A New Role

As August rolls along and the start of another school year draws closer, I feel it is time to put together some thoughts about what kind of leader I want to be next year...

Last fall I put together my application package in hopes of becoming a Principal in the Richmond School District.  After going through the extremely valuable professional development of reviewing my Educational Philosophy, updating my resume and preparing for the interview process, I was successful.  At the time, it was unclear where I would be placed to begin this chapter of my career, since quite often administrators in Richmond move schools when changing roles or after a length of time in one building.  I have been a Vice Principal at J.N. Burnett Secondary School for 6 years and thought I might be asked to relocate, but in the Spring was informed that I would be staying.  I am thrilled with this opportunity, because I feel that learning a new job is much easier if you already know the people and the processes.

I was fortunate to be given a similar opportunity when beginning my Vice Principal career over 10 years ago.  I got to stay at the same school in which I had been teaching.  When I began that role, however, I had very little understanding about the role of an administrator (since working in a classroom I had little exposure to the operations of the office), and fumbled my way through a variety of tasks as well as learning about the leadership and management responsibilities inherent within the role.

Now, as  I prepare to enter a new assignment, this time as Principal of a school, I have a much greater awareness of what the job entails and a much clearer vision for what makes a successful school.  I have worked alongside fabulous mentors over the years who have taught me a great deal about the role of a Principal, and been part of administrative teams that shared responsibilities and discussed decisions together.  I feel much more prepared to make this move then when I moved into the role of Vice Principal.  While I may not get to enjoy the honeymoon phase people often experience when new to an environment, I trust that I will be given the benefit of the doubt by the people who know what I believe and what I stand for.

This blog entry is being written as a reminder to myself and the staff at Burnett of what I believe is important in contributing to a great school, and what I will try to do and model as the Principal (inspired by blog posts I have recently read by Justin Tarte and John Bernia).

1.  Be visible....  As a Vice Principal I prided myself on being in the hallways, getting into classrooms and engaging staff and students in conversation about how things are going and what can be done better.  I understand that this becomes more difficult as a Principal, but I will make it a priority.  I love interacting with people and asking them how they are doing, and know it has a very positive effect on the culture of a school.  It is imperative that I continue this.  I will make myself available to observe classes and meet with staff and students, and I want staff to know that I am not someone to be intimidated by with my presence in a classroom.  I want to help.  I am looking for opportunities to teach and model some new things for staff and students, thus enabling teachers to get release time to observe each other, plan something new or experiment with new technologies.  Please feel comfortable having me work with or observe your class.

2.  Remain a learner and promote taking chances.... I will model for staff a willingness to try new things and support them in their efforts to do the same.  I will take an active role in the Professional Development efforts of the school, and embrace the use of technology and other creative tools at the fingertips of staff and students.  I am a firm believer that we need to challenge ourselves and our students with new and creative ways of doing things and want people to feel supported in their attempts to learn, explore and create.  I love Michael Jordan's commercial about failure and success, and want to model the same for the staff.

3.  Be a listener.... I want to be approachable and keep my door "open" to allow conversations to occur.  I will continue to ask lots of questions and will work hard to connect with parents, students and staff looking for feedback on what is working, what they feel needs attention and what we could be doing differently.  In recent years at Burnett, we have spent time raising student voices, and I intend to continue this and really listen to what students have to say.  I have always tried to listen much more than I speak, and will continue to use this as a guideline for my interactions with all stakeholders in the school.

4.  Make difficult decisions and take action based upon our vision.... I will work hard to create a shared vision for our school, one that at its core, is about students.  That vision will be understood and shared by our staff and will be the foundation for the difficult decisions that we will have to make.  I will take action in accordance with that vision in attempts to make this school the best it can be for all students.

5.   Foster collaborative relationships within the school.... The upcoming year could be challenging on a variety of levels, especially since our teacher union is going into contract negotiations and with that comes the risk of job action.  I want the staff at Burnett to know that I care about them, I support them and I appreciate them.  Regardless of how the year unfolds politically, we are in this together, and will continue to work together after things have stabilized.  Relationships must be at the forefront to allow us to work together successfully in the future.

6.  Be the kind of person Lorne Bodin was....  Lorne was someone who cared about others before himself, advocated for those less advantaged, and made everyone around him feel listened to.  I have written of his influence on my career previously.  I think of him often, miss his guidance terribly and often ask myself "what would Lorne do?"  In answering that question, I am confident I will do what is right for the school and the students and staff within it.

