Director's Blog

Following our April Board of Trustees meeting, our Trustees who are Pearson Alumni wrote a summary for all alumni explaining how the Board came to the conclusion that the best course of action is to reduce enrollment as one step to renew Pearson College's future. A copy of that letter follows...

Renewing Pearson College

Dear Fellow Alumni,

As you will see from the attached letter from our College Director, David Hawley, we, as members of the Board of Trustees, made some difficult choices this past weekend to ensure a healthy future for Pearson. As alumni on the College Board, we hope this letter will give you a full perspective on the current state of the College. We also hope it will encourage our broader community – students, parents, alumni, donors, patrons, trustees and other supporters – to rally around in support of the College.

Pearson remains a beacon for the UWC movement. Of the 14 UWCs, it is only one of two (along with Adriatic) that maintains a full scholarship policy. This year, there were 200 students from 103 countries. Because of our full scholarship policy, we continue to create opportunities for students, which other UWCs find hard to replicate. We have several students from the poorest and most challenged regions of the world, including Yemen, East Timor, Congo, Somalia, and Haiti. We also continue to provide a distinctive educational experience, with a significant focus on sustainability and social responsibility.

We wish we could have beamed all of you into the village meeting we attended last Friday. Students vigorously debated the merits of the 10:30 “rule”, the responsibility they and faculty each have towards each other, and what it means to be an alumni of Pearson. Current Pearson College Trustee and Former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark perhaps summed it up best when he said “I was enormously impressed by the students”.

We also feel extremely fortunate to have David Hawley leading a talented and dedicated faculty. While the last of our cherished “old guard” Andrew Spray may be retiring this year, the pioneering spirit of our mentors and teachers continues to echo through the campus.

And yet there are obvious signs that the current operations are not financially sustainable. The houses are much the same as they were 30 years ago, with the result that they are in need of significant renovation.

What led the College to this point? In order to fund its operations, the College has, from its inception, relied on money from the Pearson College endowment, government support and annual giving from corporations, alumni, patrons, trustees and other friends of the College.  Up until two years ago, the growth in the endowment, largely based upon returns on the existing investments, combined with an upward trend in annual fundraising, most notably alumni giving, gave management and the  Board hope that the College would  eventually operate at a break even level and then begin retiring its debt and  further growing the endowment. Unfortunately, the global economic crisis intervened. While the College was luckier than most other institutions – the value of the endowment fell by 18% while those of many universities fell by more than 30% – the net result is that the College is receiving less from the endowment than it was 2 years ago. In addition, we have been cautioned not to rely on government funding continuing at its current level. Further, the College has accumulated a deficit of $5 million and has exhausted its line of credit with the bank.

For those of you who would like full details on the College’s financial situation, we will happily provide them. The quick summary is as follows:

■ 10 years ago, our budget per student was $28,000 per year. This was comparable to many other Canadian schools and other UWCs. Today, our budget is less than 2/3 of what comparable schools charge. In other words, the College has been unable to grow its fundraising enough to keep up with other educational institutions. We have cut so much that the math budget is $15 per student – barely enough for photocopies. This has been offset somewhat by initiatives like the school growing some of its own food and the implementation of significant energy conservation measures in order to reduce costs in a forward looking way.

■ The numbers above mean that to sustainably provide the kind of educational experience that we all had when we attended, the College needs to raise at least $8 million per year (200 students at $40,000 each). Put in other words, the cost of a full scholarship that includes tuition, room, board and related costs should be at least $40,000, if not $45,000 per year.

■ With the decline in the endowment and other annual funding sources, the College only expects to raise $5.5 million in the coming 2010-11 fiscal year.

■ In order to balance the budget – something we have to do because the bank will not lend any more money – the College has to cut its expenses to $5.5 million. (200 students at $5.5 million would mean $27,500 per student).

