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íRllAY. íLßRUARY S. 20l3
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This is a response to Henry vonSchroeter`s article (published 3 weeks ago in The Blue Page` Number 8) that was
boldly titled 'Victimized by the Idiv¨. Now Henry, as a Iormer student oI mine in Yr.1 Geography, I took the liberty to
check your report card Irom that course whereupon in 2008, I commented on your 'excellent attention to detail in class.¨
I may have to rescind that compliment based upon a Iew gaps in your article. Please continue reading to fnd out where
these gaps exist.
As you are well aware, the UCC Family Handbook clearly states that the Strategic Plan suggests 'building a small
school Ieel while taking advantage oI the expertise in a big school.' Well, we certainly have the big school, now we need
to oIIer more opportunities to a wider variety oI students. The way that we achieve this is by oIIering an Intermediate
Division to our students, in which they get to excel in their own assemblies, leadership committees, co-curricular activi-
ties, and student publications such as The Idiv Times. This is not meant to be isolating but is meant to have the Y1`s &
Y2`s no longer live in the shadow oI the older students.
With regard to your mention oI the seemingly Iorced Mentorship program, it seems to me that you had an excel-
lent mentor Mr. vS and the very nature oI the word mentor means that it is someone whom you can emulate. It is sad
iI you missed the point oI that relationship and did not emulate that meaningIul rapport with your own mentee. I have
observed some close relationships Iorm in my class on Tuesday mornings, and the Y1`s who do not have their mentor
show up on a regular basis certainly Ieel that loss. Just remember, your experience with anything that you do at UCC is
SNOWBALL`S CHANCE IN HELL (WEEKS)
Hell week. It`s a term most UCC boys at the Upper School have heard or even used. As a matter oI Iact, it`s
used throughout most high schools around the world and a very common occurrence, but iI you think Ior a while, hell
weeks go completely against almost everything UCC believes in.
Now, beIore I explain my reasoning, there are some concepts which I should explain frst, as many oI you might
not be Iamiliar with the term hell week`. The term hell week is term made up oI 2 words. Hell and Week. Hell, aside
Irom the religious meaning, is an adjective that means 'Used to express negative discontent¨. Week on the other hand,
means 7 days oI a standard 365 day calendar. When you combine the 2 words, it basically means a very negative and
unhappy/ stressed/Irustrated/hardworking week. Here at UCC, it`s just a part oI the vernacular, and it`s used to express
having 4 or more tests (or large summative) clustered in 1 week. Hell weeks are natural occurrences and their existence
is perIectly explainable. It may be that the teachers, based on their schedule, all believe that it would be most conve-
nient to put their tests on 1 week and BOOM, hell week. Another less likely, but more popular explanation is that all the
teachers come together in a secret meeting to purposely organize tests together to torcher the students. Regardless oI
what you believe, hell weeks exist and they aren`t very good things to keep at UCC, deliberate or not.
Let me explain why. To start oII, let`s talk about the goal oI UCC as an educational institution. To begin, like
all institutions, it`s to educate and provide to society the most elite and capable students. More than that, it`s goal is to
turn boys into men who have a good character and habits, since both oI these traits are extremely important regardless
oI what you decide to do with your liIe in the Iuture. One oI the habits and skills important to a student during and aIter
his time at UCC is time management. Wikipedia defnes it as 'the act or process oI planning and exercising conscious
control over the amount oI time spent on specifc activities, especially to increase eIIectiveness, eIfciency or productiv-
ity¨. (Thanks Wikipedia). Though I know everyone loves to procrastinate, procrastination will eventually lead to Iail-
ure.
But, I`m not here to chastise the student population about the dangers oI procrastination aIter all procrastina-
tion is just one oI those things. Rather, this is where I begin to talk about the Iaults oI hell weeks. Hell weeks do noth-
ing but derail students Irom their track oI success. Hell weeks not only give students bad habits, but also, can lead to
character changes (oIten in the wrong direction). From the countless number oI IB1s, FYs, IB2s I`ve talked to, (sorry
In case vou didnt notice - its not a snow dav
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íRllAY. íLßRUARY S. 20l3
VlkIul· ·l Ill lDlV ··:Il:ulD... only as
good as you make it. I do appreciate the eIIort put Iorth
by the IB1`s with my 20 advisees this year.

Now, you also mentioned the isolation` oI the
Idiv`ers. All students attend assembly twice a week,
have house meetings on Thursdays, and twice a day
converge on the same Student Centre, LDH and UDH
Ior snacks and meals. It is only natural that all grade
levels will have to interact at some point in line-ups,
waiting Ior tables, and sitting in the pews. I encourage
Mr. vS to come to the second foor to get to know his
Iuture replacements. I am Iairly certain that the stairs
can be used in both directions and the Y1`s shouldn`t be
Iorced into the basement to spend time with the Senior
Div students considering that the Idiv Hallway on the
2nd foor is amongst the most travelled hallways in the
school. Feel Iree to stop and hug a Y1 or Y2 student, or
better yet, strike up a conversation with them; aIter all,
in your own words, '.the Yr. 1`s should Ieel blessed to
get to spend time with |IB1`s|¨
Perhaps Mr. vonSchroeter, you are jealous that
you missed your opportunity to have a homeroom in
the Upper School where your Iriends congregate each
morning and you can engage your advisor in conversa-
tion while getting organized and ready Ior the day. II
so, you are welcome to come to room 222 and I will
happily help you sort out your uniIorm, books, laptop
etc. Failing that, you are always welcome to stop by
room 219 (The Form Advisor oIfce), where we are hap-
py to engage in conversation with students regard-
less oI their grade level. The Intermediate Division is
not nearly as exclusive as you may think.
Mr. Denstedt

llll Wlll· ··:Il:ulD... Y2s and Y1s) most oI
them tell me that they Irequently employ various pro-
crastination techniques during hell weeks. Following the
hell week, they just relax and 'chill¨ (because they are
so worn out Irom the strenuous work and living style)
till the next hell week, where they again procrastinate
and end up pulling all-nighters and Iuelling their jaded
bodies with unhealthy dosages oI caIIeine. The result?
A continuous cycle oI drastic fuctuation; students work
hard Ior short periods oI time during hell weeks but then
relax, and do next to little, during times oI Ireedom. This
cannot be what UCC intends Ior its students to endure.
Furthermore, due to procrastination, some people may
not be readily equipped to handle the tests and (danger-
ously) overstress. Overstressing will only cause harm to
a student and his academic perIormance to the point
where he cannot prove to the teacher his real knowledge
oI a subject. Overstressing causes students to either do
poorly/Iail on the test or large summative (I don`t need to
tell you the consequences oI that), or it may Iorce stu-
dents into bad habits such as cheating during tests. These
practices will eventually tarnish and destroy the character
oI such students. As such, it seems clear that hell weeks
are deadly and go against almost everything UCC stands
Ior, and should be abolished.
Now I personally have many suggestions. One,
which seems quite plausible, would involve allowing only
2 subjects to give tests per week. For example, Math and
English may only schedule tests on week 1, French and
Chemistry may only have tests on week 2, so on and so
Iorth. Despite the logistical pandemonium such a system
would bring Ior teachers, (and Ior that I apologize teach-
ers) iI it were to work eIfciently, it would greatly help
students plan their time eIIectively and alleviate these last
minute scrambles which seem to be impossible to avoid.
Anyways, that`s my opinion on the matter, Ior all oI you
I`m just a student, so I`ll end my 'article¨ here and leave
you to think about it.
George Ren

WAC twenty-thirteen,
Shaun Boothe made the whole crowd scream
But you were not there.