Alexis Troubetzkoy was Appleby’s fifth headmaster. Appointed to the post in 1981, he came to Oakville from Selwyn House School in Montreal, where he had been headmaster for ten years. Ironically, he had gone to Selwyn House from Appleby in 1971: he had originally joined our staff in 1968.
A Canadian citizen, Troubetzkoy was born in Paris, France, and educated at the Kent School in Connecticut. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Sir George Williams University, and a Diploma in Education from Bishop’s University. Before joining Appleby he taught at Stanstead College, Bishop’s College School, and St. Stephen’s School in Rome.
Troubetzkoy said his mission was to “let Appleby become a beacon from which other schools could take their bearings.” In order to achieve his aims, he addressed several issues: among them were refining the academic program; bolstering the extracurricular offerings, especially in the arts; and, in his words, bringing Appleby “into the mainstream of Canadian education, in the sense of … having it play a more prominent role in independent education.”
A significant initiative was his decision to make Appleby a ‘fast-track’ school, where students would graduate in four years. Current principal Guy McLean gave Troubetzkoy credit for overcoming the many obstacles to success and ensuring the smooth implementation of the four-year program, which marked a major change in the school’s culture. Our ‘double cohort’ class (about 60% of which comprised four-year students) graduated in 1987, 16 years in advance of the double cohort from Ontario’s public high schools.
The Nicholas Arts Centre (the art and music building opened in 1985) is the most visible sign of Troubetzkoy’s success. Providing this facility, and instituting an ‘extracurricular credit’ requirement in the Appleby College Diploma, marked a new attitude toward the arts.
In terms of raising Appleby’s profile, he promoted student exchanges with schools on the West Coast, in England and in Europe, particularly through the English Speaking Union and the Appleby-in-France program; and under his leadership, Appleby become a member of the National Association of Independent Schools in the United States and the Headmasters’ Conference in Britain.
Alexis Troubetzkoy resigned in 1987 to take on the leadership of the Toronto French School.
He passed away in February 2017.