°ÍÀè·èÂíÐã

By Jennifer Matthews

Photo supplied

“I always told my parents — both my parents are educators — I’m never going to be a teacher. You can’t make me. Yep, here we are.”

Anneke Lee laughs as she says it, but the irony is real. The fourth-year °ÍÀè·èÂíÐã student has just co-authored a book on educational reform, “” with her mother Dr. Cinde Lock, Head of School at Pickering College in Newmarket, Ont.

“I had expected this to be some niche little project, but I found over and over again that the ideas behind this approach directly related to the lives of almost every Trinity student around me,” says Lee, who is completing her English degree with studies in German and French, and staying on for a fifth year to complete a certificate in history.

As the child of two educators, Lee attended five schools on four continents between Grades 5 and 12 – and is fluent in English, German, French and Korean – experiencing first-hand the difference between schools that fostered curiosity and connection and those that did not.

The idea for the book was born not at a desk but on a walk. Between her second and third year of university, Lock and Lee were strolling through Montreal when the conversation turned, as it often did, to what an ideal school might look like. By the end of that trip, they had mapped out the first 10 chapters. The writing itself unfolded over four to five intense months, with Lee heading home to Newmarket on weekends to write full chapters alongside Lock, then editing over Zoom during the week.

Connections, Academics, and Purpose introduces the CAP (Connections, Academics, and Purpose) method — a framework for reimagining how schools teach. It challenges the traditional “conveyor belt” model of education in favour of project-based learning anchored in real-world connections, rigorous academics and a genuine sense of purpose.

Getting the book published was an education of its own. Neither Lee nor Lock had navigated the publishing world before, and the learning curve was steep. “It was fascinating, learning about the publishing world,” says Lee, noting that around 1,000 copies have sold to date. The process, she notes, felt entirely consistent with the CAP method’s premise: you learn most when the stakes are real.

That instinct — learning through doing — is also what drives her work at Trinity. As chair of the °ÍÀè·èÂíÐã Meeting (TCM), Lee sits as a student member of Trinity’s Board of Trustees and participates in college governance alongside other members of the Trinity community. Through student leadership, she found herself connecting with professors, attending academic dinners, and having the kinds of conversations that opened doors she hadn’t known to look for. “Trinity has been inspirational,” she says. “And I don’t say that lightly.”

A second book is already underway — this one written in Lee’s own voice, structured as a series of journalistic profiles focused on youth mental health in schools.

Her advice to Trinity students with a passion they want to pursue? Get connected — and stay open. Some of the most important ideas, she says, arrive not as plans but as conversations. Her own book began as one. And the best counsel she has received came from one of her professors at Trinity, who told her simply: Do your work – but also loosen the reins, and take up every opportunity that comes into your peripheral vision.

It turns out that’s also a pretty good description of how to write a book while going to university.

At their book launch at Pickering College, Anneke Lee and Cinde Lock hold their book “Connections, Academics, and Purpose”

Categories: Student News