Students Redefine Masculinity

Posted On Thursday June 13, 2019
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L-R: Liam, Thomas, and Brodie from Pringle Creek PS check out a vintage car alongside Grade 10 Anderson CVI student Liam Murray at the first ever Anderson CVI Guys Night In event.

Anderson CVI hosts their first ever Guys Night In event

This past May, Anderson Collegiate Vocational Institute (CVI) hosted their first ever Guys Night In. Approximately 95 Anderson CVI students and 25 elementary students from feeder schools attended the event at the school in Whitby.

The theme of Guys Night In was Young Men of Character, and the idea came from the students themselves. “Our Grade 11 and 12 guys came to us asking why there was a Girls Night In, but not an event for the guys,” explains Dawn White, Vice-Principal at Anderson CVI.

White says they agreed to support the students in organizing the event as long is it was designed to break down stereotypes and build strength of character in their fellow students. And according to White, they did just that, “We saw them reaching out to our transgender students, our quiet students, and our younger students exclaiming ‘Hey! Are you coming to our Guys Night In?’ They even walked down to our feeder schools to hand-deliver the tickets.”

Guys Night In had it all: vintage cars, a yoga room, a skilled trades booth, an Indigenous art booth, a youth in policing booth, and so much more. Anderson CVI students in Grades 9-12 and Grade 8 students from Bellwood Public School, C.E. Broughton PS, Dr. Robert Thornton PS, and Pringle Creek PS were invited to share in the festivities, delicious food, and inspirational presentations.

Among the list of guest speakers was David Visser, Associate Director of the Durham District School Board (DDSB) and Anderson CVI graduate.

Visser explained the impact that his high school Guidance Counsellor Mrs. Parr had on him, “She showed me for the first time in my life, what a benevolent and caring human being was. She made me a better person for caring, and I try to pay that forward to this day and forever.”

He also shared key messages and personal anecdotes for being a team player and a fair leader, “Where one person goes, we all go. Their successes are theirs, and their failures are mine.”

Other guest speakers included Durham Regional Police Services (DRPS) Sergeant Sean Samuels and DRPS Sergeant Keith Lingley, who talked about the importance of redefining the traditional role of men in the community.

Donna Haw, Teacher at Anderson CVI, says that besides enjoying the good food and fun activities, the purpose of Guys Night In is for students to know that they can be full human beings without having to wear a mask of what society believes masculinity to be, “Masculinity isn’t just one thing, it can be anything: a construction worker, a yoga instructor, a police officer, and so on.”