I’m often accused of overusing the word “opportunity.” Every challenge, problem, or complication can just as easily be an “opportunity.” You can see the eyerolls from staff, students, and even my wife when I correct people when they use the word problem. It’s an “opportunity,” I say! It’s as much self-talk as it is a [...]
You walk through the middle school hallways and hear a “thump, thump, thump.” As you turn the corner towards the grade 5 wing, the sound starts to crescendo. You begin to follow this strange noise. Thump, clack, thumpity thump. “Where is this sound coming from?” you wonder. Is it a jack hammer? No, too rhythmic. Is [...]
It’s been a time of grieving and lament in our community as we mourn the loss of a beautiful person, Louise Riezebos. Louise worked as a middle school educational assistant for seven years and impacted every staff member, student, and parent she met. She passed into the arms of her loving Saviour, on Thursday June [...]
BY NANCY HUMPHRIES, RETIRED ACS TEACHER When I first arrived at ACS in September 1991 to begin my grade 2 teaching assignment, little did I know that I would be working with an unforgettable man named Maury Thiessen. He was also teaching grade 2. From the first day we met he made me feel so [...]
I’m a sucker for a good story. It’s hard to say if it’s nurture or nature. I’m a blend of story genetics: storytelling and story-reading. My maternal family is bursting with people who love reading. Some have even gone professional with their adoration of the written word; my mom and three of her sisters are [...]
They come running to the reception area with books, games, sketch pads, and friends. “Is it our day today?” they ask Mrs. Howard. Big smiles spread across the students’ faces as they scurry to different learning pods set up across the Learning Commons. To say this space is a hit would be an understatement. It [...]
As I am moving out of my role as middle school principal, I thought it would be appropriate to share my highlights from the past 13 years. In no particular order, some of the things I will remember are: Coffeehouse performances Pre-pandemic, our middle school would hold an annual celebration of the arts. We often [...]
A few surprises have come my way over the course of my time as a teacher and administrator. This is my 22nd year at ACS. For the first 9 years I was an assistant principal or vice principal, and for the past 13 years I have been the middle school principal. Before coming to ACS, [...]
Mind racing. Heart pounding. Hoping. Anticipating. Anxiously awaiting. The first day at a new job is always scary, but for teachers, it happens twice the first year and every September thereafter. Once when entering a room full of strangers in a new school in the final week of summer. Again, when the students arrive for [...]
These past few weeks we watched one of the final pieces of the construction project – the canopy over the front entrance – being put in place. This is like a giant erector set with a concrete cylinder base, a steel cylinder, six angled support arms, and beautiful wooden trusses, all supporting an angled wood [...]
