Volume 16 Issue 4 November 23, 2012

THE MEN OF NOVEMBER: STEPHEN LEWIS, WALTER MASSEY AND SAM CHARLTON

November has been a busy month at Crescent, with the annual

Remembrance Day Assembly on the 7th, and with two centennial events taking place this month; the opening of the Centennial Garden (following the Remembrance Day Assembly) and the Centennial Speaker Series with its first guest, Stephen Lewis, on the 14th.

Three men stand out; making an impres-sion at these events, and leaving those in attendance in awe of their abilities, with wonder at their stories, and a with a strong feeling of gratitude.

The Remembrance Day Assembly is an event in which the entire School partici-pates, and contributes. Organized by Dr. Boyes, the assembly featured the Lower School choir, the Upper School Stage Band, readings of prose and verse by fac-ulty, parents shared stories, and the Mid-dle School students presented tableaus.

Grade 8 student Sam Charlton had cre-ated a performance piece based on the poem But A Short Time to Live by Leslie Coulson (1889 - 1916). Sam took a seat before the audience, with his guitar in hand, and sang. Having composed the music to accompany the tone and spirit of the poem, Sam had listeners awestruck

by his hauntingly pure voice as he sung the beautiful and painful words of Coul-son’s, to an original melody he composed and played on his acoustic guitar.

Sam has been playing piano since he was a child, and his home is filled with music. His younger brother also plays the piano (Sam says Spencer in Grade 6 is better than him now), and his mother plays too, and his father, the guitar. Sam has moved on from the piano to the guitar, and prac-tices every day and writes whenever he can; taking advantage of opportunities such as Middle School’s new Journey with a Journal sessions to do so. (see p.4)

Grandson of Crescent’s greatest bene-factor, and alumnus Walter Massey was at the Remembrance Day Assembly, and a witness to Crescent’s talent. That day, he was part of a visiting alumni contingent here for the official opening of the Cen-tennial Garden. (see p.2)

Finally, Stephen Lewis arrived on a Tues-day evening, as did 2011/2012 Head Boy Graham Rotenberg. Graham had the honour of introducing Mr. Lewis.

What Mr. Lewis had to say was power-ful, unsettling and a necessary reminder of what is happening on this planet. At

75, Mr. Lewis is still full of indefatiga-ble hope and is unrelentingly idealistic, convinced that humanity can right the wrongs which seem so inherent in our ac-tions and predilections.

Mr. Lewis presented the four issues man-kind must correct: gender inequality, egregious poverty, the HIV/AIDS epi-demic, and environmental sustainability.

Among an impressive list of singular ac-complishments, he reminded the audi-ence that Canada hosted, and he chaired, the first international conference on cli-mate change in 1988, and warned that a catastrophic environmental disaster is imminent. Mr. Lewis, in all sincerity, stat-ed that if he was to do it all over again, he would want to do the work of someone like David Suzuki.

From the clear and innocent voice of a young man singing about the loss of life in a war that ravaged the world almost 100 years ago, to a man recollecting a home that housed Crescent School al-most as many years ago, to a senior advo-cate of human rights who is pleading for changes that should have happened 100 years ago, the Crescent community has been very lucky to have had heard from all three.

2 Men of Character from Boys of Promise

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS & ADVANCEMENT NEWS

Crescent School is a place rich with history, tradition and values. It’s a place where in the past 100 years over 2,500

students have graduated, leaving behind their identity as Cres-cent students to assume the title of a Crescent alumnus. I have come to learn since I started working at Crescent, that our alumni are proud, successful men of character who hold their alma mater in a very special regard. It is not uncommon for me to frequently welcome alumni who have dropped by to say hello, reconnect and have a tour around campus. The hallways before holidays are filled with young alumni, who, back home temporarily, make it a point to stop by to say hello. Our alumni are treasured members of the Crescent community.

