BY EVANGELINE STEWART, GRADE 3 TEACHER Have you ever wondered what ACS Elementary is like with no one there, with the lights off? Have you ever wanted to run or dance down empty school hallways? Think of all the fun you could have! Hallway Dancing Well, this is my life every morning at 6:30 am. [...]
BY: MELISSA REDEKOP, ACS BOARD MEMBER I am flawed, imperfect, and at times, painfully aware of it.
“Are you excited to be principal at ACS next year?” I was asked this question a lot over the summer. I always answered that question without hesitation. YES! Some of you might be wondering, how can he say that? Doesn’t he know what he’s getting himself into? As a recovering math teacher, allow me to run [...]
BY BETHANY BAKKER, GRADE 6 TEACHER My mom told me I wasn’t allowed to date anyone west of the Mississippi River. After all, I grew up in Wisconsin. I went to Dordt College in Iowa, met a guy from Chilliwack, got married, and moved to Canada a few years later. Now that I’ve lived here [...]
That's what Collins, our driver in Zambia, kept telling us when taking our pictures. Not Canadian smiles but Zambian smiles. What’s the difference? According to Collins, Zambian smiles are fuller, broader, a lot of teeth or, as one of my favourite quotes from a book, “ones that reach the eyes.” A Conduit of Hope [...]
I’m an educator, and yes that means (generally speaking) summer is indeed a break from the regular rhythm of the school year…and yes, we educators are blessed to enjoy time off that most other industries don’t have the luxury of. I like to refer to summer holidays as a teachers’ Sabbath. It’s an intentional break [...]
BY: NANCY HUMPHRIES It is so hard to believe that 28 years have passed since I first joined the ACS community to teach grade 2. Over the years I have also taught grade 1 and then Kindergarten. Each year brought a new group of children under my wings. Teaching young children is a bit like [...]
Eight years. That’s how long I was principal at ACS Secondary. These eight years have been good years, with many wonderful people and some incredible experiences. I probably could list 50 things that I learned as principal at ACS, but here are five of them. 1. God Works Through Us, Regardless of Our Mistakes This [...]
BY JUSTIN VERWOERD, EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANT When I started my job at ACS Middle, I thought it was perfect: work starts at 8:00 am, meal breaks at 10:30 am and 12 noon, and the weekly schedule is generally unchanging. I was cruising. The perfect job for me. Well, anyone who works at a school, has children, [...]
“Do you want to go to Zambia?” This was not a message I expected to receive from my wife, Jane, while I was away visiting my mom on the Family Day weekend. We had been tossing around some ideas for summer, but mostly they were local and more budget-wise, as last summer, we took a [...]
