social@lcs.on.ca, Author at LCS Blog

Finding Our Motivation and Rekindling Our Fire During Tough Times

Posted on 24/04/202024/04/2020Categories Uncategorized

By John Runza, Assistant Head: School Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8r7XjZwR54 We are heading into our fourth week of Learning With Lakefield - Remotely. At this point science, and researchers who have studied learning in this environment, tell us that the honeymoon phase may feel like it is ending, if it isn’t over already, and the ‘dog days’ of remote learning begin to bark louder. The novelty of the program is gone and motivation wanes. How do we rekindle the fire? Where do we find the strength to dig that much deeper? Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Chaplain’s from other Ontario schools and we all identified the fact that our schools are grieving. We are grieving the loss of being together, the loss of our community. In his recent Harvard Business Review article That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief Scott Berinato speaks to this exact issue. He calls us to acknowledge…

Can “Community” Save Our Kids

Posted on 28/09/201928/09/2019Categories Uncategorized

By Anne-Marie Kee, Head of School and Foundation, Lakefield College School The scourge of anxiety, depression and loneliness among teenagers today is all the talk among educators. And it should be, because we see it every day in the students we are charged with preparing for their next stages in life. It’s put down to all sorts of causes. Parental pressure to get high grades, build a resume and get a job. Speculation that the jobs of tomorrow don’t exist today. Stories of unemployed graduates with useless degrees. Social media pressure to present a perfect picture of happiness, beauty, sexuality, prosperity, fashion awareness or whatever other winds fill the sails of popularity. Then there’s the pervasiveness of electronic devices, which can connect people—or make all connection remote and two-dimensional. And of course, the lack of time to “just be kids.” That’s only a taste. The list is long. All take their…

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LCS Chapel Talks: Sharing Life’s Defining Moments

Posted on 24/05/20197/06/2019Categories boarding schools

By Lorraine Brown, Director of Spiritual Wellness and Diversity This is my second year in the newly created role of Director of Spiritual Wellness and Diversity. If you were to ask our students who I am you might hear, “She’s the Chapel Lady,” or “She teaches AP Lit,” or “She says good morning to us in Chapel.” All of those statements are true. I am in Chapel each morning and I greet our community as they enter and exit the Chapel. I coordinate the programming of chapel and I also teach English courses as well as Spanish. I love our chapel, I have since I started working at LCS in 2003. It is a sacred space. You can feel how different it is from the other spaces in our community. And it’s not just the architecture that sets it apart (although it is a beautifully constructed space), it is the…