Not going cold turkey
Two St. Patrick High School teachers who are retiring this year plan to stick around as volunteer coaches
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, May 16, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Two long-time teachers at St. Patrick High School are retiring at the end of this year, each of them wrapping up 35-year careers in education.
St. Patrick High School teachers Randy Rivers, left, and Garth Brasseur are retiring after decades of teaching at the school. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo |
Garth Brasseur, who came to the North after teaching for 10 years in his home province of Saskatchewan, and Randy Rivers, from Tweed, Ont., who taught for two years at Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchoko before coming to St. Pat's in 1981, will officially retire in June.
Brasseur has been leading the alternative education program at St. Pat's but also has a background in chemistry, calculus and English.
Rivers started as a physical education teacher and worked in that department and social studies for the first 25 years, and for the past 10 years has worked as a guidance counsellor after gaining his certification in counselling and special education, among others.
They both told Yellowknifer Tuesday what their plans for retirement are, and told stories of their first impressions of Yellowknife and teaching at the high school.
Both agreed getting to the North from their previous homes was an adventure.
"The first thing I remember is the road, driving the last few hundred kilometres," Brasseur said.
"It happened to be a downpour and the road was filled with holes, and there was one point where everyone got stuck. You parked in a line and helped push cars through and came back, and did it again until it was time to push yours through."
By the time Brasseur got to Yellowknife, he was covered in mud and that's how he arrived at the board office.
Rivers had to drive through smoke from forest fires, and recalls seeing signs that said anyone driving may be asked to help fight the fire.
"You didn't know whether to turn around or not because you didn't know which direction the fire was in," he said.
"The dust too ... they told us to wrap all our clothes in garbage bags because the dust would go through suitcases, so I did that."
The two teachers also recall their first impressions of St. Pat's, which was a much smaller school then with fewer than 200 students.
"I can remember when I first got here, I didn't believe how cold it as in the school," said Brasseur.
"I remember getting gloves with the fingers cut out so I could write on the boards in the winter. I taught in the portables and it was very breezy, but we got a new school six years after that."
The staff room is one of the first memories of the old St. Pat's that comes to Rivers' mind, back in the days when smoking was allowed.
"There was one English teacher who would come in, grade papers and chain smoke," Rivers laughed.
"There was always a cloud of smoke in there and it was a small room. We'd be opening the windows at 35 below.
Rivers, as a full-time physical education teacher in the beginning, also remembers the concrete gymnasium floor was covered with tile.
"It was very hard on your knees and there were protrusions coming from the roof," he said.
"Our kids who played volleyball had to get used to setting really low because if it went higher than 15 feet, it'd hit these steel bars. You had to know how to play games with low sets."
Brasseur and Rivers both explained that they'd been thinking of retirement for the past few years, and this year is the best time.
"I think it's time for somebody else to have their chance," said Brasseur.
"I also like the idea of the freedom to be able to
do what I like and not feel guilty about it, and be able to say what I like. As teachers we have to be a role model, and there's a freedom in retiring."
"For 35 years, I've always been going to schools every fall. We start school in kindergarten, go through high school, then university and then go right back to school as teachers," said Rivers.
"Just the change in that it'll be a choice will be nice. I have my health and lots of energy, and there are many things I want to do. Retiring from this job doesn't mean I won't work again."
While their teaching days are wrapping up, both Brasseur and Rivers said they won't be leaving the St. Pat's community any time soon.
"I'm not really saying goodbye considering there's not a place in town I can go where I don't know people," Rivers said.
"There is going to be the void of not coming here every day, but it's easier because I'm not going anywhere."
"I plan on coming into the school, volunteering and doing a bit more coaching now that I don't have to work nights (with the alternate education program)," said Brasseur.
"St. Pat's is my place, and that's not going to change.
It'll still be in my heart for sure."