I recognize that I am very fortunate to work at a fantastic school, filled with motivated and enthusiastic staff and students who continually impress me.  I look forward to the upcoming year, and promise to do my part by living up to the goals I have set out for myself above.  If you feel I am missing something, please let me know.  Similarly, if I am not following through as I have indicated I would, please tell me.  I welcome the feedback.

More Great Things to Share

This post was intended to be posted quite some time ago, but due to some technical issues with the video link, I was unable to publish it until now.

Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of observing a Social Studies 10 class engaged in a mock trial of Canadian historical figure, Louis Riel.  The class spent several periods talking about Canadian history, specifically Louis Riel and his work with the Metis.  The class also spent some time discussing the logistics of the legal system and how trials work. The teacher then decided to take a chance and engage the learners through the mock trial process.  She assigned roles and gave some preparation time to begin research into Louis Riel's trial for treason.
 
Class members took on roles including bayliff, judge, jury members, Louis Riel himself and a host of witnesses who were called to the stand by the Crown counsel and the Defense.  The exercise was exciting and engaging for all students, and the innovative teaching contributed to learning in an educational setting that was incredibly rich, and much deeper than traditional stand and deliver lessons.

Here to write about the process, what was learned, how engaged the class was and the overall experience of the assignment are three students from the class, Saheli Sodhi, Ellia Zhong and Pearl Xu.

As illustrious as many events throughout history are, Canadian history has a tendency of being a tad dry. The majority of students would prefer to study the rich history of the United States or the passionate plight of the French during their famous revolution. Despite how amazing this country is now, the path its people took to get to where Canada is today was not particularly glorious. It is certainly beneficial to be aware of the roots of one's country; however, if the teaching style is not conducive to learning, the information may go in one ear and out the other. This lack of absorption can be remedied by using a variety of sources to learn. A perfect example of a creative learning medium is through the use of a mock trial, such as the trial of Louis Riel.

          By utilising a mock trial environment, students cover the materials in the textbook, indirectly. It is almost learning without being entirely conscious of their learning. It allows students the chance to learn the trial process while covering all of the necessary information, not to mention that it provides a competitive atmosphere to foster both teamwork and a desire to win.

          By the time that we had reached our Social Studies 10 unit on Louis Riel and his conflict with the government, our class had already poured through quite a few chapters of relevant, but in all honesty — from a student’s point of view — monotonous information. That was when Ms. Meralli, our Socials teacher, decided to incorporate the mock trial method of learning. By giving us this variation of learning style, she not only rejuvenated our interest, but also allowed for an understanding of that epoch in history on a deeper level.

          In the mock trial, every student took on the role of a true historical figure and we learned the history of the character, their part in the fight of the Metis, their values, and their environment in a very personal way. Everybody seemed to really connect to their character and to a world more than a century in the past. It seemed humorous in retrospect when we got a chance to look at how heated the mock trial had become and how intensely the points were delivered on both sides. That, however, as most of the participants would agree, was the success of this project. Everybody took something away from the mock trial, and key ideas that might have been overlooked in a detached volume of text really shone through during the trial to become a memorable addition to our understanding of Canadian history.

          Day One in the library, where the trial was held, tensions were high. The student-comprised jury sat to the right and the honourable Judge sat straight ahead with the authoritative Court Clerk positioned beside him. Everything began with the powerful opening statements delivered by confident lawyers from both the Defence and Crown counsel. All of the witnesses were carefully questioned by their own lawyers, trying to block off every loophole and tear away any suspicions, but the opposing lawyers never failed to spot the smallest of errors and bring uncertainty back to the table.

          Actively engaging in the trial, the Crown and Defence council took every chance they had to object, sometimes even to their own testimony, and the audience watched nervously with sweaty palms waiting for the opposition to rebut. The witnesses took to the stand fearlessly, dressed in their most creative clothing, representing their historical characters. There were generals in military uniforms, women with feather headbands and a few men with false beards and moustaches.

          Day two began in medias res — the last three witnesses were called and the lawyers delivered their closing statements which offered a little bit of everything, appealing to everyone’s appetite. There was emotion, logic, fact, and convincing delivery. The jury was sent away with a very tough decision on their hands. The fate of one man was on their shoulders.

          In the end, the Defence won more votes of the jury. When members of the jury were interviewed post-trial, both the people in favour of the Crown and against it produced very strong arguments defending their opinions.

