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On Looking Over My Shoulder - Sedbergh - 1980-2010

sedbergh front lawn 800x440 


Bob Chambers, the Guest Speaker at the Sedbergh Closing in June, 1981, the year following the great fire of April 9, 1980, stated to the parents sitting on the front lawn in front of the newly-constructed school, “To rebuild is not as important as the decision to rebuild. The decision to rebuild is in itself an act of imagination and faith.” A little over a year before, while the School was still burning, the Wood family – the Old Man, Madame, Tom, Ann, Debbie, and Ken – had already made a decision and the Board of Trustees had agreed to it: rebuild in exactly the same place. And now the result was there in front of the parents. The phoenix had risen!

The original Sedbergh, from 1939 to 1980, is a story in itself, told in remarkable detail by Ramsay Derry in his gripping tale, Sedbergh, the Founding of a School. It reminds us of the details which were responsible for building character in boys in a country setting, of teachers who believed that the out-of-doors and the environment were crucial elements in building that character, and of Founders who had dreams of a “country school” and who, when asked by disbelievers whether there was value in this idea, simply quoted the Gospel of St. John – “Nathanial asked, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ and Philip replied ‘Come and see.’

I did just that in 1950. Having then passed my student years in the Valley, most of my teaching career was spent at Sedbergh. After reading Ramsay’s book in 2014, I somehow knew that there needed to be a sequel to his story. After all, Sedbergh continued after the fire for another thirty years, closing only in 2010. Didn’t the students and teachers of that era need to know they had not been forgotten? What about their story?

This sequel reminds us of the rebirth of Sedbergh, of its leap into coeducation, into bringing international students into the student body, into the Round Square, into official outdoor education, into the building of the Duxbury Cabin, and into a myriad of other elements which defined the School during those thirty years. It reflects upon the values of the original School, while it considers how we built the important elements of what we became.

I wrote the following in my diary in 2003: “The end of a school year and the frenzy of the final week is over. We no longer whirl like dervishes. The Valley eases into its summer slumber and the School settles back to its calm and peaceful silence. This is a good time to reflect on what we are and where we’ve been and where we were going, and how we are getting there.

This morning I wandered through the building and around the huts as I have done so many times over the years when I was wearing a number of hats. It’s true that without the students, the place has about it an almost eerie discomfort like shoes that don’t quite fit or a jacket that’s too tight under the arms there's something not quite right. Looking over my shoulder, I half wonder what the students are up to everything is so silent!

Glancing into corners and out of windows, I realize that Sedbergh has been my home for much of my life, so it is no surprise that images of the old school and of today’s buildings, of incidents recent and long ago, and the voices of Sedberghians ancient and modern ‘flash upon that inward eye’ in a remarkable cascade of colourful and poignant images. On reflection, what strikes me most clearly is how similar and yet how different the Sedbergh of today is to the Sedbergh of yesteryear.

Old Sedberghians have, for the most part and understandably, a vision of the school which became more or less frozen when they left the Valley for the last time as a student, but I have been privileged to watch the evolution of the School over many years.

Today, in 2023, there is a recurring question – “Were there, in fact, two Sedberghs? Two different schools?” Certainly there was “the old” and “the new”. First, the buildings themselves bore no resemblance to each other. But does that matter? After all, approaches to education had also shifted in the time between 1939 and 1980, but the Sedbergh Mission Statement, boldly proclaimed on the wall of the Founders’ Room, had not. And that message was not much different from T.J. Wood’s version which he had carved into the sofa in front of the old fireplace in the Living Room in 1939 “To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and Not to Yield”. Yes, approaches had shifted, but Sedbergh values had not. Add to that the natural evolution of the times. The Department of Education had demanded certain things, so yes, there was some change. Students from the old school will no doubt say, “Well, it’s not the school I remember” and I, who participated in both schools, do not deny that shifts in policy were evident and expected but Sedbergh was always Sedbergh and the outcome for students and in their values remained the same after the fire as they had been before. Didn’t the “Singing Sixth”, that group of Senior boys, face the Headmaster on the day following the fire and refuse to go home, informing him that they were staying to help with the cleanup! Despite his protestations, they stood their ground, just one example of Sedberghian values never faltering, even in the worst of times. Sedbergh itself remained an outstanding school with outstanding teachers and an outstanding educational philosophy. Throughout its history, Sedbergh was a leader in the style of education it practiced. The building of character, of self-reliance, of physical and emotional challenges, still remained the hallmark of what it was all about. Since 1939, Sedberghians had always been moulded into constructive and creative citizens of the world. That certainly did not change after the fire.

Both in tiny and in great ways, the similarities ring out; the wild flowers and the tree recognition competitions, so important to Vera Wood, continued to be an exciting challenge for the whole school after 1980, while the Ski-Marathon, Mount Baldy, Point to Point, the Johannsen Meet, Home Run, Push, Huts, the Terry Fox Run, and Quinchees (Bivouacs) still held centre stage in the Sedbergh scheme of things.

Bicycles still bounced their way across the Valley, cross-country skis still swooped around Wagon Wheel, Fox Loop and the Blais Trail, camping at Big Rock and swimming at High Lake (but only rarely cliff jumping) remained on every student’s agenda!

It’s true the old playing fields in the Valley were resurfaced, so students playing ‘the beautiful game’ (soccer) no longer had to run up and down through the furrows of the ancient farmland of the Valley floor!

Jane Wright’s Art classes in the new school stirred our imaginations with the same intensity as John Macaulay’s and Martha McDougall’s had done in the early days.

Huts, the perfect escape from the school week, continued to offer that uniquely Sedbergh retreat in an increasingly demanding academic schedule. “Reporting  out, sir.” By 2010,  there were 32 huts scattered around the property, many built by the students themselves. “I’d rather live in a hut than in school, just come back for a shower! That’s how much I love huts, especially the one I’m in now, Coyote. And huts are the funnest things in the world!” (grade 6 student). Mind you, the Wolfobello story continued to make the rounds!