As a Board, we were left with a choice between two alternatives: the College either had to raise revenues from new sources immediately (realistically, the easiest way to do this would be to let go of the full scholarship policy); or, the College had to cut the number of students that attend Pearson to 160 until it develops the capability to raise enough money to return to a community of 200 students.

The Board chose to cut the number of students attending Pearson by 20 in each of the next two years. The reasons the Board made this choice are:

■ The consensus was that the full scholarship policy is one of the distinguishing features of Pearson College. The College has much more flexibility than other UWCs to accept students from anywhere in the world, regardless of means.

■ The consensus was that that the College can build a fundraising operation that can, over the next 2-3 years, raise up to $8 million annually. The reality is that the College has chronically under-invested in fundraising and communications. One of the key decisions made this past weekend is to proceed with a search for an individual to lead and develop a world class Development/Fundraising team for the College. The Pearson College Foundation has agreed to fund the investment required to get this team up and running.

■ Given that it will take at least 2-3 years to develop the fundraising base required to support 200 students on full scholarship, the Board decided to reduce the number of students attending the school. The Board hopes this is a temporary measure.

■ One side benefit of reducing the number of students to 160 is that it will free up one house. The College can use this opportunity to renovate the houses one at a time. Otherwise, the College would have had to put 40 students in trailers in the parking lot while it renovated each house.

We could end our letter here and ask for your help with donations. We will ask for your help… but this is only half the story.

While the majority of the Board has been focused on fundraising, a sub-group has developed an exciting vision for Pearson College. Vision 2020 articulates an exciting future which maintains the ideals of the Colleges while adapting the delivery of the experience to today’s world. What is clear is that the need for an institution like Pearson remains as great today as it was 40 years ago, perhaps more so. The Board has made difficult choices in order to preserve a healthy and relevant Pearson College.

The reason we are confident that we can raise the $8 million per year we need to educate 200 young leaders from all over the globe is precisely because the mission and vision of Pearson remain so meaningful. The best way for us to convince you that this is still the case is to encourage you to visit the College website at www.pearsoncollege.ca. Click on some of the student videos and read through their stories. Education remains a powerful force to foster peace and international understanding.

The Board essentially has a 3 stage plan to renew the College.

■ Stage 1: Stabilize. The College first needs to balance the finances and build the capacity to raise the necessary operating, capital and endowment funds. The participation of all alumni can serve as the catalyst and accelerator for the renewed fundraising efforts.

■ Stage 2: Renovate. The campus needs a complete renovation, beginning with the student houses. So it would be reasonable to expect a major capital campaign within the next few years.

■ Stage 3: Grow and Sustain. Once the College has eliminated its deficit, rebuilt the campus and shown that it can raise sufficient funds to sustain a balanced operation, it can focus on growing new programmes that enhance both the experience of all of our students and potentially reach many more outside Pedder Bay.
The fundraising goals and timelines for each stage are being developed and will be shared as soon as we have them ready.

So how can alumni help? Interestingly, it is not just about money – though unfortunately, the money is also essential.

■ Stay in touch. Pearson College is only as strong as the strength of its community. Today, this community total 3400 alumni, 200 students, 40 faculty and staff, and countless friends, parents and supporters.

■ Fill out your College profile. Donors are very interested in what graduates are doing. About 50% of graduates have filled out theirs. It would be helpful if we had an even fuller picture of the composition of our alumni base.

■ Get involved with a UWC National Committee. Selection remains one of the most important elements in creating a great College with terrific students.

■ Become a RECURRING donor. Why RECURRING? Because this creates a habit (not all habits are bad!) and it helps the college predict what cash flow it can count on.

To become a donor, please go to www.pearsoncollege.ca/alumni_givingback.

Every gift, no matter what the size, matters. The best universities achieve 50% participation. We should be able to do the same. Today we are at 19%.

We recognize that this letter raises as many questions as it answers. We are available to continue this conversation via email, phone or Facebook and we encourage you to reach out to any one of us. Feel free to make initial contact the emails listed below.

