Guiding Program

Story appeared in the 2014 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.

BY LEANNE SCHULTZ, OPERATIONS & HR MANAGER

Before there were Outdoor Education, Service Learning, and Leadership courses, there was Girl Guides. In fact, it was such an integral part of the early days of Queen Margaret’s School, many of the school’s first students were recruited through Guiding.

Miss Denny notes that over the years, “...one notices that a great deal of Guide work was done, many badges gained and skills of various kinds acquired, but what is best is the fact that the spirit of Guiding ... played a major part in all our activities and, undoubtedly, had an influence throughout the school.”

Prior to starting the school, both Miss Denny and Miss Geoghegan had been very involved with the Guiding movement, running the First Cowichan Company. Such was their dedication and influence in the guiding movement that once it was established, Queen Margaret’s School became Second Duncan Company (Queen Margaret’s School). Lady Baden-Powell, founder of the Guiding movement, visited the school several times, with fond memories:

“A little further up Vancouver Island is another attractive Company in a Boarding School at Duncan. Each Patrol had its own wooden cabin home in which the members can collect and keep their own special Patrol treasures. It is true that in the Winter they cannot get to their wee log huts because of snow and ice and boggy ground but when I went there the trees were just beginning to burst their buds, the birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the scenery was quite lovely.” (pg. 96)

Indeed, the tenants of Guiding are the foundation of the programs offered at QMS today. Whether climbing Mt. Tzouhalem on a Guiding Trip in the 1930s or mastering a ropes course on Hornby Island as part of an Outdoor Education trip in 2014, students build confidence, critical thinking skills, and learn personal mastery. Whether salvaging for the War Effort, or raising money for the local Food Bank through our annual Food Chain, students embody the school motto of Servite Fortiter with compassion and pride. Whether developing situational leadership skills through friendly Guiding Patrol com-petitions in 1934 or as an elected Prefect in 2014, QMS students learn to be effective leaders and select the leadership style most appropriate to each situation.

Although there is no longer a Guide Company at Queen Margaret’s School, the foundation laid by the organization has evolved into the unique and exceptional leadership curriculum that our students benefit from today.