And what about academics? Those of us who were privileged to sit in T.J. Wood's ancient History classes will never forget Leonidas and his 300 and the cheeky Spartans, or his Canadian history classes with maps drawn in a flash across the blackboard to embroider the rich tapestry of our past. Who will forget weekly Verse “Visions of the world and all the wonders that would be..." and Tom Wood's Mathematics class, which began even as he thundered down the long wooden corridor calling out questions to his pencil-poised students in the end classroom. You had to know your stuff! Or, of course, Pat Pettigrew’s Literature classes where generations of Sedberghians learned to love books and reading, thanks to his passion for words and images. Each Old Sedberghian had, no doubt, his own particular memory of some teacher or some class that changed his life.

But lest we become nostalgic and sentimental, let it be clear that the new school’s students were just as privileged in Paul Gifford’s WIC class, students lived the history they were taught by visiting the forts of the 1812 War while crewing a windjammer on the Great Lakes, by stalking the armies on the Plains of Abraham, by following in mid-winter the footsteps of the Voyageurs, using snowshoes and hauling sledges that they had built themselves in the school workshop. And Andy Convery had them carve out their own canoe paddles for the trips they took into the wilderness on a regular basis. And, yes, every student in the school built a “quinchee” for quinchee night.

WIC students marveled too at the Group of Seven, while hiking to the sites where those artists painted. They did their own sketches there, and these students didn’t just watch the Duxbury Cabin being built they built it, using the old logs from Vincent Lavoie’s cabin and squaring other logs from the trees that had come down on Joe’s Hill in that savage ice storm in 1998. The cabin stands, its memories intact, waiting for their camaraderie and laughter to return.

Math classes were just as intense, just as demanding as in days of yore and could be just as much fun. Andrea Douglas and Peter Grant’s exciting Environmental Leadership Course (ELC) in Grade 11 focused in a very hands-on way on the individual’s response to the global issues in our world today and combined that with leadership training.

In grade 12, Denise Stockdale’s Environmental Science Thesis program tied together the integrated studies of Grades 10 and 11 and required year-long research into environmental issues, culminating for each student in a thesis which had to be defended in public.

Some students participated in Bruce McMahon’s Archeology course. “Slowly, with painstaking accuracy, small items and larger features began to appear from their earth-entombment. These were not things of value, nor gold or silver or items that treasures are made of, these were things used by the average people, not kings or queens! And in an instant, the true nature of archeology came to me.” words from the introduction of a grade 12 student’s final year project. Also, Kiersten McCaw’s Fun Machine, or Patrick Peotto’s Mock Trials and so many other courses like them, offered important opportunities to develop learning skills. All these programs successfully prepared Sedbergh students for the rigours of university courses. I know it is easy to blow our own trumpet, but comments from graduates justifies our doing so. “University classes are easy; Sedbergh prepares us so well!” And certainly Sedbergh students went on to the universities of their choice, some having received several offers, a number even on scholarships, and all with a rich background of experiences very different from those of students in the educational mainstream. Sedbergh continued to pride itself on its difference, as it always had.

So what else was different about the new Sedbergh ?

Well, for starters, the School became coeducational over one third of its students were girls. Coeducation made the School kinder, more tolerant to difference in culture, more relaxed, less ‘macho,’ and the girls helped to create a social atmosphere closer to that of the outside world. No longer did boys graduate with little or no understanding of the opposite sex. They moved more naturally into the next phase of their lives.

Sedbergh was no longer a traditional school in its academic direction the new strategic plan focused on learning how to learn in a layered and integrated curriculum, on semester as well as trimester courses and on using its extensive wilderness areas as a formal classroom. The Environmental Science Centre (constructed near Beaver Pond) and the Duxbury Cabin (on the site of Frank Duxbury’s old retreat) resounded with students doing research and ‘hands on’ studies. Sedbergh consciously marketed its Outdoor Education, Environmental Studies, and Wilderness Integrated Course (WIC) programs.

The new Sedbergh became an international school in the strictest sense of the word. At least 30% of the students came from foreign countries, and outside the classroom, several languages were spoken at Sedbergh; the cultural diversity impressive, and encouraged. As an English-speaking school in a French province, about 70% of the staff and students were acceptably bilingual in Canada’s two official languages.

Sedbergh was the 24th member of the Round Square organization, which the School was elected to join in 1985; it became its window to the world. “An international association of schools which shared a commitment beyond academic excellence to personal development and responsibility through service, challenge, adventure, and international understanding.” Started by Kurt Hahn, a former Headmaster of Gordonstoun, these schools all followed the same academic principles and believed in good citizenship and in working on useful human projects around the world. Once a year, one of the schools of the Round Square held a Conference to which selected Sedbergh students travelled with all member schools of the Round Square.

Reflections of a Sedbergh Round Square delegate following a conference. "Why is it we don´t feel happy when our brothers from other continents are not at war anymore; why don´t we feel sad when they are dying because they are starving? I’m confused by this."

And finally – Building character was never simply a slogan at Sedbergh. It was at the centre of its mission in everything it did, more than simply in academic success, more than simply in achievement in sports, more even than simply in personal growth because, of course, it embodied all three, and so much more.

So, were there two Sedberghs? Two different schools? Surely not! 

Since the fire, and the retirement of the Wood family during the 1980s, the Sedbergh Board of Trustees took over ownership of the school.

Four Headmasters and their wives were hired over the remaining years after Tom and Ann Wood left the Valley. Terry and Sue Guest, Duncan and Janet Hossack, Jeremy and Bunny Mclean, and Andrew and Barb Blair all served the School in their turn for a part of those thirty years, giving of their particular abilities, knowledge, experience, and care to this amazing institution.