Sincerely,

Your alumni Trustees:

Jean Drouin (Year 15) jean_drouin@mckinsey.com
Michael Gordon (Year 14) mgordon003@sympatico.ca
Emma Howard-Boyd (Year 7) ehowardboyd@jupiter-group.co.uk
Robert Janes (Year 8) rjanes@jfklaw.ca
Alison MacKenzie-Armes (Year 5) alisonm@ca.ibm.com
Tom Sutton (Year 13) tsutton@mccarthy.ca

In just a few weeks, one hundred students who we fondly refer to as Pearson College Year 35, will finish their exams and will join the nearly 3,400 other alumni from the College, all of whom are making a difference in their own unique ways in furthering peace, international understanding and making this a better and more sustainable world. We are all proud of having made it possible for these students from all over the world to have received a full scholarship to attend Pearson College. We have accomplished this through the generosity of our alumni and volunteers and many other individuals, foundations and corporations who believe in our mission and the power of education. 

We have done everything possible to weather the global economic crisis of the past few years while continuing to provide two hundred students this unique Pearson College experience. We have decreased our operating budget by over one million dollars over the last several years and adjusted it for inflation. Our dedicated faculty and staff have maintained the quality of our programs with limited resources. However, all of this has not been enough for us to escape from the impact of these economic times. Even our endowment has not yet recovered from its losses, impacting the level of returns to the operational budget.

At the recent Board of Trustees meeting held on April 16-17, we reviewed these challenges that we were monitoring closely and discussed a number of options moving forward. We are now convinced that the College’s financial and physical circumstances are such that further action is needed if we are to ensure the College’s short term viability and longer term health. In doing so we, with the support of the Foundation, are determined to ensure that Pearson College can continue to thrive. This means working to ensure the preservation of the full scholarship program, the continuity of an excellent educational experience, informed by the values of the College and the UWC and a renewed physical setting. We are also convinced that without taking the steps we now propose to take, all of these goals will be compromised either in the short term or the longer term.

As a result, we have made a number of decisions to serve these goals. First, with the assistance of the Foundation, the College will be enhancing its fundraising approach and further developing the fundraising team. This is a crucial step in ensuring that Pearson can attract the appropriate level of support to meet our various goals and objectives. Second, we are going to reduce the number of students over the next two years from 200 to 160. Even though this is a difficult decision to make, it is a prudent one, which will allow us to manage our costs without compromising either the full scholarship policy or the quality of the education provided at the school. It will also put us in a position to plan for and start much needed renovations of our student houses, which just could not be managed if all of the houses are used to their maximum capacity. These actions will be done in close collaboration with faculty and staff with the goal of maintaining the quality of the overall Pearson experience.

While these adjustments will be very difficult, this approach is intended to build a more sustainable base for the College. We want to make the right choices today, as difficult as they may be, so that the College can continue to serve generations to come and remain true to its mission and values.

We invite you to communicate with either one of us to further discuss our current situation and plans for the future. 

Sincerely,

David Hawley, College Director

dhawley@pearsoncollege.ca

250.391.2438

Francis Saville, Chair, Board of Trustees

Francis.Saville@fmc-law.com

403.268.7020

At a recent Village Meeting, when all members of the Pearson Community come together to hear from each other, a student shared with us her thoughts on the life lessons that flow from sharing a room together during two years at the College. While less formal than an International Baccalaureate course, these experiences share space in the heart of our curriculum. I thought this was worth sharing more broadly:

Living Communally: A short reflection on a growing wardrobe and other such perks

I have come to realise that it is incredibly beneficial to cram yourself in a room with four other souls for the better part of a year, despite the constant lack of privacy, peace and tranquility. It turns out there are many unexpected perks to living in dorms and giving up your sanity. For instance, a choice of five wardrobes in the morning as opposed to one, the assurance that at least one of you will hear the alarm in time to wake the others up for classes and the knowledge that you have, at a minimum, four people who have to listen to how horribly your day went. Guaranteed, had I been given the choice (though for the record, I wasn't) between a single room or this sardine can, in a heartbeat, I would choose this family of women again. Yet there are many false expectations one can have of such a living arrangement. If for a moment you thought you were going to be well-rested each night, you are gravely mistaken. In the same vein, don't expect that you'll emerge from your internationally-diverse room with a thorough understanding of the ways of the world without some real work. 

