Inside King's-Edgehill School
When asked to rate something, the usual reference is from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. Well, I'd like to illustrate this in a couple of ways. I first want to introduce Grade 10 student, Mitchell Larkin. What is special about Mitchell matters in a number of ways but only on one level: he strives to achieve 10's at all he attempts, and this season he has been accomplishing just that. In the academic arena, Mitchell is in the Grade 10 honours class and his ongoing average has been among the top of his peers (1). Okay, but what else, you may ask? Mitchell is the Captain of our Ski Team (2) and he won an Individual Gold Medal at the NSSAF Provincials last month (3), and also led his Intermediate Boys Team to stand on centre podium also (4). Those are 10's but if the scale could possibly be stretched beyond a 10, Mitchell has accomplished that too. He earned a place on the U18 National Ski Team this season (5), having amassed the second most points last season with his NS Ski Team (6) and competing at the 2019 Canada Winter Games (7)! Note that I am helping you keep track of the number of 10's thus far and already we're at 'Lucky 7".
Being a forward thinker, Mitchell gracefully declined his opportunity to ski at his division's highest level because he has also been engaged in playing the oboe in the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra (8), sought after by our province's best musicians and known for its selective intake. Another 10 but wait...it doesn't stop there. Mitchell gained the attention of the National Youth Band of Canada and has been appointed to take the second chair oboe and English horn position (9). This, he has accepted and is just waiting for the current COVID-19 situation to settle down. This band is comprised of Canada's best instrumental musicians, ages 16-22 years of age. Mitchell turned sixteen last Friday, March 13th (besting the odds of bad luck yet again, so we can consider this a possible 10 too but I won't ), meaning that he is likely to sustain six more years of playing in the top ensemble of our Nation (a pending 10). That's quite a few 10's me thinks and given that Mitchell wants to take up a career in music education, is a fantastic leg up in his endeavours. In the meantime, he will remain our ski team captain and he plans to get his coaching certification as well (another pending 10), now that he is of the minimum age to meet that requirement. In light of his proven track record to date, I am going to award half marks and add them together (10) because you can guarantee he'll achieve his goals. Given that, Mitchell scores 10/10; 10 being the best, I'm sure you will agree!To give you a glimpse of Mitchell's ability in skiing and music, I leave you with 2 short videos of him on the slopes, as well as a recording he participated in with the concert of the NSYO. In addition, I have reached out to Mitchell to add a few comments describing these clips and outlining his achievements, motivation and goals:
What a year it's been. Between the training schedule for racing and NSYO rehearsals I've certainly had my work cut out for me, but it's all in the name of fun. I am coming up on re-auditions to return to the orchestra for next season and could not be more excited. I look forward to playing more and more every chance I get. Racing is going on the backburner no doubt, but my love of skiing is far from dead, and I will be doing everything I can to stay on the hill and keep my technical brain and abilities strong to help the team. That all being said, I hope you enjoy the videos posted here. There is an excerpt from the NSYO (and I!) playing Marquez's exciting Danzon No. 2, and a video of me in my only race outside of School this season at Wentworth before the COVID-19 shutdowns.
Achievements like this make parents so proud! We find that most parents of King's-Edgehill students are happy to help out whenever they can and are eager to answer any questions prospective parents might have.
