Reflections of Havergal: 1994-2019

For much of the school’s history, community service (early on referred to as “mission work” and now as “student engagement”) has been an integral part of school life. As Rosemary Corbett noted in her tribute to Ms. Robson, “[She] has … worked for decades with community service at Havergal and has seen it change dramatically from whole school fundraising efforts like Salvage Suppers and the Bazaar in the 1960s.” Thanks in large measure to Ms. Robson, one of those dramatic changes came with Havergal’s commitment in 2002 to the Get Ahead Project (GAP), which involves three very different schools: Havergal College, Derrydown Junior Public School in Toronto and the Whittlesea School in South Africa. The project continues to reflect an inspired rethinking of service as engagement. The philosophy is based on a recognition that relationships are most powerful when the participants see themselves as equal partners, each with something to contribute and each with a desire to learn from the others. This way of thinking is at the core of Havergal students’ participation in homework clubs around the city and in the many other ways in which they engage with the world beyond the ivy. It also informs the philosophy of The Institute, which was created in 2007 under the auspices of Dr. Ditchburn. Ms. Robson’s commitment to community engagement dovetailed with her determination to help students develop the leadership skills that would give them confidence in their ability to navigate the world beyond Havergal, and, as always, she was forward-thinking. As Havergal: Celebrating a Century explains 12 : In 1971 the first leadership training program was launched. It came about at the suggestion of Joyce Bertram, a camp director who had joined the staff to become its first program director. When the program was initiated by Joyce, Brenda Robson and Mary Dennys, it became the first leadership training course in an Ontario high school. It was offered to Grade 12 students on a voluntary basis, taking place during the winter term. The majority of those eligible attended.

The book also reveals that, [i]n the fall of 1989 forty-nine girls with house and school responsibilities spent a weekend in leadership training. By 1991 Brenda Robson was reporting to the Board that all those in student leadership positions—the school captain, the boarder captain, form leaders, games leaders, house leaders, club heads, activity heads, yearbook and newspaper editors—were involved in a leadership training workshop at the end of the school year. That formal leadership training has continued into Havergal’s second century. However, Ms. Robson believes it very important to help students understand that they do not need a formal position to be a leader, that, in fact, some of the finest leaders are those who work quietly behind the scenes. Ms. Robson lives the values she cherishes and inspired students and staff alike when she spoke of those values in Prayers. The questions she posed and the experiences she shared opened up conversations that continued long after her audience recessed from the hall. True to her experience in England as a physical education teacher, Ms. Robson is faithful to her deeply held conviction that the job of educators is to support students as they become more and more independent. Students need to be encouraged to take risks in the face of possible failure. Reflecting on her experiences for the sound portrait, she said: [I]f you’re going to say your motto is ‘Preparing Young Women to Make a Difference,’ you have to allow them to practise making a difference. You can’t do math without doing some practice. You can’t become a leader without having the experience and the opportunity to lead—in a safe environment. You absolutely have to allow them to fail … As Priscilla Winn Barlow said, “You don’t learn by doing things perfectly. You learn by making mistakes. The depth and breadth of her experiences at the school mean that Ms. Robson is a living history book with

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