At the full-scholarship Pearson College, we are assigned, in most cases, a room of four, with one Canadian and three international students, each from a different region of the globe. This is the college's attempt to breed international understanding, among other things such as patience and excellent conflict resolution abilities. My room this year is notably larger than most, with five young women from Morocco, El Salvador, Singapore, francophone and anglophone Canada, each with their own unique but undoubtedly strong personality. It's been a struggle keeping everyone from going over the tipping point into insanity (or perhaps we're just so far gone that we haven't noticed). 

Largely, the troubles have arisen from deceptively small domestic matters: the overhead light being left on, the heater being too high or too low or the mug with the mouldy tea bag that nobody seems to remember owning. Rarely will we talk about what finally ended El Salvador's 23-year civil war, whether Morocco has a legitmate claim to the Sahara desert or if Canada should be sending more troops into Afghanistan. Though these are the very issues that an educational institution like Pearson should seek to explore and prevent through its education of young leaders, it cannot force this level of conversation upon its students. Part of the duty falls on the students to push themselves and each other to the next level of understanding of the world that will be demanded from them in just a few years time. It is then a balancing act between the two types of conversations within the little time we have together. 

If Pearson scholars are to have any meaningful impact on the world through the course of their lives, they will have to distinguish themselves as individuals who have tremendous knowledge and insight about both the world they inhabit and their own selves. Both they can learn through those conversations but it is largely a choice in the students' hands. Pearson's challenge, for its scholars and its own survival, is then truly based on an United World College value: personal challenge, personal challenge, personal challenge. We must rise to this opportunity presented to us for growth. 

There is no doubt that we have done well so far, juggling all that Pearson demands physically, socially, academically and emotionally. Unfortunately, what Pearson demands morally is too often pushed to the back burner. We have a commitment to fulfill the unwritten stipulations of our scholarships: to find our life's grand passion, pursue it doggedly and become forces for ruthless good in the world. We have a social responsibility to others—be they our national committees, home communities, sponsors or families—and to ourselves to pursue excellence in hopes of bettering our world. This is what our mission statement should read. 

So at my next room meeting, I commit to asking my roommates more than if I can borrow their shirt, if they can wake me up for a morning run and if they'll listen to me gripe about classes. I will ask them what they value most, what they think of the world, what their stories are. I will try to break down the barriers put up by identifying someone by their country and instead look behind the flag to the face. For if we can solve these 'deceptively small domestic problems', we stand a chance at solving the bigger ones. My friend from Egypt—or sorry, make that my friend, Martinos—once said that perhaps we need to tackle the small problems first, before they stockpile and turn into larger heaps of unresolvable issues; that is, after all, what global wars are waged on. It is what the El Salvadorian civil war, Western Sahara desert dispute and Afghanistan conflicts are. Nations do not just decide one day to go to war with each other. The conflicts first start on a smaller scale, between city-states, religious groups, neighbours, spouses and perhaps even roommates. So if we can solve our problems about the overhead light, the heater and the mouldy tea bag, we can lay the foundation for going forth and solving some of the more serious matters in the world. The relative importance of our room conflicts to the rest of the world is slight but we must start small; we have no other choice if we are to start learning the real lessons of life. If we realise we can live together, it is the first of many stones we can take off the heap of problems. As Mr. Pearson himself said in his Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, “how can there be peace without people understanding each other, and how can this be if they don't know each other?” By getting to know our roommates, we stand a chance at standing together. And I suppose the lack of sleep and cramped quarters are small prices to pay for such things.