          The trial was intensely fought and fairly decided, yet the verdict was irrelevant in light of what we learned. By the end of the trial, we all had assimilated more information than we thought possible, simply because Ms. Meralli left the track of the traditional curriculum to pursue a course of action that was both engaging and informative. The mock trial of Louis Riel was an invaluable learning experience and the information will stick with us for many years to come.

Below is a video representation of the trial, put together by a some students in the class who made it into a news reel.  Well done, Sam Chow, Jason Quan and Bernard Ng.

Thanks again to all class members for their hard work and for inviting me to observe it.  Special thanks also to Ms. Meralli for her risk taking and creative teaching which inspired fantastic things from her students. 

Great things continue to happen at Burnett Secondary School!

Ride of a Lifetime

I have been completely out of the loop recently, unable to find the time for a blog post, or even to be regularly engaged with Twitter.  Excuses for this are many, and I will likely share some of the experiences of my last 6 weeks in a future blog post, but this entry is about an excursion I participated in last weekend. 

On June 18 and 19, 2,879 riders (myself among them), ventured through the scenic Pacific Northwest a total of 242 kms, travelling from Cloverdale's Fraser Downs racetrack to Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington as part of the Ride to Conquer Cancer.  The ride was designed to raise money and awareness for Cancer research in B.C. and raised a total of $11.1 million dollars, $65, 763.56 of it by the team of 24 riders and volunteers I was with in honour of our friend, Mr. Lorne Bodin.  I have written about my decision to sign up for the Ride here, and have posted several times about how my good friend Lorne has inspired me, here, here, here and here.

The Ride itself was a physical test, but was much more emotionally taxing, since every one of the riders had been impacted by the disease in some form.  Everyone had a story of who they were riding for, and many of the riders themselves were cancer survivors, as signified by a flag on their bike.  Opening ceremonies made us all think of lost family and friends, and at 7:45 AM on Saturday morning, in the pouring rain, we began the journey.  Through the border, seaside in Blaine, and lunch in Lake Padden, the voyage was beautiful.  Rest stops every 25-30 kilometers allowed people to refuel, visit with one another and take photographs.  By mid-afternoon, most of the group arrived at the half-way point, a tent-city for all the riders and volunteers on a baseball park in Mount Vernon.  Dinner, drinks, live music and a series of inspirational speeches (including one made by Lorne's brother, Greg) followed, and by 10:00 PM, most people retired in attempts to get ready to do it again the next day. 

Sunday morning started early with breakfast, and people got back on their bikes around 7:00 AM.  Again, with stops every 25-30 km's, the group made its way through some beautiful farm and parkland all the way to Redmond in the early afternoon.  One of the most enjoyable features of the event were the nameplates each bicycle was equipped with, which allowed people to easily introduce themselves to one another and engage in friendly, enlightening and inspiring conversation.  We crossed the finish line around 1:30 PM, cheered in by a large group of supportive spectators, friends and family.  It was truly inspiring and brought out the emotions in all who were there.  I thought of Lorne all weekend, and know that he was with us the entire time, laughing and smiling, and proud of what we were doing.

Despite some challenges with weather, less than ideal food service and flat tires (I had 4!!), I enjoyed myself so much and felt so good about the difference we were making, that I signed up to do it again next year.  If you are so inclined, I am already taking donations, and need to raise $2500.00 again.  Contributions are gratefully accepted here.

All in all, it was indeed a Ride of a Lifetime!  Thanks and congratulations to all those who supported the efforts, to the people I met on the ride, and the members of our team that made the endeavour so enjoyable.

Spring Music Concert

On Tuesday May 24th, the J.N. Burnett Music department had their annual Spring Concert.  Under the direction of Music teacher, Ms. Sue Freeman, the concert featured several performances by the Senior Concert Band, Junior Concert Band and Jazz Band.

The show, despite taking place during game 5 of the Vancouver Canucks-San Jose Sharks hockey series, was quite well atended, and I am sure that all who were there were impressed by the musical talent and dedication to their craft that the students displayed.  Thankfully for the hockey fans in the crowd, PVR is a wonderful invention!

Kudos and congratulations to Ms. Freeman and the students in the Music program at Burnett for the inspiring show last night!  And oh yeah, congratulations to the Canucks, too!  First time to the Stanley Cup finals in 17 years!

