Now that they are two-and-half months into the school year, members of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) decided to roll out the welcome mat for the 43 new educators who have started working for the School District of Mystery Lake.
This ceremony took the form of a banquet at the Army, Navy, and Air Force Veterans hall on Nov. 8 and featured appearances from MTS provincial representative Cathy Pellizzaro.
Being Thompson’s spokesperson for MTS, Pellizzaro mentioned that this new group represents the biggest influx of teachers the city’s seen in a long time.
“That means it’s busier for me, because I’m working with teachers who have a variety of experiences,” she said. “So I try to go to schools and see how everybody’s doing and make sure that they feel comfortable in the community.”
While many of these new teachers are local, a significant number of them hail from across the country, including Ontario and even the East Coast.
According to Angela Wolfe, a new Grade 6 teacher for Burntwood Elementary School, these imports have a lot to catch up on, especially when compared to the training that she and many others took part in at the University College of the North.
“All our experience, all our training was very northern-centred,” she said. “We know 35 per cent of our kids are First Nations, we know that we have a high number of kids in care, we know those kinds of things, so it really helps when we get in and we can hit the ground running.”
Regardless of where these new teachers came from, fellow MTS representative Jonathan Waite ended the night by welcoming them all in kind.
“I hope your years go well, and I hope you continue to share your stories with your president, with your local association with MTS, and I hope to be back next year for this very event.”
