INUVIK - Late Friday afternoon, a day after her Grade 3 class has been dismissed for the summer, Mary Ellen Binder was in no rush to leave her classroom.

She gathered her belonging in a few cloth bags as her eyes welled up with tears. It had been a difficult day, she said.

Retired teacher Mary Ellen Binder sits at her homeroom desk on Friday June 26, a day after her last day on the job. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

Binder has retired from a 35-year teaching career at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, and she's having difficulty coming to terms with the change.

"As I was packing up I was thinking 'next year, I've got to try this and I have got to try that' and then I realize I'm not going to be here," she said. "It's hard because it's been a such a huge part of my life for so long."

Her entire career has been spent at SAMS where she has taught every grade except Grade 5. But she has spent the bulk of her years teaching Grade 3 students.

"I find the kids interesting, especially the eight and nine-year-olds because they're beginning to explore the world a little bit more, expanding their horizons," she said.

"They've always got opinions about everything and they haven't become cynical yet. And they're enthusiastic all the time. It doesn't matter what's going on in my personal life. When I went to school I just became totally involved with them."

Born in a small community outside Kamloops, B.C, Binder (formerly Whitaker) comes from a long line of teachers, including her mother who taught at every level of education from elementary school to post-graduate courses.

But Binder said her path to becoming a teacher was not straight. It wasn't until she got a job working at a truck stop in a small community called Lower Post on the Alaska Highway that she spent time with the teachers there and made her mind up to pursue the career.

In those days, she said, being a nurse or a teacher meant a guaranteed job in the North. She resolved to become a teacher after getting her bachelor of arts from the University of British Columbia.

"I remember the exact date I arrived in Inuvik: Aug. 17, 1974. Before the road was paved and there were big fat snowflakes falling and I thought 'boy, what did I get myself into?'"

Binder intended to go back to the Yukon after gaining a few years of experience. But that didn't happen, as she arrived during the town's first oil boom period.

"It was easy to meet people as a single person," she said. "There were lots of new people, lots of us young women. It's just really interesting here. There are people from all over the world here and you're meeting somebody new all the time. It's easy to make good friends. I never felt isolated."

She later got married and had three kids.

Throughout her years of teaching, she said she has never gotten bored. With each crop of students comes a rush of personalities, challenges and rewards. She said she has always realized what a privilege it is to work with young minds.

"I've tried to base my teaching on respecting the kids and not looking at them as children but as human beings. They are all different and have lots of different backgrounds, but they're human beings and I try never to talk down to them. It seems to have worked."

She has had challenges at SAMS, including poor student attendance. Some kids miss up to 60 per cent of class time, which she said accounts for a huge disparity in student ability. All the same, she said she is proud of the progress in the community, especially the contribution women have made specifically here in Inuvik.

Even though she's retiring, and planning to renovate her home and a take a round-the-world trip this winter, Binder will never be too far from SAMS. She plans to volunteer there and do some substitute teaching.

"SAMS is a really special school," she said. "We all get along together. We all help each other. We all work towards common goals. It's a really good place to work. It always has been."

------------

In praise of Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen Binder's contributions to Sir Alexander Mackenzie School over the past 35 years have not gone unnoticed by her colleagues, including Grade 1 teacher Cathi Ross, who has worked with Binder for the last nine years and the two have become best friends.

One of Binder's greatest talents, she said, is her ability to bring out the best in her students.

"She is probably the best teacher that I've ever seen or ever worked with," said Ross. "She brought her whole self to the classroom: her love of children, her love of teaching, her kindness, her fairness, her creativity, she was just so wonderful.

"One of her classes produced these wonderful stories on whale hunting and whale camps based on elders' stories and her kids produced these beautiful pieces of writing and art based on them. It was just incredible.

"Kids that have had Mary Ellen as a teacher are very, very fortunate, and the kids that didn't, it's sad.

"She's kind and loyal, she's loving, she's so funny she's just a class act, an A+ lady."

Gerry Kisoun couldn't agree more. Each of his four children along with a few of his grandchildren were taught by Binder, for which he said he's grateful.

"She's a great teacher," he said. "I think every thing she did, she did for the children. I'm sure a lot of teachers gained from her knowledge and talent. She always stayed very connected to Inuvik and culture. She's just such a special lady. She'll be missed."