.” Perhaps not every artist would agree. But there is truth in the notion that limitations can generate new ideas and expressions. Evidence can be found in the way RSGC students have responded to pandemic restrictions over the past year. Life hasn’t been easy. The boys have had to adjust to remote learning, reduced co-curricular options, loss of school trips and, of course, fewer opportunities to spend time with friends. But they haven’t taken it sitting down. In fact, they’ve been rising to the occasion and finding new ways to lead, connect and create. Dean of Middle School Activities Jennifer Bonetta is impressed by the number of boys who stood up and self-identified as leaders over this past school year, as if their new reality is reshaping how they see themselves. “This year, we left behind our previous leadership selection process and introduced a new one,” said Jennifer. “We used to have a multi-stage process involving speeches and elections. With new boys last year not having the same opportunities to get to know their peers, we needed a change. We had been thinking of revising the model anyway, and the pandemic gave us a push.”
In September, all Grade 8s with a desire to serve the school were invited to attend a meeting. Jennifer believes that many of the 30 or so who showed up would not normally have run for a Captain position. Of that larger number who have been involved in some capacity throughout the year, 18 boys make up a self-selected core group of what is now called Junior School Leaders. What have they been up to? A wide range of virtual activities: welcoming new students to the College, weekly assemblies, Terry Fox Day, Spirit Week, community service and everything else that the younger students have always gotten involved in—but virtually now, of course. Senior students have also accepted the open invitation to lead in new ways by setting up virtual clubs based on their own interests, such as investment, Dungeons & Dragons or media production. This way, they maintain that important connection with younger students, acting as mentors and hobby mates. With the end of the pandemic in sight, what will happen next year with Junior School student leadership? “That is a conversation to be had,” said Jennifer. “This is the time to look at the whole system and ask ourselves how to move forward. Tradition is important. So is finding new ways to help our boys develop their abilities, serve the school and have fun, too. The pressure to make changes has set us in an interesting direction.”
Grade 12 student and Communications Prefect Joey Lisser would agree. Joey worked hard to develop a student leadership social media presence last year when s chools first moved to remote learning. This year, he has helped to create content for RSGC Prefects on Instagram, offering a mix of entertainment and information. “The most important thing during this pandemic is keeping us all connected,” said Joey. “Students don’t use email the way they do social media, so the Instagram account is a great way to spread news, play games, say hello and share some laughs. We needed to make something students want to engage with. Instagram has been great for that.” Joey is equally passionate about the student-run SPARK Club, with which he has been involved for six years. Spark supports entrepreneurialism, providing a space for boys with viable business ideas to secure funding, create marketing initiatives and manage logistics. A few years ago, it began offering a dry-cleaning service and, more recently, has offered a unique blend of RSGC-branded coffee to the community. When the pandemic arrived, the club pivoted to a virtual format, with its first project being an online version of the RSGC Mistletoe Market. In fact, it was five boys now in Grade 10 and 12 — Owen O’Leary, Brevan Babbar, Graham Davidge, Jack Beatty and Jack Dawson —who made the pitch to the Parents’ Guild.
“I helped the boys, and they did an amazing job,” said Joey. “Then we put together a whole plan, starting with building a website. We set up each vendor with their own tile, wrote their description and linked to their site with a promo code. We also developed unique Spark Club products to raise funds, so we can keep supporting student ventures. The younger boys were critical to the Mistletoe Market’s success.” Maintaining that connection between younger and older boys has been a priority within the community. Senior School Social Worker Andrea Kaye, one of the student leadership advisors, notes how much the older boys want to strengthen those social and emotional ties. For example, the Grade 12s visited Junior School classrooms virtually this year to spend time with the younger boys in all kinds of ways: helping with lessons, reading, playing games, and just chatting and hanging out. The senior leaders also found new ways to maintain ties with other schools. Connecting the Grade 9s and 10s of RSGC and Trafalgar Castle School through the app Gather.town was one method. Within Gather.town, students chose an avatar, walked around in a shared virtual space, and then sat down with others they happened to cross paths with for “speed conversations.” They then kept mingling and chatted with other groups. The older boys organized the event, joined in as needed, and came up with games to play to help with social awkwardness. “I’ve worked with student leaders for a long time,” said Andrea. “This year, with the challenges of the pandemic and the alternate-day schedule, they have had to be exceptionally creative. I would say they’re enjoying the challenge of reimagining how to keep the community close and everyone’s spirits up. It’s been both a tough year and an outstanding year for our leaders, who have really shined.”
So has alumnus Oliver Sabiston ’18, who, along with friend Stefan Knezevic ’19, found a new creative opportunity within pandemic restrictions. Last May, after the lockdown, the Business Technology Management student at Concordia came up with the idea to run an outdoor, physically distanced neighbourhood summer camp. The model was simple: offer the neighbourhood the chance to participate in games Oliver and his friends had played growing up—manhunt, capture the flag, soccer, ball hockey—along with crafts and other simple activities. “I like to hang out and play with my 9-year-old next-door neighbour,” said Oliver. “So, he was the target market. I had worked at a camp the previous summer, but it closed because of the pandemic. I wondered, what are all these kids going to do all summer? So, Stefan and I decided we would do this. A parent offered her house as our drop-off and pick-up spot, and we promoted our camp by word of mouth throughout the Annex.” Oliver, Stefan and friends offered 40 slots at $500 each for a two-week camp, with four sessions in total. To work around the complications of food management and bathroom breaks, counsellors walked the kids home every day at lunch and picked them up for the afternoon session. Later on, the six counsellors would meet to debrief and set up the next day’s events.
“It was exhausting,” l aughed Oliver. “But it was also so much fun. The kids were excited to be there every day, and they really needed the physical activity and social interaction.” Oliver and company set up a real business. Counsellors earned around $5,000 each for the whole summer and were issued T4s. The camp was managed in a safe and professional manner through and through, including acquiring liability insurance. Having fallen in love with business while a student at RSGC, Oliver enjoyed the c hallenge of launching his first full-fledged venture. Oliver has applied for a job at a financial institute this coming summer, but if the camps aren’t open again, he just might launch version two of his business. “You have to respond to the social and economic moment,” he said. “Business is all about filling a need. In our case, that need arose out of the limitations we were all living under. It was an opportunity to create something new.”
Clubs
Not new during the pandemic; however, Senior School boys are continuing to step up to the plate and lead Junior School clubs.
SPARK Entrepreneurship Club
The Spark boys really stepped up to the plate and were instrumental in the success of Mistletoe Market.
