SHAWNIGAN LAKE — Friends and family have come together for a celebration 100 years in the making.

In April of 1916, C.W. Lonsdale signed Shawnigan Lake School’s first official register, launching an institution that has proved transformational in countless lives.
On Wednesday, 100 years to the day from when the first records were created, Shawnigan commemorated the occasion with a savory lunch and a giant birthday cake, and a photo of the student body forming the number ‘100’ in the beautiful Kaye Garden.
Students and visitors also had the chance to take pictures with Lonsdale’s treasured 1932 Packard Convertible, transported to Vancouver Island by the current owners for the occasion.
Saturday will mark the Official Opening of the Shawnigan Centennial, and special guests will include Judith Guichon, OBC, Lieutenant Governor of BC. Her Honour will attend a special Chapel service, and cut the ribbon on the School’s new Learning Commons.
Saturday’s guests will have the opportunity to tour the ever-evolving campus, visiting favourite classrooms and dormitories as well as new fixtures including the ice arena, observatory and recording studio.
C.W. Lonsdale faced tremendous adversity when he first began to carve Shawnigan Lake School out of a Vancouver Island rainforest a century ago. At just 30 years of age, he overcame financial troubles at the School as well as a World War that claimed the lives of students and staff, not to mention a 1927 fire that destroyed much of the early campus.
In his welcoming remarks, current Headmaster David Robertson referred to Lonsdale as a man of “boundless energy,” whose spirit is constantly renewed by the yearly influx of gifted young people.
“Let it be said that on this day,” proclaimed Mr. Robertson, “Shawnigan Lake School stands proudly at the dawn of its second century, looking back fondly and ahead with great excitement.”
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent, co-educational boarding school for grades 8-12 in Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia. Founded in 1916, it is one of Canada’s premier university prep schools with nationally-ranked academic and athletics programs.
 
For more information, visit www.shawnigan.ca.