From Kay, Ontario, Pearson College Year 35

At the start of a four-day weekend, early Friday morning 2 April, winds gusting over 100km per hour ripped through the campus. It began about five a.m. and the sound and fury of wind aided by the thumping of branches falling on the roof of campus residences was strong enough to do the impossible: wake up students on a day with no classes. The wind was also strong enough to dump one of our sailboats upside down. The top of its mast stuck like a pin into the mud of Pedder Bay.

We were lucky that damage was light and that no one was injured. Our students spending the night on Race Rocks were also safe. The real fun part followed. Two days with no electricity. Nothing seems to bring people together better than an environment with no Internet, no phones and no plans. Thank you nature for bringing us closer together.

As with most of the world, Pearson College did not escape the impact of the devastating earthquake in Haiti last week. We offered places for the first time to students from Haiti beginning in the fall of 2007. We have one graduate from Haiti, now attending Agnes Scott College on a full scholarship in Atlanta, and one current student from Haiti. I am able to report some good news: the families of both of these Pearson Scholars survived the earthquake. Our current student was interviewed on local television twice last week and you may wish to see these broadcasts:

We are working to find meaningful ways for all of us at the College to support the relief effort. One thing we are doing with our students is volunteering at a local organization, Compassionate Resource Warehouse,  http://crwarehouse.ca/, packing shipping containers with basic supplies to be sent to Haiti. We are exploring other options, including putting on performances and selling artwork. We are concentrating on ways to support that all students can engage in.

Many of us are also making cash donations. While there are many different options, we asked our two Hatian students their recommendation and they suggest that donations be made to the Red Cross, CARE or Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Dear Pearson College Alumni

The November rains have arrived so the campus is a bit darker and quieter. Running along the Deep Woods Trail before dinner with a headlamp keeps the adrenaline flowing and the imagination alive. When two eyes are reflected back from the light, I wonder as I pick up the pace, do they belong to a deer or a bear?

The other reason it is quiet is that Extended Essays are due. I bet you are glad that is behind you. Notwithstanding the rain, we have had a terrific school year so far. We admitted students from a record 103 countries this year. This makes us Canada’s and perhaps North America’s most diverse school in terms of countries represented. I thought this relatively quiet period was a good time to write to alumni with some updates about life at the College and some invitations for you to help us out in a few areas.

New Website

A few weeks ago, we launched a new Pearson College website. This was developed by our librarian, Sherry Crowther. Like all websites, it is a work in progress. We are working to capture “Pearson stories” from our alumni. We are particularly looking for reflections from our alumni on the impact Pearson has had on what they are doing. If you would like to share a story about yourself or perhaps another alumnus, please contact Sherry (scrowther@pearsoncollege.ca) and we can get these online. We want to bring the website alive with such stories. And we welcome suggestions for improvement. You might wish to check our blog, The Link, where our students are sharing life at Pearson in words, pictures and videos. You will also find on the website some of our recent publications, such as our annual report and two research projects about our alumni – one a review of our alumni from Africa and another a review of our alumni from Atlantic Canada. We are in the process of doing research on additional booklets about our alumni in Quebec and from regions of conflict. This research is being supported by the Pearson College Canadian Foundation and is being used as we approach foundations, corporations and individuals to support student scholarships. If you receive a request for information for these studies, your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Representatives from all UWCs visit Pearson

Pearson College was host to all of the UWC College directors, board chairs and International Board members in October. The UWC has adopted a five-year plan with the following goals, to:

·   ensure that UWC’s model of education maintains relevance and becomes more widely known as an example of education for a peaceful and sustainable future. 

·   extend UWC’s impact. 

·   strengthen and develop the UWC National Committee system.

·   create a secure and sustainable financial and funding model.

·   increase awareness, recognition and understanding of UWC.

·   continue to strengthen organisational effectiveness and unity.

