Jarvis Magnet - 1996

).f Pond Parewe{[..
On My Stay At Jarvis
When I arrived at Jarvis in January of 1993, like most newcomers to
the school. I only knew the school by its reputation; solid academics.
experienced staff renowned athletics and students from almost every place
on this earth. Pretty intimidating! Even though my teaching experiences at
North Toronto Cj., West Toronto 5.5.. Eastern High School of Commerce
and The City Aduh Learning Centre gave me many different educational
venues, J entered the school as you most probably did , full of anticipation
and some anxiety about "JARVIS" ,
"Hi. Keith and welcome 10 Jarv is" was the booming voice of
Principal David Wells, a gentle, caring, invit ing (and somewhat robust) man
who immediately made me feel at home. Many introductions, my new
office, my wonderful secretaries, I had arrived. I walked the halls and
within an hour I knew what Jarvis was all about. It really does not take long
to see why this is such a great place.
Jarvis is a school with a sense of community. Staff and students here
care about each othe r both personally and educationally. Students are selfdirected
and enthusiastic. Staff are truly interested in the students' wellbeing
and willingly adapt to the demands of student needs. There is a smile
on everyone's face (well almost everyonel). What a wonderful last school
placement before retirement.
I wish to thank all of you for making my short stay at Jarvis
fulfil ling and, I hope, as meaningful to you as it has been for me:
May your joys be as deep as the ocean.
May your cares be as light as the breeze.
l\lr. Emery
(
It was in my final year of highschool that I had Mr. Walter Howard
as a math teacher. That year of being in Mr. Howard's legendary Triple
Math course, with some of the brightest and friendliest students at Jarvis,
will remai n a highlight of my highschool experiences,
In the beginning we onl y knew. from talk that filtered down from
older stud ents, that we were expected to work hard in this class. We wanted
to benefit from Mr. Howard's expertise and experience in this rigorous
"math package" that included Fin ite, Calculus and Algebra & Geometry. We
met everyday, sometimes for as long as two and a half hours, to liste n and
practice the language of math. But there was more than math that took place
in that room, We laughed, we worried, we studied and we inevitably
succeeded under Mr. Howard's wise intelligent eyes.
It became clear early on that Mr. Howard talked a tough line - will I
ever forget the phrase, "Back to work peasants!"? - but approaching him
outside of class usually resulted in his empathy and advice. Mr. Howard
demanded our concentration and ingenuity in class but he was. in my Jarvis
experience, one of the most tolerant of teachers, who was willing to
acknowledge the demands of extracurricular involvement. Mr. Howard was
unwilling to compromise his standards of achievement, but provided
genuine support to all our activities and tried to help us balance all our
demands.
As Mr. Howard retires from his position as Head of the Jarvis Math
Department. he leaves behind his mark of excellence and enduring memory
of his personality on the students that he has taught. As a mathematician!
educator/administrator/mentor for the past 30 years, Mr. Howard has
dedicated his life to exposing students to more than perhaps "required". Mr.
Howard will be remembered in the minds of those he taught.
Mr; Howard
Mony Punam Singh
Princeton University
Reprinted from 1994-95 Magnet This year 1\1r. Howard is really retiring!