Hosted at the beautiful Chemainus Theatre Festival, our community came together for an elegant Gala that celebrated philanthropy and our common passion for enriching the experience of students at QMS and our local community. Together, we raised an incredible $121,000 for The Learning Centre Phase II.

Congratulations to The QMS Grad Class of 2020!

“We cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose how we react to it.” There has never in recent memory been a better time to consider the concept of ‘resilience.’

Aristotle is quoted as stating that, “the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” It is through the artistic process of reflection and exploration that assists us in discovering what events and experiences have been significant to each of us personally.

When Jennifer Turton-Mulgat (‘87) started The View Winery on her family’s Okanagan estate in 2006, she quickly realized that the region was filled with fantastic wineries. Jennifer shares that since the beginning, she has tirelessly worked to promote The View Winery in new ways to keep her clients buying their products.

During our Mental Performance workshop and one-on-one sessions facilitated by renowned clinician Dave Freeze, QMS equestrian students learned that these emotions are often “borrowed from the nasty list.” The “nasty list” is a tool Dave Freeze uses to help riders connect their emotions with physical performance.

“Life is change. If you aren’t growing and evolving, you’re standing still and the rest of the world is surging ahead.” It was this premise that brought the QMS leadership team and Board of Governors to a strategic cross roads in 2018. Their work resulted in setting the School on a path that has shown tremendous success, ensuring we are not standing still.

Relationships these days are hard, and for teenagers, technology has created a whole new world of challenges and potentially funny pitfalls. In the opening scene of this year’s Senior School production of subText, the audience watches a young boy struggle to capture the perfect selfie.

Leone Braby’s (Smith, 1953-1957) joy for life and her tendency to climb trees landed her in Miss Denny and Miss Geoghegan’s office quite frequently, yet she shares that “Queen Margaret’s School gave me the courage to do everything I have done in my life.”

Each day presents us with opportunities to grow, love, explore, and learn. It is simply up to us to see them, embrace them and allow a new path to form in front of our feet. For Graeme Fowler (1999–2007), a service trip to Honduras in Grade 11 resulted in a profound career change with Promise Vancouver years later.

Two of the strongest skills that a boarding school can assist young people in building are independence and courage. For QMS graduates Susanna Cai (‘20) and Rainia Zhang (‘20), acquiring these strengths through their time at QMS certainly aided them in actualizing their own paths, both aimed directly at “Beantown,” aka Boston, MA, USA.

The 2019-2020 school year started like most and we quickly set the tone of the importance of service at QMS. The Senior School Service Day in October featured 160 students working throughout the Cowichan Valley on projects such as…

The QMS community is healthy & strong! Recently, COVID-19 has changed our school lives considerably, but it remains a positive experience.