We believe that the learning opportunities that exist outside of the traditional classroom are extremely important.  The experiences gained and the lessons learned will prepare our boys for life.

Imagine travelling through France and Belgium with a tattered and torn map that was once critical to your great grandfather, then 19, to be able to maneuver his way through a treacherous battlefield. On this parchment one can see the trenches clearly marked, but there are few details to be able to identify the location ninety years later. The buildings used as landmarks no longer remain. However, by combining problem solving skills and the incredible technology of the 21st century available to our students, the exact location where the battle was fought was found. Using the GPS systems from our Geography department and satellite imagery from Google Earth, not only was the location found, but when the trenches on the map were superimposed on the satellite photo, the pattern of the trenches were clearly visible with darker vegetation growing on them. To stand in a field where your grandfather did some ninety years earlier, envision the enemy just meters away, and then to realize that many of the men who went to fight were just a year or two older then themselves is unbelievably powerful; it is life-changing.

“No Mr. Embassador. I do not feel that it is the right of your country to continue to completely disregard the needs of the poor while only a few enjoy the wealth of the resources exported!” Another incredible opportunity that many of our boys experience is the Model UN trip to New York. Students from all over Canada and the US are assigned countries and then given scenarios to work through. Critical thinking, political, historical and geographical knowledge are combined with a flare for persuasive debate to endeavour to negotiate a resolution in your favour. During long intense days, sometimes rewarding, sometimes exhausting, friendships that will last a lifetime are formed.

The summer of 2012 was the 10th anniversary of St. Andrew’s Society for Service Around the World (SASSAW). The three-week trip to Kenya was led by coordinator and teacher, Mark Service, who was joined by five teachers and one Old Boy. Highlights included a community service project in the Massai village of Le Manyatta, a Duke of Edinburgh's award gold-level trek to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and a Serengetti safari.

These are just a few of the many opportunities designed to allow our boys to gain a more global perspective, so that as they venture off to university and into their professional lives, they have the  knowledge and character required to make a difference.

During March break, 25-40 SAC students have the opportunity to embark on what many have called the “trip of a lifetime.” The Department of History and Social Sciences organizes a tour of the First and Second World Wars to remember the young men who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. For seven days they walk the sacred grounds of battle, lay wreaths, and hold services in remembrance of the fallen, gaining a better appreciation of the finality of conflict and the role Canadians played in the bloodiest wars in human history.

10th Annual Battlefields 2012 Tour Photo Gallery 

This 2012 March Break trip provided far more than just a sightseeing opportunity for the students. It is sometimes very difficult to fully comprehend the sacrifice that soldiers made to ensure our freedom, not to mention the numerous Andreans who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the World Wars. Having the opportunity to visit these battlegrounds to pay tribute to our fallen is an experience that will never be forgotten by all those fortunate enough to go on the tour. -- Mr. Jamie Inglis ’91, Department of Science.

View 2011 photo gallery.

 “It was very moving to realize my relative was among all those people who gave up their lives, their futures, so we could have a future," said grade 10 student Graeme Allison, upon finding the name of his great great uncle, William E. Neil, engraved on the Vimy Memorial monument.

St. Andrew’s Society for Service Around the World (SASSAW):

St. Andrew’s Society for Service Around the World (SASSAW) evolved out of St. Andrew’s Society for Service in Nepal (SASSIN) which ran between the years of 1992 and 2000, and sent five groups of students and faculty to the remote mountain regions of Nepal. The stated objective of these trips was to give students an opportunity to do community service on a global scale. Anyone who was involved in a SASSIN trip understood that the collateral benefits of such an experience far outweigh their own small efforts. Students and faculty who were part of the SASSIN trips invariably came back with a wealth of experiences, an appreciation for life in a vastly different culture, and a new-found perspective on the meaning of service.

What evolved out of such noble beginnings was a continued desire among the students to venture outside their comfort zones, by fundraising throughout the academic year, and offering service and financial assistance to people in safer, yet similarly needy, parts of the world.

Over the past ten years, the SASSAW trips have taken place over three weeks of the summer and have included the following destinations: South Africa (2003), Peru (2004), Thailand (2005), Kenya (2006), Ecuador (2007), Malawi (2008), Peru (2009), Namibia (2010), Brazil (2011), and Kenya (2012). Students fundraise all year to raise enough money to support the service project they will be working on. Each trip averages between 15 and 30 students and involves a service project, a Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition and a cultural tourism component.

Service Projects
International service projects allow our students to witness the difficult circumstances many people in this world must live in on a daily basis. It helps young Andreans gain a greater appreciation for the advantages they have, and promotes the self-discovery process necessary for the testing, shaping and building of values and character. If they can develop a greater understanding of the need for equity in our world, perhaps someday, when in the position to do so, they may be motivated to take action toward the achievement of a more just society.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
The Gold Level Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions that are part of each SASSAW program allow our students the chance to engage in physical challenges and thereby helps to cultivate in them a spirit of adventure and discovery. They provide opportunities for students to explore nature and, in the process, to learn more about the world around them, and to better connect with that world. The chance to work together as a team with a common purpose also helps students learn more about themselves.

Cultural Tourism
In cultural tourism, both the host and the guest carry with them their awareness of identity and from the interaction between the two, something new can emerge. It can help both sides renew bonds with their roots, as well as spark curiousity about what has been lost in their respective cultures. For the host, the opportunity to earn a living from cultural tourism can give incentives for local training and education. It can promote improvement of local skills, traditions, and arts and crafts, which can be of mutual benefit to the population, the tourists and the government. For the guests, our students, it can provide an invaluable opportunity to start to learn the story of the local people and gain some understanding about the significance of the local experience.

The Model United Nations is a series of programs run throughout the country and the world with the goals of furthering understanding about the United Nations, educating participants about world issues and promoting peace and the work of the United Nations through cooperation and diplomacy.

Students gather in groups of 15 to over 1000 to simulate member states representation in the bodies of the United Nations. Smaller simulations usually are of the Security Council and last several hours. Larger groups are held in convention centers, simulate many bodies of the UN concurrently and last several days. More than 160 Model UN conferences are held globally involving approximately 100,000 students each year.

"Simulations at large conferences usually include several of the six committees of the General Assembly. These committees each have a different topic they specialize in for debates. Conferences may also simulate councils other than the Security Council, such as the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC.) They might also simulate any number of special committees the General Assembly has mandated in the past years including the Economic and Finance Committee (ECOFIN) or the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA.) Conferences sometimes simulate the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or a historical Security Council body reconstructing an especially turbulent year of history." (Excerpt from the  American Model United Nations website)

SAC Students participate in the Model UN conference in New York City each year, as well as a smaller conference in Toronto. Last year, 10 students represented the nation of Nepal, debating topics ranging from international development, repatriation of the NPT, and the internal issues of Nepal. Students must be a member of the Model UN Club to attend.