In addition to the UWC Board meetings, the College held a workshop on ways to improve the health and wellbeing of students at all the UWCs. This workshop was led by Dr Natalee Popadiuk, from Simon Fraser University, who completed the study of pastoral care at Pearson. Pearson alumnus, Nicole Bichard (PC Year 18) was the overall conference coordinator. It was the first time in the history of the UWCs that a workshop was held on this topic and those with such positions as dean of students or residential life coordinator at each of the UWCs attended and found this extremely helpful. This focus on the wellbeing of students has been a priority for us at Pearson and is motivated in large part from feedback I have received from alumni identifying this as an area we can improve upon at the College.

Alumni Gathering in Ottawa

Our first major alumni gathering this school year was held in Ottawa in early November. Pearson trustee and former Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Joe Clark, led a discussion about the role and place of Pearson College in Canada and the world. The panel included Jean Drouin (PC Year 15), Landon Pearson and founding trustee, Bill Teron. We had a special perspective added by Andrew Cohen who recently published a biography of Lester Pearson. We hope to have more alumni gatherings later in the winter and the spring in various parts of the world. Visit the alumni section of the website from time to time for more information.

Summer Alumni Reunions

PC Years 14&15 had an amazing twenty-year reunion this past August. The PC Years 14&15 auction was full of fun and frenzy and led to funding two full scholarships. We are now looking forward to a ten-year reunion for PC Years 25&26 as well as a thirty-year reunion for PC Years 5&6 this coming August. Again, details of these reunions can be found on our website.

Looking for a Communications Intern

We are operating Pearson College as frugally as possible during these challenging economic times. We have challenged ourselves to cut one-half million dollars from our operating budget this year. To accomplish this, we have made some reductions in our non-teaching staff. This included cutting the position of Director of Communications. But we still have the need to better communicate about Pearson College with a wide variety of constituents. With this in mind, we have created an internship position for a communications specialist. We are looking for someone who would be able to assist us with all aspects of our communications at the College, from adding content to our website to exploring the use of social media to increase the awareness of Pearson College across high schools in Canada. This would be a full time internship, ideally from January through August. We would provide room and board and a modest stipend. Interested or know of anyone you would like to recommend? We would like someone with communications, marketing or public relations experience, ideally with a university degree and also ideally a UWC graduate.

Alumni now make it possible for one out of every six students to be here

A huge thank you to what alumni are doing to keep this place alive through their financial contributions. We now have well over 200 alumni who have signed up as regular on-line donors and the total number of alumni who are participating in annual giving doubled from last year. And the amount contributed has tripled. Annual giving from alumni last year is funding ten full scholarships. And the large alumni gift to the endowment in the late 1990s of $13.5M itself supports more than twenty students per year. We still have a major challenge to maintain the full scholarship policy and all alumni are invited to be part of making this happen. All alumni should have received the letter from our current student, Connor Scheu launching this year’s annual fund campaign. Every gift makes a difference. Our alumni goal this year is to reach $500,000. As of mid November, we are about half-way there. We had some creative challenges last year like PC Year 33 students agreeing to apply Lester Pearson's idea of each developed country dedicating 7/10 of one percent of GDP to assist with the development of other nations. These alumni agreed to dedicate 7/10 of one percent of their annual income to Pearson. Quite impressive as 56% of them participated and most were first year university students. We are looking for alumni to assist with our annual alumni giving campaigns. Some are PC Year specific and others are geographic. We are always open to creative approaches. If you are interested, contact Davida at dstafford@pearsoncollege.ca or 250.391.2485.

Vision 2020

Pearson College, like the UWC International Board, is looking to the future. Over the past spring and summer, we explored with students, faculty, staff, local alumni, trustees, host families and friends of Pearson College the best way to complete this sentence:

“For Pearson College to make its finest contribution towards a peaceful and sustainable world, through the endeavors of talented individuals and a dynamic international community, Pearson College needs to pay attention to…”

As you might expect, this led to as many questions as answers. The five questions, which we attempted to answer in coming up with what Pearson would look like ten years from now are:

Selection:  How do we find students of exceptional promise and potential from every background and country to come to Pearson College?

