editorial welcome Rosh-Hashana ethics cafe visiting musician pumpkin carving UWC meeting, Singapore wilderness hike essay&debate International Affairs North American Nat'l Day Project Week advisor system
	Underwater Pumpkin Carving Emily Soper (year 32) It was Sunday morning at the end of Project Week and, after spending the whole week diving at Race Rocks, we still hadn't had enough. So Juan Carlos, Raisa, Chris Blondeau (otherwise known as “diving Chris”), his wife Jane, their two children Morgan and Catrina, and I piled into Chris's van and headed off to the Esquimault Lagoon to participate in an underwater pumpkin carving competition. The proceeds from this event would go to the Pediatrics Unit of Victoria Hospital. The weather turned out to be miserable. It never once stopped raining. If any of you haven't caught on by now, this competition involved us diving beneath the surface of the water to carve pumpkins, something that I had never done before on land much less underwater.
	Once we arrived at the seaside we changed into our diving gear, a process which was made all the more interesting by the fact that it was raining. Chris told us that this is what “hard core” divers do all the time. We then realized that we were a long way off from being so-called “hard core” divers. Nevertheless we waded in and tried our luck at this pumpkin carving challenge. Raisa, who was our core photographer observed the intense work that was going on between Jane and I, (the other member of our team forgot his equipment and therefore had to watch from the surface). If you look closely at the photos you will discover that I really had no idea what I was doing! It all seemed to come together in the end as Jane and I managed to carve two pumpkins and find some kelp to decorate our pumpkins with. After the pumpkin carving was finished we made a run for warm, dry clothes and took our pumpkins to the diving shop (that was sponsoring the event) where they were to be judged. There were prizes for Best Carved Pumpkin and of course Worst Carved, and also best dressed pumpkin (the decoration on the pumpkins). Somehow our pumpkin won best dressed (thanks to all our kelp!). We picked up a few prizes: a diving knife, a gym membership and some other little odds and ends. Later, we found ourselves gawking at the price tags in the dive shop, for the first time realizing the cost of the training and equipment that we have at Pearson. I think next time I wrap up a dive, I'll be rinsing my school wetsuit extra clean. by Raisa Mirza (year 31) I think we had a pretty amazing day. Best was to be able to see how lucky we are in terms of diving at the College. We have the best backyard for miles, free diving and equipment and the best instructor around. Thanks again to Chris, Jane, Morgan and Catrina for letting us hang around! As Chris would tell us: "Surface only when necessary". NEXT: INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS						photos by Raisa Mirza (Ontario, year 31)