What kind of education do I want for MY kids (Part 2)

In a recent post, I asked the question, "What kind of education do I want for MY kids?"

The answer I gave was that I wanted my kids to gain confidence in school, learn to think creatively and ask questions, practice working with others and building relationships and uncover their passions and develop their interests (notice that I did not write about the traditional "Reading, Writing and Arithmetic", nor did I mention technology or another buzzword in education, "21st Century Learning".  I chose not to include those things not because they are unimportant, but because I am sure those skills and tools will be embedded in whatever children become engaged in).

When I look back upon my own days in school, I recall fondly the friendships and the extra-curricular opportunities (I was heavily involved in sports in high school and beyond).  What I don't recall are the specific skills I learned or exams I wrote or facts I memorized.  If I had it to do all over again, I wish I spent more time taking chances and learning some skills that involved my hands (besides playing sports) like carpentry, cooking and some other skills that I wish I was better at today.  My most rich learning experiences consisted of connecting with other people and watching or talking to them about why they did what they did.  Most of those experiences did not occur in the classroom.  I learned the best and improved the most when I had no fear of failure, could attempt something and fail, then try it again.  Sadly, as I grew older, I lost some of that innocence and willingness to try and fail, and became more competitive, concerned with being right, and less willing to experiment.  I now consider myself somewhat lacking in the creativity department, and am working hard at trying new things that I am less comfortable with.  As an adult, I don't think I am alone. 

I want my children's experience with school to be different.  I want them to try and fail, but not fear being wrong, and learn from the attempt.  I want them to be inspired by what they are learning and excited to keep exploring.  I am not saying we should ignore areas where students struggle or dislike the subject matter.  We should just not focus exclusively on those areas.  I want my kids spend more time developing and enhancing areas of strength, thus feeling confident and excited about school.   Exploring and developing these strengths needs to take higher priority than supporting areas of weakness and providing with them homework in hopes of improving these shortcomings.

So, if this is what I want my children's education to be about,an important question to address as a follow up is, "How can educators ensure they are promoting the things I hope my children get?"

1.  Let go of the curriculum - teachers are too often in a rush to "cover" the curriculum, feeling pressure to teach all of the required topics suggested for a certain grade or subject.  I understand this pressure, but we need not worry so much about covering it all.  Rather, we should be more concerned with getting they key concepts of a topic well understood and experimented with, so students can look to explore the topic more on their own if interested by it.

2.  Find out what interests our students and be aware of incorporating their strengths - build relationships with students, find out what things they like to do in their free time, and bring some of those activities into the classroom as links to concepts being taught.  Allow them to present their knowledge and learning in ways that excite them, and utilize the strengths they already possess.  Fortunately, the more I visit classrooms, the more I am seeing this practice.

3.  Encourage students to explore and not to be afraid of making mistakes - this is a tough one, especially in high school.  Standardized tests appear to be a necessary evil, and by their teen years, students are very aware of the competitive nature of school and life, and don't want to be made fun of for being wrong.  We need to do all that we can to delay this.  Don't penalize kids for mistakes, but help them answer the questions that come with being wrong.  Why did that not work?  What could we do next time? 

4.  Examine and grade less, but provide feedback more - again, reflecting back on the point above, the competitive nature of exams and grading makes this extremely difficult.  However, we need to start giving grades and scores based on the growth we have seen from students over the course of the year instead of simply testing and providing numbers or letters that tell students very little about what they have learned or how to improve.  We need to provide more descriptive feedback and allow students to keep working on things until they are happy that it demonstrates what they know.  Help move students away from "playing the game" and simply trying to "credential", and make it more about learning.  In order to do this, we need to re-examine our assessment practices.  This idea is gaining momentum in education, and is a Professional development topic in Richmond.  I am happy to report that the conversations are having a positive effect.

5.  Make learning fun - get students to laugh at and enjoy what they are learning.  Use real world experiences like field trips and mock performances.  Try to create memories for the students with assignments and projects that they will remember and talk about with their parents and friends.  Again, the creative side of our teachers is starting to come out, and I am seeing more risk-taking and fun activities in classrooms than ever before.

I got a few comments and tweets from people who read my original post on the topic, most of whom agreed with what I had written, and wanted similar things for their kids.  One tweet came from a parent @nikidun, who said, "Agreed.  Advice for parents wanting to help it happen?"  This is a great question, and while I don't have the silver bullet to ensure it does, I will attempt to give a few suggestions for parents wanting to help start the conversation at their child's school.

