News Archives

As we approach the end of this extraordinary school year with its shift to distance education, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to you all for your support and patience. Our campus has not been the same since our March break, and we are anxiously looking forward to our return to campus and new student arrivals in the fall.

The 2019-20 Senior Girls Basketball Spartans have been presented the sportsmanship banner for their league division.

Accept your past without regret, handle the present with confidence and face your future without fear.

On February 25, 104 Stanstead students in Grades 9-11 participated in the annual University of Waterloo math contests. (Unfortunately for the students in Grade 7, 8 and 12, the Gauss and the Euclid contests have been cancelled for this year.)

There is no one on earth who can say they have never said or done something cringe-worthy or regrettable. If you know someone like that, just know that they are definitely lying. Everyone has a moment in their life that they wish they could redo.

Acting Head of School Joanne Carruthers is pleased to release the list of students who have achieved academic success for Term 2 (November - March).

Stanstead College is pleased to announce the appointment of Matthew Thompson as head coach of the varsity boys hockey team.

How are you? Are you still enjoying your time at home, or are you starting to get bored staying inside your house? How are the classes going? Isn’t it weird how you go to class and you see someone that just woke up at 4 am in the morning, while someone is getting ready for bed at 11 pm?

This is my sixth year at Stanstead, and what I’ve realized is so many people like to complain SO much about things that are so small. The food, the dorms, the work load, a teacher, a coach, a classmate, different rules – you get the point. And chances are, although I try to be as positive as possible, I’ve probably been guilty of this too.

During this time of uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, our community’s strength, resilience and supportive nature are more important than ever before. Our school began distance learning this week, and our community has continued to keep in touch in new and innovative ways.

I hope you and your families are all well and safe and enjoying—yes, enjoying—this incredible opportunity. I would say what we are experiencing is unprecedented but that is not exactly true. Societies have faced many difficulties throughout their histories. This moment is therefore unusual but not unique.

Talking to people can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t know them that well. We’re often intimidated and scared when first speaking to someone. We don’t know what to say, how they’ll react, or if we’ll mess up and embarrass ourselves.

As Stanstead College prepares to begin its third term with distance learning, the school’s management team, program directors, IT and Curriculum Committee have been meeting regularly (but remotely) to plan how to best deliver instruction to our students.

The Stanstead College varsity girls hockey team will officially join the Junior Women’s Hockey League (JWHL) in the U19 division for the 2020-21 season.

In response to the threat posed by COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today the closing of Canada’s borders to all non-nationals as of March 18, with the exception of permanent residents and U.S. citizens. This is in addition to the decision by Quebec Premier François Legault on Friday, March 13 to close all schools for a period of two weeks and requiring 14-day self-isolation for all those who have travelled abroad.

Update March 13: As of Friday, March 13, Stanstead College will be closed for the next two weeks. Security and minimal staffing are in place for this period. A majority of administrative and support staff will be working remotely and will be answering emails and responding to phone messages to the best of their abilities.

Stanstead College continues to monitor the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak as it evolves worldwide. Following guidelines from Public Health Canada and the World Health Organization, our management team is working with our school’s Health Centre staff as well as regional and provincial public health officials to ensure the safety of our students and school community.

Elisabeth Shane of Ayer’s Cliff, Que. earned her second MVP trophy of the school year, winning the Bess Ferguson Trophy and her second Major S for senior girls basketball.

The Varsity Spartans girls hockey team completed an unbelievable five-year stretch of not yielding a loss in NAPHA play by winning their fifth hampionship in a row last month and their sixth over the last seven years.

Have you ever been so desperate in wanting to help fix an issue but then realized that this matter was so big you felt like it was out of your own hands?

This week’s recipient is, in the words of her coach, “a silent warrior who shoots like an assassin.” Her outstanding accuracy, timely contributions and exceptional work ethic have not only made her the Spartans’ leading scorer this season, but have earned her a place on Team Quebec as well as a Clarkson commit.

I have no objection to just forgetting that this game vs Marie-Rivier(1) ever happened. After back-to-back amazing season-defining performances at the Bailly and the MacLeod tournaments, your Spartans fell back to earth with a thud this past Saturday in the last game of the season.

In a first, it was Grade 11’s who took the rains of the annual Senior Science Fair. With a number of veteran presenters on hand, Thursday’s event saw many polished and impressive projects.
All told, there were 33 experiments revealed to teacher, student and guest judges. Winners were presented by science category and overall.

At forward, in her second year of Spartans basketball, this player has great basketball instincts. She sees the whole floor and reads the game quickly, making her a savvy defender and an excellent passer. And as her confidence improved, she also learned to trust her shot, which made her a more dangerous offensive player later in the season. A much, MUCH better basketball player than she will EVER give herself credit for… from Levis, Quebec… #22 …Cecilia Fava!

