It’s hard to argue with the banner.
I mean, there it is, right there on the wall, with the school colours and insignia testifying to its authenticity. Plain as day. Incontestable.
We’re just going to have to, at some point, come to grips with the fact that our school, our very own St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, produces some of the top minds around, and on occasion, demonstrates this fact not only to the County in which it’s located, but also to provincial and national audiences as well.
The banner says it in a way much more effectively than I ever could. National Champions it says, emblazoned across the garnet background, official colours of the school, the honour accorded all winning schools.
This is the high school world of Reach For The Top, that contest of knowledge that’s been in existence since I was a child, which is almost the same thing as saying since the advent of television.
It’s a pretty familiar format. Two teams, from local high schools, usually squaring off on local cable television. Rapid-fire questions on a variety of topics, students buzzing in, almost Jeopardy-like in fashion, the scores rising and falling in accordance with their successful, or less than successful responses.
Granted, it’s not the Super Bowl, but then again, nothing is, and it never pretended to be. Reach For The Top is, rather, a celebration of those youth intent upon the pursuit of broadening their knowledge, both specifically and comprehensively, in the widest array of categories possible.
It’s not so much about intelligence, although certainly that can’t hurt. It’s more a contest of pure knowledge. You see, one can have intelligence, and not use it. Knowledge, on the other hand, can be intelligence applied, but also is indicative of one who pursues the desire to know. It demonstrates, in many respects, an effort to acquire information and retain it, for whatever purpose. And so, as such, hard work, time, and effort are all part of the lives of students wishing to participate in the Reach For The Top Program.
St. Joseph’s is a perennial powerhouse in this competition. That banner I referred to before was brought home by the 1993 Canadian Champions. Since that time, while there have been no national championships, there has been a litany of successes at the county, regional, and provincial levels. To emphasize that point, let me point out that St. Joe’s are the defending County Champions once again, recently brushing aside competition from other schools in the county wishing to strip them of that honour.
Dave Rowat is the coach of the current team, and that makes perfect sense, since Rowat is the pursuit of knowledge, in all its forms, personified. Mr. Rowat, often referred to as the “Professor,” not only loves to learn, but also loves the sharing of it. Anyone doubting that might wish to spend five minutes at the morning breakfast table in the SJCHS staff room, as Rowat, and other staff, grapple with the morning crosswords, accrostics, and various other fill-in-the-blankers that come with the morning paper.
Some people just eat their eggs. Dave does, too, only he likes to either get or provide an education while doing it. A better mentor to the Reach For The Top Team would be difficult to find.
As to the students, I dropped in on them during a session they were having during their lunch hour, and, well, I can understand how it is that they're favoured to repeat as champs. In on the session was Sun Lee, Thomas Prince, Michael Hagerman, Myles Rowat and Ian Connors, and, while I was snapping pics, these guys were firing off all manner of answers to all sorts of questions. Thinking I'm pretty intelligent myself, I'd listen to the questions and answer them in my head as I was clicking away. These dudes not only beat me to the punch every single time, but they also got the correct answer, something I obviously wasn't troubling myself with.
That banner is not out of place on that wall. And it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it were to be joined by another in the near future.