During these thirty years, many new ideas were introduced by talented and committed teachers who loved their work, and loved the lifestyle that Sedbergh offered them. These men and women were significant contributors and Sedbergh’s strength. A great number of exciting educational results were achieved by them and by the many GAPS who joined them on the great adventure. Only a few teachers’ names have been mentioned in this essay, but all of you are remembered by your students and by this writer. Thank you and bless you. Sedbergh remained in the forefront of caring for the environment and was a leader in protecting and caring for the natural world. Students learned to use their hands, their heads, their hearts, and their wits to be useful citizens, caring for those with whom they share this world. Sedbergh students returned to their homes in Canada and to many countries on other continents after leaving the Sedbergh Valley, and many of them continue today to speak of Sedbergh and its special qualities and how important the School was to them in their formative years. And yes, after all this time, whenever I leave the Valley, I still stop at the brow of the hill, get out of my car, look back, and nod my head!

So why, with such obvious excitement and such an interesting educational model did Sedbergh close its doors in 2010?

Sedbergh closed because, over several years before 2010, too few students had applied to the school, and also because during those years of decline, not enough could be done by those in charge to stop that decline.

“Is this a fair assessment?” some will ask.

I think it is for the following reasons, and because I was there.

The comments of a 10th grade boy have ever since focused my attention about what happened. While chatting with him at lunch one day, he said,

“Sir, I am not coming back next year,” “Oh, why not?” I retorted. “Well, because there are not even enough of us, my age, to make up the soccer team. I have so few friends around here now.”

I looked around the dining room and I knew he was right.

As a small school in the country, every student counted at Sedbergh and each one made an important difference to the financial stability of the operation. Sedbergh had never been a well-endowed organization, so by its very nature, it lived on the edge of the razor, relying on committed parents and past students who donated because of their personal belief in the worthiness of its mission. Obviously, student numbers were essential to its financial stability.

During the 1990s, the environment for boarding school education had diminished in Canada, and all boarding schools suffered from enrolment problems. All boarding schools were “out of fashion”. Most boarding schools had endowments which allowed them more time to deal with the lack of student enrolments, and when the decline started, their governing boards acted quickly and efficiently with game-plans to stop the decline. Recruiting officers were dispatched to foreign countries (especially Asia and South America) to interest students there to come to their particular school. The results of these efforts were evidently successful because, over time, the decline was stopped or at least limited. Sedbergh had no endowment and was particularly vulnerable to the lack of interest in the boarding experience because of its high ratio of teachers to students (about 1 teacher for every 6 students). Thus, it was crucial that Sedbergh operate at full capacity (about 90 students). The reactions from authorities in all boarding schools had to be very fast and very efficient if the downward trend was to be stopped. New administrative staff positions were placing an additional financial load on Sedbergh and because the School had no endowment to speak of and its student population kept declining year after year, the financial situation ultimately became untenable.

Some efforts were made by a number of alumni to come to the rescue, but the enrolment figures continued to go down and the situation became beyond the capacity of those alumni to meet the School’s financial obligations. The governing bodies were faced with bills unable to be paid and salaries unable to be met. It was clear that the only option was to sell the Sedbergh property, but that required closing the School. Were the authorities prepared to walk that path? They had no choice. The decision that had to be made, was made. Sedbergh School closed its doors in 2010.

Sadly, this unique and outstanding educational institution, which had been a beacon of learning for 70 years, came to an untimely end. For so many of us, Sedbergh had been the shining light that had helped to make us into the persons we are today. We remember our School with gratitude.

Tony Vintcent
2023

 

 

 

Happiness is Freedom, and Freedom is Courage

Felicitas Libertas Virtus

 

 

Going Away

We are not likely to be
What we are for very long
We never were. We know that.
But in some ragged way
We have dressed each other in pearls, shook cloth
Billboards, junk, and treasure,
And granted us the skill to move.
If we needed to dance,
We would.
And somewhere, if we needed
to drum the sun until it chimed,
we could.
We have been the first thing
Anyone ever dreamed of.

And what I had to say was this:
We are always what we are,
Did, wanted, made,
Our last move is an after thought
A single shrug of the mind.
Its separate directions shred us;
but, fragments of several seasons,
we blow green, go mute, bleach,
and at last grow green again.

And the song that time together makes
is calling from a farther better yard,
its flowers only undone for now,
and somewhere we are always weaving
the same dream –
that the other distant singers
stand free,
that the drummer set his station
in the moon,
and that the wild dancer we became
collapse the space we have to go into
and bring us back
to dress our tender, unspeakable sun
in the voices that celebrate
circle, shout out, shine.

                                           - Author unknown

 

 

Sedbergh's Students

If you were a student at Sedbergh in ANY year including 1980 to 2010, your name should be on this list.  As the School’s records are perhaps incomplete, some names may be spelled incorrectly, or missing, and I apologize.