I was hired in August 2011 as the Alumni Relations Officer in the Advancement Office. It was soon apparent to me that I would have two core responsibilities. The first would be to consistently reach out to alumni to help them become involved in School life and alumni events. I would also work hand-in-hand with the Alumni Executive, supporting their many initia-tives, programs and events. Essentially, I was to be the alumni “friend-raiser” at Crescent School.

Crescent’s centennial year has provided the perfect backdrop for the Alumni Executive, and me, to reach out to our alumni. The Centennial will be among the most momentous occasions in the lifetime of the School. It is a perfect opportunity to wrap our arms around the alumni and celebrate everything that is Crescent. I have made it one of my priorities, with the Execu-tive, to ensure our alumni are a significant part of the centennial celebrations.

Crescent Grads are often influential, interesting men. We do our best to profile our prominent Grads, recognize their ac-complishments and tell their stories. In the most recent edition of Past and Present, we profiled eight alumni from almost each de-cade of the School’s history. This year we also pay special hom-age to our Dentonia Alumni whose memories of the School go back to its early years.

We recently had the privilege of reconnecting with Walter Ed-ward Hart Massey II ’39. The Masseys are recognized as one of the School’s most prominent families. Mr. Massey is the grand-son of Susan Denton Massey and Walter Edward Hart Massey I. It was Susan Denton Massey who generously donated her home, which became Crescent School’s Dentonia campus.

Of the Massey’s six grandsons who attended Crescent School in the late 1920s and 1930s, two survive today: Walter Massey ’39 and Vincent Tovell ’35. I was successful in tracking down

Walter and Vincent, and invited them both to partake in our Remembrance Day Assembly, and official opening of the Cen-tennial Garden on November 7. Although Vincent was unable to attend, Walter and his wife, Sharman Yarnell, a radio host with CJAD in Montreal, were thrilled to be welcomed back to the School that he remembers so fondly. At lunch with Walter, we listened to the stories of his time at Crescent School, so many years ago. There was no doubt, listening to him speak, that he was thrilled and honoured to be at the School.

While we were truly grateful that Walter and Sharman travelled from Montreal to be with us for the day, it was apparent that they were the ones who were most grateful. During the un-veiling of the Centennial Garden, Walter touched the pillars that graced the front door of his grandmother’s house, saw the portraits of his grandfather hanging in the Drawing Room, and sifted through photos of his grandmother and father from the 1930s. It was clear that we had given back to Walter something that only Crescent could.

I enjoy my role as Crescent School’s Alumni Relations Offi-cer immensely. When I witness relationships being restored, long forgotten Crescent memories recalled, inside jokes be-tween alumni and former teachers shared, and to comprehend the feeling of what it’s like to be a Crescent Grad expressed, I know that we have accomplished our goal; our alumni relations strategy to ensure that our alumni’s experience is a rich and rewarding one, and one that will always remain with them, and at the heart of the School, is being realized.

—Kathryn Rutherford, Alumni Relations Officer

Colin Lowndes, Bruce Burgess ’57, William Mills ’45, Walter Massey ’39

3Men of Character from Boys of Promise

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS & ADVANCEMENT NEWS CPA NEWS

A 100-YEAR-OLD HAUNTED SCHOOLHOUSELower School Halloween PartyCPA Social Programmes

Events like this October’s Lower School Hallow-

een Party show Crescent at its best. Students, parents, siblings, teachers and their families all came together in a huge show of community spirit.

With a turnout of over 400 people, the Upper Gym was filled with morphs, ghouls and the whole cast of Alice in Wonderland, and every-one was rocking it “Gangnam Style!”

After dinner, the next order of business was the ever-popular Haunted House. Or-ganized by parent volunteers and 22 Upper School boys—led by Lower School Liaison Taylor Keating—the Haunted

House was a huge success as evidenced by the long lineup. Who doesn’t like to be scared out of their wits?

