For Jessica Ames, it’s the little things that brighten her day.
As vice-principal of Canyon Elementary School, she wears many hats for her busy and varied job, but one of the things she likes the most is listening to the sounds of children’s voices and footsteps fill the empty halls each morning and seeing their bright, excited faces.
Delivering quality education is her passion and now that she’ll be stepping into the role of principal in August, she is intent on guiding the school out of the pandemic period and bringing back some of the activities the school was unable to run for the past couple of years.
Principal Paul Pichurski will be starting a new job as principal at Crowsnest Consolidated High School and Jessica will be stepping up to take his place.
The two have worked closely together for the past five years, helping each other navigate pandemic ups and downs.
“She’s an experienced school leader,” he says. “She’s been a vice-principal and a principal before. Canyon can be a super fast-paced school as far as students needing support or, in this past year, staffing absences due to the pandemic. Jessica has always been a lead role.”
Jessica was already working at the school when Paul arrived in 2017. She helped introduce him to everyone and made him feel welcome.
“Jessica was absolutely in that first year, was a big support in helping me to gain an understanding of where things were and who was who and what was what, and a huge support in my initial transition to the community,” he says.
Paul worked in Crowsnest Pass for 15 years before coming to Canyon, was previously a principal at Isabelle Sellon School and had a brief stint as principal at Crowsnest Consolidated High School in 2017.
At Canyon, he greatly enjoyed the opportunity to see sports programs like volleyball, basketball and track and field grow.
He was also pleased to see the arts programming at the school improve with the addition of a specialized art teacher.
“The number of candidates who have that training, that specialized background, and are interested in working in a rural setting, it’s a fairly small pool,” he explains, adding that the school has been incredibly lucky to have this advantage.
One of his favourite events was Picnic With the Principal, a weekly meetup held during the school’s lunch hour, where he shared conversation with students.
“They provide me ideas and feedback with things that they’re enjoying, things that they would like to see happening,” he says, adding that it was through these gatherings that students were able to advocate for new playground equipment.
Jessica is interested in continuing to develop the school’s diverse programming, particularly keen on bringing some activities back that were put on hold due to the pandemic.
She wants to get school assemblies going again and increase opportunities for leadership, re-establishing a student council, but most importantly she wants to talk to the students to see what they envision for the school.
“I would just like to, at this point, reconnect with everyone and just get to know the group of students that we have coming into the next school year, and hear from them what they identify as issues and challenges, and then really place some support around what they may need.”
Jessica says that together, she and Paul made an enthusiastic, supportive and like-minded team.
“I will miss him, but I also know he’s just a phone call away,” she says.
As she sets her sights to the future and prepares for her new role, she’s intent on removing learning barriers, helping struggling students and ensuring that every child at the school feels welcome.
“We like to see our students as engaged learners, enjoying their learning and taking ownership of it,” she says. “We like to see students have pride in our school and in their learning.”
Canyon Elementary School welcomes new principal | TheRecord.com - Waterloo Region Record
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