Interview with Royal St. George's College Alum, Jeev Singh

Everyone at Royal St. George’s College was invested in one another and invested in each other’s success. We were there when everyone would do well, and we were there to support each other when we would fail.

I feel very blessed to have had the experiences that I’ve had, and that all started at Royal St. George’s College. There would have been no chance, in my mind, that I would have been able to have the experiences that I’ve had — or for that matter, have the interests that I have — without my experience at St. George’s.

Today, I love food, I love adventure, and I love to travel. With those interests, the seeds were either sown at Royal St. George’s College or nourished at St. George’s. For example, one of my first experiences cooking was when I was in Grade 3, and we had ‘Domestic Survival’ class. We were eight-year-old boys and we learned our hand at cooking in the kitchen.  In Grade 9, I went to Japan with the school band, and in Grade 11, we went dog sledding and slept in the snow. These are experiences that I still look back on, and they are major milestones for me. I can truly see how they’ve shaped the direction of my life.

My interest was to go to Wharton business school, which is an Ivy League school, and highly competitive. I had spoken to the Royal St. George’s college advisor when I was in Grade 9, and he laid out a plan for me explaining what I needed to do.  So I took the most difficult classes I could take: I took seven or eight AP classes, one of which no one else signed up for. Instead of cancelling the class, the teacher was kind enough to teach it just for me. So I had that unique opportunity where Royal St. George’s College really cared about my objectives and enabled me to strive and attain them.

I had the idea of starting a ‘Diversity Week’, which is something that would be quite relevant today, but when I was 15 years old, was quite unheard of.  We put on many events and invited speakers to celebrate the diversity of our community. Royal St. George’s College not only supported my vision, but helped enable it to become a reality. They fully invested in me and the rest of the team, and truly embraced the idea of students being a driving force.

I was eight years old when we were choosing a school. When I interviewed with Royal St. George’s College, it definitely felt like a community. I think that that’s what my parents truly valued.  The principal knows everyone’s name and knows details about them, and when you’re a seven- or eight-year-old boy, that means a lot. When you are getting into trouble in high school, it also means a lot — because the teachers have seen you grow up and they know who you are.

I actually took the community feeling at Royal St. George’s College for granted when I was a student there, because I didn’t know any better. Now, having had the opportunity to see how different educational institutions are run, and speak to my friends and family about their academic experiences, I truly recognize what a unique opportunity St. George’s provides. It is a community where, yes, academics are driven, but it provides an environment where every student can have a tailor-made experience.

What I appreciated most about Royal St. George’s College was the community, and the fact that everyone knows and cares about you. There were so many times the teachers and staff were willing to go out of their way to support me and my friends with our objectives and endeavours. The teachers were as invested in our futures as we were.

I think that focus on the intangibles is definitely there at Royal St. George’s College. That focus on ‘manners maketh man.’  Knowing how to shake someone’s hand and look them in the eyes. Taking care of the community that you live in and interact with. These are all things that were hammered home and instilled upon us so that we truly understood. It was so tightly woven into the fabric of ‘being a Georgian’ that you only recognize it when you’re outside of that community.

Royal St. George’s College is first and foremost a university preparatory academy. It is a school where academics are taken seriously, but everyone’s needs are catered to. I struggled, for example, in computer science, and our professors and teachers were willing to assist me, guide me, and support me in a course that I struggled with. Whereas there were other courses that I excelled at, they provided me with extra material so that I could move even faster. The school provided a bespoke, catered approach to investing in yourself.

Royal St. George’s College turns boys into gentlemen — from the basic focus on manners, to punctuality, to how to make your community a better place. I think these are all positive characteristics that take Royal St. George’s College from being a school, to a rich community that I’m quite proud to be an alumnus of.

I think what would surprise families about Royal St. George’s College is the level in which everyone is invested in one another. The level of community at Royal St. George’s College and the focus that each individual within the community has on one another is something that is unparalleled, and something that, when I think back on my days, many years ago there, still shines through. The number of times that people were willing to go out of their way to help me, I don’t think that I’ve ever had that in other aspects of my life.

One of the things that I would say about the boys and men who graduate from Royal St. George’s College is there’s a lot of diversity, and that diversity helps create the community.  We all went on divergent paths after St. George’s, but while we were at St. George’s, we benefited from being exposed to each other’s interests, and our interests were as diverse as the class.

Royal St. George’s College is where I truly understood that I could be very good at something, but I am by no means perfect, and I can still learn from everyone around me. I think that St. George’s has truly instilled the value of striving to be better and learning from one another.

I think that level of excellence, and that striving to be better, was instilled in everyone at Royal St. George’s College. If you are into drama, you act, and if you are into art, you paint, if it’s community service, do the best you can do there. That push to do whatever you do, but do it to the best of your ability, is something that is intertwined within the St. George’s community

Royal St. George’s College has provided me with opportunities and exposed me to many different current interests of mine, and that enabled me to become who I am today. It opened numerous doors that would have been closed to me, or I wouldn’t have known existed, had I not gone to St. George’s.

I look back at my time at Royal St. George’s College fondly, and only now do I recognize what a unique environment the school offers. There are a few places where people will truly invest in one another and sacrifice for one another so that they can see you be the best version of yourself. I think that that is something that happens quite frequently within the St. George’s community.

Royal St. George’s College provides a bespoke opportunity, in that each student’s experience will be specifically catered to that child’s needs. By virtue of the small community, the staff and the teachers know and understand each child’s needs and work with the parents to provide those opportunities to that child.

I think that Royal St. George’s College is a great environment for youth to not just go through the academics and extracurriculars and whatnot, but to gain holistic learning on how to become Good Samaritans and good citizens. That all starts with the school’s motto of ‘manners maketh men’.

Royal St. George’s College is truly a special place, and I am envious of the boys that are going there today, because every opportunity that I have had opened to me since graduating from the school — be it going to an Ivy League school, working in Silicon Valley, to travelling the world and studying in numerous different countries — all started at St. George’s. The school taught me to dream big and strive to reach my objectives, but also equipped me with the tools and skills to be able to reach those objectives.

When evaluating Royal St. George’s College, try to see if this is a community you would want to be a part of, not just for your child but for yourself as a parent. Because I think St. George’s offers parents the opportunity to have partners in helping bring up good young men.