When enough food was had, and when the pounding beat from the Upper School DJs could no longer be ignored, the crowd moved to the gym. With carnival games, candy to fill up loot bags, and guess-ing jars full of newt brains and ghost teeth, the gym was in full swing.

For our littlest goblins, there was a craft table with Hallow-een themed picture frames and door hangers to be glit-tered and glued. The bingo table, run by Mr. Bell, Ms. Moore, Ms. Warren and an Upper School volunteer, was

a great spot to sit and rest those dance-weary legs… and to win fun prizes.

The highlight of the evening was when Ms. Johnson and the Grade 3s took centre stage for the Thriller perfor-mance. Following the perfor-mance was the dance contest. All the while, Ms. Birtwhistle and Ms. Whale were scoping the gym for best costumes and best dancers.

When it came time for the prizes to be awarded, we had the perfect presenter: Mr. Mac—a surprise visitor that we were all happy to see! As always, there were so many outstanding and creative cos-tumes from the Princess and the Pea, the walking dinner

table, to the creepy little old man who seemed to be every-where.

The Halloween Party is a true community event that could not happen without the sup-port of an amazing commit-tee, many extra volunteers and the dedicated Crescent faculty and staff.

This year we had over 80 staff, faculty, parent and stu-dent volunteers working to make this night happen.

A huge thank you to all of those who helped out and a huge thank you to all of the families who came out to show their support for this special event.

—Joelle Corona, ChairKelly Haskins, Co-Chair

LS Halloween Party

4 Men of Character from Boys of Promise

We have heard it many times: the students of today will be applying for jobs that have not been created yet, work-

ing with technology that has not been invented yet, and com-municating with each other on devices we cannot yet imagine.

On Thursday, Nov. 8, the Lower School faculty had their sec-ond session of a professional development series on differen-tiated instruction and 21st century learning. The first session in August trained the teachers to identify their own modes of learning from the seven identified by Howard Gardner:

Though, as a faculty, we were familiar Gardner’s work, our workshop facilitator, Clare Mahon of The Learning Link had created a diagnostic tool for self-identification that is both us-er-friendly and fun. We were able to use this tool with all the Lower School students this fall, and each students individual

data has provided us with a useful way to create curriculum geared to the needs of all of our students, and help the boys understand how they are smart.

In our second workshop, we reflected upon how our teaching strategies and assessments have positively adapted to incorpo-rate this information for our boys. We discussed creating cur-riculum that uses the 4Cs of 21st century learning strategies:

• communication (sharing ideas: face to face, email to email, tweet to tweet, etc.)

• collaboration (from group work to winning teams)• creativity (finding moments of creation)• critical thinking (not what to think, but how to think, and

manipulate knowledge)

Without question, planning for the future (even one as unpre-dictable as that of the 21st century) by designing curriculum with the 4Cs in mind allows us to create the flexible mindsets and skill sets that our boys will need in order to succeed.

—Dr. Boyes, Head of Lower School

From the Middle School

Crescent School boldly, daily and with vigour proclaims its mission to be Men of Character from Boys of Promise. It

is a wonderfully attractive phrase evoking the optimism of boy-hood; it highlights the journey towards a potential fulfilled. It is a powerful statement.

Middle School finds itself in the middle of that mission. Our job is to be the bridge from one part of that mission to the other. We are to be guides through a landscape that has some exciting opportunities and common pitfalls and realities.

Middle School Reality iFor centuries, in virtually every culture, Middle School would be the time when you became a man. Your community would invite you, usually through some ceremony, into manhood.

Few cultures maintain those customs but our boys still strain towards a desire to be seen as a man during their Middle School years. It is palpable—they want to be acknowledged by their community as having significance. In this vacuum our boys often don’t have the language or an understanding of what is meant by manhood—what does that actually mean?

Middle School Reality iiOur boys are enjoying, with some teething issues, BYOD in the Middle School. It is a method of working that will be our boys reality, and as such we have to find thoughtful ways of allowing our boys to use the tools with which they will work.

