While the majority of the PLP 10 cohort was in the sunny state of California I was in rainy Vancouver with four other PLP 10 students. For me it wasn’t that bad because I had a trip of my own. While the California trip was in progress I was on Vancouver Island or in Mill Bay to be specific. The reason behind this trip was for the senior basketball team to play in a basketball tournament. This tournament was hosted by arguably one of the the best university prep boarding schools in Canada, Brentwood College. Playing basketball is about teamwork and training to achieve your own team’s goals while disrupting the opponent’s goals.
Brentwood
The trip was a four day trip with two travel days. The first day we set off from Seycove in the morning and hopped on a ferry to the island. We got to the hotel and it was time to play. Our first game was against Brentwood. We lost that game by 15 but it was good experience. Brentwood’s senior basketball team is ranked as the number one team in the province for its division and Seycove is ranked number five in the province. The second game was an easy win against a unranked team. (unranked means not in the top 10 in BC). After that game we played a very competitive bowling match with our team that our coach had organized. The games were close and we had a lot of fun. Day 3 came around and we had the final game of the tourney at noon. This was another relatively easy game vs a unranked team in BC. That night we all went out to see a movie.
The last day came around and we had a really cool tour of Brentwood College. Brentwood College is on a 77 acre oceanfront campus and it takes a tripartite approach so students participate in all three areas of academics, athletics and arts so the students can be very well-rounded students. This is a private boarding school that costs $60,000 a year to go attend. It has great facilities including a dozen tennis courts, four rugby fields, a sports complex, a health centre, arts centre, and the only indoor rowing facility in Canada (photo below):
Basketball
The senior basketball trip was only 4 out of the 10 days that the PLP trip was going on. During the rest of the week, there were two more league games for senior basketball. Our team won both games against STA and Elphinstone. We had more basketball practices and I also had hockey practice and a hockey game. I also did some basketball reffing for the Steve Nash league on both weekends.
When I returned home and back to school, I worked mostly on a podcast and my book assignment. The podcast assignment was on disruption and more specifically, disruptive innovation that is a more positive disruption. Since we weren’t on the trip, we had to chose a Seycove topic. The topic that I chose was the Basketball Academy. The Basketball Academy was started by Seycove and although it has expanded, the Competitive Stream still operates at Seycove and the other Seycove location is Parkgate. I interviewed one of my friends and former basketball academy alumni and provincial player, Christopher Ross. I also interviewed one of the two cofounders of the Basketball Academy Mr. Darcy Grant, who is also an Athletic Director and teacher at Seycove.
The Seycove Book
When I got back from Brentwood College, it was time to start the book project that I was given by my the teachers. This project was somewhat similar to the project that the PLP kids in California did. For the project, we were given a book template that outlined the research and write-up we would do for that day of the trip. There were 10 sections in the book with around 40 pages. (So 4 pages a day). I was gone from school for 4 days on the basketball trip so I was a little behind and had to catch up when I got back to class.
The book starts with a definition of disruption and some examples like Uber disrupting the cab industry. There has been positive disruption at Seycove with programs like PLP, Basketball Academy and Flex time that have disrupted the traditional way of teaching. For Day 1, I covered off our basketball tournament at Mill Bay and then moved into the Beach topic. I chose the beach at Deep Cove. I focused on what I do for my part-time job at Deep Cove Kayak which is to send people on an enjoyable kayak ride in beautiful Deep Cove.
The next day was all about animals and environment. I chose the squirrel as an example of a local animal. Who knew that squirrels could be so disruptive to power wires but so helpful when they plant tree seeds? I also had to find examples of where the environment is being disrupted. One of the examples that I chose was when forest fires burn hectares of forest to the ground.
The theme of Day 3 was World War 1. For this page we had to write a small description of the war and how it was disruptive to both Canada as well as people overseas. We created an inspirational/ interview with a World War 1 veteran to represent a day in the life of a soldier. For the last part of World War 1, I researched a very important resource in World War 1. The tea bag played a major part in the hydration and nutrition of the soldiers on the battlefield. I also found a video clip that did a great job of explaining how the war got started when countries started building their military and creating alliances and how disruptive it was.
Day 4 rolled around and the theme of the day was disruption of education. For this part of the book I started by coming up and researching three different forms of disruption to education such as virtual reality, collaboration devices like Google docs and artificial intelligence. These three disruptions are positive disruptions because you can learn more quickly. The next part of Day 4 was an interview with a teacher and how education is being disrupted. This interview really opened my eyes and showed the importance of community based learning and real world examples. The next page was about educational change. This page talked about a very contested but positive topic. This is known as Brown VS the Board of Education case. Linda Brown was an African American student who fought the Board of Education to stop segregation and be a part of a class that was open to everyone.
Day 5 was also about education. The beginning was about my research on High Tech High. It doesn’t educate traditionally. The students work with technology, group projects and people from the community. We were also asked to describe what I believe my ideal classroom would be. I included things like a technology centre, and a permanent Maker Workshop. It would have lots of windows, light and food with space to work either by yourself or in a group.
Day 6 and the theme was disruption throughout Silicon Valley. I wrote about the iphone being the most disruptive Apple product because it was a fully functional mobile computer that you could use almost anywhere and it was the first smartphone with a virtual keyboard. Google is a great example of disruption too. Google’s search engine changed the way we access information quickly and more information was available to more people. Intel is also a great example with them inventing the world’s first commercial microchip. I did some challenge pages here about how the Silicon Valley got started and it’s link to Stanford University and why the Silicon Valley is still successful today.
Day 7 started out about computer history and the start of the first commercial computers in Silicon Valley. The first modern computers started in the 1930’s when people like Walt Disney used equipment to make sound effects in a movie. Then computers were used in WW Two to break Nazi codes and computers became very large in companies before getting smaller and moving into people’s homes. The next section was about Ivy League schools. Ivy League schools are a group of eight schools in the north east United States. These schools are definitely considered some of the most prestigious schools in the world and they are all ranked in the top 15 schools in the world by US news and world report. Next, I did an interview with Ms. Findler about her post secondary education. I realized that there are a lot of different post secondary education options.
Day 8 was about North Vancouver and the disruption that tourism plays in our economy. I interview my friend and Seycove exchange student David from Germany. He talks about his time here and the memories he has made here.
Day 9 was all about Seycove. The first page was a walking tour of Seycove and three disruptions with in it. The next page was about disruptions that Seycove exhibits within education. I used PLP, flex time and the Basketball Academy as examples of good disruptions within Seycove because they offer changes and options from the traditional way of education.
Day 10 was a wrap up or conclusion of everything that I learned while doing this book. The biggest thing that I learned while doing this project is that disruption doesn’t have to be a bad thing and there are lots of examples of disruption have positive impacts on areas like education or technology. It’s important to not get discouraged during disruption and disruption can help solve problems. My final page was about me and I what I like to do. Hope you have a chance to read my book and learn more about the positive sides of disruption.
