Head's Up - Your Monthly Update From The Headmaster

Dear Rundle Community: It was just after 4 AM last Sunday morning. Unexpected sounds from my backyard startled me and I jumped out of bed. In the haze of my sleepy mind, I was uncertain and confused about what was happening. Soon, I came to my senses and stumbled down the stairs to the back patio to investigate. I then realized that the sounds I had heard were the songs of birds. After such a long, cold, and snowy winter, that telltale sign of spring was music to my ears! Needless to say, I was too awake to go back to sleep so I brewed a pot of coffee, opened the back door and settled in to enjoy the morning ahead. For that quiet morning, the solitude was interrupted only by the lyrical songs of those birds, and the still ambience invited reflection. Floods of memories from the past school year flowed through my thoughts. Memories ranging from celebrations to tragedy, and from achievement to failure.   In time, I was left inspired by an appreciation of our community.  On one side, our community has endured actual floods, personal losses of all magnitudes, and challenges that have tested our perseverance. On the flip side, those among us have found phenomenal success in the classroom, on the stage, on the court and in the pursuit of rigorous character.  Along with appreciation, I am also filed with hope. I am hopeful that spring will bring us all the opportunity for a little solitude and reflection. I am hopeful we will take time to share our reflections with those we care for, value, and love. I am hopeful that our community continues to rally around the importance of mental health and emotional well being. I am hopeful that the months ahead will provide enduring memories of the warmth and togetherness of our community.  To close, I am hopeful that in this edition of the Head’s Up you will find the essence of our community and join us as we support and celebrate one another in the days ahead. Together, Jason B. Rogers

In this edition of the Head’s Up, you will find: Emotional Wellbeing Taskforce The Road Ahead Hats On For Mental Health - May 2, 2018 A Day to Play; A Night for Remembering - June 1, 2018 Giving to the Headmaster’s Fund - Focus on Emotional Wellbeing Moving Walls Academy Redesign Rundle 365: Summer Camps at Rundle On the Shelf Head’s Up: The Podcast (new episodes) Emotional Wellbeing Taskforce The Road Ahead For the past 16 months, a team of caring professionals has been working hard to create a plan to ensure our community is well informed and positioned to deal with any challenges to our emotional wellbeing. To this end, we have been working with several groups in Calgary, including the Mathison Center for Mental Health, Research and Education and the Calgary Center for Suicide Prevention. These groups have brought us valuable research, insight, and perspective. As a part of the work, we have conducted an internal audit of our wellness initiatives and have piloted a couple of projects to help better support our students. To hear more about this work, give a listen to the “Head’s Up Podcast, Episode 42 - featuring Danelle Spence”. In the days ahead, we will involve our teachers, parents, and students in the dialog in an ongoing attempt to support one another. Please review the weekly Principal email updates for the information on these initiatives. Hats On For Mental Health - May 2nd On May 2nd across Alberta, there is a ‘Hats On For Mental Health’ initiative to raise awareness around mental health. We will be encouraging our community to take part to raise awareness. A Day to Play, A Night for Remembering - June 1st During the day and the evening of June 1st, we will be remembering our friend, teacher, leader and colleague, Bruce Buchanan. More details will come in the days ahead, but for now, here are a few important details: A Day to Play - Bruce was a huge lover of games and competition. To honour his memory, we will be hosting an afternoon of lawn games and friendly competition. We encourage any student, parent, or friend to come out and enjoy the afternoon together. The afternoon’s events start at 2:15 and end at 4:30. A Night for Remembering - Over the course of the month of May, we will be constructing lanterns to remember Bruce and to bring awareness to mental health. As the sun falls, we will place the lanterns on our playing field and gather to enjoy a BBQ together. In the coming days, there will be an RSVP for the event so we know how many people to expect. The event will start at 7 PM and will end after sundown. Headmaster’s Fund - In Support of Emotional Wellbeing Initiatives Often we receive undirected donations to a fund titled the ‘Headmaster’s Initiative.’  I am happy to announce that all funds donated between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018, will be used to support mental health initiatives across Rundle College Society.   These funds will go to human resources, supporting programs, and teacher and student learning opportunities.   Thank you to all who have participated and who participate in the future! Moving Walls - Academy Redesign On Wednesday, May 2nd, we are excited to be hosting the kick-off for our Academy Redesign project at theDIRTT warehouse!  The evening promises to be packed with Academy spirit, information items on design, food, beverages, great conversations and virtual reality!  We look forward to seeing many of our Rundle families join us for a sneak preview of the upcoming changes to the Academy facility! For more information on the event, the project or fundraising, feel free to contact Mr. Keith van der Meer (vandermeer@rundle.ab.ca) or Mr. Aaron Goettel (goettel@rundle.ab.ca). Summer Camps at Rundle After much planning and anticipation, we are proud to launch the registration for our Rundle Summer Camps Program. We hope to bring students from Rundle and all over Calgary to join in our programs and to benefit from the excellence of our coaches and our activities. If you have any questions about the camps or the offerings, please do not hesitate to reach out and contact Laurel Adolphe (adolphe@rundle.ab.ca).   Space is limited - so be sure to sign up soon.  On The Shelf 7 Simple Steps to Understanding Your Teenager (Just Kidding, That’s Impossible) by Danelle Spence Article: They Were Trained for This Moment by Dahlia Lithwick Finding the Space to Lead by Janice Marturano The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design  to Transform Teaching & Learning by Inc. OWP/P Cannon Design, VS Furniture, Bruce Mau Design Head’s Up - The Podcast Feature Episodes: Episode 41 - Dr. Rod Conklin - One of our founders Episode 42 - Danelle Spence - Emotional Wellness Task Force If you are interested in giving it a listen, go to the Apple Podcast Store and search, “Head’s Up” (include the apostrophe) and you will see this image pop up.  Feel free to give it a listen and provide me with any feedback you might have.