1.  Share your child's areas of interest and strengths with their teacher - you know what your child is good at, gets excited by and responds positively to.  Inform their teachers.  It will help them get your child engaged, and engagement is the key to success at school.

2.  Ask questions of the school - don't hesitate to talk to all members of your child's school community.  Teachers, Counsellors, Administration, Support staff.  They are all in the business of supporting your child, and if you have a question about why things are done a certain way, or how things are decided, assessed or presented, ask.

3.  Ask questions of your children - what are you doing in school?  What do you enjoy about school?  Share the answers with the school staff and encourage your kids to continue pursuing those interests in ways outside of school.  The strengths and interests they have are likely to become what they work with for most of their lives.  Help them develop those strengths and encourage them to appreciate and be proud of what they are good at.

4.  Make learning fun - like teachers, parents need to role model learning and share it with their children.  Make it fun for you and them, do things together that you can both learn from.  Show your children that learning is a life-long process, and that it is enjoyable.  Compliment them on the growth that you have seen.  Nothing makes someone feel better about what they are doing than positive feedback.

Above all else, we need to make school a place where when our children come home at the end of the day and we ask, "How was school today?", or "What did you do in school today?", they are excited to tell us about all that went on, and where they develop a hunger to do more of it on their own and with their families.  That is what I want from school for not just my children, but all children.

Fine Arts Night

The past 2 weeks have been eventful, challenging and tiring.  The length of days has averaged 14 hours, with one going until 2 AM.  Much of what I have had to deal with has involved unhappy people... parents, students and even myself.  Our administrative team has begun the massive task of building next year's timetable, we had a few discipline issues that resulted in students facing some consequences for poor decisions and some in crisis from the stress of the time of year.  We have even faced some criticism from a few parents for our handling of certain issues.  It has been tough and sometimes I ask myself why I do what I do.  But nights like this past Thursday answer the question of why I signed up to be an educator and how much I love my job. 

Our school put on it's "Fine Arts Fiesta", an open house designed to showcase the talents and abilities of our students enrolled in the Arts.  Artwork is hung throughout the halls and on display in classrooms, face-painting and photographs are being worked on, and parents and children are walking through the halls taking in a plethora of fantastic student work. There are special performances by our Concert and Jazz bands in the gym, improvisation, dancing, singing and acting performances in our theatre, a showcase of student work in the Computer Animated Design lab and a Fashion Show in the cafeteria showcasing student-made textile arts and crafts. 

Ironically, this morning, as I was finishing off this post, I stumbled upon the blog of David Truss (Principal in Dalian, China) who wrote about Perspective and the importance of looking at the positive, rather than allowing the negative to consume all your energy and thought.  An important reminder, especially when we are working through difficult situations.  Try to focus on the good things in your life, and remember that the difficult things are not as bad as they may feel, and make the positives that much more sweet.

Thursday was one of those nights where the positive felt especially sweet.  There was a huge audience turn out (despite it occurring during game 4 of the Canucks playoff series), and it was impressive to look at the student work, and watch their performances.  They are extremely talented.  But what makes the evening even better, especially given the previous couple of weeks I have been through, is that I saw kids who were extremely excited by why they were doing, and were proud to share it with parents and friends.  I saw smiles, laughter, enthusiasm, pride, energy and excitement.  All of the things that are most important to me in education.  Events like these a perfect examples of schools helping students find their passions.

  

Kids being excited about the things they are doing in school.  That is why I signed up to be a teacher!  It was great to witness, and I want to thank the students for their energy and passion and willingness to share. Also, a special thanks for the hardworking and creative teachers who ignite the flame.  What a great night!

JNB Wake-a-thon 2011 (Guest bloggers)

After 1 week of having no at-home internet connection (my modem died, and it took Telus 5 business days to get us a new one), I am finally reconnected with the world of blogging and Twitter.  I will admit, I feel very disconnected, but likely was more productive around the house.  Perhaps I need to get some balance back into my life.  I was able to connect at work, but simply can't find the time to write much during the workday, and struggle to have uninterrupted time to read many of the articles that get mentioned on Twitter.  I will attempt to reconnect now, and have employed a couple of guest bloggers to help me out.....

