Friday, January 20, 2017 7 Brooklin Town Crier Yes Woman By Marissa Campbell Trafalgar Castle School Preps the Next Generation Raise your hand if you'd like to attend school in a castle. Hermione and Harry Potter were on to something. While Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry doesn't exist, Trafalgar Castle School, nestled in downtown Whitby, does. I don't know what your high school was like, but I grew up in Pickering and went to Dunbarton. Shout out to all the Spartans in the house! I plodded along, grasping at good grades while simultaneously worrying about how I looked and how people would perceive me. Add to that mix the volatile concoction of hormones flooding my system, and I had boys on the brain a ridiculous amount of time. A great deal of daily effort went into make-up application, hair style, and clothing selection. Who had time for studies? I recently visited the all girls Trafalgar Castle School and had the opportunity to speak to a few of its grade 12 students. Not once did they mention boys. Only when I brought it up did they express how little boys and their related drama factored into their lives. They were too busy excelling and living up to their potential. I probed further. What about makeup? Hair styles? No one had any interest in that stuff either. And since uniforms were mandatory, the clothes debate never came up. Flabbergasted, I then inquired as to what on earth they talked about during the day or on weekends with friends. Their unanimous responses were school and their studies. It was as if I'd entered the twilight zone. These incredible young women spoke about philanthropic pursuits, like their fundraising efforts to provide tuition to Trafalgar for two girls from third world countries. They waxed poetic about their internationally recognized robotics program. They spoke at length about the enriched academic curriculum and how their teachers pushed them to excel; how much they respected their educators and strived to meet their expectations; and how they loved math and sciences. Their eyes were set on the global stage. They had big dreams, and they credited Trafalgar with giving them the resources to be able to achieve them. Trafalgar Castle School is a small community with only 200 students from grades 5 - 12. Of these, 70 are boarded. For perspective, there are only 40 students in this year's graduating grade 12 class. At Dunbarton, there were hundreds. This tight-knit environment fosters a tremendous sense of sisterhood, pride, and community. The girls I spoke to were not shy to point that out. They've made friends for life here, friends who span international borders and global interests. To be given the opportunity to attend a school like Trafalgar is phenomenal, and these girls knew it. These days, there's a sense of entitlement that seems to accompany some youth (I can say this confidently since I birthed three of them). But I didn't find that attitude at Trafalgar. To the contrary, these students knew they had been given a wonderful opportunity and felt it was their duty to give back and foster outreach whenever possible. Hogwarts relied on magic, but Trafalgar Castle School uses internationally enriched academics and unparalleled extra-curricular and arts programing to help prepare its students for the challenges ahead. In fact, graduates have a 100% acceptance rate to their choices of universities. No magic or sleight of hand involved there. I wouldn't change anything about my upbringing, It's made me who I am today. But there is something to be said about an educational environment that encourages you to set the bar high and dream big, that supports your personal growth and self-confidence as a young woman, and gives you the resources you need to follow whatever path your heart desires. Such is Trafalgar Castle School. Like Dr. Seuss said, Oh, The Places You'll go. (Yes Woman is a paid advertisement)