Aback, William
Abaiov, Ronnie
Abdullah, Uday
Abel, Kym
Abelson, Scott
Abercrombie, Philippe
Abouganim, Morgan
Abu Assi, William
Acuna Diego, Antonio x
Adada, Amer
Adada, Majed
Adams, Timothy
Agraz Dominguez, Luis Octavio
Aguilar-Sirrs, Sebastian
Aguirre, Gerard
AI-Muhaidib, Adbullah
AI-Muhaidib, Mohammed
Aiken, Ross
Aiken, Ross
Aitken, Jamie
Alexander-Laillier, Simon
Alix, Michel
Alkasemi, Hashem A.
Allen, Eric
Allen,Robert
Alonso, Karla
Alsaqqa, Ahmed
Ambrosi-Rosete, Bruno
Amranand, Amitha
Amranand, Apinait
Amranand, Vidura
Anderson-Sweet, Dunn
Anderson, Erik
Andreu-Ferrer, Melchor
Ange-Schultz, Christian
Ange-Schultz, Robbie
Angnakak, Sharon
Archambault, Sean
Archibald, Scott
Arditi, Jeffrey
Arias Iglesias, Anton
Artzy, Noa
Artzy, Ora
Aspden, Sophie
Aspin, Hamish
Aubé, Dave
Aubé, Michel
Aubé, Pierre
Aubery, Godefroy
Auerbach, Matthew
Aumais, Danielle
Awad, Tarek
Awashish, Alijah Luke,
Bacon, Christopher
Bailey, Brian
Bailley, Robbie
Baldassare, Steve
Baldassare, Tony
Bao, Jing
Barber, Geoffrey
Barber, Mark
Baronian, David
Barr, Douglas
Bartolomeu Fernando, Yuri
Basmajian, Colin
Basmajian, Matthew
Bastien, Phillippe
Bayer, Gereon
Beare, Morgan
Beatty, Christopher
Beckett, Daniel
Beier, Christina
Beier, Iris
Belanger, Germain
Belanger, Jerome
Bell, Andrew
Bellini, Robert
Benecke, Andre
Benoit, Jean François
Bercovici, Daniel
Berenbaum, Jamie
Bergeron, Yvon
Bergon, David
Berman, Andrea
Bernard, Raymond
Bernot Bueno, Santiago
Bernot Simon, Daniela
Bernot, Jeronimo
Berthiame, Yan
Berthiaume, Mark
Besner, Brad
Besquin, Andrea
Besquin, Pablo
Betancourt, Marie Claire
Bethell, Rafe
Bettan, Ariel
Bhargava, kartik
Bidgood, Corie
Bigue, Allen
Bilodeau, Charles
Bisson, Mark
Bissonette, Patrick
Bissonnette, Julie
Bissonnette, Julien
Blair, Christopher
Blair, Sophie
Blais, Michelle
Bleeks, Ryan
Bock-Lincourt, Philippe
Bock, Gilles
Bocti, Aldo
Bogie, Craig
Bolduc, Robert
Bonn, David
Bonn, Jay
Borenstein, Mark
Borg, Simon
Boudana, Audrey
Bourgeois, Jenelle
Bourgeois, Pascale
Bourgouin, Catherine
Bourke, Jessica
Boyer, Magaly-Jade
Bradford, Kaz
Brand, Eric
Brenninkmeyer, Kees
Bringans, Samual
Brodie, Elizabeth
Browitt, Catherine
Brown, Adrian
Bughsan, Faiz
Bugshan, Salman
Bulbul, Ashraf
Burlton, Eric
Burpee-Jones, Matthew
Burpee, Seam
Burton, Eric
Caballos, Alexis
Calder, Thane
Calder, Thane
Cameron, Michael
Campbell, James
Campbell, Rosa
Campbell, Tamlyn
Cape, Edmund
Careau, Genevieve
Careau, Sebastien
Careau, Stephanie
Carleton, Guy
Carmosino, Antonio
Carota, Christopher
Carota, Nicolas
Carpenter, Graham
Carr, Jeffery
Carrara, Johann
Carreau, Robert
Carreau, Christina
Carreau, Jessica
Carreau, Matthew
Carreau, Robert
Carrier, Christine
Carrier, Samuel
Carriere, Renee
Cartier, Mathieu
Carton, Christopher
Cartwright, Stephen
Castilla-Bustamente, Perla
Cathcart, Mark
Cavalcante, Layla
Cayouette, Matthieu
Cayouette, Sebastien
Celis, Humberto
Cha, John
Chakma, Tridevi
Chan, David
Chan, Ka Yan
Chan, Kenny
Chan, Patrick
Chan, Raymond
Chang, Chi-Yen
Chang, Chia Wei
Chang, Paul
Chang, Tom
Chao, Alexander
Chase, Candace
Chavez-Jimenez, Omar
Chavez, Karla
Chaykovskaya, Angela
Cheatley, Kevin
Chell, Skylar
Chen, Jessica
Chen, Louis
Chen, Tunpu
Cheong, Chon Hei
Chesser, Sean
Cheung, Darren
Chiang, Brian
Chiang, Sam
Chiu, Johnson
Cho, Henry
Chou, Joyce
Chou, William
Chouinard, Dabiel
Chowdhury, Emdadul
Christen, Benedict
Chung, Tarry
Cléroux, Mathieu
Cloutier.Charles
Cohen, Jason
Coleman, James
Collins, Jacob
Colpron, Alain
Colpron, Phillipe
Constant, Pierre
Contreras, Marco
Copin, Cedric
Corbeil, Eleni
Corbeil, Frederic
Corbeil, Priscilla
Corbin, Charles
Corcoran, Eric
Cordova-Riveroll, Patricio
Corlott, Lisa
Corriveau, Krystina
Corte Arestizabal, Gianluca
Coulson, Charles
Coulson, Philippe
Couture, Pierre-Olivier
Cox, Sara
Coxe, Stanislaus
Crabtree, Jonathan
Crepsac, Rolf
Crooks, Angela
Crooks, Lindsay
Crossley, Matthew
Cui, Jialang
Curiel, David
Czarnogorski, Darren
Da Silva Fernando, Darcy
Dacier, Samuelle
Dandachi, Faysal
Danesh, Camran Sid
Danesh, Kouros Saam
Daouk, Tarek
Dawson, Michael
De Lotbiniere, Edmond J.
De Oliviera Dias, Jahel
Dean, David
Delorme, Tyler
Demers, Gérald,
Deschamps, Eric
Desgroseilliers, Philippe
Despres-Daignealt, Loucas
Despres-Daigneault, Hubert
Diaz-Avila, Pamela
Diderich-Ruzius, Jonathan
Diderich-Ruzius, Timothy
Didkowsky, Tylor
