Lisgar Alumni Association

Brookfield High School Co-op students, in partnership with CKCU Carleton University Radio, recently hosted a professional recording session for student musicians from Lisgar, Glebe, and Canterbury. As part of their media production studies, the Brookfield team facilitated the session for several groups. The Lisgar participants were chosen through a peer-voted selection process within the Grade 11 Band and Strings classes.

Lisgar’s representatives were:
- The 1000 Bees Quartet: Featuring Ray Lougheed (Alto Saxophone), Cameron Vaughan (Bass Clarinet), Keriana Hodson (Trumpet), and Leo Oussoren (Bassoon).
- The Salzburg Quartet: Featuring Leonore Braun (Violin), Lena Weileder (Violin), Ava Cooper (Viola), and Armand Omelko (Cello).

The students were video recorded and an audio recording was made that will be featured on CKCU in the near future.

Overdue for a visit to the old school? You're invited to a drop-in reception for alumni during Doors Open Ottawa!

Saturday, June 6, 12-4 pm
in the Lisgar library

Enjoy student-led tours of the school, performances by the Cello Ensemble, Vocal Ensemble, and Symphonic Band (1-2 pm, in the Alumni Auditorium), and snacks and conversation with fellow alumni.

Not able to make it during the afternoon, but still want to visit the school? Student-led tours will run starting from 10 am.

RSVP not required, but a quick reply here will help us plan!

In late April, Lisgar and Glebe competed in the 2026 Reach for the Top Ontario Provincial trivia championships. While the University of Toronto Schools (UTS) won the tournament, Lisgar and Glebe finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively and qualified for Reach Nationals in May.

Lisgar and Glebe are currently the top two ranked public high schools in the entire province at high school trivia, and easily within the top five nationally. In the case of Lisgar, this standard of excellence has been maintained for well over two decades under the leadership of Ruth Crabtree (teacher 1997-2013).

The Lisgar Wind Ensemble and the Lisgar Symphonic Band attended the Kiwanis Music Festival on April 10th, and both groups performed exceptionally well.

The Wind Ensemble earned a gold rating in the Grade 2 Band category, while the Senior Band received gold in the Grade 4 Band category, along with an additional gold in the Challenge Class, where students prepare a demanding piece of music in just five weeks.

The cello ensemble also delivered a strong performance in the string ensemble class, earning second place with a piece arranged by retired music teacher Richard Arrigo.

With spring on the horizon, we've still got some Lisgar puzzles left! Free shipping at lisgar.net/puzzle

The Globe and Mail published a feature story last week about Dr. Shane Gero (1999), with the subtitle "How a Canadian whale scientist found love and hope – and a lesson for humanity – among the most mysterious creatures on the planet."

"Whales have wisdom to share about human life, Dr. Gero says, if we are willing to listen. Fingers taught him about parenthood before he was a father, and about finding purpose after loss. She’s now an older aunt to the youngest whales – the wise, graceful elder drifting on the periphery ready to help when needed. When she dives, Dr. Gero says, she has the most picture-perfect tail sweep he’s ever seen. The burden he feels to protect her, and all the whales, is enough 'to crack his heart open.'"

You can read the full article online at https://archive.ph/0khff

A 100-year-old Vox Lycei yearbook was recently donated to the school by a descendent of E. Lester Brittain (1928). It features pieces about school athletics, about music programs, and creative writing, as well as several references to the newly-opened Glebe Collegiate Institute, which was formed when Lisgar was split into two separate campuses. Curious to take a peek? You can browse a copy at https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=0n5T8pZMDesC&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PP1

Savvas Lithopoulos (1976) shared a photo from last Saturday's Lisgar Lads breakfast – a gathering 52 years in the making!

BACK ROW: Paul Armstrong, Jon Love, Don McMullen, Paul Lajeunesse, Hugh Reid, Ron Kelly, Charlie Gorman, Dave Armstrong, Doug Sally, Brian Martin, Pat Bryden.

MIDDLE ROW: James Karlis, Iain MacLellan, Adham Kamal, Rick Morissette, Mario Giannuzzi, Gord Johnson, Darryl Hamm, Tony Gow, Phil Lee, Tom Barber, Aldo Ch***pa, Victor Lang.

SEATED: Wayne Lewis, Dan Kelly, David Lamperd, Savvas Lithopoulos, Damon Runyon, Ron Hughes, Bob Green.

We are a bit overdue to get together! While we've held preliminary discussions about a 190th anniversary reunion, that won’t be for another seven years.

Every year, the City of Ottawa has an event called Doors Open Ottawa. Lisgar has been participating in this for years and many former students and staff drop in for a guided tour. We want to see if there is enough interest in having an "alumni exclusive" event after Doors Open closes to the public. Here's what we are proposing:

Date: Saturday June 6th
Time: 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Light refreshments will be served in the cafeteria.

Please go to https://forms.gle/aS8yVduiMQotmG5s6 to let us know if you'd be interested in attending and/or volunteering to help us out.

We hope to see you on June 6th!

Lisgar Alumni Event - Doors Open Ottawa 2026 Please indicate to us your level of interest in having an alumni get together during Doors Open Ottawa, tentatively scheduled for June 6, 2026.

Cara Waterfall (1995) wrote in recently to share that she had launched a poetry scholarship in her father's honour:

"I never pictured myself as a teacher. Not once. At Lisgar, I split my time between basketball, soccer, and the yearbook office. I loved languages — French with Monsieur Melanson, Latin with Mr. Taylor — and I was always reading something, even if it wasn’t on the syllabus. And in English, Ms. Wilson held high expectations, which definitely kept me on my toes.

I didn’t discover languages at Lisgar — I brought them with me from a childhood lived in different countries. But Lisgar fed that flame, gave it shape, and showed me what it looks like when teachers open doors and trust you to step through them.

My father was a teacher too. He taught in Asia, Europe, and later back in Toronto. I didn’t appreciate it then, but watching him return to the classroom later in life shifted something in me. After he passed, I found myself stepping into that same posture — mentoring young writers and building community around language.

In 2024, I created the Donald E. Waterfall Scholarship Fund in his name. Each year, it supports one emerging poet through financial assistance and a year-long mentorship. Our inaugural scholar, Nigerian poet Isaiah Adepoju, began his term last year, and his growth has affirmed why this fund exists.

Looking back, Lisgar connected the pieces — the languages, the teams, the curiosity — and showed me there are a hundred ways to learn, and at least as many ways to pass it on."

You can learn more about Cara's poetry scholarship at https://www.carawaterfall.com/donald-e-waterfall-scholarship-fund