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Kathleen Lougheed-Mercier
When I started writing this column seven and a half years ago, I
expected to be overwhelmed with people who wanted to nominate one or
more of their current or former teachers as Hidden Heroes, but that
hasn't happened nearly as often as I had expected. Today's column,
thanks to a parent of a young student, is an exception... <MORE> |
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North Cedar Middle School
If you drop into the North Cedar Middle School gym any morning between
8:30 and 9, you’ll find most of the kids participating in a fitness
program led by their fellow students and supervised by the Vice
Principal, Darren Dickie and Roger Douglas, the Principal. Roger has
been starting each school day with fitness programs since his first day
of teaching 33 years ago... <MORE> |
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Jodi Crawford
Jodi Crawford is a Grade 7 teacher who, along with her students, is
working with the Our Hidden Heroes Social Responsibility Program, a
program that evolved out of this column over the past six or seven
years... <MORE> |
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Karen Miller
When I first started writing this column, I assumed I would be flooded
with emails and phone calls from people wanting me to write about one or
more of their former teachers because almost everyone I know has had at
least one teacher who has made a dramatic impact on their life but that
hasn’t happened … until recently... <MORE> |
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John Barsby Life Skills Class
The Life Skills class at John Barsby Community School runs a Snack Shack
selling chips, pop and candy at lunch time and before and after school.
Each week they make a tidy little profit from their enterprise... <MORE> |
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Bruce Mitchell
For many of us our best friends are Hidden Heroes but all too often we
don't tell them.
"I'll tell them tomorrow," we say but "tomorrow" never seems to
come... <MORE> |
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Hidden Heroes Education Society
Now that our Hidden Heroes Education Society has officially joined
forces with School District 68 and the Malaspina Education Department,
the school-based Hidden Heroes Project has gained renewed energy and
rapid new growth and I can't stop myself from bragging a little about
the recent work done at Chemainus Elementary Community School... <MORE> |
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Ruth Malli (L) and Colleen McGuff-Dean
I participated in a four-day Appreciative Enquiry workshop at Malaspina
U-C last week. Appreciative Inquiry is based on the assumption that
every human being and every human system is good at the core and that
when we draw out that good, positive change happens... <MORE> |
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Marie Harel
It's a joy to see Marie Harel, the principal of Uplands Park School,
walking down the hall greeting children, parents and teachers. It's
easy to see she loves her job and that she's good at it ... really good
at it... <MORE> |
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Chris Tamm
Today's Neighbourhood Hero is Chris Tamm, head of the math department at
Dover Bay Secondary School. Chris has nurtured an ember of an idea
brought to the school in the mid nineties by, John Miller, one of his
students, and fanned that ember into a blaze... <MORE> |
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Linda Janes
When Sandra Grimes nominated Linda Janes as our next Neighbourhood Hero,
her description sounded almost too good to be true, but when I talked to
her boss, Mike Paquette, and a long-time Boys and Girls Club co-worker,
Teresa Pring, their description was even more glowing... <MORE> |
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Harewood's Hidden Heroes Wall of Fame
Last Wednesday afternoon the South Side Teen Club, part of the Fifth
Street Boys and Girls club, was crowded wall to wall with Neighbourhood
Heroes and their friends... <MORE> |
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Shelly Beleznay and John Barsby Students
As I said a few weeks ago in a column focusing on Coach Rob Stevenson,
good things are happening at John Barsby Secondary, really good
things... <MORE> |
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Rob Stevenson
Great things are happening at John Barsby Secondary School. The Chef's
Program is second to none, the school-wide literacy program is beginning
to pay huge dividends and the Barsby Bulldogs football program is
nothing short of amazing... <MORE> |
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Betty Dillabaugh
"I didn't realize how much it meant to have you here until now when I'll
soon have to learn what it's like not to have you."
That's what Grade 6 student, Sarah Bateman, wrote in a memory book
the students at Uplands Park Elementary School gave to Betty Dillabaugh
last week when she retired as their school librarian... <MORE> |
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Les Annesley
We've set a new Neighbourhood Heroes record.