Diegel, Jacob Charles
Diegel, Martin Francis
Diegel, Patrick Jordan
DioGuardi, Brendon
Dioguardi, William
Diotte, Arend
Dolisie, Brett
Domingo Rajme, Stephania
Domingo, Stephania
Doornboss, Sean
Drouin, Vincent
Duarte, Alexandro
Dubravcik, Jan
Dubravcik, Karel
Ducros, Alain
Dufour, David
Duhard, Vicky
Dunkley-Clark, Leon
Dunn, Andrew
Dunn, Anthony
Dunn, Matthew
Dunn, Megan
Dunn, Timothy
Dupre-White, Jean Benoit
Duval, Benoit
Duval, Jack
Duval, Marie
Duvert, Christian
Duvert, Patrick
Echteler, Philipp
El Masri, WIssam
Emery-Wookey, Tabatha
Erless, Paul
Eryavuz, Can
Eryavuz, Paul
Etienne-Gomez, Julian
Eto, Masami
Fallon, William
Fark, Pia
Farmer, Stephen
Faucher, Andrew
Feher, Antoine
Feher, Oliver
Fenus, Luke
Ferguson, Andrew
Fernandez-Shaw, Carlos
Fernandez-Shaw, Maya
Fisher, Anouk
Fisher, Calum
Fleischer, Amy
Fleischer, Katharina
Foley, Sean
Foote, Timothy
Forbes, Darcy
Forero, Natalia
Forget, Michael
Fortier, Alexandre
Fortier, Mathieu
Fortier, Pierre-Hughes
Foy, Alexandre
Foy, Christopher
Frangella, Gaetano
Fremes, David
French, Kristina
Fritsch, Erick
Fritsch, Robert
Fu, Paul
Fuller, Hayden
Fung, Benny
Fung, Gary
Fung, Jackie
Gagné, Martin
Gagnon, Hughes
Galipeau, Louis
Gallardo-Flores, Adrian
Gallardo-Flores, Ivan
Gamache, Philippe
Garcia Chervere, Angelique
Garfias-Ruiz, Yolanda
Gauthier, Alain
Ghafari, Kimia
Ghanem, Fouad
Gilbertson, Shelby
Gilchrist, Alexander
Gilchrist, Erin
Gillet, Stephane
Gilmore, Mitchell
Giordano, Hector
Girard, Frederick
Girard, Pier Marc
Girardin, Dave
Girardin, Steve
Girardin, Tony
Gitterman, Elizabeth
Glyde, Steven
Godina Abasolo, Ana Luisa
Goggin, Daniel
Goldenberg, Darren
Gonzales, Erik
Gonzales, Gustavo
Goodall-Copestake, Rory
Gorelik, Jeremy
Gorman, Andrew
Gorman, Donald
Gosselin, Tessa-Anne
Goth, Christopher
Gouin, Philippe
Granados, Sergio
Grau, Guillaume
Grau, Helene
Grauer, Britta
Greco, Paul
Grégoire, Stéphane
Griffin, Adrian
Griffin, Chloe
Gross, David
Gunter, Tim
Hale, Jeffrey
Hall, Thomas Jr
Halliwell, Marc
Hamel, Pierre-Philippe
Hamilton, Hugh Jr.
Hamilton, Stephane Jr
Hamilton, Stephanie
Hampton-Davies, Justin
Hanna, Rima
Hannum, Douglas
Hardinger, Tristan
Harrison, Burton
Harrison, William B.
Harshaw, Howard
Hart, Bruce C.
Hart, Nicolas
Harte, Jonathan
Hartley, Cameron
Hartley, E. Vanessa
Hay, Marc-Antoine
Heard, Jason
Hedberg, Hans-Erik
Heine, Julian
Heinzer, Ramon
Henserson, Ian
Hernandez Velazquez, Ruth
Hernandez-Martinez, Jorge
Hillhouse, Robin
Hinson, Barry
Ho, Alan
Ho, Jennifer Wing To
Hoare, Sarah
Hoare, William
Hodes, Dianne
Hodes, Oren
Hogard, Anna
Hogg, David
Holmes-Hayward, Eric
Holmes, Gregory
Holroyd, Grant
Hori, Rentaro
Hosking, Scott
Hough, Eric J.
Houston, Neil
Houston, Patrick M.S.
Howard, David
Howells, David
Hsu, Shub Chih (Jack)
Hughes, Amy
Hughes, David
Hunter, Jennie
Hunter, Scott E.
Hunter, Stephen
Hurtado, Juan Carlos
Hurtado, Juan David
Hutchison, Graham
Hwang, Sung Jun
Ibrahim, Fouad J.
Ibrahim, Samir A.
Idlout-Kheraj, Beth
Ippoliti, Manuel
Irani, Toufic
Irving, Andrew
Issa, Yasar
Ito, Nobuko
Iwatani, Naoko
Jabagi, Nura
Jackson, Edward
Jacobs, Adrian
Jahchan, Firas
James, Amber
Jamieson, Adam
Jeffrey, Sean
Jo, Hee-Jin
Jo, Hee-Ung
Joanis, Falina Mapp
Jones, Kiara
Jones, Liam
Joulu-Sales, Anna
Jurgens, Igor
Jussup, Alexander
Kadivar, Leila
Kafka, Victor
Kane, Graeme
Kantor, Jesse G.
Kao, Jim
Kao, Ling-Shu
Kao, Stephen
Kapijimpanga, Mischa
Kapijimpanga, Sebastian
Katayanagi, Masakasu
Keating, Robert
Kelly, John
Kennedy, Bronwyn
Kennedy, Jordan
Kennedy, Madison
Kerr, Kyle
Kersten, Konstantin
Khan, Dania
Khan, Emaan
Kilian, Rachel
Kilpatrick, Jeffrey
Kim, Han Na
Kim, Hyeong Jun (Brian)
Kim, Joon-Hee (Jay)
Kim, Yong-Shin
Kim,Young Jim
Kimenko, Ivan
King, Jeremy
Kitajew, Christopher
Kitajew, Erin
Kitchen, Jordana
Klein, Geregory R.L.
Klisivitch, Damon
Kloss, Kersten
Kobayashi, Kenichiro
Koch, Harold
Koga-McKinney, Kimiaki
Koh, Won Woo
Koike, Ryoya
Korai, Takeshi
Kralik, Jason
Krutica, Richard
Kueng, Jodok
Kuri, Alberto Jaber
Kwan, Raymond
Kwok, Albert
Labreque-Saganash, Stéphanie
Lachance, Simon
Lachapelle, Tommy
Lackey-Ruwald, Erika
Laffoley, John
Lafleur, Marc
Lagace, Ian
Lalande, Hughes
Lam, Leslie
Lam, Petro
Lam, Van (Kwong Chit)
Lam, Vera (Yu Man)
Lamoureux-Bennett, Kevin
Lamy, Pierre
Langelier, Michel
Langevin, Jason
Langevin, Tyler
Lanthier, Anthony J.
Laperle, Martin