Justin came up biggest at the most important time of the year. Already instrumental in helping lead his team to a #1 finish in the regular RSEQ season, when the playoffs arrived, this second-year forward from Newport, Vt. raised his game to another level.

The senior girls basketball team travelled to the MacLeod Provincial Tournament February 21-22. Here's how it went:

Today, I’m not here to talk to you all about my accomplishments, but rather my mistakes, because I have learned a lot from them over the last few months.

Stanstead College celebrated a number of important athletic victories this past week, capped off Monday with a thrilling win by the Varsity Girls Hockey Spartans in the North American Prep Hockey Association (NAPHA) championship game.

Your 2019-20 Spartans travelled this past weekend to Quebec City to participate in the undisputed highlight of the season, the historic Anderson-Bailly Small Schools Provincial Tournament, put on by the Quebec Secondary Schools Sports Association (QSSSA).

As many know from last year, I went to the prom in my uniform and people had issue with that. I don’t quite understand why exactly?

A consistent contributor all season, Maria Casas Soto really stepped up her game, in the process helping her team win the BCS Invitational Bantam Tournament this past weekend.

Students in Grades 7, 9 and 9 presented the results of their experiments at the annual Junior Science Fair Thursday evening. Congratulations to the winners:

Exactly one and a half years ago, I tore my ACL. In fact, I was in the parking lot of Colby when my dad announced to me the result of the MRI. The news hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember collapsing and sobbing for hours in his arms. My world had fallen apart.

It was another successful month for the varsity girls hockey program. January 2020 saw the return of two players who participated for their country at their respective World U18 Championships.

As starting goaltender for the thirds hockey team, Lana regularly squares off against opposing boys in Grade 10 and 11 – and she is only in Grade 8!

In another much-anticipated rematch, your Spartans travelled to Du Phare to try to avenge the
47-35 overtime loss we suffered on our home floor back on December 7.

I believe most of you have been into different shops and some of you might have bought some items from some of the more expensive ones. Those items look fancy and expensive with their big logos whether in the middle or on the top of the item.

Ryan has always been a talented, coachable and dependable member of the prep U16 hockey team, but this week’s Athlete of the Week really hit his stride over the past week and a half.

The last time we played Marie-Rivier’s second team we lost 27-19 in a low-scoring affair that saw both teams struggle on offence, but with the clear edge going to Les Riverains because of their huge advantage in toughness, rebounding and second-chance opportunities.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! It's Winter Carnival week at Stanstead College!

Observations and the occasional insight from our solid performance at the BCS Invitational Tournament this past weekend. (West Island College 32-36, St George’s 38-34, The Study 22-18, Sacred Heart School of Montreal 35-21)

Last spring myself, Mr. Poliziani, Mr. Rioux and my son Gabriel drove to the Videotron Centre in Quebec City for the QMJHL Draft. The expectation was that Cole Huckins, then Grade 10, would be selected in the first round. Sure enough, with the 16th overall pick, Acadie-Bathurst selected “Cole Huckins from Stanstead College.”

The last time we played Triolet we came out flat and basically lost the game in the first quarter. So this time the focus was on a quick start, on being 100% ready right away.

As a coach, there is nothing better than watching an athlete turn the corner, which is exactly what happened 10 days ago at the annual Montreal Independent Schools Tournament.

I’d like to start with a quote from Leo Tolstoy: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

In a rare Sunday afternoon RSEQ league game, your Spartans travelled to Drummondville to take on Marie-Rivier(2). After a relatively routine first half ended 21-14 for Les Riverains, things got exciting in a wild second half that saw both teams’ offences start firing on all cylinders.

The squash competitive team had their second meeting at BCS on January 15. Just like the first meeting, they offered a strong performance until the very last game. They finished one game short (14 to 13) but, in the end, we all had a very positive experience. Once again, our young rookie players were impressive against BCS veterans. Next meeting: January 22 @ Stanstead.

This week’s Athlete of the Week embodies what it means to be humble in victory. You will never hear him brag about having won all four of the swimming races he competed in last Friday at the ETIAC meet held at Université de Sherbrooke.

Not much in-depth analysis for this one. Sometimes the opponent, in this case Alexander Galt, is just too good.

I LOVE rematches, especially ones where we lost to the team the first time we saw them. There is no better way to see if we’ve improved, if the countless drills and strategies and hours in the gym and on the road actually translate into better performance on the court.

How You Start
It was a rocky start this past weekend at the annual Montreal Independent Schools (MIS) tournament. There is no shame in losing 36-20 to a very good LCC team in our first game, but we were uninspired defensively, we never got out of second gear intensity-wise, and some of us focused too much on personal struggles instead of thinking team first.

My parents always told me I could be anything I wanted when I grew up. “The sky’s the limit,” they would always say. The problem is I wanted to be an astronaut.

Stanstead College Varsity Girls Hockey continues its rise towards becoming one of the premier female hockey development programs in North America.