A nagging concern is that our boys are increasingly multitask learners. The most recent language for their generation refers to them as Glancers—they glance at lots but don’t spend time thinking deeply on one thing. Our challenge is to consider how to get our boys to connect with deeper thoughts.

Middle School Reality iiiCrescent is passionate about guiding our boys towards becom-ing Men of Character—it is our mission. It is a lifelong journey that continues long beyond the walls of Crescent. In this char-acter journey our boys are responsible, ultimately, for their own growth and direction. How can Crescent support our boys to-wards becoming reflective individuals determined to always be striving forward in their character journey?

JouRney with JouRnal: a Reflective Guide to Manhood In the last month we have introduced a program called Journey with a Journal: A Reflective Guide to Manhood. The hope is that our boys are exposed to selected topics around manhood and character in their mentor groups, and then are afforded time each week during which they can journal; that is, to have quiet time during which they have the option to reflect individ-ually, to consider who they are, and who they want to become.

It might sound counterintuitive that boys might like time out during a day to reflect, but I can’t overstate how amazed we have been at the enthusiasm with which they have embraced

From the Lower School

• visual/spatial• verbal/auditory• mathematical/logical• musical/rhythmic

• body/kinesthetic• self/intrapersonal• social/interpersonal

5Men of Character from Boys of Promise

this opportunity to find a quiet spot to journal—it has been profound.

The boys are authentically excited at the possibilities. We are excited that they might form the first habits of being a reflec-tive, deep thinking individual—it is the essential tool to ensure you continue to grow towards the character traits you want to exhibit throughout your life.

Now I must be clear, these are the first steps on a journey. Not all boys will be thoughtful, reflective keepers of journals all the time; they are adolescent boys after all. Some will doodle, some will daydream and some will commit to paper the first few stuttering thoughts they have on a big issue of manhood. It is really important that we honour all these possibilities so that

a boy comes at this when he is ready.

We feel strongly that we want to create an opportunity in the Middle School for our boys to step into our Upper School as young men of our community. We want them to be deep thinking, reflective individuals who are invested and open to growing as Men of Character. Promoting that through guided discussion and celebrated journaling feels like an authentic way for our boys to begin that journey, and to own it at the same time.

Your son’s mentor would love to talk to you about how excit-ing this program has been—take the chance to ask. Or even ask your son… you’ll be amazed.

—Mr. Young, Head of Middle School

I want to hand this column over to the boys. I’ve just finished reading all of the pieces of writing that the Upper School

boys produced for the Centennial Time Capsule. I was up-lifted, amused, provoked, and touched by their reflections on Crescent life and their predictions for the future. I really want to share some excerpts with you—I know your responses will be similar. I selected these passages, not so much because they are unique, but rather because they are representative of ob-servations and feelings that I encountered over and over again. I hope you enjoy this brief taste of their work.

I enjoy the teachers the most in the Upper School. At Crescent a lot of the teachers are very understanding, and are always willing to put in extra time if I fall behind. My favourite thing about the teachers here is that in class they always try to make the class enjoyable, by making funny comments, making jokes, and at the same time they are staying on topic and teaching us.

I came to Crescent being an absolutely dreadful student but the teachers’ sup-port helped me become a much better student. That feeling of having teachers that care is what I love about Crescent Upper School.

Finally, there is a great sense of pride that I personally get from being able to say that I am a Crescent School boy.

In the future, I think Dollarama will become Two-Dollarama.

Thirty-five years from now in the year of 2048, a time capsule will be opened. By that year, I hope Crescent School will remain the home I remember: wel-coming, caring, and intelligent. I hope that the future students of Crescent School will remain Men of Character from Boys of Promise, and will represent Crescent School with pride and dignity.