Laperle, Nicolas J.
Lapin, Josh
Laplante, Maude
Lapp, Martin
Lark, Kathleen
Lark, Ruth
Larocque, Philippe
Larocque, Vanessa
Larrinaga, Fernando Estaban
Lau, Martin (Wing Kit)
Lau, Samuel
Lau, Vincent (Wing Shun)
Laurin, Kenneth
Laurin, Kristopher
Lauritsen, James
Lawson, Michael
Lebel, Maurice
Leblanc, Michael
Lecuna, Daniel
Lecuyer, Thomas
Lee, Bo-Ram
Lee, John
Lee, Kun Sik
Leibov, Michael
Leibovitch, Shawn A.
Lemieux, David
Lemire, David
Leon-Perdiguero, Aranzazu
Leonard, Alexander
Leong, Truhon
Lepack, Richard
Lepack, Robert
Lepine, Roger
Lessard, Patrick
Lesueur, Xavier
Letang-Keithlin, Matthieu
Letendre, Nancy
Letham, Eric
Leung, Bryan
Leung, Charles
Leuzy, Sebastian
Leveillee, Charles
Leven-Mentzelopoulos, Alexis
Levesque, Luc
Lewis-Phillips, Jeremy
Lewis, Owen
Lewis, Trevor
Li, Yan
Lichi-Rabinovitz, Alejandro
Liebmann, Tommy D.
Lim, Joe
Lin, Hen-Lice
Lin, Jeffrey
Lin, Michael
Lindsay, Steven
Lipsit, Joey
Little, Joshua
Liu, Aaron
Lleida, Cody
Lleida, Daniel
Lleida, Julian
Lo, Kevin
Loo, Alexander
Lopez Cordova, Atli
Lopez-Recio, Rodrigo
Lorrain, Francois
Lorrain, Richard
Los, Joel
Low, Leo
Lozano, John
Lucas, Dominic
Luciano, Pasquale
Ludlow, Robert
Ludlow, Ryan
Ludlow, Shawn
Lung, Danny
Lutteroth Kochen, Matias
Lynch, Christopher B.
MacDonald, Leslie
Macdonell, John
MacFarlane, Richard D.
MacFarlane, Robert G.
Macias-Cuellar, Fernando
MacIntosh, Cameron
MacKenzie, Christian
MacLaren, Richard
MacMartin, Andrew
MacRury, Allison
MacRury, Sarah K.
Mader, Mark
Maheu, Jean-Michel
Mahtab, John
Mailloux, Adrian
Maislin, Jill
Malone, Sean
Malouin, Olivier
Malservet, Jean-Charles
Mann, Esther
Many Chief Garret
Mapp-Joanis, Falina
Marcogliese, Steven
Marcovitch, Allison
Marcovitch, Melissa
Mariel Menes, José Ramon
Marin, Sebastien
Marler, Michael
Marlock, Peter
Marquez-Picard, Miguel
Marroquin-Bascos, Jorge
Martin, Andrew Ralph
Martin, Cristina
Martinez-Aguirre, Patricio
Martinez, Aurelio Lopez
Martinez, Sandra Lopez
Martinez, Sebastian
Martinovic, Zoey
Mashaal, Ariel Ann
Massé, Caroline
Massey-Smith, Luc
Massobrio, Stefano
Mathers, Anthony
Mathers, Ian
Mathers, Jessica
Mattei, Gregory
Matthews, John
Mavis, Damian
Maydew, Olivier
Mayer-Watts, Samuel
Mazars, Djahanguir
McCall, Malcolm
McCutcheon, Lisa
McDougall, David
McGrath, Andrew
McGregor, Heather
McIntosh, Eric
McIntosh, Leslie
McIntosh, Rory
McKellar, James
McLean, Ian
McLean, Marron
McLean, Merritt
McLennan, Lyle
McNair-Landry, Eric
McNair-Landry, Sarah
McNeill, Jean-Pierre
McOuat, Angelina
McOuat, Colin Jason
McTaggart, Sharon
Melo, Jose Manuel
Ménard, Julie
Mendiola Erdman, Mercedes
Merkley, Victoria
Methot, Brian
Mier, Juan
Mignot, Nicolai
Miller, Andrew
Mills, Fred
Milne, Joel
Milne, Sean
Milner, Adrienne
Milner, Christopher
Minhas, Nishan
Minkoff, Christopher
Miro Audrey
Moar, Ablayza
Moar, Wasseskahn
Modat, Nadine
Moeser, Michael
Moffat, Andrew
Mohamed, Amira
Moisan, Francois
Mok, William
Momolu, Clarence
Moore, Joshua
Morales Pumarino, Camila
Morgan, James
Morin, April
Morin, Eric
Mpoy-Kamulayi, Katalina
Mpoy, Katalina
Mueller, Eric
Munro, Alexander
Murphy, Jennifer
Murray, William
Nadeau, Rachelle
Naeve, Katia
Nakano, Saya
Nakano, Yoshiyuki
Nariai, Massayo
Narlock, Peter
Nash, Daniel
Nasmith, Shane
Nause, Christina
Ndaiye, Al
Ndaiye, TJ
Ndiaye, Sira
Ndiaye, Jabba
Ndiaye, Kadiatou
Nemeth, Ryan
Neresoff, Stefan
Neumann, Daniel
Newland, Georgia
Newland, Georgia F
Nihon, Philip
Nowell, Arielle
Nowell, Liane
O'Connor, Alexandra
O'Connor, Mark
O’Hara, William
Obayda, Nouri
OBrien, Andrew
Ogden, James
Oliel, Zoarit
Omura, Haruka
Onogi, Junichi
Orellana, Dieego
Overing, Christopher
Pageau, Christine
Paladino, Michael
Pan, Tony
Paquette, Frederick
Paquette, Patrick
Parent, Nicolas
Parisien, Vincent
Park, Dalnamoo
Park, Jae Kwun
Parris, Kenra
Pataky, Eugenio
Patton, Ryan
Pau, Peter
Pearce, Michael
Peck, Sean
Pedicelli, Jonathan
Penuelas-Martinez, Ricardo
Perez, Steve
Perez, Vincent
Perron, François
Perron, Henri
Perron, Richard
Petten, Amanda
Pettigrew, Christopher
Pettigrew, Ian
Petton, Nicholas
Pharand, Nicolas
Phillips, Scott
Piazza, Bobby
Picard, Maximilien
Pickering, Ronald
Piedalue, Paul C.H.
Pintado, Iago
Pitfield, Marshall
Pollock, Parry
Pomerleau, Bryan
Ponce, Cecilia
Postle, Sara
Potter, Omari
Potvin, Annabelle
Potvin, Madeleine
Poupart, Rémi
Prasad Shah, Omkrishna
Preiser, Anna
