Whoa! What a journey, it really is hard to believe how quickly this past year has gone. From the original worry of meeting your cohort, to the very first lecture, getting a taste of teaching in November, finally completing the 10-week practicum, and now finishing up the beautiful summer semester, this has been an experience I will never forget!

I am very lucky to have been a part of the most amazing group of people I’ve ever met. The 2016 Business and Computer Science Cohort contains many people who were strangers months ago, but I consider life long friends now. Simply having these people to rely on through tough times, especially during practicum is enough to form lasting and meaningful relationships.

I have learned so much throughout this journey. From how to be an effective teacher, to how to be a caring and compassionate human being. Further, I have learned so much about myself that has allowed me to grow individually. Moving forward, I will take every opportunity to grow as a teacher, from Pro-D, to learning opportunities, to the creation of new content and courses, and my involvement in extracurriculars. This program has inspired me to become a lifelong learner, and to help enrich the lives of as many people as I possibly can.  It’s been an unbelievable time here at UBC, and I will be sad to say goodbye!

All the best to my 2016 cohort, wishing everyone successful careers in whatever they choose to do!

Growing up, I was always extremely involved in both my education, but also in my athletic endeavours. I truly believe having the opportunity to participate in both individual and team sports helps students grow as individuals and become more well rounded individuals.

During my time at Burnaby Central, I had the great opportunity to help as a sponsor teacher and coach with both the senior boys soccer team, as well as the Track and Field team. I jumped at the chance to be a part of both of these opportunities. While coaching, I was brought back to the great joy I felt while playing sports, and was able to sort of relive this feeling through seeing my students participate in sports like I had years ago.

Playing sports outside of the classroom give you a whole different perspective, and shows you a different side to students that you don’t regularly see in the classroom. It allows you to form bonds and create relationships that flourish, and I truly believe improves classroom experience. I believe that as a beginning teacher, it is of the utmost importance to create true connections with the students you teach, and getting involved outside of the traditional classroom is an excellent way to do so.

No matter where I end up, I know that I will always be involved as a coach, in order to help my students grow academically as well as personally.

Providing students with the opportunity to take part in educational competitions outside of the regular classroom is an excellent way to foster growth, teamwork and confidence within the students. Throughout my time at Burnaby Central, I was fortunate enough to be a part of, as a sponsor teacher, mentor, coach and judge, 2 separate business case competitions. The event I was most proud to be a part of, was the Burnaby Central ‘Beyond’ Business Case Competition. The reason is that most business case competitions are organized and run by a third party, say a University, however this competition was organized, and run COMPLETELY by students.

Not only did students from the Burnaby School District work together to gain sponsorships, set up and coordinate the venue, and run an extremely successful event, they did so in a very short time frame. It was an incredible opportunity to act as a mentor, and provide loose guidance, while watching these kids work hard to bring an abstract idea together into a formal event. I am honestly astonished at how well this turned out!

Not only did the students organize the traditional Business Marketing Case Competition, but they were also able to create challenges in many other areas of business, such as finance, human resources, and operations. And finally to top it off, there was a fantastic new innovation competition that allowed groups from schools across the board to come up with a new product and pitch it to a panel of judges!

This day was extremely successful because of the hard work of many students. I can’t wait to see how the second annual Beyond Competition goes.