I hope that if I ever have the opportunity to come back to observe the cohesive integral community that is Crescent School, the School will be the same in regard to both its values and its unwavering sense of community. The things that make Crescent so great—its faculty, facilities and students, are all cen-tered around the common acceptance of community; these revered concepts are

truly uncommon in today’s world, and I believe that if it continues to live on, then Crescent will maintain its reputation of being an amazing and worth-while place to be and learn. Overall, if Crescent doesn’t change one bit, I feel that the future will still be full of accomplishment, and look very bright.

We have great teachers at Crescent who give us the best opportunities, and excellent facilities to help our learning. There are some schools where academ-ics aren’t as big a concern as at Crescent, and I feel like everyone at Crescent genuinely cares about doing well. This helps give us the best opportunities to be successful in the future.

I also have learned, after coming to Crescent, that not everybody is as fortu-nate as we are, to be able to have a supporting family willing to sacrifice to put you into such caring hands at this school. I can say that Crescent has truly changed my life in a positive way.

When asked to describe Crescent in 2048, what does one usually describe? A new hockey rink, the abolition of homework, or perhaps coed learning? I am not going to talk about any of this not because it isn’t important or wonderful but because everybody will write about the vast changes that will certainly shift the state of learning at Crescent in the next 35 years. Instead, I will write about what I would not like changed. After all, things change on their own but it takes work to keep things the same: namely the focus on stimulating education, which starts with the hiring of great teachers who assign interest-ing assignments. I’ve had so many wonderful teachers here that I can’t name a favourite, although I will give special thanks to my various English teachers for changing my essays from bouts of pretentious rambling to slightly more poignant bouts of pretentious rambling. If this changes (the teaching quality, not my pretentious rambling) it would be a sad future indeed. In conclusion, although I hope the Crescent of 2048 looks as technologically advanced as one can imagine, to change at the cost of our ideals would be a mistake.

How can you not be proud?

—Mr. Lowndes, Head of Upper School

From the Upper School

6 Men of Character from Boys of Promise

FROM THE UNIVERSITY COUNSELLING OFFICE

Every fall, there is a gathering of university and college admissions

professionals from around the world. This October the event took place in Denver, Colorado: the Mile High City. The American organization that brings counsellors together is called the Na-tional Association for College Admis-sion Counsellors (NACAC). I had the chance to attend the event for the first time as a representative of Crescent.

This year’s NACAC conference was attended by almost 5,600 secondary school counsellors, independent coun-sellors, university and college represen-tatives and exhibitors from 33 countries. The Denver Convention Centre was a bustling hive of activity throughout the conference.

While there I chose to attend workshops and sessions that focused on varying topics. The first session was called Us-ing Small Group Advisory Programs to Complement Your College Counselling Program. As I listened to the present-ers I realized that what they were talk-ing about was our mentor group system! They stated that small group advisories have shown considerable promise in en-suring that all students have a connec-tion with a staff person in their school.

A further session focused on helping counsellors gain the practical tools and critical information necessary in regards to key terms and definitions, basic aca-demic and amateur initial-eligibility re-quirements, and practical ways coun-sellors can help students through the athletic eligibility process. Both speakers were representatives of the NCAA Eligi-bility Centre and were very knowledge-able about the process for student ath-letes applying to the United States.

Other sessions I attended were called Infusing a Caring Climate on Your

Campus, How Understanding Student Behaviour Leads to Practical Strategies for Engaging Students in College Plan-ning, Navigating the Waters of Athletic Recruiting, and All You Need to Know About UK Admissions.

Probably the best session of the confer-ence was called Completing Winning Applications. The presenters were two counsellors from schools in the state of Virginia, and an admission officer from the University of Georgia. Throughout their presentation they used data from the 2010 NACAC Admission Trends Survey to point out what truly matters in the college admission process.