The J.N. Burnett Secondary Leadership 11/12 classes, under the direction of teacher Ms. Leslie Cain, for each of the past seven years have hosted an event called the Wake-a-thon, similar to the 30 hour Famine, whereby students are asked to raise money for causes outside of their own.  One of the main beneficiaries of the monies raised at our Wake-a-thons is a school we are helping build in the Dominican Republic.   This year's Wake-a-thon was one of the most successful yet, raising over $10,000, and in the 7 years we have run the event, we have raised in excess of $70,000.  The overnight extravaganza, for which students must raise $50 in order to participate, was a smashing success, and to explain the event, the cause and the learning that has taken place in running it are guest bloggers, Jeevan Sandhu and Sarah Aljeboury, two of the Leadership students who took on major roles in facilitating JNB Wake-a-thon 2011.

Wow, looking back at this one huge event our school raised more than $10,600 for building a school in Dominican Republic and Haiti, sending aid to Japan and lastly raising money and awareness for our very own JNB ARC Club.      

The event itself took weeks and weeks of preparation by our school’s leadership classes. First  came the registration and compiling our database. We had to make pledge and permission forms, advertise throughout our school, and set up the registration desks to allow students to sign in. Our database was essential to our success because without it there would be no event. We needed to ensure all forms were returned one way or the other because we were dealing with legal documents.

           

Next up was our task of finding some sponsors so we could provide our students with food without charging extra money. Gratefully, we secured three generous sponsors. First was our  PAC, which donated us a delicious continental breakfast that was available to the students during the closing ceremonies. Cobs Bread also gave us a money donation which allowed us to buy burgers, buns, condiments, and veggies with dip. Our last sponsor was Live Vision, which not only gave us a monetary donation but also came in as a live band to perform for us. The live band provided us with a nice break between activities and meal time.

           

Finally after countless hours of preparation the day of the event was here. For us leadership students it meant being ready to go right after school in order to set-up for the event. Once we were done set-up students had already started to roll in and in no time at all everyone was ready to go for the opening ceremonies. The grade 10 PE incentive class did a great job by keeping everyone energized and active. However the opening ceremonies were controversial to say the least. The infamous teacher’s team was cheating every chance they got. Somehow they still came out as winners in the overall standings. We believe Ms. Bateman, our scoreboard judge, was a co-conspirator with the teacher’s team.

            At last, after the opening ceremonies, group photo and a minor mishap in our communication with the band, the activities started. We had basketball and hockey in the south gym, and a volleyball game in the north gym. Burnett's famous badminton was a hit in the small gym. In Ms. Batemans room we had taboo and other board games however it was soon transformed into a beauty parlour. Guys and also one of our staff were getting their make-up done. It certainly was a sight to see! In the theatre we had the Cage-a-thon, which was our JNB ARC students raising awareness about animal cruelty. In Ms. Cains room we had our super busy video games room. Unfortunately for Mr. Blair and Mr. Ghaug losing in FIFA leaves them with a sour taste for that room. However, both Mr. Anderson and Ms. Davis were glued to their video game TV’s. Ms. Davis successfully conquered the world of Super Mario.

            We ate, played, listened, and most importantly stayed up the whole time during the wake-a-thon which made this year’s event a great success. All students had fun and joked around without forgetting the true reason we were there. For us leadership students it was also a success because everything ran smoothly without any major problems. We are all honoured to be given the opportunity to play an integral role in such an important event. It is impossible to say that everything went as planned and ran perfectly without any problems or disagreements. However that just shows the great teamwork of our group and the magnitude of the event. Our ultimate goal was to raise our target money amount and also raising awareness for these global issues and we feel that was done!

As previously stated, most of the money raised ends up going toward a school we are helping build in the Dominican Republic.  A small group of interested staff and students partner up with a group called Hero Holidays, and actually go on-site, performing the manual labour of building a school, working with other interested volunteers from around the world, and getting to interact with the locals.  For all those who have been I can say it is a life-changing experience.  Below are some photos from our last trip there, as well as a link to the blog the students wrote while there last July.

 

 

 

A fantastic evening for a very worthwhile cause that speaks volumes about the type of caring students and staff we have at J.N. Burnett Secondary.  In excess of 200 students stayed the night, and all participants raised well in excess of the minimum $50 required.  We also had 24 different staff members who participated at some point on a Thursday night/Friday morning of a long Easter weekend, very willing to support the cause and contributing to its success, as well as getting to know their students on a personal level and exposing their own human side.  It was the type of event that makes me proud to be a Breaker! 

PS-Are you saying we cheated?  Never!