The Jewel that is Julie

 This Friday, our school had a big Carnaval event. The Grade 8 students created and ran games that mimicked some of the activities one might find at Quebec's famous winter festival. Students made French posters to advertise the event and French videos to play on our virtual announcements. The entire school rotated through various centers and had a wonderful time playing together and getting exposed to French language and culture. 

For the purpose of today's blog, rather than focus on the single event, I wanted to highlight the person behind this event: our school's French teacher, Julie Tran.

Julie and I have worked together for quite a while. If my school scrapbooks and yearbooks are correct, Julie Tran first came to our school in the 2005-2006 school year as a junior division teacher. I have many photos of us collaborating on various projects, even in her first year at the school. (That year, we did clothing from ancient civilizations. In 2008-09 it was the Nadcaa Auction.)  In the 2006-07 year, I helped Julie's Grade 5 class create a Claymation animated movie trailer for a Raptors contest and we were one of the winners. We co-ran several clubs together (including, in 2007-08 the Twilight Fan Club and Modern Dance Clubs). She migrated to the intermediate division in 2009-10. She unfortunately left our school in 2011 because of surplus issues. 

At the 2006 Danceathon

During a 2006 Boys Literacy Project Meeting

Working on the Charlotte's Web trailer in 2006-7

Celebrating our contest win in 2007

The school where I work is a highly coveted one by educators. It's a great place to work. The likelihood that you can return to a teaching position there is rather slim. However, Julie defied the odds by returning to us in 2022-23 as our French teacher. Since her return, she has been active. Last year, she helped with Student Council and this year switched her attention to the French Club as well as some new upcoming clubs. She also played a major role in bringing back our LEWIS (Lunch Every Wednesday Is Salad) staff tradition. 

(By the way, I spent an inordinate amount of time searching for a photo of Julie and I wearing angel halos. I thought it would make a good contrast to the frog and devil photo above from Halloween 2023 but I'll be damned [pun intended] if I just cannot find it in my photo archives!)

Why is Julie a gem? She is conscientious. She is organized. She is dedicated. She is enthusiastic. She is caring. All of these things, and more, make her a great colleague and friend. We are lucky to have her back at our school.

Thanks Julie for working so hard on on this major event for our school and continuing to work hard to have our students learn and thrive.