Former BCI graduates named to Hall of Excellence in Saturday ceremony
Posted Nov 26, 2009 By Roy Lewis
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EMC Events - An athlete, lawyer and scientist are among the newest inductees to the Brockville Collegiate Institute's (BCI) Hall of Excellence.
Roy Lewis, St. Lawrence EMC
The newest inductees to the Brockville Collegiate Institute's Hall of Excellence shown holding their citations are, from left, Kevin Beatty, Valerie Kines accepting the honour on behalf of her son, Stephen Kines and Dr. Terrance Rummery following the Hall of Excellence ceremony at the high school on Nov. 21.
At a special ceremony at the high school on Nov. 21, three graduates of BCI - Kevin Beatty, Stephen Kines and Terrance Rummery - were inducted into the Hall of Excellence designed to showcase the achievements of former BCI students in their chosen career.
Kevin Beatty didn't start out to achieve championship titles in amateur sports. In fact, he was not even a great athlete in high school. But two teachers at BCI played a pivotal role in his running achievements later in life.
Beatty started running in elementary school and then with the Brockville Legion Runners where he was coached by Bob Tucker. When he entered Grade 9 at BCI in 1995, his teacher, Ian Stewart, challenged him to run cross-country. After Stewart left the school, there was a void in the coaching but another teacher, Martin VanAndel, stepped forward to coach the cross-country team even though he had no background at being a cross-country coach.
From that encouragement, Beatty did well at running and continued to participate with cross-country teams at Waterloo and Queen's University. From 2002 to 2005, he focused on running marathons achieving a personal best time of 2:21:37 and a silver medal in the Canadian Marathon Championship.
In 2007, Beatty entered his first Olympic distance triathlon finishing 24th in swim, fifth in bike and first in running for an overall first place. He competed in the World's Triathlon in Vancouver, B.C. in June 2008 where he placed first for Canada in his age group and third overall to win a bronze medal. As a result, Beatty was recognized by Triathlon Canada as Athlete of the Year in the 2008 Olympic Distance Age Group. He is currently preparing for the 2010 Ironman Canada Triathlon.
Beatty, who currently works as an adult education teacher in Belleville, told students at the ceremony that since he started teaching, he now knows how much time is spent by teachers overseeing extra-curricular activities. He encouraged students to take advantage of the various programs offered by their school "because you never know where you will end up."
Beatty comes from a long line of BCI graduates, including his parents, David and Anne Beatty of Brockville and his siblings, Carolyn and Ian.
Stephen Kines
Stephen Kines was inducted into the Hall of Excellence for his contributions to the legal profession in the field of technology and telecommunications in central Eastern Europe.
While at BCI, he served as student council president and vice-president of the B.C.I. Key Club, a student-led high school service club sponsored by the Brockville Kiwanis Club. Kines went on to become Key Club Governor General of Eastern Canada and the Caribbean region.
Robert Lawn, a former principal of BCI who outlined Kines' accomplishments, noted that while he was Governor General of Eastern Canada and the Caribbean, the teenager made a point of visiting Key Clubs in his region including those in the Caribbean.
"That dedication to the organization tells you a great deal about Stephen Kines," said Lawn.
After graduating from BCI in 1986, Kines went on to receive a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Windsor and a Jurist Doctor degree from
the University of Detroit. He was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1996.
In 1998, Kines was invited to join the management team of the Prague office of The Alliance of European Lawyers at which time he began the development of a telecom/information technology practice. After a merger with Linklaters (one of the top five global law firms), Kines became manager of the practices of 25 lawyers in six countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
In 2004, Kines co-founded "kines," an independent law firm with offices in Prague and Silicon Valley and, three years later, was ranked by Euromoney as one of the top 25 Telecom/Media/Technology lawyers in the world. He recently took on the role of technology, media and telecommunications partner with the international law firm of Bird and Bird.
Speaking through a satellite link directly from Prague, Kines said he is still trying to instill in his fellow lawyers the aspects he learned at BCI - for them to be part of their community and "for young people to be leaders and take control of their actions."
Kines is the son of Valerie Kines of Brockville. He resides in Prague in the Czech Republic with his wife, Iva, and their three children, Sabina, Simon and Sara.
In accepting the award on behalf of her son, Valerie Kines gave particular credit to Robert Lawn and a former BCI teacher, Boyd Hall, who "went beyond the classroom" to challenge her son to succeed.
Dr. Terrance Rummery
After being inducted into the Hall of Excellence, Dr. Terrance Rummery said he found it difficult to realize that he had graduated from the school 52 years ago. Rummery was honoured for his leadership in Atomic Energy Canada, especially in the area of atomic waste management.
Rummery's academic achievements began in 1957 with a first place in General Proficiency, Grade 13, at Brockville Collegiate. Those achievements continued with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Engineering Chemistry at Queen's University in 1961, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Queen's in 1966, a National Research Council Overseas Post-Doctoral Fellowship at University College in London, England from 1966 to 1967 and culminated in a Honourary doctorate awarded by Queen's University in 1993.
As president of Atomic Energy Canada (Research), Rummery led the program to develop the safe disposal of used nuclear fuel. For his work, he was awarded a Honourary Doctor of Science degree from Queen's University in 1993. A year later, he was the recipient of the W. B. Lewis Medal presented by the Canadian Nuclear Society for contributions to nuclear science and engineering.
His other accomplishments include being chairman of the board for the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1998 and fellowships in the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Canadian Nuclear Society.
Recalling his time at BCI, Rummery, who is now retired, remembered one teacher who inspired him. Paul Brown was not a teacher of science but of languages. Rummery recalled that when Brown taught French, "he became French in speech and mannerisms and when he taught German, he became a German."
Rummery encouraged students of today to consider a career in science saying, "Canada needs more of the best and brightest young people" in that field. Noting that computers have opened up a world of scientific information that would have taken much longer for him and his contemporaries to find, Rummery said the machines have presented "a breadth of opportunity."
He also reminded students that science is not always about breathtaking moments of discovery but "the rewarding road we take in the pursuit of knowledge."
Along with inducting outstanding former students in the Hall of Excellence, the ceremony also recognized achievements of current students at the high school. Faculty awards were presented to students in grades 9 to 12 who had excelled in various subjects ranging from music to mathematics and healthy active living education. BCI scholars, those students who had maintained at least 90 per cent in all subjects, were also recognized during the ceremony.
