Tuesday 22 March 2016

“Smash!”
This clatter was followed by the sound of a car’s shattered bumper hitting the asphalt.
What we hear next are vehicle doors opening and the exchange of raised voices and frustrated words.
“What were you thinking?”
“I don’t have time for this!”
“I can’t believe this just happened!”
“This is just my luck!”
We came to understand that a 2015 Audi A4 had rear ended a Dodge Ram.
This was the start of my first ‘Sandwich for a Story’ experience. When the two cars collided, I was standing with Sam Sawchuk and Joey Hubbard, two members of the ‘Sandwich for a Story’ team, at the corner of Edmonton Trail and Memorial Drive in Calgary preparing to walk the downtown streets of Calgary.
When the accident happened, Sam, Joey and I jumped back slightly, assessed the situation and determined no one was injured and continued to cross Memorial Drive to start distributing sandwiches to Calgary’s least fortunate. We walked onto the Langevin Bridge and across the Bow River towards downtown Calgary. In our hands were bread bags filled with ham sandwiches made by the students of Rundle Academy’s Kid Helping Kids group.
The Langevin Bridge took us from the luxury cars of Calgary’s downtown culture to the reality worn out shoes possessed by those sitting and standing outside the Drop In Center. As we approached the heart of the downtown we met one individual after another and asked them if they would like a simple sandwich. To a person, everyone did.
What struck me about each of the individuals who accepted our goodwill token was their warmth and generosity of spirit. They were willing to stand and talk about the weather, about their day-to-day frustrations or their hopes and dreams.
Maybe most memorably, under one of the flyover overpasses we came across a woman who is in her mid twenties. She wore a single shoe, was wrapped in a worn blue fleece blanket and was surrounded by remnants of her daily life; a toothbrush, a can of soda, a lighter, and a jacket she was using as a pillow. We asked how her day was going and she indicated that it was actually going pretty well. She went onto tell us that her day would be better if the people at the Drop In Center would just give her some toothpaste and shampoo, she really wanted to ‘clean up.’ During the course of our conversation she said she just wanted to do the ‘normal things’ like going to the gym for a run and being able to go to work. As the conversation evolved, the subject of personal dreams came up and she said she wanted to act and maybe even become famous one day.
Listening to her concerns brought several thoughts into my mind. It reminded me that the first step to success is being afforded personal dignity; the opportunities to have two shoes, to wash your hair and to brush your teeth. In addition, it was impossible to ignore the fact that the human soul is hard wired to have dreams and aspirations; our new friend was no different. The image of her sitting with one shoe and no toothpaste but still having a ‘pretty good day’ is imprinted on my memory.
It took us less than 30 minutes to deliver several bags full of sandwiches and hear a dozen stories of loss, homelessness, wishes and dreams. In the same way we came, we left. We walked back across the Langevin Bridge and past the stranded Audi A4 that had been in the accident when we first left. The owner of the car was red in the face and still furious about his misfortune. As we walked passed him, he exclaimed, “Can you believe my luck!?!”
After experiencing what I had experienced for the prior half hour, I could.

Sunday 14 February 2016

Heads Up - Your Monthly Communication From the Headmaster
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Heads Up
Your Monthly Communication From the Headmaster 
Dear Parents,
Welcome to 2016! It is exciting to see our students arrive back to our College and Academy programs for another year filled with learning and celebration. This month, I thought I would focus on the value statement - “Together: Be Kind, Be Curious, Be Well.”
Together:
  • Progress Reports: Be sure to stay informed by regularly checking our website for updates. In addition to our website, you will also be able to see the most recent photos from inside the school by following the Twitter handles: @rundlecollege or @jasonbrogers
     
  • Primary Family Skate: I am excited for the upcoming Primary Family Skate where we will once again see our Academy student leaders coming along to enjoy an afternoon of skating with some of Rundle’s youngest students!  
Be Kind 
  • Snow Angels: Before Christmas, Rundle Academy sent their students into the neighborhood to clear the walks around the school and the homes in Marda Loop. This unsolicited act of kindness warmed several hearts that day! Thank you to all the students and staff who took part. In fact, this tweet was retweeted by Mayor Nenshi and was viewed by over 16,000 people! 
  • How to get into Harvard: I stumbled upon an interesting article in the Washington Post this past month that addresses a changing admissions landscape for some of North America’s top universities. If you are curious as to how kindness factors into garnering admission into some prestigious institutions, take a moment and give this article a quick read.
Be Curious
  • Campus Life: It has been really exciting to see how our student body has embraced co-curricular academic pursuits. Over the course of the past month, and in the coming days, we will see our students take part in Elementary Chess Competitions (involving over half the school), Speech and Debate Competitions (already having earned a Provincial Title!), TEDx Rundle Academy, STEAM robotics/coding labs, and a spectacular Elementary Science Fair. Needless to say, our students are finding ways to be curious and, ultimately, it is this curiosity that will allow them to innovate and make our world the best place it can be!
Be Well
  • Wellness Week at Jr. Sr. High: We all know exam week can be a trying time for students. This past month, I was inspired by the efforts that Rundle College Jr. Sr. High Peer Support put into creating the conditions for student wellness in the face of stressful exams.
  • Bullying Prevention - Wear Pink initiative: Thank you to all who are supporting the Society wide ‘Wear Pink’ initiative. As result, in late February, our campuses will be flooded with over 500 students wearing pink to raise awareness towards bullying prevention!
Thank you for all your ongoing support during the first month of 2016.  
Be well,
Jason Rogers, Headmaster
Rundle College Society 
Books on the shelf this month:
 
“Work Rules” by Laszlo Bock
“Grit to Great” by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
“The One Thing: The Surprising Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller
and Jay Papasan