In 1986, I stepped into the role of elementary principal, and I was met with a daunting challenge issued by then ACS Board Chair, Jack Van Dyke: to fill the four vacant classrooms in our new elementary campus on the Abbotsford-Mission Highway. Little did we anticipate that this newly rebuilt campus, erected after the devastation [...]
In 1991, I was a grade 9 student at Abbotsford Christian Secondary School. I bused to school every day with the other Chilliwack and Agassiz kids, had a blue top locker in the hallway that now leads to the mechanics shop (my locker combination was 27-54-39), and spent most of my free time making [...]
Reflecting on my high school years at ACS reminds me how much I enjoy listening to people talk about what they are passionate about. I remember learning moments like Mr. Bill de Jager spouting lines from Hamlet, or Mr. Jack Boersma explaining how to fill out your track meet sticker (through the examples of Suzy [...]
How do you teach elementary students about the effects of Canadian geography on Canada’s history? Or about how the vast array of geographical terrains and climates of early Canada impacted the Indigenous peoples and the first European settlers? You build a 3D map of Canada so large it’s difficult to find a table big enough! [...]
Camping is a big part of our family’s yearly vacations. We’ve been camping consistently for years, and we always make at least one camping trip to Okanagan Lake every summer. Nothing beats the dry Okanagan heat and camping right on the lake! If you have any experience camping in the Okanagan during the summer, you [...]
I’m not a big fan of new year resolutions. It could be that I have a terrible track record keeping them. But this year I decided that I need to take better care of my health. I’m a terrible binge-eater. I don’t bring a lunch (there’s rarely a break long enough to enjoy it anyway), [...]
My third son, Aiden, drives a 1997 Volvo. He bought it from Gary Verbeek at the school’s mechanic shop when he was in grade 11. It cost him a whole $700, and he was so proud of it. At the time he didn’t have his license yet but that didn’t matter to him. He was the [...]
You are so weird! Usually, this would sound like an insult to any middle school student. The comment seems to target a student’s self-esteem, their sense of belonging, and tells them they don’t fit in. What would happen if students found a way to see this comment as a compliment—a statement that affirms the reality [...]
A few years ago, Kirsi Antunes, our school counsellor, introduced our staff to the language of “expected” and “unexpected” behaviours. For opportunities where we wanted to correct a student’s actions (actions, not willful wrongdoing), rather than saying they were making a bad choice, we tried to name the unexpected behaviours and help them choose [...]
I began attending ACS in grade 1. My sister Linda, my brother Ken, and I walked at least 2 km to the end of Harris and Beharrell Road to the old wooden bus stop every day, there and back…okay, maybe not 2 km, but at least 1.5 km rain or shine. The yellow Ridgedale bus [...]
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