Prior, Christopher
Prior, Glen Matthew
Prive-Shereck, Evan
Proulx, Melissa
Pujol, Benjamin
Pulgar, Alejandro
Puri, Paul
Purino, Vincent
Quesnel, Hanna-Rose
Quesnel, Maximilian Interim
Racette, Pierre
Raffo, Edouard
Rahman, Asfarqur
Rajotte, David
Rajotte, Yanik
Rakusan, Daniel
Ralph, John
Ramacieri, Marco
Ramos Berho, Bruno Alejandrino
Raposo, Michael
Ratcliffe, Cassandra
Reinhardt, Frank
Religa, Lester
Rémillard, Julien
Rémillard, Maxime
Reyes-Vega, Oswaldo
Reyes-Vega, Rageney
Reynoso, Efrain
Richer, Martin
Rios Alvarez, Erick
Ripley, Elizabeth
Risberg, David
Ritcher, Laura
Rivard, Cynthia
Roache, Sarah
Roberge, Ian
Roberts, Katelyn
Roberts, Kenneth
Robertson, Karen
Robertson, Kevin James
Robertson, Kirsten
Robinson, Philip
Robredo, Santiago
Roche-Estrada, Alain
Rochester, Timothy
Rodriguez-Baltz, Lea
Rodriguez-Lemeli, Cynthia
Rolf, David
Ronish, Yurij
Rosenfeld, Adam
Rosgen, John
Ross, Jock
Ross, Malcolm
Rossi, Thomas
Rossignol, Christopher
Roukema, Sin-Soo
Rouleau, Jackie
Rovner, Jan
Rowe, Ryan
Roy, Christian
Rubalcava, David Martin
Ruddy, Brendan
Russell, Michael
Saez, Manuel
Safdie Jason
Safir, Jason
Salvucci, Anthony
Sanchez, Edgar D.
Sauvé, Geneviève
Savard, Brandon-Lee
Savard, Tristan
Savitskiy, Yevgeniy
Saxe, Daniel
Schatz-Zaga, Carlos
Schauerte, Sibylle
Scheffler, Jennifer
Schollaert, Yaron
Schwien, Ian
Scott, Andrew
Segal, Sandor
Segalowitz, Hunter
Segovia Alvarado, Gerardo
Seguin, Eric
Sendra-Planes, Carole
Seroussi, Joseph
Servitje Azcarraga, Nicolas
Shambare, Melinda
Sharp, Danny
Shearer, George
Shein, Scott
Shibata, Paul
Shih, Ching Tzu
Shitzgal, Andrew
Sieg, Leah
Simha Webster, Edwin
Siyolwe, Namukolo
Skarne, Oscar
Skidmore, Andrew
Skoryna, Richard
Skyllas, Nicolas
Smith, Andrew
Smith, Brodie
Snow, Alec
Sockett, Stephen
Solarzano, Daniella
Solarzano, Rodrigo
Sopov, Anton
Sopova, Ioulia
Sorenson, Bryce (Chavez)
Sorokina, Maria
Sottil Duprat, Louis Alexandre
Spalvieri, Marco
Sparling, Sebastien
Spengler, Bruno
Spina, Anthony
Squires, Darrell
Stalter, Mark
Stanley, Andrew
Stanyar, Josh
Stearns, Stephen
Steele, Seamus
Stein, Adam
Stein, Katya
Steinbeck, Kai
Stern, Stephane
Stevens- Da Costa, Katelijne
Stich, Eduardo Sobrino
Stieber, Christopher
Sundmacher, Leonie
Superville-Sovak, Jean-Marc
Superville, Andrew
Synnott, John
Szabo, Nicolas
Szucs, Bryan
Taiger, Irwin
Takahara, Yasuko
Takeuchi, Albert
Takeuchi, Tatsuro
Talwar, Rishi
Tateno, Masaru
Taylor, William
Terrell, Peter
Tessier, Pierre
Thavorn Ronald, Maeleeya
Theberge, Bob
Théberge, Claude
Theriault, Trevor
Therrien-Kennedy, Kevin
Therrien, Jason
Therrien, Joey
Thibault, Justin
Thomas, Marc
Thompson, Christopher
Thompson, Matthew
Thornburn, John
Thornton Taylor
Thorpe, David
Thrasher, William
Tickle, David
Tipper, James
Tippett, Christopher
Tittel, Lena
Tkachenko, Justine E.
Togneri, Colin T.
Tomasso, Ricardo Di
Toupin, Nicolas
Tremblay-Jourdain, Luce
Tremblay, Catherine
Tremblay, Christina
Trent, Patrick
Trueheart, Alex Olea
Trueheart, Anahi Olea
Tsoi, Tony
Tsuji, Toshiaki
Turgeon, Daniel
Turpin, Philippe
Unno, Dan
Valdes, Ana Sofia
Valenta, Jan
Vallee, Helene
Valois, Philippe
Van Kaufmann, Marlena
Van Volkenburgh, Stephen
Vargas, Ernesto
Vargas, Jorge
Vasquez Chelius Soli, Fernando
Veliev, Emil
Velutini, Vicente B.
Vera Altamirano, Diana
Vera Altamirano, Yessica
Vera, Isabella Castro
Veres, Mark
Vesey, Derek R.G.
Viau St-Denis, Fanie
Viau, Eric
Viglas, Pascale
Villatoro, Sylvia
Villegas-Flores, Mariana
Villegas-Flores, Mauricio
Villeneuve, André
Von Kaufmann, Marlene
Wade, Jonathon
Wade, Justin
Waldron, Freddie
Waldron, Megan
Walker, Christine
Walker, Stephen
Ward, Taylor
Watier, Cedric
Watt, Adam
Watt, Matthew
Weenan, Andrew
Weir, David J.
Welch, Bob
Welch, David
Weller, Mark
Wells, Ryan
Westwick, Christopher
Wheeler, Edward
Wiesedeppe, Kenneth
Wilkinson, Andrew
Wilkinson, Ryan
Willemsen-Mariategui, Bernard
Williams, Keith
Winkelmann, Korbinian
Winklemann, Moritz
Wistaff, Christopher
Wong, Jacky
Wong, Peter
Wood, Eric
Wood, Jason
Wood, Justin
Wood, Maxime
Wu, Wilson
Yamaguchi, Takanori
Yamamoto. Takaaki
Yamazaki, Masumi
Yates, Paul
Yohana, Masashi
Yonaha, Jin
Young, Austin
Yu, Peggy
Yu, Wen-Ling
Yull, John David
Zackon, Ruth
Zaidan, Eric
Zambrano, Andres
Zambrano, Maria Lidia
Zarkin, Abraham
Zeppetelli, Louis
Zhu, Xiaolu
Zubillaga, Alejandro
Zubillaga, Fernando

