Skip to main content

A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

I WAS THERE!!!

I was gifted the amazing opportunity to travel to Europe this spring with some staff and students from my school to commemorate the Vimy 100 celebrations. We travelled through France and did all the expected "touristy" things - Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Notre Dame... We also paid our respects to fallen Canadian soldiers at a number of cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Before we left, we all researched the lives of soldiers buried in those cemeteries in order to make this experience more real. The kids made connections with real people and families whose lives were more immediately impacted by the tremendous sacrifice that was made for the sake of the freedom of Canadians in the generations that would come afterward. Next we passed through the Flanders, Ypres and Passchendaele in picturesque Belgium. A very interesting and "educational" few days were spent in Amsterdam, where students received a very warm welcome from the mayor Bergen-Opp Zoom, welcoming them and applauding them for recognizing the importance  of this historic event. Finally, we ended our pilgrimage in Germany, where we explore the very metropolitan Berlin and stood in awe of such sites of Budestag and the what remains of the Berlin wall.

This was the first overseas and overnight excursion I have taken since becoming a VP. I think that it's important for administrators to go on these trips to support staff and develop relationships with students. Admittedly, I had forgotten all the work that it takes to put such a tremendous itinerary together and I had a new appreciation for the amount of time that staff had invested in working with the tour operator to design such an unforgettable experience. This time away, 10 days to be exact, gave me time to speak with these teachers, uninterrupted, about a number of topics, some shop and some not.

 I really appreciated being able to make connections with the teachers and I think they got to know me a little better too.

At school, staff act as surrogate parents to our kids but when you are travelling and spending so much time together, that custodial dimension takes on a whole new life. Most of these kids had never travelled before or used a passport. That's right! For some, this trip marked the first time they ever flew on a plane! There is a special sort of vulnerability that becomes noticeable. We took the opportunity to encourage as much free
 exploration as possible to help build their confidence, even though they were so far from home. Students figured out quickly that they had to be resourceful and manage their time and ultimately, they did. I was really proud of them. Now no trip would be complete without a little bit of drama - lost passports, too much money spent and a trip to the emergency room... Nothing we couldn't handle and smile about later.

When we got back, those faces in the hallways that I always smiled at and recognized now had

 names that I knew and shared experiences. I feel so blessed to be connected to these kids and teachers, having gone on such an extraordinary journey. As a former teacher of History, I felt like I was walking on air everywhere I went. I hadn't been to Europe since I was age of the kids that we took. I very vividly remember how I felt coming home from Europe when I was 17 years and I could see a very familiar look in the eyes of our kids when we greeted our families who were anxiously waiting for us at the airport.

I think every administrator needs to take a trip like this every now and then to make these important connections and share these significant and wonderful memories.

To Cindy, Steve and Mark: I can't thank you enough for the privilege of having accompanied you and these wonderful students on this trip that I will never forget.


.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Leading During a Pandemic

 Never thought I'd EVER type a title like that.  Pandemics were only events I had taught about during my History classes. The experience thus far can only be described as surreal. It's been a part of our reality for nearly 10 months now and the fear and uncertainty is still not lost on me with the reporting of daily infection and death rates. It has been my single greatest challenge as a leader to date to show up to work everyday imbuing optimism that we're going to be ok, that school is a safe place to be. I have to say that on 98% of those days, I have believed just that. We have be so very fortunate not to have experienced any positive diagnoses of COVID-19 so far. Implementing the new health and safety protocols, while tedious and laborious, has not been all that  difficult. Sure, the work up front was a lot - signage, taping arrows and cues on the walls and floors, rearranging classroom furniture to establish social distancing in the classrooms ... as the Principal, th

Catholic Education Week 2020

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Catholic Education Week. It is truly a gift to be able to work in a publicly-funded Catholic school, where we can be free to express our faith so freely and unapologetically. It's a bit sad that we are presently in quarantine and cannot gather in community to celebrate this wonderful gift but my staff and I decided to capitalize on the marvel that is social media to stay connected to our students. We wanted to inspire hope and encourage them from our homes, to theirs. I challenged my staff to select a favourite Scripture passage that they felt evokes a great sense of hope and each day on our school's Twitter feed, I feature a staff member with their quote. I also posted these photos into all of the Google Classrooms that the staff were running for  distance learning. In our special community, where relationships are so key to student success, we thought it was important for the kids to see our faces. We called our little project #motivatedbyfaith

Where Has the Time Gone?

I've not posted anything in more than two years.  I just realized that only recently when time slowed right down into our current distance learning situation. I supposed not being fully immersed in the harried and hurried pace of a typical school day has allowed me the benefit of time to more intentionally collect my thoughts. I have been working as a Principal for the past two years and I've not formally reflected on or consolidated the tremendous amount of learning I've undergone. I have missed this very necessary exercise and so I will endeavour to be more regular. It's always been my experience that when I consolidate any learning more formally, I remember better and I apply more consistently. I have spent the last two years in the very last place I ever expected to begin my journey as Principal and that is leading a very special community of educators, support staff and students in our system's alternative education program. At the same time, it's the mos