Recently Gary Ford nominated Les Annesley as today's Neighbourhood
Hero and eleven other people added their name to that nomination. They
include: Ray Kulai, Tom Krall, Neil Dillabaugh, Stella Robinson, Jan
Bracewell, Pat Ford, Lenore Socal, Les Dickinson, Heather Chase, Ann
Marie Hewer, Sue Gueulette... <MORE> |
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Terri Mack
Ten years ago, when Terri Mack learned she had a
severe allergy to flour, she was forced to give up her nine-year career
as a baker. That loss led to her finding her true self and all the
strength and power that comes from such a discovery... <MORE> |
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150 Ways to Show Kids You Care
Paul Grey's Grade 5 class at
Coal Tyee and Noreen Keen's Grade 6 class at Uplands Park are the first
School District #68 classes to begin piloting our new Hidden Heroes
WebQuest (www.nhero.org) and, from the early results, I think you'll be
hearing a lot about them in this column over the next few weeks... <MORE> |
| Cheryl Garrett
At the age of thirty-one, with
three small children and pregnant with a fourth, Cheryl Garrett's
marriage ended... <MORE> |
| Dover Bay Secondary School Leadership Class
Laura
Harrison, a teacher at Dover Bay Secondary School recently presented her
class with a Neighbourhood Heroes certificate that read, "I nominated
this Grade 11/12 Leadership class (first ever at Dover Bay) because of
their incredible gift to inspire others through their hard work, smiles
and sincerity. They are truly making a difference in our school and
community as they "Spread The Love" each and every day. These amazing
students have demonstrated that they have the desire and the power to
lead the way by setting a positive example for others..." <MORE> |
| Dr. Pat Ross
Think back to when you were ten or
eleven years old. If you are pretty happy with your life today, chances
are there was someone or some organization that had a positive influence
on you during those years; a teacher, a coach, a neighbour, a relative,
a church group ... or a Boys and Girls Club.
<MORE> |
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Lisa Robinson
"I have never met a more positive, devoted
educator than Lisa Robinson," Lois Russell wrote when she nominated the
Dover Bay Vice Principal as today's Neighbourhood Hero... <MORE> |
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Rotary Zimbabwe Project
Whenever they stop to think about it,
I'm sure the students at Mountain View School realize just how lucky
they are. They're surrounded by beautiful open fields, have a new
$20,000 playground ... and they have a whole lot of wonderful desks,
chairs, books, rulers, erasers, pencils, pens and paper... <MORE> |
| Ray Schlitz
Ray Schlitz, a Grade 6/7 teacher at
Park Avenue School, is cool, kind and extremely patient. He just keeps
going until his students get it and he always makes work fun and easy
for his students... <MORE> |
| Gordon Howe
Most of today's column was written by
Thomas Thierstein, Erin MacDonnell and Daniel Ekstrom, three students
from Mary-Lynn Epps' Grade 8, Textiles and Crafts class at Cedar
Community Secondary School... <MORE> |
| Sharleen Lapadat
We all know that great teaches
can have a lifelong, positive impact on their students. If you had seen
the look on their faces as Marcus Negrin and Nick Lawrence interviewed
their Neighbourhood Hero, school librarian, Sharleen Lapadat, you would
know that she is one of those teachers...
<MORE> |
| White Rapids Summer Swim Club
"How was the meet?
How did you do?" Those were the first questions Eric Robinson asked his
granddaughter as she walked through the door... <MORE> |
| Lindy Edgett
I saw a top ten list of fears
recently, fear of death was number seven, fear of public speaking was
number one.
Lindy Edgett is committed to helping people overcome that number one
fear... <MORE> |
| Sally Norris
Ashley Robertson, a 14 year-old
student at Wellington Secondary School, wrote today's column. A talented
poet, singer and writer, Ashley reviewed our Neighbourhood Heroes
WebQuest program designed for students and then interviewed and wrote
this column about Sally Norris, today's Neighbourhood Hero. I've never
seen anyone do a better job on a first effort of this nature.
Here is Ashley's column:
When I first saw Sally Norris, the First Nations Elder in Residence
at Dover Bay Secondary School, she was literally glowing...
<MORE> |
| Marie Hutton
When I met Tom Hutton (last week's
Neighbourhood Hero), I also met his wife Marie Hutton and Sounder (this
week's Neighbourhood Heroes).
Marie and Tom are both teachers who retired from NDSS in 1996. That's
when Sounder joined their family. Sounder is a Golden Retriever...
<MORE> |
| Tom Hutton
Most of us have had at least one or
two teachers that have had a major impact on our life, yet after seven
months of writing this column, no one had nominated a teacher as a
Neighbourhood Hero... <MORE> |
| Ian Patterson
"Ian Patterson is the kind of guy
that proves the old saying, 'You can't judge a book by its cover'".
That's what the nomination form from Nanaimo Youth Services said about
him... <MORE> |
| A Class Full Of Heroes and Hero Hunters
We are
fortunate to have so many exceptional teachers working with our children
and then there are teachers like Trish McKinlay whose light shines even
brighter than most, a light that is reflected and multiplied many times
over by her students... <MORE> |
| Bill Pineo
At the age of 81, Bill Pineo is doing
everything he can to help students get the kind of education he was
unable to get. Chances are he would have got a great education had
penicillin been discovered in 1926, the year his father, a Port Alberni
druggist, caught pneumonia... <MORE> |
| Aggie Frenchy
When I first walked into Aggie
Frenchy's home, she hugged me from across the room with her gentle
smile, her sparkling eyes and her generous spirit... <MORE> |
| Bob Bayless
Although he loves the game and plays
it well, for Tyson Mereweather, the words "fun" and "hockey" seldom came
together in the same sentence but then coach Bob Bayless came along and
things changed… <MORE> |
