Elmwood Old Girl and Alumni Network 

The Elmwood Old Girl and Alumni network is far-reaching, with over 5,000 alumni living coast to coast to coast, and around the globe. This extraordinary network shares one thing in common – Elmwood School – the place where friendships were formed, academic achievements were celebrated, leadership and athletic pursuits were encouraged, and potential was realized. 
 
Elmwood alumni are engaged global citizens. Whether they are pursuing a degree in a wide range of academic studies, working in a challenging and diverse field, or making a difference in their home communities, Elmwood alumni are making an impact locally, nationally and internationally everyday.  
 
The strength in this network lies in the commitment, diversity and engagement of its members. Elmwood alumni are enthusiastically involved with the school, mentoring current Elmwood students and recent graduates, and giving  generously to help ensure a bright and stable future of Elmwood. 

Be sure to visit ElmwoodConnect the school’s recently launched alumni networking, directory, mentorship, events and news platform. 

Meet the OGAA Leadership Team!

OGAA Co-Chair, Janan Lewars, Elmwood Class of 2013, is passionate about the intersection of development and youth politics. Janan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and African Studies from Trinity College, University of Toronto and a Master’s of Science in Development Policy and Politics from the University of Birmingham. During her postgraduate studies she traveled to South Africa to conduct research on how young people create social and political change through party affiliation and voting choices. With a particular interest in driving social impact through education sector improvement, Janan presently works as a Senior Enterprise Instructional Designer at Top Hat – an education technology company which continues to disrupt and improve higher education. At Top Hat, she is a committee member of the Diversity, Inclusion and Belong, which seeks to create a space for people to do their best work while being their authentic selves. Janan recently became a Young Director at Girls on Boards which places experienced young leaders like herself on non-profit governance boards or committees in their communities. Passionate about continuing to learn, she will be starting a course on Digital Strategy and Communications Management through the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies. In her free time, she enjoys HIIT workouts, pop culture, watching movies and reading about local and global politics. 

OGAA Co-Chair, Moira Phillips, Elmwood Class of 1969, holds a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College, University of Toronto and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. She also has an MA in Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University and a CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults).  A number of years editing Harlequin Romances prompted Moira to take an MBA as the company’s business side soon became more interesting to her than the number of typos in the copy and whether the use of semicolons aligned with the style book that the company was using. On completing her MBA, she began work in the financial services industry, initially as an editor in the research department of Wood Gundy, as she was still conversant in the appropriate use of punctuation as well as able to read a balance sheet and an income statement. From being an editor, she then moved over to the sales side of the business and was a financial advisor for many years before returning to the research department as a writer. A severe downturn in the stock and bond markets some years later required her to change careers. She spent the last 15 or so years before retirement teaching English as a second language both in Canada and abroad (Nepal, Russia, Qatar), arming herself with additional education, both theoretical (applied linguistics) and practical (CELTA), along the way.

Old Girls Art Show Chair, Lynne (Houwing) Evenson, Elmwood Class of 1979, spent seven years at Elmwood, eventually graduating from Grade 13 from a graduating class of only 10 students. She graduated from Queen’s University, spent six months travelling around Europe, then came back to begin her career in crop research at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa.  Since the early 1980s Lynne has always been involved with Elmwood. She joined the newly formed Old Girls’ Association in the early 1980s, was president in the 1990s and organized Elmwood’s 75th anniversary in 1990.  For the last five years she has co-chaired the resurrected Elmwood Old Girls’ Art Show.  

Communications Committee Chair, Reba Wilson, Elmwood Class of 2010,  is a real estate Broker and Director of Marketing and Strategic Development for Marilyn Wilson Dream Properties Inc. / Christie’s International Real Estate. Reba is also a published writer who has specialized in articles on luxury topics from real estate to dining and travel. Reba attended Elmwood for 10 years, where she cut the ribbon for the first ever kindergarten class. She was in Wilson House. Reba is very much looking forward to working with the OGAA as the Communications Chair, with the goal of helping to improve the reach and messaging of the alumni network.

For more information about the Elmwood Old Girls' & Alumni Association and how to become involved, contact Andrea Thomson, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at 613-749-6761 ext 260 or at athomson@elmwood.ca