They gave information around best prac-tices for controlling and maximizing the white space of an application. A poi-gnant part of the presentation was when all three presenters focused on the nec-essary differences that should exist be-tween teacher and counsellor letters of recommendation in order to build an ap-plication that accurately represents the student to any admission committee. As I left the room, I realized that the session in its entirety would be a fabulous pro-fessional development workshop for all of the Upper School faculty who at some point throughout the year are asked to write letters of recommendation on be-half of our students.

In addition to the sessions and work-shops, there was a meeting of the CAIS school counsellors in attendance. This meeting built upon our initial CAIS con-ference in Montreal earlier this year.

On Saturday afternoon, with the con-ference formalities over, I took a trip on the Denver light rail system to the University of Denver. The University of Denver is a small, private college with approximately 5,500 undergraduate and 6,000 graduate students. It is built on a

beautiful sub-urban campus just 20 minutes by public transit from downtown Denver.

One interesting aspect about the Univer-sity of Denver is its Cherrington Global Scholars program which is available to all students who choose to go on an inter-national exchange during an undergradu-ate degree. The program pays for all ad-ditional costs that a student might incur for such an experience.

I was there only three days after the first Presidential Debate. The Committee on Presidential Debates in the United States had insisted that the ice be taken out of the arena for the debate, and therefore the University of Denver Pioneers hock-ey team was playing the UBC Thunder-birds at the Pepsi Centre that evening. The Pioneers were NCAA Division 1 Champions in 2004 and 2005. So for my last night, I watched the game—a 2-2 tie.

Overall, my first trip to NACAC was fantastic. Next year’s NACAC confer-ence will take place in Toronto! This is the first time the event will be hosted outside of the United States. No doubt our office will be asked to be a part of the planning.

When I go to conference such as this, I always hope that I can come away with one or two good ideas. I think the in-sight gained regarding any UK bound students, US college bound athletes, and most importantly the need for the Uni-versity Counselling Office to support teachers in their development and writ-ing of letters of recommendation, will serve our students well in the months and years ahead.

—Don Haag, Senior Associate Director, University Counselling

7Men of Character from Boys of Promise

During the Midterm Break, I was a member of a counsellor tour orga-

nized by Laureate International Univer-sities, specialists in hospitality education.

The tour began in Montreux, Switzer-land where I was joined by 19 other counsellors representing high schools in 12 different countries in North America, Central America, Europe and Asia.

We spent two days touring Les Roches International School of Hotel Manage-ment in Crans Montana, followed by a visit to Glion Institute of Higher Educa-tion in a suburb of Montreux.

Both schools prepare students for man-agement careers in the hospitality indus-try—in a hotel, resort, restaurant, casino complex or cruise line as examples. As business schools, students usually gradu-ate with a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) after a three-and-a-half year period consisting of seven semes-ters including two of internships in loca-tions around the globe.

This university program is accredited by NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) which also ac-credits Harvard, MIT and Yale.

The Les Roches education caters more to the student seeking practical “hands on” training while Glion focuses more on academics.

We met a wide variety of students from all parts of the world who were incredibly poised, and with whom it was impressive to speak. Many spoke multiple languages although English is the language of in-struction, and clearly the most important language in the industry.

Interestingly, admission to these schools is based less on academic achievement in high school but more so on “savoir etre” and “savoir faire” translating into

students who possess outstanding peo-ple skills, are adventurous, collabora-tive, ambitious and worldly—with lots of travel experience and curiosity and an appreciation of diverse cultures.

Students learn in a fabulous environment that is first class in every way, and seem to be so well trained for the job market.

It is estimated that by 2021, 10 per cent of all jobs on the planet will be in the hospitality sector, and the evidence of this is already clear as the top 10 hotel brands (Four Seasons, Shangra La, Ritz Carlton, Kempinski, etc.) go through rapid growth, adding more and more rooms and hotels worldwide.

So much of this demographic phenome-non is fueled by the emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Australasia, low budget

airline growth, and aging baby boomers with more time for leisure travel.

If this sort of educational experience sounds of interest to you, I encourage you to speak with me, or visit laureate-hospitalty.com for more details about these amazing schools.