Place:  What are the attributes of the campus so that it is a healthy and thriving place to learn, to live and to work?

Experience:   How is the educational experience at Pearson College designed so that it is truly transforming and develops individuals who, over the course of their lives, will make a positive impact in the world?

Team:  What is the profile of the adults who serve as mentors and lead, in a collaborative way, the pursuit of the UWC mission?

Impact:  How do we strengthen the network of graduates and support their work so that the investment in a Pearson Scholar has maximum impact on the promotion of international understanding, peace and a sustainable future?

We have a draft “Vision 2020” document, which can be found on our intranet and we welcome any comments you might have on the direction this work is taking. See the link at the end of this email.

Would you like to be or to recommend a visiting speaker or artist?

We are delighted to have so many of our alumni come back to Pearson to share their work with our students through such forums as guest speakers for International Affairs, visiting artists and leading discussions about life after Pearson. This year we have had Evan Adams (Aboriginal Health Advisor for BC Ministry of Health - PC Year 9) speak about aboriginal affairs, Brett House (Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General - PC Year 15) speak about the UN and Climate Change and this spring will have Abiodun Williams (Vice President, US Institute of Peace - PC Year 4) speak about conflict resolution. If you are interested or wish to recommend someone, please contact Coops Wynne-Hughes at cwynnehughes@pearsoncollege.ca.

Can you help us invite students to apply to UWC / Pearson?

We would like to see a dramatic increase in the awareness among upper high school students, across Canada and the world, about Pearson College and the UWCs. We need graduates to visit high schools, particularly here in Canada and encourage students to apply. Another way that you could help with this would be to recommend names of students we should contact and encourage to apply. You can get help with both of these things through our Director of Admissions, Heather Gross (PC Year 20), hgross@pearsoncollege.ca.

If you have come this far, thanks for catching up with us at Pearson College. When I am not on the Deep Woods Trail running for my life, I am on the other side of this email if you wish to contact me.

Warmest regards,
 
David Hawley, Director, Pearson College, 250.391.2438, dhawley@pearsoncollege.ca

Links:

Booklet on Alumni from Africa
Booklet on Alumni from Atlantic Canada
Annual Report 2008-09
Pearson Vision 2020
Donate Online

Dear Parents & Guardians of Pearson College Students:

Warm greetings. The November rains have started and the daylight hours are getting shorter as we approach winter here at the College. All of our students have recently returned from a wide variety of activities during our Project Week. Nearly half of the students were engaged in service projects all around Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Others were leading creative projects and many were challenging themselves with outdoor expeditions on land and sea. It is a busy period from now through the end of term exams, which take place 14-17 December.

I want to invite you to take a tour of our new website. It was developed by our librarian as a personal project and a gift to us all. You might wish to pay particular attention to the section called "The Link Blog" where students are regularly contributing articles, photographs and videos that capture life at the College. If you have suggestions for improvement or comments you wish to pass along, you may do so by contacting our librarian (and webmaster) Sherry at scrowther@pearsoncollege.ca.

Our campus will close on Friday 18 December at 10am and will re-open on Sunday 10 January at 10am. Please make sure travel arrangements are made that do not require students to leave earlier than 18 December or to return later than 10 January. We will arrange for host families for students who will not be going home during this vacation period.

We are continuing to monitor everyone's health and I am pleased to report that we have not had any incidents of individuals at the College contracting the H1N1 flu. We are taking steps to keep everyone as healthy as possible as the flu season approaches. I am on the other side of this message if you wish to get in touch with me. Enjoy the new website.

Sincerely,
David Hawley
College Director

While the sun was shining today, there was a noticeable chill in the air. Fall has arrived at last. The wood stove in the dining hall was lit for the first time and the inventory of sweaters donated by friends of Pearson College in the community is dwindling. The firewood from trees that succumbed to strong winds on the campus last year is now about to keep us warm. Students chopped and stacked the wood about a year ago. Time marches on.