 

 

Recognize These?

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  • AgeShallNot 598x72 cr
  • BehindMemorysDoor 627x800
  • Decade2000s 800x540
  • Five headmasters names 800x530
  • GovernorGeneral 615x800
  • GroupPhoto BLDGinBG 800x528
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  • WaterColourBoys 800x668
  • WorldOnTheRiver 800x546 cr
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  • bonsecours-collage building duxbury cabin 800x617
  • jackrabbit 530x800

     To view high resolution versions of these photos, click here to open the Google Photos album in a separate browser tab.
    You will be able to zoom in and see more detail.
    Please note that doing so will take you away from this page.

      

     Acknowledgements

    This essay would not have been possible without the invaluable support of our Sedbergh webmaster, Andrew Irving ('82-'86), whose patience with me and uncanny knowledge of the web has made my work so much simpler. As well, my neighbour, Jacqueline Grenier, spent long and willing hours at her computer, scanning page after page and photo after photo, while reassuring me that all would be well! I am immensely grateful to them both. The two watercolours in the photo section appear by kind permission of the artist, Deborah Moore.

     

    Sedbergh Memorabilia

    The Sedbergh memorabilia is now preserved for posterity. It is housed at the Société Historique Louis-Joseph Papineau headquarters in Montebello at 220 Bonsecours. All items are listed in the 'Sedbergh Index', which can be accessed on their website at www.SHLJP.org/fonds-sedbergh.

    If there are Old Sedberghians who have not read Ramsay Derry's book, Sedbergh, the Founding of a School, they may still do so through the Société Historique LJP, by making a charitable donation, either for a paperback edition or for the signed, numbered, and boxed edition.

    Because the Société does crucial work protecting historical elements of the Montebello landscape and feels strongly that Sedbergh was an important part of the life of the region, if you, as an Old Sedberghian, wish to donate to the Société to help it in the upkeep of its work, please contact the Société at 819-423-5123 - extention 3499 or write them at Société Historique Louis-Joseph Papineau, 220 Rue Bonsecours, c.p. 1656, Montebello, QC. J0V1L0 or contact them by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    A donation to them of $100 or more receives a charitable tax receipt AND a paperback copy of Sedbergh, the Founding of a School. A donation of $1,000 receives a charitable tax receipt for that amount and a copy of the signed, numbered, and boxed edition of the book.

    The Société Historique pays all postal costs for those donations.

    Other memorabilia, including two huts (Raccoon and Mink) and all the trophies are on view at the Village Hall of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, a few kilometres away from Montebello. Photos of many of the items can be viewed on the "Sedbergh Memorabilia at Bonsecours Hall" post on this site.

     

    Good Reads

    The following is a list of writings about the life of Sedbergh School. They are available in the Sedbergh Index at the Société Historique in Montebello. For copies of them, please indicate to the Société the appropriate index location where they will be found.

     History of Sedbergh   by Judy Jacques  S1-Box 6
     Founding of Sedbergh School (1972)   by T. J. Wood  S1-Box 6
     Sedbergh and Montebello (2003)   by T. L. Wood  S1-Box 6
     Sedbergh, The Founding of a School   by Ramsay Derry  by request
     Sedbergh Boys (1965)  by Robert Henderson  S1-Box 6
     On Looking Over My Shoulder (2023)  by Tony Vintcent  S1-Box 6