As a final point of interest, we learned that the majority of students at these universities are actually from relatively high socio-economic backgrounds. In fact, we were surprised to discover that by the end of this unique education, stu-dents will graduate as “ladies and gentle-men in the service of ladies and gentle-men.”

—Mr. Mitz, Director Emeritus, University Counselling

THESE BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATES GET MULTIPLE JOB OFFERS

It is 4:30 a.m. A loud siren is blasting off somewhere. In my grogginess, I incorporate a fire truck somewhere into

my dreamworld for a few seconds. Suddenly, from across the room, I hear a human voice interrupt, “How the *#!$%! does this thing turn off??”

Slowly, it is all starting to come together in my fuzzy brain. It is my own cell phone alarm that is making all the racquet. Where am I though? I must think for 10 – 20 seconds. Oh yeah… the Hampton Inn in some small out-of-the-way town in Ohio, in the heart of America. And who is fumbling with my cell phone, pleading with it to stop?

Oh yeah… longtime pal, colleague and fellow cycling team-mate, Paul Craig. In the dark, the whole picture is coming back into focus: we are here, tired and sleep-deprived, as part of the Wellspring Peloton Challenge, where 26 riders in small relay teams are trying to make their way from Toronto to Austin, Texas in an effort to raise money and awareness for the amazing cancer support foundation, Wellspring.

We splash water on our faces, eat some granola, a power bar, or something else resembling sawdust, pull on our cold-weather cycling gear and head outside to join our fellow teammates. It is -10 C outside, and pitch black. The other nearly 100 per cent of society is sensibly sleeping cozily under their duvets.

Finally, near 6 a.m., the team that has been riding the midnight-to-six shift before us pulls in for the handoff.

Away we go: it is our own small team of six’s turn to cycle for six hours and at least 120 km before we, in turn, pass the torch to the next group of riders. With headlamps to light our way, like hybrid robot-zombies, we assemble into our typical single-file riding formation, to cut down on wind resistance, which is

a very good tactic on this cold morning (as long as you’re not at the front of the pack!).

Maybe it is a good thing that it is dark too—it prevents me from seeing all the frost that has formed overnight on the neighbouring farm fields—a visual reminder of how cold it is.

Within 15 minutes, all fingers and toes have gone completely numb. Just keep the head down, move the legs, and grind it out, I keep muttering to myself over and over through chat-tering teeth, while fantasizing about sipping hot chocolate in a native sweat lodge.

Eventually, the sun shows itself, and the body ever-so-slowly begins to thaw. Six hours pass, and we have done our part this day; made it to our check point to tag off with the next team.

But rest can’t come yet. We load our bikes onto the roof of our team van, then drive six hours ahead to where we must eat, somehow rest, and begin the whole process again.

A week of this cycling, driving, eating, sleeping, and leap-frog-ging finally comes to an end as we enter the Lone Star State of Texas, to take part in our last bum-numbing tour on the bicycle seat—the Livestrong Challenge, also in support of families liv-ing with cancer (and yes, the controversial Lance was there, ever so briefly).

A hot, windy ride finished the fundraising ordeal, and what a unique, challenging, memorable experience it was—absolutely worth doing! The best outcome of it all: the crew of riders managed to raise over $400, 000 for Wellspring in the process.

Thanks to all in our Crescent community who helped support the ride. You made a difference!!

—Greg Michalski, Upper School Faculty

REFLECTIONS FROM A BICYCLE SEATA HUMOUROUS LOOK AT A GRUELLING ENDEAVOUR

Crescent School | 2365 Bayview Ave. Toronto, ON M2L 1A2 | 416.449.2556 | www.crescentschool.org

Mr. Craig leads the peloton followed by his brother John, and then Mr. Michalski and other team members, on the Natchez Trace Trail in Tennessee, on their way to Austin, Texas.

great picture!